A Lick of Frost(26)

The scent of roses was back. Galen whispered, "I smell apple blossoms." Each of the men smelled the scent they had smelled when the Goddess had manifested for them. She was not just one goddess, but many. She was the face of all that was female. Not merely a rose, but all that grew upon the earth was in her scent.

Doyle came back toward us. "Is this wise, Meredith?"

"I don't know." But I stood, and they let their hands fall away from me. I stood in front of my uncle alone, with the men lined around me. The lawyers had moved back, frowning, puzzled, except for Veducci, who seemed to understand a great deal more than he should have.

"We are all people of the Goddess, Uncle," I said.

"The Unseelie are the dark god's children."

"There is no dark god among us," I said. "We are not Christians to people our underworld with terrors. We are children of the earth and sky. We are nature itself. There is no evil in us, only differences."

"They have filled your head with lies," he said.

"Truth is truth, whether in sunlight or darkest night. You cannot hide from the truth forever, Uncle."

"Where is the ambassador? He will search their bodies and find the horrors that the lady said were there."

There was a wind in the room now, a gentle breeze that held that first warmth of spring. The scent of plants was mingling so that I could smell Galen's apple blossoms, Doyle's scent of autumn oak leaves and deep forest, and Rhys's sweet, cloying lily of the valley. Frost's was a taste like flavored ice, and Abe's was honeyed mead. The scents and tastes combined with the scent of wild roses.

"I smell flowers," Nelson said, her voice uncertain.

"What do you smell, Uncle?" I asked.

"I smell nothing but the corruption that stands behind you. Where is Ambassador Stevens?"

"He is being tended by a human wizard by now. They will cleanse him of the spell you placed upon him."

"More lies," he said, but there was something in his face that belied the strength of his protests.

"I have bedded these men. I know that their bodies hold no horrors."

"You are part human, Meredith. They have bewitched you."

The wind grew, and pushed at the surface of the mirror, with its bits of floating herbs, like wind on water. I watched the glass ripple. "What do you smell, Uncle?"

"I smell nothing but the stench of Unseelie magic." His voice was ugly with anger, and something else. I realized in that moment that Taranis was mad. I'd thought all his crimes had been arrogance, but looking into his face, my skin ran cold, even with the Goddess's touch. Taranis, King of the Seelie Court, was mad. It was there in his eyes, as if a curtain of sanity had lifted and you couldn't miss it. There was something broken in his mind. Consort help us.

"You are not yourself, Your Majesty," Doyle said softly in his deep voice.

"You are the Dark, and I am the Light." Taranis raised his right hand, palm outward. I felt my guards move forward, toward me. They piled on top of me, pressed me to the floor, protecting me with their bodies. I felt heat, even through the flesh that protected me. I heard a noises, then Nelson was screaming, and the lawyers were yelling. I spoke from the bottom of the pile with Galen pressed tightly against me. "What is it? What's happened?"

More male voices from the far door. Security had arrived, but what good were guns when someone could turn light itself into a weapon? Could you shoot through the mirror and hit anything on the other side? You could shoot out the mirror, but the bullet should stop at the glass. Taranis could hurt us. Could we hurt him?

Other voices seemed to be coming from in front of us, from the mirror. I tried to peer around Galen's arm, and the spill of Abe's long hair, but I was trapped in the dimness of their bodies, with the feel of more weight atop me, so that I was trapped and useless until the fight was over. I knew better than to order them off of me. If they thought it was safe, they'd move, and get me out of the room. Until that moment they were offering their lives to shield mine. Once I'd been relieved to know that. Now some of them were as precious to me as my own life. I had to know what was happening.

"Galen, what is happening?"

"I've got two layers of hair in front of me. I'm as blind as you are," he said.

Abe answered me. "Taranis's guard is trying to calm him."

"Why did Nelson scream?" I asked. My voice was squeezed a little from the weight of everyone atop me.

I heard Frost's voice yelling, "Get her out!"

I felt the movement before Galen grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet. Abe had my other arm, and they were running for the far door. Running so fast they simply carried me between them.