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A Caress Of Twilight :: Гамильтон Лорел
Страница: 66 из 236"
"Are you saying that the high king of the Seelie Court is afraid of the Unseelie Court?" Her voice held an amazing amount of outraged disbelief.
"I know everyone at the Seelie Court fears the sluagh."
Maeve sat back in her chair. "Everyone fears them, Meredith, at both courts."
She was right. If the Unseelie Court was all that was dark and frightening, then the sluagh was worse. The sluagh was home even to the things that the Unseelie feared. It was a dumping ground for nightmares too terrible to contemplate.
"And who holds the reins of the sluagh?" I asked.
She looked uncertain, but said, at last, "The Queen."
"The sluagh can be sent to punish certain crimes without a trial or a warning. One of those crimes is kin slaying."
"That is not often enforced," she said.
"But if Taranis killed the queen's heir, don't you think she'd remember that little law?"
"Even Andais would not dare send the sluagh after the king."
"And I say again, that even the king would not dare slay Andais's heir."
"I think you are wrong on that, Meredith, for this he might dare."
"And for that crime, Andais might loose the sluagh on him. Even the King of Light and Illusion would have no choice but to run from them."
She took the drink off the tray that the maid still held near at hand. She took a deep drink before saying, "I do not believe that the King would think that clearly about this. I… I would not be the cause of war between the courts." She took another drink. "I have wished for Taranis's arrogance to be punished over the years, but not by the sluagh. I would not wish that on anyone, not even him."
Having been chased by the sluagh myself, I could agree that they were terrible. But they weren't as bad as all that. At least the sluagh would simply kill you — maybe eat you alive — but you'd be dead. There would be no torture, no long, slow death. There were worse deaths than to fall to the sluagh.
And I knew something that Maeve could not know. The sluagh's king, Sholto, Lord of That Which Passes Between, called Shadow-spawn, but never to his face, had no great loyalty to Andais, or to anyone else for that matter. He kept his word, but Andais had let her politics slide for a few years, and now she depended heavily, too heavily, on the threat of the sluagh. They'd been meant to be the threat of last resort. I'd learned in talking with Doyle and Frost that the sluagh had become a much-used weapon.
"Are you saying that the high king of the Seelie Court is afraid of the Unseelie Court?" Her voice held an amazing amount of outraged disbelief.
"I know everyone at the Seelie Court fears the sluagh."
Maeve sat back in her chair. "Everyone fears them, Meredith, at both courts."
She was right. If the Unseelie Court was all that was dark and frightening, then the sluagh was worse. The sluagh was home even to the things that the Unseelie feared. It was a dumping ground for nightmares too terrible to contemplate.
"And who holds the reins of the sluagh?" I asked.
She looked uncertain, but said, at last, "The Queen."
"The sluagh can be sent to punish certain crimes without a trial or a warning. One of those crimes is kin slaying."
"That is not often enforced," she said.
"But if Taranis killed the queen's heir, don't you think she'd remember that little law?"
"Even Andais would not dare send the sluagh after the king."
"And I say again, that even the king would not dare slay Andais's heir."
"I think you are wrong on that, Meredith, for this he might dare."
"And for that crime, Andais might loose the sluagh on him. Even the King of Light and Illusion would have no choice but to run from them."
She took the drink off the tray that the maid still held near at hand. She took a deep drink before saying, "I do not believe that the King would think that clearly about this. I… I would not be the cause of war between the courts." She took another drink. "I have wished for Taranis's arrogance to be punished over the years, but not by the sluagh. I would not wish that on anyone, not even him."
Having been chased by the sluagh myself, I could agree that they were terrible. But they weren't as bad as all that. At least the sluagh would simply kill you — maybe eat you alive — but you'd be dead. There would be no torture, no long, slow death. There were worse deaths than to fall to the sluagh.
And I knew something that Maeve could not know. The sluagh's king, Sholto, Lord of That Which Passes Between, called Shadow-spawn, but never to his face, had no great loyalty to Andais, or to anyone else for that matter. He kept his word, but Andais had let her politics slide for a few years, and now she depended heavily, too heavily, on the threat of the sluagh. They'd been meant to be the threat of last resort. I'd learned in talking with Doyle and Frost that the sluagh had become a much-used weapon.