An essential part of being a faerie was having a sensitivity to the emotions of others, and Frieda was nothing if not masterful at this art. She perceived the swirling confliction inside of Lune as if the words “urgent” and “afraid” were written plainly on her forehead. The delightful negativity tantalized her inner predator—fear was a veritable delicacy to her kind—but it was not the feeling she wanted to see in this girl. If she was on the border with her decision to join or flee from the circus, the ringmistress intended to do everything in her power to erase the fright from her conscience.
	She was not surprised when Lune began to gush about her concerns regarding Rayth. The half vampire had already told her that he was the cause of her anxiety. However, she knitted her brows together in a contemplative expression anyway, as if she was hearing the runaway’s words for the first time and taking them to heart.
	Ultimately, her goal was to become Lune’s confidant, to win her trust and persuade her to believe she was someone who could offer sound wisdom in confusing times. The best way to do that was to give credence to her worries without dismissing them as nonsense. Of course, it was nonsensical for her to be alarmed by Rayth among all her monsters, but she maintained complete control over her flawless features without giving away her true thoughts on the matter.
	The faerie sat patiently while the girl defended her claims, even revealing a photo she had taken of two beasts she didn’t recognize. The latter was somewhat unexpected, but considering what the oracles had told her about Lune, she wasn’t completely astounded to find out that the runaway had been approached by other supernatural creatures before.
	When she finished speaking, Frieda sat for a moment in silence, deciding the best way to tackle the barrier without scaring her off. The one thing she was certain about was that she needed to spread word to the rest of her troupe to keep their individual species a secret. After seeing how Lune had reacted to just one of her creatures, she believed it would be better for the girl to think the rest were a normal group of freak shows and oddities just like any other circus. At least initially. Once she was comfortable, the ringmistress could tell her the truth about the others.
	“Darling, I already know what he is,” she confessed, looking away from the camera to meet Lune’s gaze with a cordial smile. “But you have nothing to be concerned about. Rayth may be a vampire, but he came here for the same reason you did: to find a safe place to call home. If he was dangerous, he would have been expelled long ago. Anyway, I can assure you that he has one of the sweetest dispositions of anyone I have ever met, and there’s no need for you to be afraid of him.
	“Besides,” she leaned closer to the girl and lowered her voice as if sharing a secret. “He’s only a half vampire. One of his parents was human. Did he tell you that?”