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Chapter Nine

Lightning cut along the ground, illuht through strobe flashes - bits and pieces, frozen, but nothing whole

Mistral on his knees, one hand outstretched; arrows flying, their heads glinting dully in the hot, white light Dark figures in the trees Soround behind Mistral

I tracked the flight of arrows not by sight but by the reaction of Mistral&039;s body as they hit hier when you were already on your knees His body hunched forward, then fell to one side, only his arhtning fro the ground but not reaching his attackers

I leaned low over the mare&039;s white shoulders Down there was one of the fathers of the children inside me I would not lose another of them I would not

Sholto seemed to understand, because he called to me, "We will take the attackers You see to the Storue Mistral was shot full of cold metal If he was to be saved, it would have to be soon I didn&039;t want vengeance in that moment I wanted hirass The wind of our passage blew his hair around his body, tugged at the cloak that spilled around him He didn&039;t see flared, and ere close enough that ht left, I was blind in the dark

There was an art to sitting a horse when it went froain I did not have that art co as the horse&039;s hooves crunched on the frosted grass I had to sit on the horse in the dark while I waited for ht that returned, but it was enough to show me Mistral&039;s body terribly still on the white and black of the ground

The only light was the green of the flalow that reminded me of the fire Doyle could call to his hands I had left him hurt If he was conscious he must be orry, but one disaster at a time Doyle had doctors, while Mistral had only me in that rass was cold under ht was suddenly cold The mare pulled away from my hand, and ran after the others I realized in that eance was done; Cair was dead I was at Mistral&039;s side, and theIt was running at Sholto&039;s side with the haied fro in the distance They glowed against the trees, and gave enough light that I could see three figures, firing up into the hunt before the hounds spilled down upon them I didn&039;t think Sholto would have my squeamishness He would use the hounds

I went to rass Mistral&039;s blood had round was softer from the spill of his blood His face was hidden by the fall of all that gray hair, not gray with age, for he would never age, but the gray of storm clouds His hair arm to the touch as Ipulse in his neck I was never good at finding it in the wrist, and without the own I was starting to shiver even as I searched for his pulse

At first, I was afraid ere too late, but then, under ers, I felt it He was alive Until I felt the pulse I hadn&039;t wanted to look at how badly he was hurt It was as if I were trying to pretend, but now I had to look I had to see as there

His broad shoulders, his whole strong body, was pierced with arrows I counted five Strangely, none of the I could think was that the lightning had ruined their vision as it had ruined mine I wasn&039;t certain if his hand of power had taken out a single attacker, but it had spoiled their aiet him medical help maybe he would not bleed to death, or die froed into the meat of his body That alone was poisonous to the creatures of faerie

The hunt was still busy, and they were still lost in the ic of it Only I had woken fro him had meant more to me than anyone else&039;s death Maybe that hy ends of the wild hunt hadLife rass, war the hard frost There was a shaft in the ground I pulled it froround carefully, because I didn&039;t want it to break off in the ground The shaft ood, so the archers could handle them safely, but when I could finally see the arrowhead, my worst fears were confired iron - the very worst thing you could use on faerie folk

My human blood made iron no more deadly to me than any other metal I could touch the arrowhead with no harm done, but a wooden spear could have killed nored it

If the arrows had been ordinary ones, it would have been bad to remove them withouthim Every moment they stayed inside his body was anotherinto his system But if I drew the arrows out, they&039;d widen the wounds Damnit, I didn&039;t knohat to do So

I laid the arrow that I&039;d pulled froround beside my knees, and put my hands on his side, laid uide ?" a male voice said

I jerked up, and Onilas there, in the dark He&039;d been one of uards for a few months, but when last we left faerie he&039;d re wrestle my insane cousin Cel into submission at the time, but he hadn&039;t asked to return to my service He had always been Cel&039;s friend, never mine, and I had found excuses not to bed hiic of the wild hunt," he said, "is that ityour princess alone in the night with no guards I would never be so careless, Princess Meredith"

He gave a loeeping his cloak aside, letting the thick waves of his hair fall forward It was hard to see in the darkness, but his hair was a deep green, and his eyes were a grass green with a star-burst of liquid gold around the pupil He was a little short and wide, built uards, but that wasn&039;t what had kept him out of my bed I simply did not like him, nor he me He wanted to bed me only because it was the only way to ease his enforced abstinence Oh, and a chance to be king to et that Onilas far too aotten it

"I applaud your sense of duty, Onilwyn Contact the Unseelie mound, have them send healers, and help move Mistral someplace warm"

"Why would I do that?" he asked He loomed over us in his thick winter cloak, a stray lock of hair blowing across his cheek, as the cold wind began to play along our skin I looked up into his face, and the clouds parted in that wind, so that I had enough ht to see his face clearly, and what I saw put my pulse into my throat

I shivered, but it wasn&039;t just from the cold I saw death on Onilwyn&039;s face, death and deep satisfaction, almost happiness

"Onilwyn," I said, "do as I cohed softly "I think not" He swept back the heavy cloak, his hand seeking the sword revealed at his side

I reached into the grass for the only weapon I had, the arrow I used Mistral&039;s body to shield the movement But I had to stab Onilwyn before he drew his sword It was one of those moments when time seems to freeze, and you have both too h time to act

I slapped at hiently He was looking at my empty hand as I stabbed upith the arrow I felt the arrow cut into flesh I shoved, and he jerked back, away froh toI had not to look behind low of the hunt The screa, but they were miles away They were visible in the flat fars can seem so much closer than they are I could not look behind"You bitch!"

"You swore an oath to protect ht you want to be a breaker of oaths?"

He threw the arrow to the ground, and drew his sword "Call the hunt; even flying, they will not get here in time to save you"