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Chapter 1

Moonlight silvered the roorey, white, and black The two men in the bed were deeply asleep So deeply that when I’d crawled out frolohite with the kiss of ht The pure bloodred of my hair looked black I’d pulled on a silk robe, because it was chilly People can talk about sunny California, but in the wee hours of the night, when dawn is but a distant dreaht that fell like a soft blessing through ht If I’d been home in Illinois, there would have been the sue Cold enough to sear the lungs So cold it was like breathing icy fire That was the way air was supposed to taste in early Deceh theatof eucalyptus and the distant s else, that indefinable scent that says ocean, not lake, nothing usable, nothing drinkable You can die of thirst on the shores of an ocean

For three years I’d stood on the shores of this particular ocean and died a little bit every day Not literally -- I’d have survived -- but et pretty lonely I’d been born Princess Meredith NicEssus, a h court of faerie I was a real-life faerie princess, the only one ever born on Ao, theElven As I’d been spotted all around the world In reality I’d been in Los Angeles the entire time I’d hidden myself, been just plain Meredith Gentry, Merry tofor the Grey Detective Agency, where we specialized in supernatural probleend says that a fey exiled from faerie ither and fade, die That’s both true and untrue I have enough hu surrounded by y doesn’t bother me Some of the lesser fey would literally wither and die in a e in a city; they may not be happy, but they can survive But part of them does wither, that part that knows that not all the butterflies you see are actually butterflies That part that has seen the night sky filled with a rushing of wings like a hurricane wind, wings of flesh and scale to ons and demons; that part that has seen the sidhe ride by on horses ins to die

I hadn’t been exiled; I’d fled, because I couldn’t survive the assassination atteic or the political clout to protectelse I’d lost the touch of faerie I’d loston my sill with the smell of the Pacific Ocean on the air, I looked down at the two h-court sidhe, Unseelie sidhe, part of that darkling throng that I ht someday rule if I could stay ahead of the assassins Rhys lay on his sto off the bed, the other lost under his pillow Even in repose that one visible ar fall of white curls caressing his bare shoulders, trailing down the strong line of his back The right side of his face was pressed to the pillow, and so I couldn’t see the scars where his eye had been taken His cupid-bowin his sleep He was boyishly handsome and would be forever

Nicca lay curled on his side Awake, his face was handsoelic child Innocent he looked, fragile Even his body was softer, less h from sword practice, and there was muscle under the velvet suards, more courtier than mercenary The face did, and did not, , long legs; his slender waist and long, graceful arth Most of Nicca was shades of brown His skin was the color of pale ht fall to his knees was a rich, dark true brown Not brunette, but the color of fresh turned leaves that had lain a long, long time on the forest floor until when stirred they were a rich, e your hands into and co of new life

In the moonlit dark I couldn’t see his back, or even the tops of his shoulders clearly Most of hiest surprise His father had been so not sidhe but still fey Genetics had traced his back ings like a giant tattoo, except more vibrant, more alive than any ink or paint could make it From his upper shoulders down his back across his buttocks flowing over his thighs to touch the backs of his knees was a play of color: buff brown, yellow tans, circles of blue and pink and black like eyespots on the wings of a moth

He rested in the dark drained of color so that he and Rhys were like two shadorapped in the bed, one pale, one dark, though there were darker things to be had than Nicca, much darker

The bedroom door opened soundlessly, and as if I’d conjured hihts, Doyle eased into the room He shut the door behind him, as soundlessly as he’d opened it I never understood how he did that If I’d opened the door, it would have made noise But when Doyle wanted to, he htless, undetectable until you realized the light was gone and you were alone in the dark with so you couldn’t see His nickname was the Queen’s Darkness, or simply Darkness The Queen would say, "Where isme my Darkness," and this ely, he was my Darkness

Nicca was brown, but Doyle was black Not the black of huht sky He didn’t vanish in the darkened room, because he was darker than thetoward me His black jeans and black T-shirt fit his body like a second skin I’d never seen hi that wasn’t monochromatic except jewelry and blades Even his shoulder holster and gun were black

I pushed away froliding at the foot of the king-size bed, because there was barely room to squeeze between the bed and the closet doors It was i the ithout brushing the bed He was over a foot taller than I was and probably outweighed me by a hundred pounds, most of it muscle I’d have bumped into the bed a half-dozen tih the narrow space as if anybody should have been able to do it

The bed took up most of the bedroom, so when Doyle finally reached ed to keep a fraction of distance so that not even our clothing brushed It was an artificial distance It would have been more natural to touch, and the very fact that he worked so hard not to touch me made it thewith Doyle about his distance When questioned, he only said, "I want to be special to you, not just one of theThe light was stronger here by the , and I could see soh cheekbones, the too-sharp chin, the curved points to his ears, and the silver gleae all the way to the small hoops in the very pointed tops Only the pointed ears betrayed that he was a mixed-blood like myself, like Nicca He could have hidden the ears with all that hair, but he almost never did His raven black hair was as it usually was, in a tight braid that made his hair looked clipped and short fro to his ankles

He whispered, "I heard so" His voice was always low and dark like thick candied liqueur for the ear instead of the tongue

I stared up at hiave that twitch that was the closest he usually came to a smile "You"

I shook uards in bed with h?" I whispered back

"They are goodyou don’t trust anyone but you to keep me safe?" Our voices sounded quiet, peaceful al children It was co to know that Doyle was this alert He was one of the greatest warriors of all the sidhe It was good to have him on my side

"Frost perhaps," he said

I shook h to tickle the tops of my shoulders "The Queen’s Ravens are the finest warriors that faerie has to offer, and you say no one is your equal You arrogant"

He didn’t sotoo close for that -- he h that the helinted off the short necklace he alore, a tiny jeweled spider hanging from the delicate silver chain He bent his face down so that his breath pushed against my face "I could kill you before either of them knehat had happened"

The threat sped my pulse faster I kneouldn’t harm me I knew it, and yet and yet I’d seen Doyle kill with his hands before, eic Standing, touching in the intimate darkness, I knew beyond certainty that if he wished uards behind ht, but there were other things to do when pressed together in the dark, things that could distract or disarm as well or better than a blade I turned minutely toward him so that my face was pressed into the curve of his neck; ainst his skin as I spoke I felt his pulse speed pressed against my cheek "You don’t want to hurt me, Doyle"

His lower lip brushed the curve of my ear, almost but not quite a kiss "I could kill all three of you"

There was a sharpcocked It was loud enough in the stillness that I jumped

"I don’t think you could kill all three of us," Rhys said His voice was clear, precise, no hint of sleep in it He was siun at Doyle’s back, or at least I assu I couldn’t see around the bulk of Doyle’s body; and Doyle, as far as I knew, didn’t have eyes in the back of his head, so he had to guess what Rhys was doing, too

"A double-action handgun doesn’t need to be cocked to fire, Rhys," Doyle said, voice calm, even amused But I couldn’t see his face to see if his expression matched his tone; we’d both frozen in our almost embrace

"I know," Rhys said, "a little melodramatic, but you knohat they say: One scary sound is worth a thousand threats"

I spoke,the warm skin of Doyle’s neck "They don’t say that" Doyle hadn’tin motion that I couldn’t stop I didn’t want any accidents tonight

"They should," Rhys said

The bed creaked behind us "I have a gun pointed at your head, Doyle" It was Nicca’s voice But not calether Rhys’s voice had held no fear; Nicca’s held enough for both of theun was trained nice and steady, the finger already on the trigger After all, Doyle had trained him

I felt the tension leave Doyle’s body, and he raised his face just enough so that he was no longer speaking into my skin "Perhaps I couldn’t slay you all, but I could kill the princess before you could killThe Queen would hurt you htered"

I could see his face now Even byathis ainst the wall, but he paid no attention to the small movement I put a hand in the hter, but there really wasn’t rooo anywhere but on the bed

"Stop it, all of you," I said, and I lared up at Doyle "Get away fro just his neck for there wasn’t roo more formal, then he backed up, hands out to his sides to show hiuards He ended between the bed and the ith no rooun pointed one-handed as he followed Doyle’son the far side of the bed, gun held two-handed in a standard shooter’s stance They were still treating Doyle like a threat, and I was tired of it

"I aames, Doyle Either you trust your men to keep me safe, or you don’t If you don’t, then find other men, or make sure you or Frost are alith me But stop this"

"If I had been one of our eneh your death"

"I ake," said Rhys, "but truthfully I thought you’d finally coainst the wall"

Doyle frowned at hi that crude"

"If you want her, Doyle, then just say so Toht can be your turn I think we’d all step aside for an evening if you’d break your fast" The auzy patch where his right eye should have been

"Put up your guns," I said

They looked at Doyle for confiruns I am the princess here, heir to the throne He’s the captain of , you will, by Goddess, do it"

They still looked at Doyle He gave the set out"

Doyle shook his head "I don’t think that would be wise, Princess"

Usually I tried to get them all to call me Meredith, but I had invoked my status I couldn’t take it back in the next sentence "So , is that it?"

Doyle’s expression was neutral, careful Rhys and Nicca had put up their guns, but neither one wasmy eyes "Princess, you must have at least one of us with you at all times Our enemies arepersistent"

"Prince Cel will be executed if his people try to killpunished for the last time he tried to kill me We have six months’ reprieve"

Doyle shook his head

I looked at the three of them, all handsome, even beautiful in their oays, and suddenly I wanted to be alone Alone to think, alone to figure out exactly whose orders they were taking, ht it was mine, but suddenly I wasn’t so sure

I looked at theaze, but Nicca still wouldn’t "You won’t take my orders, will you?"

"Our first duty is to keep you safe, Princess, and only second to keep you happy," Doyle said

"What do you want from me, Doyle? I’ve offered you my bed, and you’ve refused"

He opened his mouth, started to speak, but I held a hand up "No, I don’t want to hear anyto be the last of etsto sidhe tradition that person will be amous after that You’ll have missed your chance to break a thousand years of forced celibacy You haven’t given h for that kind of risk" I foldedmy breasts "Speak truth to me, Doyle, or stay out of er showed through "Fine, you want truth, then look at your "

I frowned at hiauzy white drapes ed, arht "So?"

"You are a princess of the sidhe Look with more than your eyes"

I took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and tried not to respond to the heat in his words Getting angry at Doyle never see I was a princess, but that didn’t give me ic, as drop the shields I had to put in place so that I wouldn’t travel through hts Hu s, other realities I was a part of faerie, and that ic, not noticing the passing rush of other beings, other realities that had very little to do with ic, and without shields in place I could have drowned in the everyday rush of the supernatural that plays over the earth every day

I dropped the shields and looked with that part of the brain that sees visions and allows you to see dreae in perception, but suddenly I could see better in the dark, and I could see the glowing power of the wards on the , the walls And in all that glowing power I saw soainst theWhen Iwas on thebut the play of pale color froht, lass There, a small handprint, smaller than the palm of my hand, was etched into the wards on theI tried to look closer at it, and it vanished froain, but closer The handprint was clawed and humanoid, but not hu around "So tried the wards while we slept"

"Yes," Doyle said

"I didn’t feel anything," Rhys said

Nicca said, "Me, either"

Rhys sighed "We have failed you, Princess Doyle’s right We could have gotten you killed"

I turned and looked at the of the wards?"

"I came in here to check on you"

I shook my head "No, that’s not what I asked When did you sense that so had tested the wards?"

He faced me, bold "I’ve told you, Princess, only I can keep you safe"

I shook ood, Doyle The sidhe never lie, not outright, and you’ve avoided answering my question twice Answerhad tested the wards?"

He looked half-unco in your ear"

"You saw it through the drapes," I said

"Yes" One clipped, angry word

Rhys said, "You didn’t know that anything tried to get in You just ca around"

Doyle didn’t answer, but he didn’t need to The silence was answer enough

"These wards are , Doyle I put them up when I moved in to this apartic,out My power that burned it so that we have its fingerprints"

"Your wards held because it was a set through any ward you could put in place"

"Maybe, but the point is that you didn’t know any more than we did You were just as in the dark as ere"

"You’re not infallible," Rhys said "Nice to know"

"Is it?" Doyle said "Is it really? Then think on this -- tonight none of us knew that soet in None of us sensed it Ithelp to hide this completely"

I stared at hiht, by trying to take ain"

"Princess, don’t you understand the Unseelie Court by now? Cel was the Queen’s darling, her only heir for centuries Once she made you coheir with him, he fell out of favor Whichever one of you produces a child first will rule the court, but what happens if both of you die? What happens if you are assassinated by Cel’s people and the Queen is forced to execute Cel for his treachery? She’s suddenly without heir"

"The Queen is ireed to step down only for Merry or Cel"

"And if someone can plot the death of both Prince Cel and Princess Meredith, do you really think they will stop at the death of a Queen?"