✔ Mrs Mandray

6. Introductions

Isabella

With Oliver settled in our room by the time I was upstairs I'd been left with no reason to leave. I had no plans anymore but it would have been nice to have a believable excuse. The once bright sitting room had been dimmed by our fear. Now that the house had cleared out we'd taken a moment to gather our wits and prepare for the Fae.

I don't know what to expect. Will they have horns and fangs? Their mannerism might mimic beasts of legends, will they look like Feyre - in that not-human way. Maybe their skin will be blue or like the texture of bark. What if they're animals with cunning minds?

If I ever doubt where Oliver got his overactive imagination from-

Elain inhales sharply and I turn at the sound of the main door opening. Here we go then. My hands balled into fists against the cushion of the window seat. I'd chosen to sit further away from my sister. Still behind Nesta but diagonally back from where they stand.

From the brief 3 hours of panic reading every book about Fae while Ollie slept I've come to understand such things are important to Fae no matter how they are portrayed. Things like scent and instincts are an intrinsic part of their culture apparently. With the bonds between families mimicking packs and a strict hierarchy followed by the masses.

Even Feyre may not understand what I'm doing her new High Lord will. I am with my sister, Nesta wishes to protect me but I am apart from them. I know what fears my sister's harbour are, they are my own fears as well but I wish to give them a chance at least, for the chance they have given Feyre.

And because I need to make sure this isn't another Tamlin situation.

Footsteps sound on the marble floor, so sudden and loud in the silence that I know it must have been intentional. The door shuts with a resounding thud and I fight the urge to just run straight into the main room and face them before they can get to me. Which is a stupid, foolish instinct born of desperate need for control.

The door swings open after a few moments, and it is Feyre I look to first when she enters because- oh that High Lord is smitten. Utterly consumed by my sister if the tiara and gown are anything to go by. Not to mention the look of pure blinding love in his eyes when he looks at her.

Its the males I see next.

Not men, most certainly males. My heart skips a beat at the sight of them, my chest tightening with a flicker of fear as I take in the broad chests, cold face and- fucking hell those are wings. Actual wings. Bat wings. Inexplicably the only thing that comes to mind is that little plush bat toy of my sons.

Which makes me see them as a little less scary.

Who am I trying to convince? They completely terrify me.

But for a moment, it's like the fog clears and I can see them. Not the fae creatures who have prowled into my home but them as people. It's okay. It's going to be okay. The words do little to calm me down but the knowledge that Feyre would never intentionally put us in harm's way has my fear settling down. Cooling into nervous trepidation rather than crippling horror.

They pause a good four feet away, giving us plenty of breathing space. Which is greatly appreciated if the way Elain's shoulders untighten are any indication. I try to ignore the way elain in trembling and how Nesta has hidden her clenched hand. I wonder what I'm doing.

"My sisters," Feyre says to the males currently scanning us head to toe. "Nesta and Elain Archeron... and Isabella Mandray."

I fight the urge to wince at my last name. To hide how much I loathe it. We did not curtsey, made no sign of greeting or acknowledgement as my sister's fear only seemed to heighten. Mine doesnt. Perhaps I'm in shock, that would be a perfectly reasonable explanation but for some reason I can't bring myself to fear these males.