A Lick Of Frost   ::   Гамильтон Лорел

Not just in actions, but in body. They tell their people that they will become deformed if they join with the Unseelie."

"You talk like you know," Nelson said.

"I was once part of the golden throng, long, long ago," Frost said.

"What did you do to earn exile?" Shelby asked.

"Lieutenant Frost doesn't have to answer that," Biggs said. He had stopped fussing with his suit and was back to being one of the best lawyers on the West Coast.

"Is the answer prejudicial to the charges brought against the other guards?" Shelby asked.

"No," Biggs said, "but since the Lieutenant is not included in the charges filed, the question is outside the scope of this investigation."

Biggs had lied, smoothly, effortlessly; lied as if it were the truth. He actually didn't know if Frost's answer would have been prejudicial, because he had no idea why anyone but the three guards in question had been exiled from the Seelie Court. (Though in Galen's case he hadn't been exiled because he'd been born and raised in the Unseelie Court; you can't be exiled from what you've never been a part of.) Biggs had carefully not allowed any questions that might interfere with a linear defense of his clients.

"This is a very informal proceeding," Veducci said with a smile. He radiated harmless good-ol'-boy charm. It was a trick, bordering on a lie. He'd researched us. He'd dealt with the courts more than any of the other lawyers. He was either going to be our greatest ally or our most difficult opponent.

He continued, still smiling, and letting us see those tired eyes. "We are all here today to see if the charges that King Taranis filed on behalf of the Lady Caitrin should be followed up with more formal proceedings. Cooperation would give strength to the princess' guards' denials."

"Since all of the guards have diplomatic immunity. We are here out of courtesy," Biggs said.

"We do appreciate that," Veducci said.

"Do bear in mind," Shelby said, "that King Taranis has stated that all of the Queen's guard, and now the princess' guard, are a danger to everyone around them, most especially women. He stated that this rape did not surprise him. He seemed to think it was the inevitable outcome of allowing the Queen's Raven Guard unlimited access even inside faerie. One of the reasons he brought these charges to the human authorities, an unprecedented action in all the history of the Seelie Court, is that he feared for us. If a sidhe noble of Lady Caitrin's magical powers could be so easily taken, then what hope did mere humans have against their… lusts?"

"Unnatural lusts," I said.

Shelby shifted his gray eyes to me. "I did not say that."

"No, you didn't, but I'm betting my uncle Taranis did."

Shelby gave a little shrug. "He doesn't seem to like your men much, that is true."

"Or me," I said.

Shelby's face showed surprise, and I wished I could have told if it was genuine, or if he were lying with his face. "The king had only good things to say about you, Princess. He seems to feel that you have been"  — he seemed to change what he was about to say at the last moment — "led astray by your aunt, the queen, and her guards."

"Led astray?" I made it a question.

He nodded.

"That's not what he said, is it?"

"Not in so many words, no."

"It must have been truly insulting for you to pretty it up like this," I said.

Shelby actually looked uncomfortable. "Before I saw Ambassador Stevens and his reaction to you, and the possible spell on his watch, I might have simply stated what the king said." Shelby gave me a very straightforward look. "Let's say that Stevens has made me wonder at the vehemence of King Taranis's dislike of all your guard."

"All my guard?" Again I made it a question with the upward lilt of my voice.

"Yes."

I looked at Veducci. "He charges all my men with crimes?"

"No, only the three mentioned, but Mr. Shelby is correct. King Taranis stated that your Raven Guard is a danger to all women. He thinks that having been made celibate for so long has driven them insane." Veducci's face never changed as he let out one of the biggest secrets of the faerie courts.

I opened my mouth to say, "Taranis wouldn't have told you that," but Doyle's hand on my shoulder stopped me. I looked up at his dark figure. Even through his black glasses, I knew the look. That look said "Careful." He was right. Veducci had stated earlier that he had sources at the Unseelie Court. Taranis might not have said it, at all.

"This is the first we've heard that the king is accusing the Raven Guard of being celibate," Biggs said. He had glanced at Doyle, but now put his attention back on Shelby and Veducci.

"The king felt that the long-enforced celibacy was the reason for the attack."

Biggs leaned in to me, and whispered, "Is this true? Were they forced to be celibate?"

I whispered against his white collar, "Yes."

"Why?" he asked.

"My queen willed it so." That was true, as far as it went, but it kept me from sharing secrets that Queen Andais wouldn't want shared. Taranis might survive her wrath; I wouldn't.

Biggs turned back to the opposing side. "We are not conceding that this alleged celibacy took place, but if it did, the men in question are no longer celibate. They are with the princess now, and not the queen. The princess has stated that the three of them are her lovers. There would be no alleged celibacy-induced"  — Biggs seemed to search for the right word — "madness." He made light of it with his voice, his face, and a hand gesture. It was a glimpse of what he'd be like in court. He just might be worth all the money my aunt was paying.

Shelby said, "The king's statement, the charges filed, are enough to allow the United States government to confine all of the princess' guard to the lands of faerie."

"I know the law you're referring to," Briggs said. "Many in Jefferson's government didn't agree with him allowing the fey to settle here after they were exiled from Europe. They insisted on a law that would allow them to permanently confine to faerie any citizen of faerie deemed too dangerous to be allowed among the human citizenry. It is a very broad law, and has never been invoked."

"It's never been needed before," Cortez said.

Doyle had stayed at my back, his hand resting on my shoulder. Either he knew I needed comforting, or he needed it. I laid my hand on top of his, so we could touch bare skin to bare skin. He was so warm, so solid. Just the touch made me feel more certain that it would be all right. We would be all right.

"It's not needed now, and you all know it," Biggs said. He tsked at them. "Trying to scare the princess by threatening to send all her guards back to faerie.