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"Every brownie on American soil came out to receive Hettie They took her from us, and keened for her"

"I should have been there," I said

Rhys huggedasked where you were Galen told her that you were hunting down the people responsible for your Gran&039;s death Meg was content with that, and so were the other brownies She asked only if the murderer was sidhe"

Rhys did kiss the side of my face then "We said yes"

Doyle reached out and touched the otherhis arm, as if he too heard the pain in Rhys&039;s voice Rhys continued "Another broho I don&039;t know by name asked, &039;The princess will kill a sidhe for the murder of a brownie?&039; Galen said yes That really pleased therandoblin, I would have sought vengeance for her"

He kissed ently "I know that, but the lesser folk are not used to being thought of as equal to the sidhe, not in any way"

"I think that is about to change," I said

They heldtoo wariveroom when the radio crackled to life, and Dawson&039;s voice ca in thethem over"

Rhys whispered, "If we said run them over, would that be bad?"

"Until we knoho it is, probably," Doyle said

"Who is it?" I asked

Specialist Gregorio relayed my question

"Galen Greenhair says one is Prince Cel and the other is the captain of his guard, Siobhan"

"Not good," Rhys said

"I don&039;t know," Doyle said "I&039;ve wanted to kill Siobhan for years"

I studied his face, and found a hint of a smile "You&039;re pleased," I said

"I am the queen&039;s assassin, and a warrior of reatest killers of our court because I didn&039;t enjoy ht about that as he heldthe killing I didn&039;t like the thought much, but if he was a sociopathic killer, then he was hter them both if it would save us No, more than that, I knew that eventually Cel and Siobhan had to die for ood a tih excuse to justify it later to the queen

I sat there, with ht, utterly calht, we should probably do it Maybe I shouldn&039;t be pointing fingers at Doyle&039;s inner moral compass when mine seeorio spoke into her radio, and relayed the response to us "The prince says he wants Princess Meredith to return with him to the Unseelie Court so they can protect her," she said "Say again Sierra four"

She turned in her seat to look at me "He says he wants to take you back to the court so they can crown you queen Isn&039;t he the competitor for that crown?"

"Yes," I said

She raised an eyebrow at ave oing to give up?"

"We don&039;t believe it either," Rhys said

Her eyes flicked to him, but came back to settle on ain Dawson&039;s voice ca"

Specialist Gregorio turned back to me "The prince says that now that you&039;re with child, he&039;ll concede the throne, because it&039;s best for the kingdom" She didn&039;t even try to keep her disbelief out of her voice

"Tell hieles"

She relayed the information Dawson&039;s ansas quick "Prince Cel says he can&039;t allow you to leave faerie carrying the heirs to the Unseelie throne"

"I&039;ll just bet he can&039;t," Rhys said

"He and his people are blocking the road We can&039;t run theorio said

"Can we drive past theot back on the radio The answer: "We can try"

"Let us try," Doyle said

Gregorio said, "Princess, permission to speak freely?"

I smiled "I didn&039;t think you needed my permission, but if you do, you have it"

"How stupid does this Cel think you are? No one would believe this shit"

"I don&039;t think he believes the princess is stupid," Doyle said "I believe that the prince is deluding hio with hiht him?"

"I believe that is his plan," Doyle said

"You&039;d have to be crazy to believe that," Gregorio said

"You would," Doyle said

The woone blank You&039;re trying not to let , but your blank faces say it all You think he&039;s crazy, as in certifiable"

"I do not knohat certifiable h to be committed to a hospital," Rhys said

"He is a prince of faerie Such personages are not committed to insane asylums," Doyle said

"Then what do you do with them?" she asked

"They tend to die," he said, and even in the darkened car I could see that hint of a sorio didn&039;t suys"

"I didn&039;t call you in to do our killing for us," I said

"Why did you call us in, Princess?"

"To get orio You saw the Seelie siht that no one would be willing to confront the A," she said

"And for that, I aan to ainst tree limbs, but since the Humvee was supposed to be able to stand up to artillery fire, a few branches wouldn&039;t faze it The trick ould Cel and Siobhan simply let us drive away? How crazy was he, and where was Queen Andais, and asn&039;t she keeping a better leash on her son?