A Stroke Of Midnight   ::   Гамильтон Лорел

I’d thought it was an odd demand, but she was queen, and you argued with her at your peril. But I glanced back; after all, he’d saved my life. Didn’t that earn him a glance? I could always justify it to the queen, my aunt, that the press would think it strange if I hadn’t acknowledged him. It was the truth, but I looked because I wanted to look.

His hair was the silver of Christmas-tree tinsel, shiny and metallic. It fell to his ankles like decoration, but I knew that it was soft and alive, and felt oh so warm across my body. He’d put the upper layer of his hair back from his face with a barrette carved from bone. The hair glittered and moved around his charcoal-grey Armani suit that had been tailored over his broad shoulders and the athletic cut of the rest of him. The suit had also been tailored to hide a gun in a shoulder holster and a knife or two. It had not been designed to hide a gun under each arm, or a short sword at his hip, with a leather scabbard strapped tight to his thigh. The hilt of a second sword rode over his shoulder, peeking through all that shining hair. He bristled with knives, and Frost always had other weapons that you couldn’t see. No suit was designed to cover that much armament and hold its shape. His jacket couldn’t be buttoned at all, and the guns and sword and one knife glinted in the camera’s flash.

Cries of “Frost, Frost” filled the room, while Madeline picked a question. The man was another one I didn’t know. Nothing like an assassination attempt to attract the media.

“Frost, how badly were you hurt?”

Frost is a little over six feet, and since I was sitting down, and the microphone was adjusted to my height, he had to lean down, way down. With a weapon of any kind he was graceful. But bending low over that mike he was awkward. I had a moment to wonder if he’d ever been on mike before, then his deep voice was answering the question.

“I am not hurt.” He stood back up, and I could see the relief on his face. He turned away from the cameras, as if he thought he’d get off that easily. I knew better.

“But wasn’t it your blood on the princess?”

His hand was gripping the pommel of his short sword. Touching his weapons unnecessarily was a sign of nerves. He leaned over the mike again, and this time he bumped my bad shoulder with his body. I doubted the press saw such a small movement, but it was too clumsy for words, for Frost. He braced a hand flat against the table, steadying himself. He turned eyes the grey of a winter sky to me. The look asked silently, “Did I hurt you?”

I mouthed, no.

He let out a sigh and leaned back to the microphone. “Yes, it was my blood.” He actually stood back up, as if that would satisfy them. He should have known better. He had been decorative muscle for the queen at enough of these over the years to know that he was being a little too concise. At least he didn’t try to go back to his spot behind me this time.

A reporter I did know, Simon McCracken, was next. He’d covered the faerie courts for years. “Frost, if you are not hurt, then where did your blood come from and how did it get on the princess?” He knew how to word the question just right, so we couldn’t tap-dance around it. The sidhe don’t lie. We’ll paint the truth red, purple, and green, and convince you that black is white, but we won’t actually lie.

Frost leaned over the mike again, his hand pressed to the table. He’d moved minutely closer to me, close enough that his pants leg touched my skirt. His sword was almost trapped between our bodies. That would be bad if he had to draw the weapon. I looked at his hand, so big and strong on the table, and realized his fingertips were mottled. He was gripping the table the way you grip a podium when you’re nervous.

“I was shot.” He had to clear his throat sharply to continue. I turned my head just enough to see that perfect profile, and realized it was more than nerves. Frost, the queen’s Killing Frost, was afraid. Afraid of public speaking. Oh, my. “I have healed. My blood covered the princess when I shielded her from harm.”

He started to stand back up, but I touched his arm. I covered the mike with my hand, and leaned in against him, so I could whisper against the curve of his ear. I took in a deep breath of the scent of his skin, and said, “Kneel or sit.”

His breath went out so deep that his shoulders moved with it. But he knelt on one knee beside me. I moved the microphone a little closer to him.

I slid my hand under the back of his jacket, so that I could lay my hand against the curve of his back, just below the side sweep of the big sword sheath. When fey are nervous, any fey, we take comfort from touching one another. Even the mighty sidhe feel better with a little contact, though not all of us will admit it for fear of blurring the line between royalty and commoner. I had too much lesser fey blood in my veins to worry about it. I could feel the sweat that was beginning to trickle down his spine.

Madeline started to come closer to us. I shook my head. She gave me a questioning look but didn’t argue. She picked another question from the throng.

“So you took a bullet to protect Princess Meredith?”

I leaned into the mike, putting my face very close to Frost’s, touching carefully, so I didn’t get makeup on him. The cameras exploded in bursts of white light. Frost jumped, and I knew that was going to be visible to the cameras. Oh, well. We were blinded, vision blurred in bursts of white and blue spots. His muscles tightened, but I wouldn’t have known it if I hadn’t been touching him.

“Hi, Sarah, and yes, he took a bullet for me,” I said.

I think Sarah said “Hi, Princess” back, but I couldn’t be sure, since I still couldn’t see well enough, and the noise of so many voices was too confusing. I’d learned to use names when I knew them. It made everyone feel more friendly. And you need all the friendly you can get at a press conference.

“Frost, were you afraid?”

He relaxed minutely against me, into the touch of my hand and my face. “Yes,” he said.

“Afraid to die,” someone yelled out without being called on.

Frost answered the question anyway. “No.”

Madeline called on someone, who asked, “Then what were you afraid of?”

“I was afraid Meredith would be harmed.” He licked his lips, and tensed again. I realized he’d used my name without my title. A faux pas for a bodyguard, but of course, he was more than that. Every guard was technically in the running to be prince to my princess. But we were sidhe, and we don’t marry until we’re pregnant.