Page 2 (1/2)

Chapter 3

When the door closed behind Jeffery Maison, I expected the two guards to argue with ht

"Far be it fromobjects to you breaking Maeve Reed’s exile?"

I winced at thehave the ability to hear everything said in daylight, the way the Queen hears after dark?"

Rhys looked puzzled at me "I don’t know"

"Then let’s not help hi her name out loud"

"I have never heard that Taranis has such a power," Doyle said

I turned in my chair to stare at him "Well, let’s hope not when you’ve just said his naht and Illusion forwas done in broad daylight Many of our human allies over the centuries have flatly refused to meet with the Unseelie after dark They seen we trusted them, and that they could trust us Taranis never seeht," Doyle said, head to one side, sending rainbows dancing through the room from the diamonds in his ears "I believe that he does not have our Queen’s gift Andaisspoken in the dark, but I believe that the king is as deaf as any human"

Anyone else I would have asked if he was sure, but Doyle never spoke unless he was certain If he didn’t know so, he’d say so There was no false pride in hi thousands of miles away," Rhys said "Fine, but please tell Merry what a bad idea this is"

"What is a bad idea?" Doyle asked

"Helping Maeve -- " Rhys glanced at me, then finished with, "the actress"

Doyle frowned "I don’t re exiled from either court"

I turned around in my chair and stared at hiht The glasses hid a great deal of his expression, but I was betting, glasses or no, he would have looked puzzled

I heard Rhys’s silk coat whispering as he walked across the floor toward us I glanced at him He raised his eyebrows at me We both looked at Doyle

"You don’t knoho she is, do you?" I asked

"The nanize it?"

"She’s been the reigning queen of Hollywood for over fifty years," Rhys said

Doyle just looked at us "People from this Hollywood have approached the Queen and the court over the years to come and make movies, or allow them to film movies of their lives"

"Have you ever actually seen a movie?" I asked

"I have seen lanced at Rhys "We have got to get all of them out to a movie"

Rhys half leaned, half sat on ht out"

Kitto plucked at the hem of my short skirt, and I moved ht fell full across his face For a second the light filled his al the solid sapphire blue orbs paler as if they ater and I could see down, down into the sparkling blue depths to a place where white light danced Then he closed his eyes, wincing against the brightness He buried his face against h, one s up "I don’t want to sss-ee ahis Ss badly, which meant he was upset Kitto worked very hard to talk norue, that’s not easy

I touched his head; his black curls were so soft, soft the way that a sidhe’s hair is soft, not the roughness of goblin hair "It’s dark in the theater," I said, stroking his hair "You could curl up on the floor beside ainst iant cat "Truly?" he asked

"Truly," I said

"You’ll like it," Rhys said "It’s dark and sometimes the floor is so dirty that it sticks to your feet when you walk on it"

"I’ll get oblin would worry about staying clean The goblinoblin, Rhys," I said

"Yeah, his father raped one of our woh all he could have seen was perhaps a pale hand or arm

"His mother was Seelie, not Unseelie," I said

"What does it matter? His father forced hih to scald

"And howwolanced at Doyle and could see nothing through the dark glasses I looked quickly at Rhys and saw a pale blush chase up his cheeks He glared at Doyle "I have never touched a woman who did not invite my attentions"

"Of course not, you are a member of the Queen’s Guard, her Ravens, and it is death by torture for one of her Ravens to touch any woman except for the Queen herself But what of the warriors who are not uards?"

Rhys looked away, his blush darkening to a bright, deep red

"Yes, look away, as we’ve all had to look away over the centuries," Doyle said

Rhys’s neck turned slowly, as if every ht he’d had a gun in his hands and he hadn’t been frightening Now, just sitting on the edge of ; even his hands were loose in his lap, just that terrible tension in his back, the set of his shoulders, the way he held himself as if he were a blink away fro that would rip the roolass with blood and thicker things Rhys had done nothing, nothing, yet violence rode the air like a kiss just above the skin, soh nothing had happened Not yet, not yet

I wanted to look behind me at Doyle, but I couldn’t turn away froaze kept him in check I knew that wasn’t true, but I felt that if I looked away, even for avery, very bad would happen

Kitto was pressed so close tohis body My hand was still on his curls, but I don’t think it was a co touch anymore, because I could feel the tension in my ar white and lu clouds -- moved not across his face but underneath the skin of his face The brilliant cornflower blue around his pupil glowed like neon; the sky blue that circled it was a match for the sunny sky outside; and the last circle of winter sky shilowed The colors didn’t swirl, and I knew they could His hair was still just white curls; the glow hadn’t spread to them I’d seen Rhys when his poas full upon him, and this wasn’t one of those tiht office and the man behind me

I both wanted to turn and see Doyle’s face, and didn’t I really didn’t want a full-out duel here and now, especially over so this stupid "Rhys," I said softly He didn’t look atorb was set on the ain, voicethe full weight of all that anger directed at me made me scoot the chair back The moment I realized what I’d done, I stopped myself! couldn’t take the movement back, but I could pretend I’d estupto keep hioblin was visible, Rhys’s angry gaze dropped down to that pale figure, dropped down and hardened

Kitto seeaze, because he wrapped his arhtly that I almost fell I had to recover my balance, a hand on the desktop, and Rhys threw hi for Kitto I felt Doyle stand behind me, but there was no tirabbed the front and back of his coat and used his own momentum to slide his The wall shuddered with the impact, and I had a second to wonder ould have happened if he’d hit the s instead I saw froun was out, but I was stillon h, and as Rhys ca his head, I pressed the tip of the blade against the side of his neck It would have been better if I could have pinned hi to s out from under me, but it was the best I could do in the tiuards recovered, and I’d had only seconds to do anything

Rhys froze, head down, breathing ragged I could feel the line of his body tense against s I was too close, so too close, but the blade was firive a little under the blade tip and knew I’d bloodied him I hadn’t meant to; I was just too rushed to be careful But he didn’t knoas an accident, and nothing convinces people you mean business like their own blood

"I’d hoped you would grow etting worse" My voice was soft, alh I didn’t trust what I ht do if I yelled In truth I could barely speak past the pulse in my throat

Rhys shifted his head, and I kept the point where it was, letting hiht I’d"Understand this, Rhys, Kitto is mine, as you are all er him"

His voice squeezed out, as if he was finally aware that I ht use the blade as it was oblin"

"I’d kill you for har hiht Doyle showedfrom my aunt and my father, it’s that a leader who is not respected by her people is just a figurehead I will not be so you fuck and cuddle I will be queen or I will be nothing to you" My voice had dropped down even lower, so that the last words were said in a hoarse whisper And I knew in thatRhys’s blood would gain me the power I needed, I’d kill him I’d known Rhys my entire life He was my lover, and on some level, my friend Yet I could kill hiret the necessity of having to do it, but I kne that I had to uards; I liked the ones I was sleeping with; I even half loved one or two, but there were precious few I’d want to see on the throne Absolute power, true life and death -- ould you trust with that kind of power? Which of the guards was incorruptible? Answer, none Everyone has their blind spots, the place where they are so sure of thehtness I trustedthat doubt would keep iven that kind of power and stay fair and just Maybe that old saying is true; power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely I’d do et a handle on the situation now, the guards would ride overelse I didn’t even really want the throne; but I wanted to rule, to rule and try to s better And, of course, that very desire was probably s of corruption To think I kneould be better for all the Unseelie How terribly arrogant

I started to laugh I laughed so hard, I had to sit down on the floor I held the bloody knife and watched the two guards gaze down atanyently, as if afraid of what I’d do I wrappeddown hter, and I simply cried I held Kitto and the bloody knife and cried

I was no better than the others Power corrupts -- of course it does That’s what it’s for I huddled on the floor and let Kitto rock ently, from my hand

Chapter 4

I ended up huddled in one ofof hot mint tea and my boss, Jeremy Grey I don’t knohat had alerted hih the door like a small, neat storm He’d ordered everyone out, and Doyle, of course, had argued that Jereuarantee my safety Jeremy had countered with, "Neither can any of you" The silence in the rooone without another word Rhys had folloith a handkerchief pressed to his neck, trying to keep any more blood spots off his white coat

Kitto had stayed because I was clinging to him, but I was calmer now Kitto merely sat atup and down the front of n of nervousness when a fey touched so Kitto’s hair in endless circles with ht We were even

Jere ner suit, perfectly tailored to his four-feet, eleven-inch fra and slender, with a rey, about five shades darker than his own skin His short, irey than his skin, but not by rey His smile was a brilliant white, the best caps money could buy, and matched the white dress shirt he’d chosen for the day The only thing that truly ruined his perfect modern profile was the nose He’d spent loads on his teeth, but left the rather long and beaky nose alone I’d never questioned it, but Teresa had She was only hu the fey a personal question is the worst insult To i about their physique is not appealing well, it just wasn’t done Jere the troas like large feet a humans Teresa had blushed and not asked any one over and rubbed his nose with h

He crossed his arold of his Rolex, and looked atthe fey it was i hysterics Hell, so hysterics at all Usually that was for ruling royalty, though Everyone had to pretend that the king or queen wasn’t bug nuts Mustn’t ade

He took a deep breath, let it out, and then sighed "As your boss, I need to know if you’re up to the rest of your appoint rong, without actually asking

I nodded, raising the tea up to my face, not to drink, but just to breathe in the sweet scent of pepperled "I’ll be okay, Jeremy"

He raised eyebrows that I happened to know he had plucked and shaped Apparently trow have that bushy-eyebrow-across-the-entire-head thing going The beetle-browed Neanderthal look just doesn’t go with Armani suits and Gucci loafers

I could have just left it at that, and by our culture he’d have had to accept o But Jere before he kneas Princess anything He’d givena real live faerie princess on staff brought in business galore In fact, the e had made lae my appearance Most of the reporters who specialized in tracking the fey had solamour, then it dissolved Sometimes just for that reporter, but solaht That was a very, very bad thing in thethe huh to think I owed Jeremy an explanation "I don’t exactly knohat happened, Jererab for Kitto, and I threw him into the wall"

Jere, or polite

I frowned at hiht class as they are, Jereh a car door and not break a bone"

"Your guards could probably lift the car up and drop it on soer than they look"

He gave a sh "You, h as you are"

"I return the co

He s that expensive smile "Yes, I have surprised a few hues "If you had just told me to mind my own business, I’d have done it, but you volunteered infor to ask some questions Just tell me if you don’t want to answer"

I nodded "I started it, Jereet blood on his coat fro him into a wall"

"That’s not a question," I said

He shrugged "How did he get bloodied?"

"A knife"

"Doyle?"

I shook my head "I cut Rhys"

"Because he tried to hurt Kitto?"

I nodded, but I aze with one of ht If I don’t gain their respect, Jereain the throne, but I will be queen in name only I don’t want to risk my life and the lives of people I care about just to be sourehead"

"So you cut Rhys up to prove a point?"

"Partly And partly, I just reacted, didn’t think He was trying to hurt Kitto over soiven Rhys any reason to hate hioblins, Merry"

"Kitto is a goblin, Jeree that"

Jeremy nodded "No, he can’t"

We looked at each other "What a to do?"

"You don’tlook, and I had to look down, but that aze Everywhere I looked, people were expecting so of me Kitto wanted me to take care of him Jereht I had their respect back in Illinois, but it’s as if soed over the last three months"

"What?" he asked

I shook my head "I don’t know"

Kitto raised his head, which slid my hand to the warm curve of his neck "Doyle," he said softly