A Stroke Of Midnight   ::   Гамильтон Лорел

Galen’s hand tightened painfully around mine. I looked up at him now, and found his eyes a little too wide, his lips half-parted. I knew now why Cel had bargained with the demi-fey to try to ruin Galen’s manhood. At the time it had simply seemed like another of his cruelties.

The kaleidoscope of butterflies and moths parted curtain-like, and Queen Niceven hovered in midair on large pale wings like some ghostly luna moth. Her dress sparkled silver; the diamonds in her crown were so bright in the light that the dazzle of it obscured her narrow features. I knew what she looked like because I’d seen her thin, near skeletal beauty before. Though only the size of a Barbie doll, she was thin enough for Hollywood. Looking at her all asparkle and pale white, I understood why people had thought the fey were spirits of the dead or angels. She looked like both and neither. Too solid to be a ghost, too insect-like to be an angel.

If Galen hadn’t been clinging to my hand I would have moved forward to speak with her, one royal to another, but I couldn’t ask him to go closer to that pretty, bloodthirsty cloud. Doyle saw my dilemma, and went forward, to bow before her. “Queen Niceven, to what do we owe this honor?”

“Pretty words, Darkness,” she said, and her voice was like evil, tinkling bells, “but a little late, don’t you think?”

“A little late for what, Queen Niceven?” he asked in his polite, empty court voice. The voice that he used when he didn’t know what political storm he had fallen into.

“For courtesy, Darkness, for courtesy.” She flew a little higher so she could see me better over Doyle’s tall form. “Now I am not even good enough for the princess to address me directly.”

I called to her, as Galen’s hand convulsed around mine. “You know full well why Galen doesn’t want to come closer to you and your kin.”

“And are you attached to your green knight? Are you one with him in flesh, so that you cannot come closer without him coming, as well?” She’d moved her head to one side, and I could see her pale eyes now. She wasn’t even trying to hide how angry she was. I’d seen her crown a thousand times, and never seen the jewels catch the light so brilliantly. Only then did I realize that the light in the hallway was brighter than normal, closer to the brightness of electric lights.

“See, she pays no attention to us. The roof of the hall holds more interest for her than my court.”

I blinked and looked back to the flying queen. “My apologies, Queen Niceven, the brilliance of your crown quite dazzled me.