A name and a place

That wasn't funny.  He ought to know, he was an amusing person.  But the way people acted like veela were love potions on legs irritated Selwyn so Elsie's laughter just salted the wound.

Ordinarily, he'd have basked in the look she was giving him, but in his current mood he could only notice how blatant she was being.  All of a sudden, Selwyn craved subtlety.

"Oh yes, the intrigue," he said.

He assumed she was talking about the spell, but the less said about that, the better.  He certainly wasn't going to spill the secret to someone like Elsie unless, by some unlikely chance, she actually did decide to take up this opportunity.

"What exactly did you say was intriguing about me, again?"

Elsie tilted her head, arching an eyebrow as she considered the question. Interesting was a hard thing to describe. She felt like it was something people just were. The world was full of people who were either boring, or not. That was what made people like Augustus Rookwood so aggravating. She wanted, no, needed to hate the pureblood patriarch. But intrigue and attraction could derail a plan very quickly.

That was typically the dilemma that she found herself in. She couldn't ignore someone she found interesting. Or attractive.

"You seem smart enough to know how shallow these meetings typically are, and how false the relationships are that spring from them. But you seem keen to have this meeting go well. Intelligence and compliance with these meetings typically haven't gone together in the past."

Oh, there it was. The smug, superior attitude. Selwyn recalled endless trips to Lahr and his cousins' implications about his origins. Of course being veela, Arlette and Aubin would never dream of descending to calling him a filthy halfbreed outright. Their veiled insults were all the worse for being implicit.

"My parents marriage was arranged," he told her stiffly. "My grandparents marriage was also arranged. Neither of those relationships are shallow. Arranged marriages have a ninety percent success rate, when the people getting married are involved in the arrangement."

"Just from looking at the data, the intelligent thing to do is comply. Besides, I haven't much choice in any case."

"I get the stats," she said. "Trust me, my parents have spit those facts at me ever since they realized I wasn't intent on finding a partner anytime soon." It was true - it had almost been a terrified realization for them. Ben, they were less worried about. He wasn't out in the world trying to attach scandal to their surname the way Elsie had done ever since her graduation - though the rebellion had started much before she had entered the adult world. Ben would be the subject of her parent's scrutiny soon, though, she knew it. They would hope she would follow his example.

"But the natural thing to do is resist," she responded. "Because the implications are life long. Their might be a lot of family tied up in marriage, but there's even more implications of a divorce. Going along with these can mean ending up in bed with a stranger for the rest of your life."

A smile crept onto Selwyn's lips as Elsie explained her reasoning to him. He was forced to cover his laugh with a cough.

"Yes, well, if your family have been trying to marry you into the pureblood lines I can see how that would be a concern," he agreed.

"There are some implications but I don't think they're the ones you're thinking of," he said with amusement.

"After the marriage was consummated, we'd be more or less expected to take other lovers if we didn't care for each-other," he told her. "And just, be discreet about it."

"The house is massive and there's no need to be miserable about it."

There was a shrewdness in his eyes that suddenly rubbed her the wrong way. As though he had an inside joke that she happened to be on the wrong side of. She didn't want to draw attention to her uncertainty, however, so she lifted her drink again and took a deeper sip. She was enjoying the idea that getting drunk with this man would not end in the usual - poorly masked attempts to get her in bed, or obnoxiously pretentious trips home where they tried to pull the noble gentleman act. She felt like Thorfinn wouldn't put up a pretense, either way.

"As opposed to know, where I can take as many lovers as I want, not worry about discretion, and choose where I live?" She tilted her head. "Still haven't made a great case for matrimony."

"Ah, so you're still aiming to become one of my many, many concubines, then," he suggested.

"I can't say I blame you.  You're a straightforward woman, Elsie.  You clearly know what you want.  If I were you, I would be wondering whether the stories of the veela's sexual prowess were true too."

He smirked at her.  Did she really think she was the only one who knew how to be a tease?

Elsie laughed a scoffing laugh, truly amused but also very keen to set the record straight. She was no concubine, that was for sure. She was very tired of being Miss Mistress. Did she have to One and Only? Merlin, no. She didn't have that kind of time. But she liked to think her relations were always mutual in respect and lack of obligation. She would not be a concubine unless she could claim him as her playboy.

"I'm not a concubine," she corrected. "I'm not an innocent maiden, but I am a woman with the right to choose - and I take pleasure in choosing." She smirked over the brim of her cup. "And I can't say I'm not curious. Supposedly, it's an irresistible charm. I don't know that I believe the rumors."

Some people, Selwyn had found, liked being in charge. Others liked being told what to do. And then you got people like Elsie who didn't recognise that in charge was a thing and were completely out of control.

He had thought she might be an okay prospect. She was selfish and conceited but also frank and honest about her intentions. He'd actually been relieved when she told him about how much trouble her parents thought she was.

Now, not so much. Whether she'd misinterpreted his joke or not, he knew a challenge when he heard one and the thought of proving himself to her left a bad taste in his mouth.

"It was a joke," he said flatly. "Besides, if I demonstrated for you, you wouldn't have the ability to choose."

"Was it? I must have forgotten to laugh," she said, responding in kind. His tone had changed considerably and it wasn't lost on her. It just didn't concern her all that much. Sure, she had finally started enjoying the conversation, but she could leave at anytime and honestly say she had tried. She had nothing at stake and she would respond as she pleased.

What had ever stopped her?

"Really?" she said. "Then I won't press you any further. This night would be a horrible waste if I woke up tomorrow with a ring on my finger because I simply couldn't say no to you." That was a horrifying thought, indeed.