A Lick of Frost(87)

"We wanted to see how sensible you were before we told you our plan," Lady Elasaid said.

Hugh said, "Head wounds can make a person unreliable, and this is too dangerous a game to have you privy to our secrets if you will blurt them out."

"May I speak freely here?" I asked.

"Yes," he said.

"Get me in front of the cameras and I'll play damsel in distress for you."

Hugh and several others smiled. "You do understand."

"I've been in front of the press my whole life. I understand their power."

"We made him swear a most solemn oath that he would not reveal himself to you until we were certain you would not spoil the plan if you knew him near."

I frowned at Hugh but it hurt, so I stopped. I said, "I don't understand."

There was movement near the far door, hidden by the crowd of people and dogs. The crowd moved to either side, revealing a huge black dog. Not as huge as some of the Irish hounds, but… The black dog trotted toward me, his nails clicking on the marble.

I almost whispered his name but stopped in time. I held a hand out toward him. He laid his great furred head in my hand, then there was an instant of warm mist and prickling magic. Doyle stood before me, nude and perfect. He wore the only metal that seemed to have survived the transformation, the silver earrings that peeked from the fall of his ankle-length hair. Even the tie for his hair was gone.

He was unarmed and alone inside the Seelie mound. The danger he had exposed himself to made my stomach clench tightly. In that moment I feared for him more than for myself.

He took me in his arms, and I clung to him. Clung to the feel of his skin, the strength of him. I moved my head too quickly, and a wave of nausea blurred my vision. He seemed to sense it because he moved me to lay more prone in his arms. He knelt in the white-and-gold corridor, his darkness repeated in the mirrors as he held me.

There was a glitter on his cheeks, and I saw the Darkness cry for only the second time ever.





CHAPTER 27





I KNELT ON THE MARBLE IN DOYLE'S ARMS, MY HEAD RESTING ON his chest. Just his touch seemed to ease some of my pain.

"How?" I asked.

He seemed to understand exactly what I wanted to know, as he often did. "This is not the first time I have come here in this guise. Many of the fey hounds began as black dogs. I am just one who has not chosen a master. I am quite the favorite among those who have not been blessed with a dog. They offer me choice tidbits and call me sweet names."

"He is skittish, and will not let them lay hands on him," Lady Elasaid said.

"He plays the dog to perfection," Hugh said.

Doyle looked up at them. "It is not play. It is a true form for me."

There was silence for a second, then Hugh asked, "Is the Darkness truly the father of one of your children?"

"Yes," I said. I held him as tightly as I could without moving my head too much. "It is too dangerous for you to be here. If you are discovered…"

He kissed my forehead as gently as a feather's touch. "I would brave much more than this for you, my princess."

My fingers dug into his arm and back. "I could not bear to lose you and Frost. I could not bear it."

"We have heard rumor of the Killing Frost, but we thought it only rumor," Hugh said.

"Is he truly dead?" Lady Elasaid asked.

"He is the white stag in truth," Doyle said.

Hugh knelt beside us, smiling. "He is not dead then, Princess. In three years, or seven, or a hundred and seven he will return to his true self."

"What good is a hundred years to a mortal lover, Sir Hugh? His child will never know him while I still live."

Hugh's eyes flared as if someone had struck the embers of his power. There was a moment of fire in his eyes, like looking into two small fireplaces. He blinked and his eyes were only the colors of fire. "I have no words of comfort then, but the black dog's presence is one of the things we nobles have done to keep your aunt from starting true war with us. He will remain close to your side."

I grabbed Hugh's sleeve. "He is weaponless in this form. If discovered, can you protect him?"

"I am the captain of your guard, Merry. I protect you," Doyle said.

I leaned harder against the solidness of him, my hand on the other man's sleeve. "You are one half of a breeding royal pair. You are king to my queen. If you die, the chance of other children dies with you."

"She is right, Darkness," Hugh said. "It has been too long since there was life in the royal bloodline."

"I am not of the bloodline," Doyle said. His deep voice seemed to echo off the mirrors.

"We know the princess has made Maeve Reed, once the goddess Conchenn, with child by her human husband. We also hear rumors that one of your male guards has made a female guard pregnant," Hugh said.