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Chapter Thirty-Three

The hu the s, sides, and roof "The prince and his people must still be in the road," Rhys said, "or they&039;d befaster"

"Have Mistral tell us who else is with Cel besides the captain of the guard," Doyle said

I conveyed the request to Gregorio She looked like she would argue, but he gave her the full force of his gaze His face ht and the car, but so about what she saw made her pick up the radio and do what he asked

The answer came back as a list of the people who had backed Cel for centuries But the croasn&039;t as large as I&039;d thought I, which didn&039;tUnseelie were on my side It simply ht was that Siobhan was aluard he had left We&039;d discovered that the guards, un their careers as uard, had not been asked if they wished to serve Cel They had been forced, and no oath of allegiance had been given by most of them Which al by our laws

To join the guard of our royalty, you had to choose, and bind yourself with oaths That Cel had stolen their freedoorio watched our faces as she relayed the na from Doyle or Rhys, she&039;d been mistaken I think I just looked tired

"The Queen uard a choice," Doyle said

"The choice they should have had fro," Rhys said

"Yes," he said

"What do you orio asked

"Prince Cel took over the personal guard of Prince Essus, Princess Meredith&039;s father, after his death By our laws, the guard should have had a choice to either follow the new prince or leave the royal service, but Prince Cel gave them no choice The princess found this out recently, and petitioned the queen to give the prince&039;s guard that choice"

"So they all bailed on hiorio asked

"So it would see to ambush us," Rhys said

"That too is very possible"

"Couldn&039;t you sense if there were thatin the woods?" I asked

"Not inside this y"

"We&039;re almost head-blind, Merry It doesn&039;t kill us to be inside this much ic, a lot," Rhys said

"If there are other guards hiding in the woods, would it explain why Cel isn&039;t attacking?" I asked I huddled inout the s, trying to see what lay ahead

"It orio took it upon herself to hit the radio again "The prince has a lot ht want to check the woods and see what&039;s there"

A er that"

"So it&039;s either a trap," Rhys said, "or he&039;s waiting for the truck with us in it We&039;re his targets, after all"

"He ishis attack for us," Doyle said, "but as we cannot work ic upon us while we are surrounded by thisthat we should let theic at us, and the trucks will take care of it?"

Doyle and Rhys exchanged a look, then Rhys nodded and shrugged Doyle answered "Theas your people stay inside them, they should be untouchable"

I turned in Doyle&039;s arh dark on dark, I could see little of his expression Of course, when he didn&039;t wish ht wouldn&039;t have cluedthat we are coorio asked

Doyle stirred beside ainst hiain in that worry-stone way, over and over

"Either they can work ic inside here or they cannot," I said

"It is not that simple," Doyle said at last

"Well, since the Hu to be close to theest you make it simple"

He smiled "Spoken in the tone of a queen"

"I&039; on Dawson and me to keep them safe"

I shook my head "Take the tone any way you like, Doyle, but you&039;re both hiding so froic from his hand or the others can touch us in here He may not know that, but we are safe inside the trucks"

"I hear a &039;but&039; in your voice"

He ss that can pierce the metal"

"Remember, Merry, our people didn&039;t use armor once, for obvious reasons, but we ran into enes that would go throughago," Doyle said "They are locked aith the few other ive him permission to open the vault of weapons," I said

"She would, which , but I do not like the fact that he and his followers are in the s from us"

Rhys said, "The queen would never permit him to appear weak or evil in front of the hu and hard to make the Unseelie Court&039;s reputation better to let Cel ruin it now It&039;s the one thing she&039;s never allowed hi anyone else in front of the badly," I said "Exactly," he said

"Where is Queen Andais?" I asked

"Where indeed," Doyle said, and he ain, as if the seat wasn&039;t quite comfortable It wasn&039;t, but it wasn&039;t the seat that was bothering him Doyle could sleep on a marble floor and not flinch

"You&039;re afraid for her," I said

"One thing she accused you of, my sweet Merry, is very true You have stripped her of all the best and uard She retained her position, in part, because of "

"You," I finished for him

"Not only me"

I nodded "You can say his na Frost"

"It upsets you to hear his name"

"It does, but that doesn&039;t mean we don&039;t say it"

"It would if you were Queen Andais," Rhys said

"I a too modest," Rhys said "Yes, Frost was feared by the queen&039;s enemies, but it was fear of the Queen&039;s Darkness that kept a lot of courtiers in line"

"You exaggerate," Doyle said

I shook my head "I&039;m not sure he does I&039;ve heard people talk about you, Doyle I know that the queen would say, &039;Bring me my Darkness Where is reatest threat, next to the sluagh"

"Are you saying that Captain Doyle here is as feared as the host of the sluagh?" Gregorio asked

We all looked at her I said, "Yes"

"One htmares," she said, and didn&039;t try to keep her disbelief out of her voice

"He can be pretty scary all on his own," Rhys said

Gregorio stared at Doyle, as if trying to see eant Dawson that the ic will be stopped by the trucks?" I asked

"I&039;ll tell hiot on the radio

Rhys said, "Soh to lure the soldiers outside the trucks"

"What kind of illusions?" I asked

Voices came over the radio, frantic "Sierra four to all Sierra, we have wounded soldiers in line of travel Stopping to render aid"

"Those kind," Doyle said

"Tell theet out of the trucks no orio tried, she really did, but one thing our soldiers are not trained to do is leave their wounded behind It was a brilliant trap The soldiers went to check the wounded, and once they left the trucks, the sidhe attacked, and no huic could stop them

Chapter Thirty-Four