A Lick Of Frost   ::   Гамильтон Лорел

Shame on you."

"The princess doesn't look scared," Nelson said.

I gave her the full weight of my tricolored eyes, and she couldn't hold my gaze. "You are threatening to take the men I love away from me," I said. "Shouldn't that frighten me?"

"It should," she said, "but it doesn't seem to."

Farmer touched my arm, a clear let-me-talk gesture. I leaned back into the weight of Doyle at my back and let the lawyers talk. "Which brings us to the law in question," Farmer said. "The royals of any court are exempt from the law Mr. Shelby has mentioned."

"We are not proposing to exile Princess Meredith to faerie," Shelby said.

"You know that the threat to put all her guards under some sort of legal confinement to faerie is outrageous," Farmer said.

Shelby nodded. "Fine, then just the three who are charged with rape. Mr. Cortez and I are both duly appointed officers of the United States attorneys' office. We are within our duty and rights to simply put the three guards back into the land of faerie until these charges are settled."

"I repeat, the law, as written, cannot be applied to the royals of any court of faerie," Farmer said.

"And I repeat that we aren't threatening to do anything to Princess Meredith," Shelby said.

"But we aren't referring to that royal," Farmer said.

Shelby looked down the line of lawyers on his side. "I'm not sure we're following your argument."

"Princess Meredith's guard are royal, for now."

"What does that mean, for now?" Cortez asked.

"It means that when inside the Seelie Court, they have a throne on the royal dais in which they take turns sitting beside the princess," Farmer said. "They are her royal consorts."

"Being her lover doesn't make them royal," Cortez said.

"Prince Phillip is technically still Queen Elizabeth's royal consort," Farmer said.

"But they're married," Cortez said.

"But in faerie, at any court, you aren't allowed to marry until you are with child," Farmer said.

"Mr. Farmer," I said, touching his arm, "since this is informal, perhaps it would go more quickly if I explained."

Farmer and Biggs whispered back and forth, but finally I got the nod. I was going to be allowed to talk. Oh, goody. I smiled at the other side of the table, leaning a little forward, hands nicely folded on the table. "My guards are my lovers. Which makes them royal consorts until one of them makes me pregnant. Then that one will be king to my queen. Until the choice is made, they are all royalty in the Unseelie Court."

"The three guards who have been charged by the king should be sent back to faerie," Shelby said.

"King Taranis was so afraid that Ambassador Stevens would see that the Unseelie Court was beautiful that he put a spell on the man. A spell that forced him to see us as monstrous. A man who would do such a desperate thing would do many other desperate things."

"What do you mean, Princess?"

"To lie is to be cast out of faerie, but to be king is sometimes to be above the law."

"Are you saying these charges are falsified?" Cortez asked.

"Of course they are false."

"You would say anything to save your lovers," Shelby said.

"I am sidhe, and I am not above the law. I cannot lie."

"Is that true?" Shelby leaned down and asked Veducci.

He nodded. "It's supposed to be true, but either the princess is lying, or Lady Caitrin is lying."

Shelby looked back at me. "You cannot lie."

"I have the ability, but to do so is to run the risk of being cast out from faerie." I squeezed Doyle's hand tightly. "I just got back. I don't want to lose it all again."

"Why did you leave faerie the first time, Princess?" Shelby asked.

Biggs answered that. "That question is off limits, and outside the charges in question." The queen had probably given him a list of questions I couldn't answer.

Shelby smiled. "Very well. Is it true that the Raven guards were forced into centuries of celibacy?"

"May I ask a question before I answer that?"

"You can ask anything you like, Princess, but I may not answer."

I smiled at him, and he smiled back. Doyle's hand tightened on my shoulder. He was right — mustn't flirt, until we knew exactly how it would be perceived. I toned the smile down, and asked my question. "Did King Taranis himself say that the Ravens were forced into centuries of celibacy?"

"I've so stated," Shelby said.

"No, I mean as truth, Mr. Shelby. Please bear in mind that even a princess may be tortured for going against her queen's orders."

"You admit that they torture people at the Unseelie Court," Cortez said.

"They torture people at both courts, Mr. Cortez. Queen Andais just doesn't hide what she does, because she's not ashamed of it."

"Are you stating for the record … ?" Cortez said.

"This will be a sealed record," Biggs said, "unless it goes to court."

"Yes, yes," Cortez said, "but are you stating for the record that King Taranis allows torture to be used as a punishment in the Seelie Court?"

"Answer my question truthfully, and I will answer yours."

Cortez looked at Shelby. They exchanged a longer-than-normal look, then both of them turned back to me. "Yes," they said at the same time. The two men looked at each other, and finally Cortez nodded at Shelby, who said, "Yes, King Taranis stated that the fact that the Raven Guard had been forced into centuries of celibacy was the reason they were a danger to women. He further stated that to then have the forced celibacy lifted for only one little girl, referring to you, Princess, was monstrous. For no one woman could satisfy the lusts of centuries."

"So the celibacy was the motive for the rape," I said.

"That seems to be the king's reasoning," Shelby said. "We haven't looked for a motive beyond the usual for rape."

The usual, I thought.

"I've answered your question, Princess. Now, are you stating for the record that the Seelie Court tortures its prisoners?"

Frost came to stand beside Doyle. "Meredith, think upon this before you answer."

I looked behind me, met his worried eyes, the soft gray of winter skies. I held my other hand out to him, and he took it. "Taranis let our cat out of the bag, Frost. It's only fair we let one of his out."

Frost frowned at me. "I do not understand this talk of cats, but I fear his anger."

I had to smile at him even as I agreed with him. "He began this, Frost. I will only finish it."

He squeezed my hand, and Doyle squeezed the other, so that my hands were crisscrossed over my chest, holding them. I held their hands while I said, "Mr. Shelby, Mr. Cortez, you asked me, am I stating for the record that King Taranis's golden court tortures as a punishment? I am so stating.