Swallowing Darkness   ::   Гамильтон Лорел

Doyle stood with Black Madness pressed to Cel's throat, but did not drive it home. Andais was walking across the field toward us. "No, not again" was all I thought.

I looked at Mistral on his knees, clutching his side, leaning on his shining spear, his sword still naked in his hand. Galen was down to one useable arm. He stood breathing hard, his sword in his hand, rage plain on his usually smiling face. Rhys's face bled freely, and I realized that Cel had tried to cut out his only good eye. He had missed, but the fact that he'd tried meant he hadn't taken the fight seriously. He had wanted to hurt us, not necessarily kill us. He had wanted to maim.

Ash and Holly bore wounds, for they had joined the fight after I called for Cel's death. That Cel could wound them so quickly said just how much I'd underestimated him as a warrior.

I said "No." The crown glowed like a dark halo as I moved forward. I looked at Sholto on the edge of the field with his sluagh, and I yelled out, "Why did you not join the fight?"

"The queen forbade it," he called back.

I stared across the field at Andais. She wasn't quite to us. I called out, "Andais, do you see the crown upon my head?"

She hesitated, then said "Yes." The one word sighed and seemed to touch everyone on the field.

"What crown is it?"

Her hand tightened on the pommel of her sword, Mortal Dread, which could bring true death to anyone. "It is the Crown of Moonlight and Shadows. It was once my crown." There was bitterness to that last.

"Now it's mine."

"So it seems," she said.

"You vowed in open court that whichever of us became pregnant first would be your heir. You may not have intended to keep your word, but faerie kept it for you. Goddess and Consort have crowned me."

"You wear the Crown of Moonlight and Shadows," she said.

Cel screamed out, "And it is mine! You promised it to me!" Doyle's sword tip pushed a little harder, and a drop of blood welled black in the moonlight.

Andais stood there with her cloak of darkness and shadows swirling around her. Her helmet was tucked under one arm. We looked at each other over that cold ground.

"Did you promise him your crown?" I asked.

"Yes," she said.

"After promising me the chance to be queen," I said.

"Before," she said.

"You are an oathbreaker, my aunt. The wild hunt lives."

"I know you and my Perverse Creature can summon the wild hunt. I know you slew your cousin and the other conspirators of the Seelie Court."

"Would you have us hunt you?" I asked.