JК
Mistrals Kiss :: Гамильтон Лорел
Страница: 69 из 148We starve on a diet of near lies. So tell us true, if you can, how came you wet and muddy, and here?”
“It rained in the dead gardens, in our sithen,” Doyle said.
“More lies,” Agnes said.
I had an idea. “I swear by my honor — ” I began. One of the hags laughed at that, but I kept going. “ — and the darkness that devours all things that it was raining in the Unseelie gardens when we left them.” I’d given not just an oath that no sidhe would willingly break — because of the curse that went with the breaking — but the oath that I’d demanded of Sholto weeks ago when he found me in California. He’d sworn the oath that he meant me no harm, and I’d believed him.
The severity of the oath silenced even the night-hags. “Be careful what you say, Princess,” Sholto said. “Some magicks still live.”
“I know what I swore, and I know what it means, King Sholto, Lord of That Which Passes Between. I am wet with the first rain to fall upon the dead gardens in centuries. My skin is decorated with soil reborn, dry no more.”
“How is this possible?” Sholto demanded.
“It is not possible,” Agnes said. She pointed one dark, muscled arm at the door. “This is Seelie magic, not Unseelie. They conspire together to destroy us. I told you, the golden court would never have dared if they did not have the full support of the Queen of Air and Darkness.” She pointed a little dramatically at the shiny door. “This proves it.”
“Meredith,” Doyle said softly, “make the door go away.”
“Whispering will not make you my friend, Darkness,” Sholto said.
“I told the princess to make the door go away, so that you would understand this is not Seelie business.”
Agnes turned so suddenly that her hood fell back to reveal the dry black straw of her hair, the ruin of her complexion, covered in bumps and sores. The hags hid their ugliness, which was an exception among the sluagh. Most of them saw every oddity as a mark of beauty, or power. The hags hid themselves, though — as did the two shorter guards.
Agnes pointed the long hand with its black-taloned claws at me. “She did not conjure this door. She is mortal, and mortal hand never made this doorway.”
“Princess, if you would,” Doyle said low but clear, so that he couldn’t be accused of whispering.
I spoke loudly, so they’d hear me, and the cave caught the echo of my voice, so that it seemed to bounce along the walls. “I need the door to go away now, please.
“It rained in the dead gardens, in our sithen,” Doyle said.
“More lies,” Agnes said.
I had an idea. “I swear by my honor — ” I began. One of the hags laughed at that, but I kept going. “ — and the darkness that devours all things that it was raining in the Unseelie gardens when we left them.” I’d given not just an oath that no sidhe would willingly break — because of the curse that went with the breaking — but the oath that I’d demanded of Sholto weeks ago when he found me in California. He’d sworn the oath that he meant me no harm, and I’d believed him.
The severity of the oath silenced even the night-hags. “Be careful what you say, Princess,” Sholto said. “Some magicks still live.”
“I know what I swore, and I know what it means, King Sholto, Lord of That Which Passes Between. I am wet with the first rain to fall upon the dead gardens in centuries. My skin is decorated with soil reborn, dry no more.”
“How is this possible?” Sholto demanded.
“It is not possible,” Agnes said. She pointed one dark, muscled arm at the door. “This is Seelie magic, not Unseelie. They conspire together to destroy us. I told you, the golden court would never have dared if they did not have the full support of the Queen of Air and Darkness.” She pointed a little dramatically at the shiny door. “This proves it.”
“Meredith,” Doyle said softly, “make the door go away.”
“Whispering will not make you my friend, Darkness,” Sholto said.
“I told the princess to make the door go away, so that you would understand this is not Seelie business.”
Agnes turned so suddenly that her hood fell back to reveal the dry black straw of her hair, the ruin of her complexion, covered in bumps and sores. The hags hid their ugliness, which was an exception among the sluagh. Most of them saw every oddity as a mark of beauty, or power. The hags hid themselves, though — as did the two shorter guards.
Agnes pointed the long hand with its black-taloned claws at me. “She did not conjure this door. She is mortal, and mortal hand never made this doorway.”
“Princess, if you would,” Doyle said low but clear, so that he couldn’t be accused of whispering.
I spoke loudly, so they’d hear me, and the cave caught the echo of my voice, so that it seemed to bounce along the walls. “I need the door to go away now, please.