Blood and Iron by Elizabeth Bear, page 366
"If I had known, if I had known, Tam Lin," I said into his chest. His skin was warm against my lips. "Sing it for me, Uisgebaeugh?"
And he did so. He held me, and he sang. "And Tam Lin on a milk-white steed, with a gold star in his crown..." and the purity of it pierced my heart with a mortal pain, and I understood at last why the Mebd would never hear the song sung. To care so much, to feel that pain: it might have shifted a heart, even, of stone.
"The Ballad of King Orfeo" reveals that secret, that the Fae will pay any price to one who can move their hearts.
And he did so. He held me, and he sang. "And Tam Lin on a milk-white steed, with a gold star in his crown..." and the purity of it pierced my heart with a mortal pain, and I understood at last why the Mebd would never hear the song sung. To care so much, to feel that pain: it might have shifted a heart, even, of stone.
"The Ballad of King Orfeo" reveals that secret, that the Fae will pay any price to one who can move their hearts.