Лорел Гамильтон - A Caress Of Twilight

I let the anger show on my face. "And you no longer seem to know what yours is, Hedwick."

"You truly are refusing the king's command?" Astonishment showed through his voice, his face, his posture.

"Yes, because he is not my king, and cannot command anyone outside his own kingdom."

"Are you saying you renounce all titles that you hold in the Seelie Court?"

Doyle touched my arm, made me look at him. His gaze said, careful here.

"No, Hedwick, and for you to say such a thing is deliberately insulting. You are a minor functionary, a message carrier, nothing more."

"I am the king's social secretary," he said, trying to pull himself up to every inch of his small height, even though he was sitting down.

"You carry messages to lesser fey and to humans of no great account. All the important invitations go through Rosmerta, and you know it. Sending his invitation through you and not her was an insult."

"You do not merit the attentions of the Duchess Rosmerta."

I shook my head. "Your message is incomplete, Hedwick. You'd best go back to your master and learn a new one. One that has a chance of being well received."

I nodded at Doyle. He stood and blanked the mirror in the middle of Hedwick's sputtering. Doyle smiled, almost grinned at me. "Well done."

"You just insulted the King of Light and Illusion," Rhys said. He looked pale.

"No, Rhys, he insulted me, and more than that. If I had accepted such a command from Taranis, it could have been interpreted that when I gain the Unseelie throne, I would acknowledge him as high king over the Unseelie as well as the Seelie."

"Could it have been the secretary's error?" Frost asked. "Could he simply have used the same words with you as everyone on his list?"

"Perhaps, but if so, it was still an insult."

"Insult, maybe. But, Merry, we can swallow a few insults to stay out of the king's bad graces," Rhys said. He sat down on the far end of the bed as if his knees were weak.

"No, we cannot," Doyle said.

We all looked at him. "Don't you see, Rhys? Merry will rule Taranis's rival kingdom. She must set the rules now, or he will forever treat her as less. For the sake of all of us, she must not appear weak."

"What will the king do?" Frost asked.

Doyle looked at him, and they had one of those long looks. "In absolute truth, I do not know."

"Has anyone ever defied him like this?" Frost asked.

"I don't know," Doyle said.

"No," I said.

They looked at me.

"Just as you walk around Andais like she's a snake about to strike, you tiptoe around Taranis the same way."

"He does not seem as frightening as the queen," Frost said.

I shrugged, and it hurt, so I stopped. "He's like a big spoiled child who's had his own way for far too long. If he doesn't get what he wants, he throws tantrums. The servants and lackeys live in fear of those tantrums. He's been known to accidentally kill in one of his rages. Sometimes he's sorry, sometimes he's not."

"And you just threw a steel gauntlet into his face," Rhys said, staring at me from the end of the bed.

"One thing I always noticed about Taranis's temper was that it never struck out at anyone powerful. If he was in this uncontrollable rage, then why was it always directed at people who were powerless to fight back? Always, his victims were either magically inferior, or politically inferior, or people with no strong allies among the sidhe." I shook my head. "No, Rhys, he always knows who he's lashing out at. It's not mindless. He won't hurt me, because I stood my ground. He'll respect me, and maybe begin to worry about me."

"Worry about you?" Rhys asked.

"He fears Andais — and even Cel, because Cel's crazy and Taranis isn't sure what he'll do once he's got the throne. Taranis was probably thinking he could control me. Now he'll begin to wonder."

"It is interesting that this invitation comes after we have spoken to Maeve Reed," Doyle said.

I nodded. "Yes, isn't it."

The three of them exchanged glances. Kitto just stayed wound around me, quieter now. "I do not think it would be wise for Meredith to attend this ball," Frost said.

"I agree," Doyle said.

"Unanimous," Rhys said.

I looked at them. "I don't intend to go. But why are you all looking so serious?"

Doyle sat down on the far side of me, forcing Kitto to scoot back a little. "Is Taranis as good a political thinker as you are?"

I frowned. "I don't know. Why?"

"Will he think you refused for the true reasons, or will he wonder if you refused because of something Maeve said to you?"

I still hadn't told them Maeve's secret, and they had not asked. They probably assumed that she had made me give my word not to tell them, which she hadn't. The reason I hadn't shared it was because it was the kind of knowledge that could get you killed. And now, suddenly, out of the blue, was the invitation to court. Shit.

I looked at Doyle and the others. Frost had moved over to lean against the dresser, arms crossed. Rhys was still on the bed. Kitto curled against me. I looked at each in turn.

"I wasn't going to tell you what Maeve told me, because it's dangerous information. I thought we'd just avoid the Seelie Court altogether, and it wouldn't matter. Taranis hasn't sent me an invitation to anything for years. But if we are going to have to deal with him, then you need to know."

I told them why Maeve had been exiled. Rhys just put his head in his hands and said nothing. Frost stared. Even Doyle was speechless. It was Kitto who said it. "Taranis has condemned his people."

"If he is truly infertile, then, yes, he has doomed them all to death as a people," Doyle said.

"Their magic dies because their king is sterile, dead soil," Frost said.

"It is what I believe Andais fears for the Unseelie. But she has borne one child, and Taranis has always been childless."

"So that's why she's so interested in Cel or me breeding," I said.

Doyle nodded. "I believe so, though she has kept her own counsel on her exact motives in pitting you and Cel against each other."

"Taranis will kill us all." Rhys's voice was quiet, but very certain.

We all looked at him. It was beginning to feel like a very confused tennis match, looking from person to person.

He raised his face from his hands. "He has to kill everyone who knows he's sterile. If the other Seelie find out that he's condemned them, they will demand he make the great sacrifice and his blood will be spread to recover their fertility."

Looking into Rhys's bleak face, it was hard to argue, especially since I'd thought the same thing.

"Then why is Maeve Reed alive and well?" Frost asked. "Julian has told us there have been no attempts on her life, none whatsoever."

"I can't explain it," Rhys said. "Maybe it's because she has no way to tell anyone else in faerie. We've met with her, but she can't talk to anyone else who isn't already in exile. Meredith is not in exile, and she can talk to people who would matter. People who would believe her and act on it."

We all sort of sat there, thinking. Doyle broke the silence. "Frost, call Julian and tell him that there may be trouble."

"I cannot tell him why," Frost said.

"No," Doyle said.

Frost nodded and went out into the other room to call on the phone.

I looked at Doyle. "Have you talked to anyone else about this?"

"Only Barinthus," he said.

"The bowl of water on the altar," I said.

Doyle nodded. "He was once the ruler of all the seas around our islands, so contacting him by water is nearly undetectable."

I nodded. "My father used to talk to Barinthus that way. How is he doing?"

"As your strongest ally among the Unseelie, he's making some progress in forming alliances for you."

I stared into Doyle's dark eyes. "What did you just leave out?"