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A Stroke Of Midnight :: Гамильтон Лорел
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I think all of us across the room held our breaths in that moment. I had not known this. The looks on everyone’s faces around me said that most of them had not either. Only Adair and Hawthorne behind their helmets were still hidden from their surprise.
“I warned you of his treachery,” Barinthus said.
“Yes, and I had you tortured for it.”
“I remember, my queen.”
Her smile did not match her words, but then neither did the constant caressing of his face and shoulders. “When Meredith came of age, you turned to her. If she had had the magic she now possesses since her stay in the lands to the west, you would have offered her what you offered Essus, wouldn’t you?”
“You know the answer, my queen.”
“Yes,” she said, “I do. But Cel always had the power to be king. Why did you not put him on the throne? Why did you foster a half-breed mongrel of a princess over my pure-sidhe son?”
“Do not ask me this,” he said.
She slapped him twice, hard enough to stagger him even on his knees. Hard enough to have blood spill from his mouth. “I am your queen, damn you, and you will answer my question. Answer me!” The last was screamed into his face.
Barinthus answered her, blood flowing from his mouth. “You are a better queen than Cel will ever be a king.”
“And what of Meredith? What of my brother’s child?”
“She will be a good queen.”
“A better queen than Cel a king?”
“Yes,” he said, and that one word dropped into the silence of the room like a stone thrown down a great height. You know it will make a sound, but only after a very, very long fall.
The sound came with her words. “Meredith, you will do nothing with Barinthus that will chance you being pregnant by him. Nothing, is that clear?”
“Yes.” My voice sounded strained and hoarse as if I’d been the one screaming.
“Contact the police. Do what you think best. I will announce to the court and the media that you are in charge of this little problem. Do not bother me with it again. Do not report to me unless I ask it. Now go, all of you, get out.”
We went. All of us, even Barinthus. We went, and were grateful to go.
CHAPTER 5
I CALLED MAJOR WALTERS OF THE ST. LOUIS POLICE DEPARTMENT, who had been in charge of our security at the airport the day before. I called from the only land line phone in the Unseelie sithen. The phone was in the queen’s office.
I think all of us across the room held our breaths in that moment. I had not known this. The looks on everyone’s faces around me said that most of them had not either. Only Adair and Hawthorne behind their helmets were still hidden from their surprise.
“I warned you of his treachery,” Barinthus said.
“Yes, and I had you tortured for it.”
“I remember, my queen.”
Her smile did not match her words, but then neither did the constant caressing of his face and shoulders. “When Meredith came of age, you turned to her. If she had had the magic she now possesses since her stay in the lands to the west, you would have offered her what you offered Essus, wouldn’t you?”
“You know the answer, my queen.”
“Yes,” she said, “I do. But Cel always had the power to be king. Why did you not put him on the throne? Why did you foster a half-breed mongrel of a princess over my pure-sidhe son?”
“Do not ask me this,” he said.
She slapped him twice, hard enough to stagger him even on his knees. Hard enough to have blood spill from his mouth. “I am your queen, damn you, and you will answer my question. Answer me!” The last was screamed into his face.
Barinthus answered her, blood flowing from his mouth. “You are a better queen than Cel will ever be a king.”
“And what of Meredith? What of my brother’s child?”
“She will be a good queen.”
“A better queen than Cel a king?”
“Yes,” he said, and that one word dropped into the silence of the room like a stone thrown down a great height. You know it will make a sound, but only after a very, very long fall.
The sound came with her words. “Meredith, you will do nothing with Barinthus that will chance you being pregnant by him. Nothing, is that clear?”
“Yes.” My voice sounded strained and hoarse as if I’d been the one screaming.
“Contact the police. Do what you think best. I will announce to the court and the media that you are in charge of this little problem. Do not bother me with it again. Do not report to me unless I ask it. Now go, all of you, get out.”
We went. All of us, even Barinthus. We went, and were grateful to go.
CHAPTER 5
I CALLED MAJOR WALTERS OF THE ST. LOUIS POLICE DEPARTMENT, who had been in charge of our security at the airport the day before. I called from the only land line phone in the Unseelie sithen. The phone was in the queen’s office.