A Kiss Of Shadows   ::   Гамильтон Лорел

We stared, we watched every nuance cross their faces, and in the end, mere minutes, Doyle stepped back to stand with me, his hand on my shoulder. It was not a particularly intimate gesture, especially after the show Galen had put on, but from Doyle, in such a moment, it was intimate. He, like Siobhan, had shown his loyalty, burned his bridges.

I'd known that Doyle would keep me alive at the expense of his own life because the queen ordered it. Now I knew he'd keep me alive because if I died now, the queen would never trust him again. He would never again be her Darkness. He was mine, for better or worse. It gave a whole new meaning to "till death do us part." My death would almost surely mean his now.

I kept my eyes on my aunt but raised my voice for the entire room. "They are all my royal consorts."

Protests spread throughout the room, male voices raised: "You couldn't have slept with all of them!" And: "Whore!" I think that was a woman.

I raised my hand in a gesture that I'd seen my aunt use time and again. The room didn't grow totally quiet, but it was close enough for me to continue. "My aunt in her wisdom foresaw the duels that might be fought. That dangling any woman before the Guard could lead to great bloodshed. We could lose the best and brightest of us all."

A female voice cried out, "As if you are such a prize!"

I laughed, hand digging into Rhys's shoulder for support as if he were a cane. Kitto moved up and offered his hand to my free hand. I took the extra support gratefully. The ankle was beginning to ache hanging down at my side.

"I know that was you, Dilys. No, I am not such a prize, but I am female, and I am available to them, and no one else is. That makes me the prize whether any of us likes it or not. But my aunt foresaw the problem."

"Yes," Andais said. "I have ordered Meredith to choose not one among you, or four, or five, but many. She is to treat you all as her own personal… harem."

"Are we allowed to refuse if she chooses us?" I looked out into the crowd but couldn't see who had asked.

"You are free to refuse," Andais said. "But which of you would refuse the chance to be the next king? If she is with your child, then it will not be royal consort but monarch."

Galen and Conri were still standing about three yards apart, staring at each other.

"We all know who she wants to be her king. She has made that abundantly clear tonight," Conri said.

"All I've made clear," I said, "is that I won't be sleeping with you, Conri. The rest, as they say, is up for grabs."

"You won't be making Galen your royal consort," Cel said, and his voice held satisfaction. "If you are with child, it will be his last.