Страница 55 из 60
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.