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Mistrals Kiss :: Гамильтон Лорел
Страница: 62 из 148Bring that bright Seelie magic intothe other heart of the Unseelie Court and see how long it survives.” With that she was gone.
We waited for a few heartbeats; then Mistral and Abe stood, mud coating their lower legs. No voice from the dark told them to get back on their knees. I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding.
“What did she mean when she said that our court has two hearts?” I asked.
Abe answered, “Once every faerie mound had a garden or forest or lake at its heart. But every court also had another heart of power — one that would reflect the kind of magic the court specialized in.”
“You have brought one heart back to life,” Mistral said, “but I am not certain it is wise to reawaken the other.”
“The hallway is a torture chamber, where most magic does not work. It’s a null place,” I said.
“But once, Meredith, it was more.”
I looked at the men. “More how?”
“Things that were older than faerie, older than us, were imprisoned there. Remnants of power from the peoples we had defeated.”
“I’m not sure I understand, Mistral.”
He looked at Doyle. “Help me explain this.”
“Once there were creatures in the Hallway of Mortality that could bring true death to even the sidhe. They were kept there to serve as methods of execution, or torture, or simply the threat of those things. The queen did not care for them because, as you well know, she likes to do her own torturing. Watching some other being tear us limb from limb was not half so amusing to her as doing it herself.”
“And we healed better if she did it,” Rhys said.
Doyle nodded. “Yes, she could torture us longer and more often if the things did not help.”
“What kind of things?” I asked. I didn’t like how serious they’d gotten.
“Terrible things. A glimpse of them would drive a mortal mad,” he said.
“How long ago did these things vanish from the sithen?”
“A thousand years, maybe more,” he said.
“The forests haven’t been gone so long as that,” I said.
“No, not quite that long.”
“Why are you all so worried?”
“Because if you, or the Goddess’s power through you, can bring this about,” Abe said, motioning at the ever-expanding forest, “then we must prepare for the fact that the second heart of our court can come back to full life, as well.”
“Perhaps Merry is too Seelie to bring back such horrors?” Mistral said, almost hopefully.
We waited for a few heartbeats; then Mistral and Abe stood, mud coating their lower legs. No voice from the dark told them to get back on their knees. I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding.
“What did she mean when she said that our court has two hearts?” I asked.
Abe answered, “Once every faerie mound had a garden or forest or lake at its heart. But every court also had another heart of power — one that would reflect the kind of magic the court specialized in.”
“You have brought one heart back to life,” Mistral said, “but I am not certain it is wise to reawaken the other.”
“The hallway is a torture chamber, where most magic does not work. It’s a null place,” I said.
“But once, Meredith, it was more.”
I looked at the men. “More how?”
“Things that were older than faerie, older than us, were imprisoned there. Remnants of power from the peoples we had defeated.”
“I’m not sure I understand, Mistral.”
He looked at Doyle. “Help me explain this.”
“Once there were creatures in the Hallway of Mortality that could bring true death to even the sidhe. They were kept there to serve as methods of execution, or torture, or simply the threat of those things. The queen did not care for them because, as you well know, she likes to do her own torturing. Watching some other being tear us limb from limb was not half so amusing to her as doing it herself.”
“And we healed better if she did it,” Rhys said.
Doyle nodded. “Yes, she could torture us longer and more often if the things did not help.”
“What kind of things?” I asked. I didn’t like how serious they’d gotten.
“Terrible things. A glimpse of them would drive a mortal mad,” he said.
“How long ago did these things vanish from the sithen?”
“A thousand years, maybe more,” he said.
“The forests haven’t been gone so long as that,” I said.
“No, not quite that long.”
“Why are you all so worried?”
“Because if you, or the Goddess’s power through you, can bring this about,” Abe said, motioning at the ever-expanding forest, “then we must prepare for the fact that the second heart of our court can come back to full life, as well.”
“Perhaps Merry is too Seelie to bring back such horrors?” Mistral said, almost hopefully.