Another human servant brought me a tray of food for lunch, none of it the sorts of things I was used to eating. There were whole flowers mixed in with a salad made of frilly leaves and topped with flakes of salt, a big clamshell holding something along the lines of ceviche, and a big stack of dark brown crackers to go along with it. The glass held a fizzy pink drink that tasted a little like lemonade and a little like grandma's perfume, and the covered dessert dish held a perfect sphere of clear mint-green gelatin that tasted a bit like grass, the sweet ones you chew on in the summer while lounging in a meadow.

I was starving, so I ate it. What else was I supposed to do? The frilly leaves were almost spicy and the ceviche tasted like ceviche, even though the crackers kind of tasted like dried mushrooms. Honestly, they probably were dried mushrooms; they had the look of dried stuff instead of baked stuff. But it filled my stomach and nothing inside me protested from the weird food, so it probably wasn't deadly poison. There were humans here, so surely the fae knew what to feed people like me.

After I ate lunch, Susan readied me in silence, trembling with fear when I tried to bring up Dain and apologize for his horrendous behavior. I gave up and let her do what she needed to do, dressing me in a plain white shirt in a simple cut, and a loose white skirt that came to my mid-calf overtop of a pair of form-fitting white pants. If I hadn't already been reassured that I wasn't expected to marry the crown prince, I would have been awfully nervous about all the white.

My dark hair was left loose, hanging down to my upper back, and I didn't get to wear any shoes. The only thing approaching adornment that Susan put on me was a circlet made of beaten gold; everything else was unmarked and simple.

The whole ensemble looked vaguely sacrificial or bridal, though maybe that was the glum knowledge of the fact that I was about to go face a faery Queen because I was the soulmate of her monster son. In different circumstances, it probably would have been a breezy summer outfit, the sort of thing rich people wear out on the town when they go out for brunch.

Susan didn't take me to my appointed meeting. Two fae dressed in fancy armor came for me, with golden antlers embossed on their chests. They were as beautiful as Dain, though without any of the intrigue of his body. Both looked like someone had taken a human and polished them, refining them into unreal creatures that moved too sharply and with too much strength to pass for human. Sharp elf-ears moved like an animal's as they walked, though not as vigorously as Dain's had, turning slightly to catch sounds as they moved.