They bowed to one another again, and Elias shook his head. “There are even more bows to this dance since I was last here,” he added, and Dora knew that he was hoping she would drop the subject.
Dora was beginning to feel oddly dizzy, though she had done little for the last few minutes other than walk and bow. She caught sight of Theodora on the other side of the room, dancing with an invisible partner—her other half seemed similarly off-balance, and she sucked in her breath.
“Lord Hollowvale believes that I will come back together with my other half if we are in the same room and I am very emotional,” Dora said. “I think that he was right. I am growing faint. The children are in Charity House, across the gardens from here. I asked Lord Blackthorn how one might go about defeating a faerie—he told me that iron, magic, and trickery are best. We do not have any iron, and Lord Hollowvale’s magic is very powerful indeed, so perhaps trickery—”
Elias pulled something from his jacket pocket then and slipped it into Dora’s hand. His fingers shook as he did so... and she knew before looking down just what it was she would see.
“My scissors,” Dora whispered. “You brought them all the way here?”
“Iron is very powerful against faeries and their spells,” Elias said. “Even moreso when it has tasted their blood once before. Lord Hollowvale has attached you and the children to himself with strings of fate—I can just barely see them myself. If you cut those strings, you should all return to your proper bodies. He will notice what is happening immediately, which is why I will distract him while you work.”
Dora pressed her lips together. “That sounds very dangerous for you,” she said. “And what will happen to the children whose bodies have already died, Elias? They have nowhere to return to.” The thought struck Dora with another wave of awful worry, and she had to lean heavily upon his arm.
“They will go wherever it is they were meant to go when they died,” Elias said quietly. His hand hovered at her back. “I do not like it either, Dora. But it is better than being trapped here for an eternity, unable to move on.”
Tears pricked at her eyes. For an instant, Dora felt more like Theodora than she did herself—overwhelmed with a riot of confusing emotions all at once. “I do not want something terrible to happen to them or to you,” she said. “There must be some other way.”
Elias reached up to brush his thumb over her cheek. “There is only so much time,” he said softly. “And I will not let you die. You once told me that your cousin was a warm lantern to you, Dora. I know what you mean by that now. Of all things, you have become my lantern too—and I cannot bring myself to let you go out.”
Dora’s heart twisted in her chest. She wavered on her feet, and this time Elias had to catch her entirely before she could hit the floor. More than ever, she wished that she could look into his eyes. But he drew a bit of glittering dust from his jacket pocket and breathed it over her head—and suddenly, she saw a hundred blurry silhouettes surrounding them, each in the dim shape of another faerie noble.
Footsteps came quickly towards them, and Dora heard Lady Mourningwood’s stern voice. “You must give her back to me immediately,” the baroness said. “The dance is over, Lord Longshadow.”
“I must not,” said Elias whimsically. “You said that I must give her back promptly or else I should be forced to marry her. I choose the latter option, Lady Mourningwood.”
Dora blinked in confusion.
Shocked gasps went through the dark shadows surrounding them. Lady Mourningwood stared at Elias, uncomprehending. “But that is not done,” she said. “No one ever chooses the latter option.”
“Then why give two options at all?” Elias asked mildly. “Surely you did not lie to me when you offered them both.”
This stymied the baroness as nothing else had managed to do yet. She stood there for a moment in consternation—but eventually, Lord Hollowvale approached with his brow knitted.
“What is the meaning of this?” the marquess demanded. “Why will you not release my daughter, Lord Longshadow?”
“I was told that I must marry her,” Elias said cheerfully. “And I now accept that fate.”
“You do?” Dora mumbled at him dimly.
“Well, why shouldn’t I?” Elias asked her. “I sent a letter to Lord Lockheed asking for your hand in marriage a few days ago. I was quite reasonable about your dowry, and so he gave me his immediate consent. I meant to tell you earlier, but you disappeared before I could.” His hand tightened at her waist. “I would ask if you are amenable to the idea yourself, but Lady Mourningwood was very clear on her ultimatum. And I do not intend to hand you back to her.”
“Oh,” said Dora, and she was suddenly so dizzy that she found it hard to breathe. “But I am amenable.”
“But I am not amenable!” Lord Hollowvale declared furiously. “You may not marry my English daughter.” He narrowed his pale blue eyes. “And you are not Lord Longshadow at all, are you? You do not sound like him in the least.”
The marquess gestured violently at Elias, and Dora felt something snap in the air between them. Dora still could not look up at Elias, but she suspected that his disguise had been unceremoniously torn away.
“I am Elias Wilder, His Majesty’s court magician and Lord Sorcier of England,” Elias said in a grim tone. “You have stolen several citizens of England, and it is my duty to take them back from you.”
“How dare you!” Lord Hollowvale said, and the air grew chilly with his power. “I have stolen nothing and no one! I have paid fairly for every English citizen
