Лорел Гамильтон - A Lick Of Frost

I was pretty sure that you didn't get to be assistant district attorney in Los Angeles by letting men call you pretty girl. But if Nelson had a problem with it, she didn't say so. She looked besotted with him, drunk with his attention.

Abe came to join us in our huddled group. Galen trailed behind him, looking puzzled. It was Abe who leaned in and whispered, "There is some magic here that is not merely light and illusion. If it were almost anyone else, I would say that he has added love magic to his bag of tricks."

Doyle drew Abe closer to us all, and whispered, "A spell powerful enough that it is affecting Ms. Nelson."

They all agreed.

We hadn't meant to ignore Taranis, but he was so terribly busy flirting with Nelson that it was easy to forget that just because a king is ignoring you doesn't mean that you are allowed to ignore the king.

"I did not come here to be insulted," he said in that thundery voice. Once it would have impressed me, but I'd been intimate with Mistral. He was a storm god, too, but one who could make lightning pour down a hallway inside the faerie mound. Taranis's rumbly voice just couldn't compare to Mistral. In fact, as the men parted so that I could see my uncle more clearly, he looked a little overdone, like a man who's overdressed for a date.

I looked at the men clustered around me, and realized that all of them had touched me, Rhys wrapped around my waist and side; Frost on the other side, arm a little higher; Doyle with his strong dark hands on my face; Abe with his hand on my shoulder so he could lean in and not fall (even sober his balance seemed shaky sometimes). Galen had touched me because he always touched me when he could. It was as if I'd reached a critical mass of touch. I could think. I was no longer besotted like the good Miss Nelson. Once I'd thought that Andais appearing on the mirror calls draped in men had a been a way to taunt and shock Taranis and his court. In only two mirror calls of my very own, I'd learned that there was a method to her madness. For me, either five was the magic number or the mix of these five men's powers was what works. Either way, it was going to be a different phone call than it would have been if Taranis's spell had worked on me. Interesting.

"Meredith," Taranis called. "Meredith, look upon me."

I knew that there was power to that voice. I felt it as one would sense the ocean. Whispering and close. But I was no longer standing in the water. I was no longer in danger of drowning in that voice.

"I see you, Uncle Taranis. I see you very well," I said, and my voice was strong and firm, and caused the arch of a perfect sunset-colored eyebrow to raise.

"I can barely see you through the crowd of your men," he said. There was a tone to his voice that I couldn't discern. Anxiety, anger; something unpleasant.

Doyle, Galen, and Abe began to move away from me. Even Frost started to pull away. Only Rhys stayed wedded to my side. The moment their hands fell away, Taranis was edged with light.

"Stay where you are, my men," I said. "I am your princess. He is not your king."

The men hesitated. Doyle moved back to me first, and the rest followed his lead. I put his hand to my face, and tried to tell him with my eyes what was happening. The spell was aimed so surely at me, like an arrow for my mind alone. How could I explain to them without words, what was happening?

Rhys settled himself more firmly around my waist, tucking me close, leaving just enough room for Frost's arm to slide back across my shoulders. Abe went to stand behind me, placing a hand on my shoulder closest to Rhys. Galen joined him, and though clearly puzzled, added his hand to my other shoulder closer to Frost. I gave the hand that wasn't wrapped around Rhys's waist to Doyle. The moment they were all touching me, even through clothing, the light around the king was gone. Taranis was handsome, but that was all.

"Meredith," Taranis said, "how can you insult me like this? These men attacked a lady of my court, savaged her. Yet you stand there with them… touching you, as if they are your court favorites."

"But, uncle, they are some of my favorites."

"Meredith," he said, and he sounded shocked, like an elderly relative who just heard you say «fuck» for the first time.

Biggs and Shelby both tried to move in and smooth things over. I think the reason the lawyers hadn't interfered more before was that even the men were getting a side swipe of the spell that Taranis had brought to this meeting. Either he had brought this magic for some specific purpose or he always held this magic when dealing with Queen Andais, and now me. I had not been able to sense it when we last spoke to Taranis. But then, neither had Doyle, or any of the other men. It wasn't just me who had grown in power from our few days in faerie. The Goddess had been a very busy deity. We had all been changed by her touch, and by the touch of her consort, the God.

"I will not speak of this matter in front of the monsters that savaged a woman of my court." Taranis's voice rolled through the room like the whisper of a storm. The humans all reacted as if it were more than a whisper. I was safe behind the hands of my men from whatever Taranis was trying to do.

Shelby turned to us. "I think it's a reasonable request to have the three accused wait outside while we talk to the king."

"No," I said.

"Princess Meredith," Shelby said, "you're being unreasonable."

"Mr. Shelby, you're being magically manipulated," I said, smiling at him.

He frowned at me. "I don't understand what you mean by that."

"I know you don't," I said. I turned to Taranis. "What you are doing to them is illegal by human law. The very law you have appealed to for aid."

"I have not asked for human aid," he said.

"You accused my men under human law."

"I petitioned Queen Andais for justice, but she refused to acknowledge my right to judge her Unseelie sidhe."

"You rule the Seelie Court," I said, "not the Unseelie."

"So your queen made clear to me."

"So when Queen Andais denied your request at her court, you turned to the humans."

"I appealed to you, Meredith, but you would not even answer my calls."

"Queen Andais advised me against it, and she is my queen and my father's sister. I heeded her advice." It had actually been more of an order. She'd said that whatever evil Taranis had planned I should avoid him. When someone as powerful as Andais says to avoid someone for fear of what they will do, I listen. I had not been so arrogant as to believe that Taranis's entire purpose was to simply have me talk to him on a mirror call. Andais had not believed that it was his purpose either, but now, today, I was beginning to wonder. I could think of nothing I could offer him that would make this much effort worthwhile.

"But now, because of human law, you must speak to me," he said.

Biggs said, "The princess agreed to this meeting out of courtesy. She was not compelled to be here."

Taranis's eyes never even moved to look at the lawyer. "But you are here, now, and you are more beautiful than I remember. I was very lax in my attentions to you, Meredith."

I laughed, and it was a harsh sound. "Oh, no, Uncle Taranis, I think you were quite thorough in your attentions to me. Almost more thorough than my mortal body could endure."

Doyle, Rhys, and Frost all tensed against me. I knew what they meant by it: have a care, don't give away court secrets in front of the humans. But Taranis had begun it, dragging us out before the humans. I was only following his lead.

"Will you never forget that one moment in your childhood?"

"You nearly beat me to death, Uncle. I am not likely to forget it."

"I did not understand how fragile your body was, Meredith, or I would never have touched you so."