A Lick of Frost(47)

"I swear," I said.

"Darkness, tell me exactly what happened?"

"I fear, my queen, that I will be useless for this. To my deep shame, I was unconscious through most of it."

"You don't seem that injured."

"Halfwen healed me at the hospital or I would still be there."

"Abeloec," she said.

Abe stirred behind us on the bed. He'd tried very hard to go unnoticed. "Yes, my queen."

"Do you know why Taranis would target you?"

He sat up slowly, careful of his back, and ended by half kneeling almost on all fours behind us. "Once my power was necessary for the choosing of a queen, as Meabh's power was to the choosing of a king. I think Taranis heard rumors that my power was returned to me, in part. I think he feared that I would help turn Meredith into a true queen of faerie. If we had known that any noble was dreaming of offering her the throne, then the accusations against me would have made some sense. He wanted me away from the princess."

"Galen," she said, "why did he target you?"

Galen looked flustered for a moment. He shook his head. "I don't know."

"Come, Galen Greenknight, green man, why?"

I had a thought. "He knows the prophesy that Cel got from the human psychic," I said.

"Yes, Meredith, because you and the green man will bring life back to the courts. Taranis has made the same mistake my son did. He thinks that Galen is the green man of the prophesy. Neither of them remember our history."

"The green man means the god, the consort," I said.

Andais nodded. She turned those eyes to Rhys. "And you, why you? Have you figured it out yet?"

"He heard the rumor that I'm Cromm Cruach again. If I were truly back to my original strength then he would fear me."

"Rumor has it that you can bring death to a goblin with a touch again. Is that rumor true?"

"I have done it once," he said, "but whether it will work again, I do not know."

"The rumor might be enough for Taranis," she said. She seemed calmer. Which was good. She looked at Doyle. "I understand why he attacked you. If I were to try and kill the princess, I would kill you first, but he was wrong in not targeting our Killing Frost." She turned those calm eyes to the big man standing so silent beside the bed. "To kill Meredith and survive would require both your deaths, wouldn't it, Killing Frost?"

Frost licked his lips. He was right to be nervous. This was not a conversation that we wanted to be having with our queen. "That is true, my queen," he said.

"Did the Seelie Court make the same condition on you that I do? Do you need to be with child before you can sit their throne?"

"No, they offered the throne with no conditions except that the nobles of the Seelie Court vote Taranis out and me in."

"What do you think of that, Meredith?"

"I am flattered, but not stupid. I am wondering if the nobles are playing some game of their own choosing, and the offer to me is simply to buy them time to consolidate their own bid for the throne. A vote to put me on the throne would slow the process of choosing a new king, or queen, for the Seelie Court to a crawl."

Andais smiled. "Did Doyle reason it out for you?"

"No, my queen," Doyle said. "The princess is well aware of the Seelie Court's potential for treachery."

"Is it true that Taranis almost beat you to death as a child?"

"Yes," I said. In my head I added, as you tried to drown me. Out loud I kept my mouth shut.

Andais smiled as if she'd hit on the same memory and it was a happy one for her. "Meredith, Meredith, you must learn to control your entire face. Your eyes betray how much you hate me."

I lowered my gaze, not sure what to say that wouldn't be a lie.

She laughed, and it was both a lovely sound and a sound that made me shiver, as if it were my own body lying on her bed unable to protect itself from what would come next. I wanted to save Crystall from her, but I couldn't figure out a way to do it. Me trying and failing would just make her hurt him worse. She'd think it meant he was special to me, and it would amuse her all the more to slice him up.

"Now that I know that you have not been meeting with Hugh and the Seelie nobles in secret, I agree that they mean you treachery. Perhaps you will be their stalking horse to lure out all the would-be assassins. Or perhaps it is what you say, that they simply throw your name into the ring to slow the process while someone else consolidates their own power. I think the latter the more likely, but the offer is so completely unexpected that I have not had time to think clearly on it."

What she meant was that she'd been convinced that I'd betrayed her with the Seelie Court, so she'd been too angry to think clearly. I kept my reasoning to myself. I had my face enough under control that I could look back up at her. Or I hoped I did. How do you tell if your own face is neutral?