Dora found herself momentarily speechless. There was something intimidating about Elias’ fury, but she could not quite bring herself to be afraid, given that so much of it was on her behalf.
“...everything?” Dora asked, before she could stop herself.
Elias froze.
“Did you try every potential cure from the treatise I translated?” Dora asked him. “One of the few applicable bits for sleeping curses was true love’s kiss, if I recall.”
A bright flush spread along Elias’ cheeks. “I did say everything,” he muttered. “Useless as it all was.”
Dora smiled. “I do not think that true love’s kiss can bring a soul back from faerie,” she said. “But even if it could, you would have to love me, Elias.”
Dora had expected him to snap at her over the ridiculousness of the idea. But there was an odd silence instead—and the longer it went on, the more her heart began to turn over in her chest.
“I will bring you back,” Elias said finally, in a far more subdued tone. He seemed suddenly unable to meet her eyes. “You and all the rest of the children. It’s clearly within the scope of my duties now either way, so there’s no use complaining at me.”
“Oh,” said Dora. She smiled dimly. “I am in love with you, just so you know. I had some trouble realizing it, because I did not think that I could fall in love at all. But I am quite certain of it now.”
Elias looked up at her with such a shocked expression that Dora immediately knew she had said something unconventional again. She pressed her lips together. “I see,” she sighed. “People do not normally say that, I suppose. You must pretend that I was much more elegant and indirect about the matter.”
Elias swallowed. “You are perfect as you are, Dora,” he said softly. “And... and there are things which I should tell you—”
What he meant to tell her, however, Dora did not have the chance to find out. For she felt a cold hand on her shoulder, and the feeling of being pulled sharply back from a great distance.
“My wayward daughter,” Lord Hollowvale sighed at her, as she opened her eyes back in the laundry room at Charity House. “This half of you is even more belligerent than the first!” His pale blue eyes looked down at her with recrimination. “Clearly, we must put you back together soon.”
Chapter 17
Dora looked around for Theodora. She found her other half just past Lord Hollowvale, staring blankly into the distance. Her hair was tussled and her dress torn, and Dora knew that Theodora had tried to fight the faerie off.
“You have agitated yourself, dear,” Lord Hollowvale said lightly. “In the most literal way, I fear. You were so well-behaved, until you showed up!”
Dora stared at him calmly. Logic would not get her anywhere, she thought, unless she played along somewhat with the creature’s own delusions. “I am Lord Lockheed’s ward,” Dora told him. “And he put me into the care of my aunt. It is only virtuous that I do my best to return to her.”
Lord Hollowvale frowned at that. “I see your error,” he said. “But Lord Lockheed is not your caretaker, Theodora. Your mother made me your guardian, and I take that duty quite seriously.”
Dora smiled at him. “But you have no paperwork to that effect?” she asked. “How must I believe you, then?”
The marquess drew himself up in a cold fury, and Dora realised that she had misstepped. “You are fortunate to be my daughter,” he informed her in a chill tone. “For I would be otherwise obliged to avenge such a sleight to my honour. I am the Marquess of Hollowvale, and I would not tell a lie even if it were in my power to do so!”
The cold power that he held pressed down upon Dora like a smothering blanket, chilling her bones and crawling through her veins. Her knees buckled, and she managed only barely to keep herself upright.
“I am sorry,” Dora gasped out. “I should have known better, of course. You are generous not to punish me for my error.”
The marquess frowned at that. The overwhelming power that hovered in the air around him receded slowly. Eventually, Dora managed to catch her breath.
“It is true,” Lord Hollowvale said. “I am the most generous of any faerie lord that you shall ever meet.”
“You are, of course,” Dora said. And for the moment, it was true—for she had never met any other faerie lord in her life, and so Lord Hollowvale was by necessity the most generous of them.
The marquess continued to frown at her, and Dora found herself shrinking beneath his pale gaze. Eventually, he spoke again. “I do not like having two daughters,” he said. “One was the very perfect amount. I must find a way to put you back together with yourself, or else I shall be obliged to remove one of you.”
Dora swallowed slowly. “I would be pleased to be a single person again, my lord,” she said carefully.
Lord Hollowvale snapped his fingers, and Theodora came back to herself with a start. “Dora!” she gasped. “Lord Hollowvale is—”
“Yes, so I see,” Dora replied evenly. “He was just now observing that we would be better as a single person.” Dora knew that she needed to change the subject, lest Theodora become overwrought again and trigger one of the faerie’s mercurial moods.
“But how to put you back together?” Lord Hollowvale mused. He looked them both over, and Dora got the distinct impression that he was looking at something she could not see herself. “Ah!” he exclaimed. “Yes, there is something tying you together still. A trickle of emotion. If I were to stimulate that, then perhaps you would come together naturally.” He beamed
