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Chapter 11

DOYLE SNIFFED THE AIR, AND A MOMENT LATER I SMELLED IT, TOO Fresh blood I ie May asked

He put his hand to his sword, and the otherweapons I don&039;t think any of them had smelled e had, but they trusted Doyle&039;s instincts

"It&039;s all right," he said, but he unsheathed his sword, and that didn&039;t comfort anyone in the room When he had the blade completely free of its sheath, blood welled on the naked blade, as if the sere bleeding

Harry stu sword I couldn&039;t blaainst Galen&039;s neck

"Goddess save us," Frost said "What is it?"

"Cromm Cruach," Doyle said

It took inal name, when he&039;d been a deity Cromm Cruach, red claw As I watched the blood drip on the scrubbed kitchen floor, I began to understand where the naie May said, "Cromm Cruach, aye Well, what does he say?"

The blood formed letters on the floor: DON&039;T YOU CARRY ANY NONMAGICAL WEAPONS?

"Oh," Doyle said, and I swear he looked alie May?"

She narrowed her eyes at hi, wicked-looking chopping blades and laid a finger down the flat of the blade The silver of the blade fogged instantly

Rhys&039;s face shone in the shiny surface "Do you kno et you?"

"I did not think I was carrying only enchanted blades," and again, I had the rare treat of seeing Doyle sha

"Whose blood did you use?" Galen called

"Mine I heal now, but it still hurts to do it, and it&039;s totally freaked the cops out"

"How many additional men do you need?" Doyle asked

"I&039;m not sure It all depends on how many of the police Merry lets into the sithen"

I went to stand by Doyle, so Rhys could seethe local cops or the feds?" Rhys asked

"Feds?" I said "You mean FBI?"

"Yep"

"I didn&039;t call theent Gillett"

"I called hient Gillett called the local contingent of feds and invited them to the party He told them, or implied, that you wanted federal help"

"Are you calling to ask if the feds get to co because the area around the faerie lands is federal property, and the feds are trying to tell the locals they have no right to be here"

"Please, tell e blurred for a moment before I realized he&039;dWe have aout here"

"Can you put the head agent on?"

"No Do you have any idea how h blood on the blade to write thatto come near this blade If you want to talk to the hu to have to pick a h I don&039;t think a phone call will do it"

"What do you suggest?" Doyle asked

"Get the princess out here because she&039;s the one who made the calls What little credibility I had with them vanished into the blood-soaked snow They&039;re afraid of ed the blade for a otten that look in a hu Croivesuch measures necessary," Doyle said "The princess and I will be there soon"

"See you then," and the blade went back to just brightly polished ent Gillett misunderstood you, I think"

I shook my head "He didn&039;t misunderstand He hasn&039;t seen hteen or nineteen He&039;s reacting as if I&039;m still that person"

"He hopes to push his way into this investigation," Doyle said

I nodded

"You don&039;t want to ry at us," Galen said "There&039;s a chance that the local police lab ht" He began walking toto raise her face and adjust her balance

It was a good point, a good clearheaded point I smiled and went to him, and touched his face I touched the cheek opposite the one Mug sat by "Always looking toit against his cheek "Just to keep as much of it as I can"

I went up on tiptoe, and he bent down so I could lay a gentle kiss upon hismade a sound, not a bad sound, al this close to both of us "Give us roo," I said She pouted, but flew off I letarentler times, Galen would have been perfect - if peace was truly ere after, but it wasn&039;t, not exactly

"What will you do about the FBI?" Doyle understood that I wasn&039;t going to do exactly what Galen had suggested

"I&039;ll go introduce e to take back to Gillett"

"And ill that e be?" he asked

"That I&039;m not a child anymore, and he can&039;t manipulate me like one"

Frost frowned "You invited human science into our sithen to help solve these h of their systeree with Galen We cannot afford to alienate them completely"

"Because we may need them later," I said

Frost nodded "Yes"

It was rare for Galen and Frost to agree so coht "I will do o out there and appear weak, they won&039;t leave, and they will delay everything We do not have time for everyone to play turf wars And besides, this is our turf"

"Then let us go make that point to the authorities," Doyle said, "both local and federal" He actually offeredthe solidness of muscle underneath the leather of his jacket I realized, then, that my winter coat was still back at the airport, unless so to wear out into the December cold I wondered whose coat I&039;d borrow

We sent Onilwyn to find a healer I still didn&039;t knohether to believe what he had said Had he co else infor an excuse not to have sex with him Maybe, or maybe Onilwyn had earned my distrust

Chapter 12

DOYLE AND FROST ESCORTED ME BACK TO MY ROOM FOR FRESH clothes And warmer ones I don&039;t knohose cloak iI borrowed, but it fitthe floor of old that was almost auburn It was truly beautiful, but I felt about it the way I usually felt about fur coats; I thought the fur would have looked better on the aniue that I wanted a leather coat, or so out of wool, but since it had been centuries since the sidhe had had domestic animals of their oool and leather were in short supply Besides, Frost assured me that when it was killed, they had eaten it

"What was it?" I asked I&039;d never seen anything with fur quite this color

"Troll," he said

I stopped petting the fur I&039;d never seen a troll, but I knew they were a type of fey, and though not the brightest, they still had culture, were still people "That&039;s not exactly an animal; that&039;s more like cannibalism"

"He never said it was an anio? The police are waiting"

"If I have a proble ani so made out of what amounts to one of us would bother hed and settled back into a huge black chair, which unfortunately matched the new decor the queen had put in othic porn et a little too much attention

"I killed the troll The fur is a trophy I don&039;t understand your probleainst the black leather chair, and strangely decadent in his fur coat His ankle-length silver-fox coat had made it back froone ed to, and the fur stayed because who else but one of th fur coat that would fit over a set of shoulders that broad

I turned to Doyle "It would be like wearing a person&039;s skin for a coat"

Doyle grabbed er that his hand pressed against my flesh "You are a princess of the Unseelie Court You will rule us someday You cannot show this much weakness, not if you expect to survive!"

His black eyes held bits of brilliant color like psychedelic fireflies There was an instant of vertigo, and then I was on solid ground in my snow boots, and I could look into his eyes and not be swayed If he&039;d done it on purpose, it er that brought his power, not his will Anger is easier to avoid than force of will

Frost had pushed to his feet "Doyle, it is not such a large problem as all that" He sounded uncertain, and I knehy This was Doyle, their captain, the i Darkness He did not have fits of temper, ever

Doyle jerked y as his power began to unfold He snarled into my face, "Won&039;t wear the skins of our honored enemies The police await us, our men stand in the cold, and you don&039;t like your coat! Such delicate sensibilities for soer on the floor in front of us all"

I stared at hi

"Doyle!" Frost ca toward me, as if he would take me away from the Darkness But he let his hand fall back, because Frost, like me, wasn&039;t certain what Doyle would do if he tried to wrestso unlike himself that I was afraid, and, I think, so was Frost

Doyle threw his head back and screauish, such utter loneliness The sound ended on a howl that raised the hairs on ainst Frost Frost caught me and turned me so that his broad shoulders were between me and his captain

Doyle collapsed to the floor in a pool of black leather, his braid curling like a serpent around his legs

It tookFrost and I looked at each other Neither of us had a clue as to as happening to our stoic Darkness

I moved toward hiht But itfrom Doyle

Frost knelt beside him and laid a white hand on Doyle&039;s dark shoulder "My captain, Doyle, what ails you?"

Doyle covered his face with his hands and hunched over until his hands were nearly flat to the ground He curled in upon himself, and his voice caer "I cannot do it" He raised up on hands and knees, his head hanging down "I cannot bear it" He looked up, and grabbed Frost&039;s ar "I cannot go back to what I was here I cannot stand at her side and watch another take her I aood"

Frost nodded, and drew the other ht and fierce, and the face he showed toSo had happened not just to Doyle but to Frost as well This was not his typicalBut what did they mourn?

"What has happened?" I asked

Doyle shook his head, pressed into Frost&039;s shoulder "She doesn&039;t understand She doesn&039;t knohat itto tickle innings of dread

Frost looked atin his eyes "The ring has chosen your king, Meredith"

"What are you talking about?" I asked

"Mistral," Doyle said, raising his head, so I could see his face "The ring has chosen Mistral And I cannot let him have you"

I stared at hi about? There is only one way forto be chosen, and I am not with child"

"Are you certain of that?" Frost asked His face was so calm, empty of the emotional turmoil I would have expected from him It was almost as if with Doyle fallen to pieces, he had to hold hiether better than was his wont

"Yes, I ht about what he&039;d said "It&039;s too early to be certain"

Doyle shook his head hard enough that his heavy braid rustled against the leather "The ring has never come to life for any of us You have never had such sex with any of us What else could it &039;s choice?"

"I don&039;t know, but" In the face of his pain, I didn&039;t knohat to say I looked from one to the other of them Their belief was plain on their faces I looked at theht and darkness entwined, and ht It was suddenly hard to breathe The roonant from Mistral, I would lose them, both of theareat, but it was just sex, and "I don&039;t love him" The moment I said it, I kneas a child&039;s plea A child&039;s wish

"A queen does not e of tears

"But wait, I thought the ring found your true love, your perfect match"

"It does," Frost said

"Nicca and Biddy are coone on each other," I said "They look at each other as if there is no one else in the world"

They both nodded Frost said, "It was always thus with the ones the ring chose"

"But Mistral and I are not looking at each other that way"

"You did not see his face afterwards," Doyle said "I did"

"As did I," Frost said

I waved it away "I was the first sex he&039;s had in centuries And it was ical sex, power-driven sex That is heady stuff Any man would look at me that way, but it was lust, not love"

Frost frowned at me Doyle just stared as if his emotions had emptied him

"I certainly don&039;t feel that way about Mistral"

Frost looked positively suspicious "You do not, truly?"

I shookhad chosen hiht?"

Frost nodded

"I do not feel that way about Mistral"

"How can you not e saw in the hallway?" Doyle asked, in a voice that had gone almost empty of emotion, as if it had all been too reat, but has it occurred to either of you that ical because it is the first ti?"

Doyle blinked and tried to focus I watched hi to numb him Frost spoke for them both "You have had sex inside faerie with one of us, surely"