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Chapter Twenty-Seven

My breath fogged in the winter night as alked across the frosted grass Mirabella had found me a cloak made of cream-colored fur It was a hooded cloak out of soold and creah winter cloaks and coats to fit theSholto and Captain Doyle, which would be the titles they would use with the soldiers Mistral came behind us, with his spear wrapped in soft cloth to hide it fro It was faerie; there was always so Not necessarily spies for either court, but the fey are a curious lot Anything unusual will bring the to the leaves and trees, and watch

The sight thatout an audience If the fey had been huawkers that the soldiers would have had to hold back, but our people could watch and never be seen We weren&039;t called the Hidden Folk for nothing

Major Walters was there at the front of the group of men, but at his side was a man who had his own air of authority And to either side of them were more police and more soldiers But mostly soldiers

Sholto leaned over and whispered, "More soldiers than we&039;ve ever seen since we came to America"

Doyle must have heard, because he whispered, "I think the Major was preparing for trouble"

"A good leader always does," I said

"We do," he said I felt a push of ic from him

Mistral spoke low from behind us "There are too many curiosity seekers to discern any ill intent"

Doyle nodded

Sholto said, "I&039;m not sure what you mean"

"Cannot you sense our hidden audience?" Doyle asked

"Obviously not," he said

"Neither can I, though I knew they would be there," I said softly

A voice called out, "Just give yourselves a few more hundred years of practice" Rhys walked out of theat me Soe His white waist-length curls looked out of place against the military look Someone had even loaned hio of the men on either side of , and laid a kiss on h so he could study ave hiain "No, but " He shook his head "Later"

"Where is Galen?" Doyle asked

"He is talking to their wizard I made her nervous"

I frowned up at him, still with my arms around his solid, muscled realness I wanted all ht "What did you do to make her nervous?"

"Answered too many questions truthfully Some humans - even wizards, or in this case witch, though the military term is wizard - some humans are freaked at the idea that I lost my eye hundreds of years before they were born"

"Oh," I said, and hugged hiain

Major Walters cae who seee There was almost no rank to see on his uniform to my uninformed eyes, but the way the other soliders treated hie

"Princess Meredith, this is Captain Page Captain, hter of Prince Essus, heir to the throne of the Unseelie Court, and froave me a look "You&039;ve been a busy princess," he said

I wasn&039;t sure if he really knew about the Seelie offer, or if he was pretending to know to fish for information Police can be tricky, sometimes because it&039;s their job, and sometimes because it&039;s become habit

The Captain held out his hand, and I took it He had a good handshake, especially for aa hand as s of it I was close enough now to see his name on his uniform, and to notice the two district bars on the front and neck of it

"The Illinois National Guard is honored to escort you to safety, Princess Meredith"

"I am honored that I have such brave e studiedsarcastic He finally frowned at h to say that they&039;re brave"

"They caainst the Seelie Court itself There have been hue"

"Not this one," he said

I s some effort into it "My point exactly"

He smiled, then looked flustered

Rhys leaned in and whispered, "Tone it down"

"What?"

"The gla lips

"I didn&039;t "

"Trust me," he said

I took a deep breath and concentrated I didaway frolae shook his head, frowning hard

"You okay?" Walters asked him

He nodded "I think I need ot essence of four-leaf clover sive it to them?" I asked

"Nope, they caencies in place in case the fey get nasty"

"We would never presuht, Captain We are pleased that you have protection We will not purposefully bespell any of you, but there are others a the fey who are not so scrupulous"

The hue and Walters kept looking at us

"I do not mean an overt attack," Doyle said "I just mean our people&039;s sense of humor"

"Humor," Walters said "What does thatnew This ood men and women of the military would be almost irresistible to a certain number of our populace"

"What he awkers, but they&039;re fey so you won&039;t see theht have a hard ti some of your soldiers off the beaten track, just to see if they could do it"

"Your people came as close to war on Aht I would think you all risking getting kicked out ht make them more serious"

I shook my head "The sidhe, perhaps, but there are a lot more people here than the sidhe Besides, Captain, it was the Seelie ere threatening to h, not the Unseelie The only court that was in danger of breaking the treaty was the Seelie"

"Yeah, and the last time we all had a little battle, it wasn&039;t a war because they were monsters of faerie, and not any of the other courts," Walters said, but his voice was a little dry

I shivered Strangely, I wasn&039;t really chilled fro power, or perhapsme warm But Walters didn&039;t know that, and if I acted cold, we et us to a plane and the hell out of here

Captain Page said, "Let&039;s get the princess inside where it&039;s warmer"

Walters nodded and said, "Fine" But he looked at me, suspicion plain on his face What had I done to earn that look? Oh, wait, kept ered hispart, but I had kept secrets fro them all to risk themselves for me and et us out safely, I&039;d endanger them all

I admitted that to myself, but I didn&039;t like ht

Rhys curled h his, and leaned in to talk to me as alked Doyle had h, frankly, with the superior hearing of the sidhe, Mistral and Sholto could probably hear too The point was that the soldiers alked through did not hear

I&039;d expected Sholto to fight to keep ly let Rhys take his place Then he&039;d dropped back like a good bodyguard beside Mistral Sholto was ave us eye flicks and tried not to stare, but so subtle They stared as alked past Most of us looked like so out of a ray cloak that looked like so out of a Dickens novel Mistral had siot glimpses of his bare chest as he moved Sholto had chosen a white coat that looked like a cross between a trench coat and an officer&039;s coat from World War II It hid the very unmodern clothes, so that he, of all of us, could have walked out into a crowd and been the least noticeable

I realized that Sholto usually dressed to blend in, wherever he was He dressed appropriately, if he could I guess when you spend your life with your body so out of the ordinary, you don&039;t want clothes to set you apart

"Why are you wearing a uniform?" I asked

Rhys asked, "Don&039;t you reave me?" He looked far too serious

"You had Gran&039;s blood on your clothes," I said

He nodded

Doyle leaned across and asked, "But why did you not get clothes from the Unseelie Court, or your own house?"