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Chapter Thirty-One

The humvee wasn&039;t made for comfort It was made for hich meant it was armored and safe, but cramped and full of odd protrusions, straps, and just bits and pieces that would never have been in a civilian version

Our driver had hair so short froht "male," but when she&039;d turned and looked a question at Specialist Gregorio, there&039;d been nobut female She made me look not as well-endowed Maybe that hy she did the very uys I didn&039;t say it, but I thought that nature had uys iot in the seat beside her The wizard&039;s eyes followed Galen as he got in the Humvee in front of us We&039;d all decided that it would be better if they spent less tier than intended We&039;d have also put the other wizard, Dawson, farther away froiven a choice Dawson got in with the male driver in the Humvee that would hold Galen, Mistral, and Sholto I&039;d thought the king of the sluaghseparated froently, and did what he was told He agreed that Rhys needed to fillwhile we slept in faerie Galen could do the sa for Mistral and Sholto while we drove It was a very logical arrangeue The fey of any flavor are not always the ical of people, but no one debated We just all went to our vehicles and climbed in

My clothes wereinto , and Rhys did so from behind Doyle took my hand and helped me take my seat beside him We settled ive Rhys rooh Doyle&039;s coat was in a style from circa the 1800s, it still took up a lot less roo is always the least practical, no ine roared to life, and I realized that ouldn&039;t need to do a da us talk All we had to do was not yell

Rhys tookit so he could lay a kiss across rinned at ht in the center of my chest eased a little

"What has happened in the rest of faerie while we had days inside the sluagh?" Doyle asked

Rhys kepthis thurin all he wanted, but touching like that was a nervous gesture

"Do you rean

I nodded "I gave you Gran&039;s body to take home"

"Yes, and you conjured sidhe horses for us to ride on that journey"

"Sholto and I called the, not justpast me to Doyle "We heard ruh"

"It is true," Doyle said, "and married by faerie itself"

Rhys&039;s face fell; such sorrow came over him that he suddenly looked old Not old the way a human will, for he would always be boyishly handsome, but as if every day he had lived, every hard ounce of experience was suddenly etched into his face, spilling into his one blue eye

He nodded again, biting his lower lip, and took his hand back from mine "Then it is true"

I took his hand back into both ofhis in my lap "I have already had this talk with Sholto I aamous, Rhys All the fathers of e, no matter how many crowns I wear"

Rhys looked not atof the sluagh He didhis queen alone, but our Merry was very firm with hilanced at Doyle, but his dark face was i away

"But once faerie has chosen a spouse, then " Rhys began

"I think we are going back to very old rules," Doyle said, "not the huo"

"The Seelie adopted human rules, but the Unseelie, it wasn&039;t about human rules," Rhys said

"No," Doyle said, "it was about our queen seeking an heir for her throne whodom At some level I think she has always known that her son was flawed I think that is one of the reasons she sought a second babe for herself so desperately"

Rhys held ht noant Merry on the throne"

"How did Prince Cel take that bit of news?" I asked

"Calmly," Rhys said

Doyle and I both stared at him "He was mad as a hatter e last saw hi ether," I said

"He was as calm as I&039;ve seen him in years," Rhys said

"That is bad," Doyle said

"Why is that bad?" I asked, trying to read his face in the dimness of the Humvee

Rhys answered, "Cel may be crazy, Merry, but he&039;s powerful, and he still has a lot of allies a the Unseelie His serene demeanor pleased the queen, which is probably what he wanted He doesn&039;t want to be bla happens to you"

"Onilould not have tried to kill me or Mistral without orders fro the Seelie traitors that you all killed He says that they must have offered Onilwyn a return to the Golden Court"

"The prince lies," I said

"Maybe, but it is plausible," Rhys said

"It ht even be true," Doyle said

I looked at him "Not you too?"

"Listen toto live to see the throne He also knew that you detested him personally What would his life have been like in the Unseelie Court with you as queen?"

I thought about what he&039;d said "I don&039;t knohat the Unseelie will be like after I&039;hts when I think I&039;ll never live to see the throne"

Doyle hugged me one-armed; Rhys squeezed my hands "We&039;ll keep you safe, Merry," Rhys said

"It is our job," Doyle said, with his uards are precious to me, and injury to you is like a wound to uards," Rhys said

I nodded, settling against the solid, muscled warmth of Doyle, and drew Rhys in closer I wrapped the that you be sent to the Unseelie Court for your own safety," Rhys said, his breath warm on my cheek

"What does the queen want me to do?" I asked

"I haven&039;t been inside the court, Merry Galen and I took Hettie back to her inn But as we rode toward it, other sidhe and lesser fey joined us They followed behind us, singing and dancing, and the white light of the horses flowed across all of them"

"It was a faerie radhe," Doyle said, and his voice held wonderh so I could study their faces "I knohat a faerie radhe is - when the sidhe used to go riding across the land Other sidhe would join with their horses and hounds, and lesser fey would be drawn to it, to march with us Even humans could be drawn into it sometimes"

"Yes," Doyle said

"But there has never been a faerie radhe on American soil," Rhys said "We lost our horses and our ability to call the folk to us"

He laid his lips againstthe highway, and cars passed us People took pictures with their cell phones, and they&039;re already up on the Internet Wein against him Doyle moved withwas a way of feeling better, and the ood to the them into their power"

"We had Seelie ere forced to join the wild hunt, too," I said

"The old powers return," Doyle said