They moved differently than humans: smoothly, precisely, with a peculiar stiffness to their posture, and never put so much as a finger out of place. However, I remembered a time in which the fair folk’s behavior had unsettled me. I didn’t look away from his left sleeve, and kept dabbing on the silk’s glossy yellow shine.

“One thinks one has seen the best humans have to offer, and suddenly there’s a new method of glazing china, or these fantastic little cakes with lemon curd inside.”īy now I was used to fair folk mannerisms. He didn’t eat it immediately, but rather sat staring at it, as an entomologist might having discovered a beetle with its head on backward. “How engaging it is to see the Craft change over time.” Barely listening, he selected one of the cakes from the tray beside the settee. It took me a moment to realize Gadfly was referring to Silas Merryweather, a master of the Craft who died over three hundred years ago. What was his name? Sebastian Manywarts? Oh, I didn’t like him, he always smelled a bit strange.” Much better than the previous portrait artist-that fellow we had the other day. “I could alter your cravat, as long as it’s more or less the same size, but I’d need another session to finish it.” Outwardly, my face ached with the polite smile I’d maintained for the past two and a half hours. “And if I chose a different cravat . . .”

“What do you think? You could add that, couldn’t you?” “I might have some silver embroidery done about the wrists,” he said. All in all, it was a disarming quality for a creature who could murder me without rescheduling his tea. He was astonishingly vain even by fair folk standards, which is like saying a pond is unusually wet, or a bear surprisingly hairy. Oil paint needs days to dry between layers, and he had trouble understanding I couldn’t just swap his entire outfit for another he liked better. The trick with Gadfly was persuading him to wear the same clothes for every session. I had nearly perfected the color of Gadfly’s silk jacket.

MY PARLOR smelled of linseed oil and spike lavender, and a dab of lead tin yellow glistened on my canvas.

An enchantment of ravens español