Swallowing Darkness   ::   Гамильтон Лорел

She meant the sight of that bloodto be a blow that would soften me up for the real blow to come. But I would have known if Doyle's blood decorated her blade. I would have known if Rhys had been touched. As much as I valued Sholto and Mistral, my heart would survive their deaths.

"Shit," Gregorio said. I felt her start to cast a spell, a prickling build of power. It was a pale thing, but very real.

"Don't," I said. "I know what to do."

"Are you insane?" the driver asked. "Look at them."

I glanced at the other soldiers with Siobhan. In their armor, they looked more like Seelie sidhe. Their colors were silver and gold, but there was also armor that seemed to be made of leaves, bark, fur, and things that humans had no words for. The Unseelie had kept closer to their origins, and not traded everything for metal and jewels. I recognized some of the soldiers, but some I had never seen in full armor. But they all stood behind Siobhan, not in front of her. Kill her and the rest would be leaderless, a snake without a head.

"I grew up seeing them," I said finally.

I concentrated on Siobhan, she who had been Cel's right hand for longer than any remembered. She whom Doyle feared, and the Darkness feared almost nothing. But some magics are no respecter of power; they will kill a king as quickly as a beggar.

I lowered my window. She called out to me, "The blood of your Darkness decorates my blade."

I unbuckled my seat belt, and came to my knees, unsheathing Aben-dul as I moved. The odd hilt with its carved horrors fit my hand as if it had waited forever for my fingers to grip it. It came smoothly, like drawing silk across the skin. I pointed the blade at her.

She laughed. "You surprised me when you used the hand of flesh on Rozenwyn and Pascoe, but I know to stay out of reach now, Princess. I don't need to get within reach of that little hand of yours. I can kill you from a distance, and free faerie of your mortal taint. We will put a true prince on the throne this night, and your challenge will be forgotten."

Rozenwyn and Pascoe had been twins, and maybe that had caused the hand of flesh to combine them into one mass. It had been one of the most horrible things I'd ever seen. Horrible enough that Siobhan had offered up her sword, and surrendered to me and my guards.

"She's bluffing," I said aloud for the soldiers' benefit. "She would have to drag me from the car to work magic, and she won't touch me."

"Why not?" Gregorio asked.

"She fears the hand of flesh.