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A Lick Of Frost :: Гамильтон Лорел
Страница: 92 из 184The Seelie think Merry is to blame or gets credit for the return of the magic."
"And does she?" Andais asked with that edge of cruelty beginning to creep back in.
"You know she does," Galen said, and there was no anger, just a sort of righteousness, as if it was just truth.
"Perhaps," Andais said. She turned her gaze to me. "I will try and find out if Hugh is being honest, or as treacherous as we think. You must have some magic over men that I do not see, Meredith. You have not even fucked Crystall, yet he seems strangely loyal to you. I will break him to my ways again, then I will choose another of the men who would have deserted me for you. Sidhe who would have rather followed you into exile than stay with me in faerie." She said the last almost in a thoughtful voice, as if she truly didn't understand it.
The truth was that it wasn't faerie they wanted to leave but her sadistic care, but that was a truth better kept to myself.
"If the Seelie offer is a genuine one, Meredith, you might consider taking it."
A thrill of fear ran through me. "Aunt Andais, I don't understand."
"Every man who prefers you to me makes me hate you a little more. Soon, my hatred for you may outweigh my desire for you to sit my throne. On the golden throne of the Seelie Court you would be safe from my anger."
I licked my suddenly dry lips. "I do nothing to anger you on purpose, my queen."
"And that is what is so maddening about you, Meredith. I know you do not do it on purpose. You simply are, and somehow by being yourself you part my nobles and my lovers from me. Your Seelie magic wins them away."
"I carry the hands of flesh and blood, those are not Seelie hands of power, Aunt."
"Yes, and Cel's prophet said that if someone of flesh and blood sat the Unseelie throne he would die. He thought it meant your mortality, but it didn't." She looked at me, and there was something other than cruelty, though I wasn't sure what exactly. "Cel screams your name in the night, Meredith."
"He means my death if he can manage it."
She shook her head. "He has convinced himself that if he lay with you, you and he would have a child, and he would be king to your queen."
My mouth couldn't get any drier, but my heart rate could get faster. "I do not think that would work, Aunt Andais."
"Work, work — it is fucking, Meredith. The mechanics of it would work just grand."
I tried again, while Doyle and Rhys gripped me harder. Even Abe moved in at my back to put his face against my hair. Touching to comfort me.
"And does she?" Andais asked with that edge of cruelty beginning to creep back in.
"You know she does," Galen said, and there was no anger, just a sort of righteousness, as if it was just truth.
"Perhaps," Andais said. She turned her gaze to me. "I will try and find out if Hugh is being honest, or as treacherous as we think. You must have some magic over men that I do not see, Meredith. You have not even fucked Crystall, yet he seems strangely loyal to you. I will break him to my ways again, then I will choose another of the men who would have deserted me for you. Sidhe who would have rather followed you into exile than stay with me in faerie." She said the last almost in a thoughtful voice, as if she truly didn't understand it.
The truth was that it wasn't faerie they wanted to leave but her sadistic care, but that was a truth better kept to myself.
"If the Seelie offer is a genuine one, Meredith, you might consider taking it."
A thrill of fear ran through me. "Aunt Andais, I don't understand."
"Every man who prefers you to me makes me hate you a little more. Soon, my hatred for you may outweigh my desire for you to sit my throne. On the golden throne of the Seelie Court you would be safe from my anger."
I licked my suddenly dry lips. "I do nothing to anger you on purpose, my queen."
"And that is what is so maddening about you, Meredith. I know you do not do it on purpose. You simply are, and somehow by being yourself you part my nobles and my lovers from me. Your Seelie magic wins them away."
"I carry the hands of flesh and blood, those are not Seelie hands of power, Aunt."
"Yes, and Cel's prophet said that if someone of flesh and blood sat the Unseelie throne he would die. He thought it meant your mortality, but it didn't." She looked at me, and there was something other than cruelty, though I wasn't sure what exactly. "Cel screams your name in the night, Meredith."
"He means my death if he can manage it."
She shook her head. "He has convinced himself that if he lay with you, you and he would have a child, and he would be king to your queen."
My mouth couldn't get any drier, but my heart rate could get faster. "I do not think that would work, Aunt Andais."
"Work, work — it is fucking, Meredith. The mechanics of it would work just grand."
I tried again, while Doyle and Rhys gripped me harder. Even Abe moved in at my back to put his face against my hair. Touching to comfort me.