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A Stroke Of Midnight :: Гамильтон Лорел
Страница: 1 из 293Аннотация: A faerie princess turned private investigator in a world where faeries are not only known to the general public, but are also fashionable, the title heroine is Princess Meredith NicEssus, also known as Merry Gentry. As niece to Andais, The Queen of Air and Darkness, she is a royal of the Unseelie Court. While her aunt tried to kill her as a child, she has since offered her the title as crown princess as the Court needs more heirs.
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Laurell K. Hamilton
A Stroke Of Midnight
(the 4th book in Merry Gentry series)
To J.,
who holds my hand and my heart;
who helps me play in the darkness
but not to live there
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To all my friends, both writers and nonwriters, who love me still, even though most phone conversations have begun lately with “Hello, Stranger.” Hope to see more of everyone this next bit.
CHAPTER 1
I HATE PRESS CONFERENCES. BUT I ESPECIALLY HATE THEM WHEN I’ve been ordered to hide large portions of the truth. The order had come from the Queen of Air and Darkness, ruler of the dark court of faerie. The Unseelie are not a power to be crossed, even if I was their very own faerie princess. I was Queen Andais’s niece, but the family connection had never bought me much. I smiled at the nearly solid wall of reporters, fighting to keep my thoughts from showing on my face.
The queen had never allowed this much of the human media inside the Unseelie’s hollow hill, our sithen. It was our refuge, and you don’t let the press into your refuge. But yesterday’s assassination attempt had made allowing the press into our home the lesser evil. The theory was that inside the sithen our magic would protect me much better than it had in the airport yesterday, where I’d nearly been shot.
Our court publicist, Madeline Phelps, pointed to the first reporter, and the questions began.
“Princess Meredith, you had blood on your face yesterday, but today the only sign of injury is your arm in a sling. What were your injuries yesterday?”
My left arm was in a green cloth sling that matched my suit jacket near perfectly. I was dressed in Christmas, Yule, red and green. Cheerful, and it was that time of year. My hair was a deeper red than my blouse. My hair is the most Unseelie part of me, sidhe scarlet hair for someone who looks good in black. Not the gold or orangey red of human hair. The jacket brought out the green in two out of the three circles of color in my iris.
---------------------------------------------
Laurell K. Hamilton
A Stroke Of Midnight
(the 4th book in Merry Gentry series)
To J.,
who holds my hand and my heart;
who helps me play in the darkness
but not to live there
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To all my friends, both writers and nonwriters, who love me still, even though most phone conversations have begun lately with “Hello, Stranger.” Hope to see more of everyone this next bit.
CHAPTER 1
I HATE PRESS CONFERENCES. BUT I ESPECIALLY HATE THEM WHEN I’ve been ordered to hide large portions of the truth. The order had come from the Queen of Air and Darkness, ruler of the dark court of faerie. The Unseelie are not a power to be crossed, even if I was their very own faerie princess. I was Queen Andais’s niece, but the family connection had never bought me much. I smiled at the nearly solid wall of reporters, fighting to keep my thoughts from showing on my face.
The queen had never allowed this much of the human media inside the Unseelie’s hollow hill, our sithen. It was our refuge, and you don’t let the press into your refuge. But yesterday’s assassination attempt had made allowing the press into our home the lesser evil. The theory was that inside the sithen our magic would protect me much better than it had in the airport yesterday, where I’d nearly been shot.
Our court publicist, Madeline Phelps, pointed to the first reporter, and the questions began.
“Princess Meredith, you had blood on your face yesterday, but today the only sign of injury is your arm in a sling. What were your injuries yesterday?”
My left arm was in a green cloth sling that matched my suit jacket near perfectly. I was dressed in Christmas, Yule, red and green. Cheerful, and it was that time of year. My hair was a deeper red than my blouse. My hair is the most Unseelie part of me, sidhe scarlet hair for someone who looks good in black. Not the gold or orangey red of human hair. The jacket brought out the green in two out of the three circles of color in my iris.