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Swallowing Darkness :: Гамильтон Лорел
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"What could they have offered to Merry's cousin?" Galen asked.
"Mayhap the thing they offered me centuries ago," Gran said.
"What was that?" Galen asked.
"A chance to bed, and if with child, marry one of their Seelie nobles. No one will touch Cair for fear that her... deformity will breed true. I was only half human, and I worked in the court as a brownie, but I saw the Seelie and I wished to be a part of it. I was a fool, but it earned my girls a chance to be a part of that glittering mess. But Cair is always outside of it, because she looks too much like her ol' Gran."
"Gran," I said, "it's not... "
"No, child, I know what face I bear, and I know that it takes a special sidhe to love it. I ne'r found that sidhe, but I was not part sidhe. I did na' have the blood of the court running in my veins. I was a brownie who got uppity, but Cair, she is one of them. It must be a thing of great pain to watch the others with their perfect faces get what she longs for."
"I know what it is like to be denied a place at court," Sholto said, "because you are not perfect enough to be bedded. The Unseelie sidhe run scared of my bed, for fear they will breed monsters."
Gran nodded, and finally looked at him. "I am sorry that I said some of the things I said, Shadow Lord. I should know better'n most what it is to be hated for bein' less than sidhe."
He nodded. "The Queen called me Her Creature. Until Merry came to me, I thought I would be doomed to live out my life until I became simply Creature, as Doyle is Darkness." He smiled at me then, with that intimate look that he hadn't quite earned yet. It was so odd to be pregnant after only one night with a man. But then, hadn't that been what had happened with my parents? One night of sex, and my mother had been trapped in a marriage she did not want. Seven years of marriage before she was allowed to divorce him.
"Aye, the courts are cruel, though I had hoped the dark court would be a little less so."
"They accept more," Doyle said, "but even the Unseelie have their limits."
"They saw me as proof that the sidhe were failing as a people, because once they could bed anything and breed true," Sholto said.
"They saw my mortality as proof that they were dying," I said.
"And now the two they feared the most may be the saving of us all," Doyle said.
"Nicely ironic," Rhys said.
"I must go, Merry-girl," Gran said.
"Let us test the spell and remove any lingering effects on you," Doyle said.
She gave him a look that wasn't entirely friendly.
"What could they have offered to Merry's cousin?" Galen asked.
"Mayhap the thing they offered me centuries ago," Gran said.
"What was that?" Galen asked.
"A chance to bed, and if with child, marry one of their Seelie nobles. No one will touch Cair for fear that her... deformity will breed true. I was only half human, and I worked in the court as a brownie, but I saw the Seelie and I wished to be a part of it. I was a fool, but it earned my girls a chance to be a part of that glittering mess. But Cair is always outside of it, because she looks too much like her ol' Gran."
"Gran," I said, "it's not... "
"No, child, I know what face I bear, and I know that it takes a special sidhe to love it. I ne'r found that sidhe, but I was not part sidhe. I did na' have the blood of the court running in my veins. I was a brownie who got uppity, but Cair, she is one of them. It must be a thing of great pain to watch the others with their perfect faces get what she longs for."
"I know what it is like to be denied a place at court," Sholto said, "because you are not perfect enough to be bedded. The Unseelie sidhe run scared of my bed, for fear they will breed monsters."
Gran nodded, and finally looked at him. "I am sorry that I said some of the things I said, Shadow Lord. I should know better'n most what it is to be hated for bein' less than sidhe."
He nodded. "The Queen called me Her Creature. Until Merry came to me, I thought I would be doomed to live out my life until I became simply Creature, as Doyle is Darkness." He smiled at me then, with that intimate look that he hadn't quite earned yet. It was so odd to be pregnant after only one night with a man. But then, hadn't that been what had happened with my parents? One night of sex, and my mother had been trapped in a marriage she did not want. Seven years of marriage before she was allowed to divorce him.
"Aye, the courts are cruel, though I had hoped the dark court would be a little less so."
"They accept more," Doyle said, "but even the Unseelie have their limits."
"They saw me as proof that the sidhe were failing as a people, because once they could bed anything and breed true," Sholto said.
"They saw my mortality as proof that they were dying," I said.
"And now the two they feared the most may be the saving of us all," Doyle said.
"Nicely ironic," Rhys said.
"I must go, Merry-girl," Gran said.
"Let us test the spell and remove any lingering effects on you," Doyle said.
She gave him a look that wasn't entirely friendly.