The fairy clung to her tightly, the smile on its face a touch bashful. “You smell nice, mother, just like in my dreams.”

She couldn’t very well tell him he was mistaken after that.

“Can we go, mother?”

“I’m awfully sorry, but—”

“Don’t you want me?” The baby’s big blue eyes began to water, making Lydia panic.

“Okay, we shall go! Let us have a lovely picnic!”

“Raven, we are going on an excursion. Make the appropriate preparations,” Edgar said immediately.

Raven, who had been watching the proceedings in silence, sprang to his feet at once. He still held the basket in his arms.

***

It wasn’t that Lydia disliked Edgar exactly. She recognized that his appearance was not his sole virtue. Everyone regarded her with suspicion because she associated almost exclusively with fairies. He, however, had accepted her skills as a fairy doctor, and she couldn’t deny the happiness that brought her. He was the first person to propose marriage to her too, and perhaps he would be the last. Thinking of it in those terms did make her heart flutter slightly.

Nevertheless, she could not believe that his feelings for her were genuine. He was a man who flitted from one woman to another, and Lydia was certain that any love he felt would soon dissipate. She suspected that he only wanted to marry her to keep the earldom’s precious fairy doctor linked to the estate indefinitely rather than out of love.

Despite his title as the Earl of Ibrazel, Edgar lacked the ability to communicate with fae. He relied on Lydia for everything relat