A Stroke Of Midnight   ::   Гамильтон Лорел

“Can you give us a few minutes, Major, please?” My voice was only a little shaky.

He started to argue, but something in my face made him simply nod and walk back down the hallway. I fought it off until he was almost out of sight, then the first sob came. I clung to Galen, felt the glamour slip away, and lost it. I cried and sobbed until I started to hyperventilate. I couldn’t breathe, and my knees started to buckle. Galen took me to the ground, put his back against the wall, and let me wrap my legs around his waist, let me hold him as close as I could short of sex.

Galen stroked my hair, and said, “It’s all right, it’s all right.”

“Long, deep breaths, Meredith,” Frost said, kneeling beside us. “Slow your breathing or you will pass out.”

I fought the wordless, screaming panic. I fought to breathe, and couldn’t do it.

Galen stroked my hair and lied to me. “It’s okay, we’re safe, I’m safe.” Lies, all lies. My body was screaming, “Can’t breathe, can’t breathe, can’t breathe.”

Frost grabbed my face between his hands, held me so tight it hurt. He made me look at him. “Meredith, Meredith!” He kissed me. Maybe simply to stop the noises, or because he couldn’t think of anything else to do. The Queen’s Ravens are trained in weapons, hand-to-hand combat, battle strategy, even politics. Hysterical women are not on the list.

His mouth closed over mine, and I struggled against it. There was no air. I fought free of Galen’s arms and clawed at Frost. He breathed a cold wind into my mouth. The moment the cold touched me, I stilled, as if my body just stopped. I think even the blood in my veins stopped. A moment of nothingness, silent, still, cold. It was like being thrown into freezing water; the shock of it stopped the hysteria, stopped everything for a moment.

Frost drew away from the kiss, and my breath rushed back in a huge, chest-hurting gasp. I took several deep, painful breaths in a row, while he held my face, and stared into my eyes, as if searching for me. His grey eyes held that tiny snowscape in them again, and I felt as if I were falling forward, falling forward into Frost’s eyes. He blinked, and the sensation stopped, but some night I was going to have to see what would happen if I kept looking into those snowy eyes. But not tonight. Not tonight.

“Princess Meredith,” a woman’s voice said, “I’m sorry to intrude.”

I wiped at the tearstains on my face, which didn’t help, since all I succeeded in doing was putting more of Galen’s blood on my face. I must have looked a horror when I turned around to face Dr. Polaski.