A Lick of Frost

"Not just the nobility," Rhys said.

The other guards nodded. "He is right," Doyle said. "Even the lesser fey would do much to avoid exile."

"So how is the lady lying?" Veducci asked us.

Galen spoke, voice low, a little uncertain. "Could it be an illusion? Could someone have used glamour so strong that it fooled her?"

"You mean made her think she was being attacked when she wasn't?" Nelson asked.

"I'm not sure that would be possible on a member of the sidhe," Veducci said. He looked at us.

"What if it wasn't completely an illusion," Rhys said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You make a tree by planting a stick in the ground. You create a castle from the ruin of one," he said.

"It would be easier to do such a thing if you had something physical to build upon," Doyle said.

"What could you build on for an attack?" Galen asked.

Doyle looked at him. The look was eloquent, but Galen didn't understand it. I got it first. "You mean the stories of our people appearing as dead warriors coming into the widows' beds, that kind of thing."

"Yes," Doyle said, "illusion used as a disguise."

"Very few in faerie have such power of illusion now," Frost said.

"There might only be one in all of faerie who could pull it off," Galen said. His green eyes were suddenly very serious.

"You can't mean…" Frost started to say, then stopped. We all thought it. Abe said, "That son of a bitch."

Veducci spoke as if he'd read our minds. It made me wonder if without his protections from faerie magic I'd have read him as a psychic, or more. "The King of Light and Illusion, how good are his; powers of illusion?"

"Fuck," Shelby said. "You did not just say that. You did not just give them reasonable doubt."

Veducci smiled at us. "The princess and her men had reasonable doubt when they stepped into the room, but they would never have accused the king out loud in front of us. They'd have kept their secrets even from their lawyers."

I had an awful idea. I moved toward Veducci, only Doyle's hand on my arm stopping me from touching the man. He was right, they might see that as magical interference. "Mr. Veducci, are you pla

"I thought I'd leave that to your lawyers."

My skin was suddenly cold. I felt the blood drain from my face. Veducci looked uncertain, and almost reached out to me. "Are you feeling all right, Princess?"

"I'm frightened for you, for all of you, and for us," I said. "You do not understand Taranis. He has been absolute ruler of the Seelie Court for more than a thousand years. That has led to an arrogance you can't even begin to imagine. He pretends to be the jolly, handsome king for you humans, but he shows quite a different face to those of us in the Unseelie Court. If you accuse him bluntly of this, I do not know what he will do."

"Would he hurt us?" Nelson asked.

"No, but he might use magic on you," I replied. "He is the King of Light and Illusion. I have stood in his presence, just over a minor call, and he has almost bespelled me. I almost fell to his power, and I am a princess of the Unseelie Court. You are human. If he truly wanted to bespell you, he could."

"That would be illegal," Shelby said.

"He is a king with the power of life and death in his hands," I said. "He doesn't think like a modern man, no matter how much he apes it for the press." I felt dizzy, and someone brought me a chair.

Doyle knelt beside me. "Are you unwell, Meredith?" he whispered.

Nelson asked, "Are you all right, Princess Meredith?"

"I'm tired, and scared," I said. "You have no idea what the last few days have been like, and I daren't tell you."

"Does it have anything to do with this case?" Cortez asked.

I looked up at him. "You mean the reason that I'm tired and scared?"

"Yes."

"No, it has nothing to do with these false accusations." I reached for Doyle's hand. "Make them understand that they must tread carefully with Taranis."

Doyle took my hand in his and said, "I will do my best, my princess."

I smiled up at him. "I know you will."

Frost came to the other side of me and touched my cheek. "You are pale. Even for one of us with moonlight skin, you are pale."

Abeloec came closer to me. "I had heard that the princess was human enough to catch colds. I thought it was a nasty rumor."

"You can't catch colds?" Nelson asked.

"They can't," I said, pressing my cheek against Frost's hand, and still holding on to Doyle. "But I can. I don't get them often, but I can get them." In my head I added, "the very first mortal faerie princess." It was one of the reasons for all the assassination attempts on the Unseelie Court. There were factions that believed that if I sat the throne I would contaminate all the immortals with the disease of mortality. I would bring death to them all. How do you argue against a rumor like that, when they can't even catch a cold? And I was about to talk to the most bright and shiny of them all, King Taranis, Lord of Light and Illusion. Goddess help me if he realized that I was coming down with some petty human illness. It would just confirm for him how weak I was, how human I was.

"It's almost time for the king to contact us," Veducci said, looking at his watch.

"If his time is ru

Veducci nodded. "True, but may I suggest that we get some cold metal for the rest of you to carry?"

"Cold metal?" Nelson made it a question.

"I think some of the office supplies of this fine law firm might just help the rest of you have clear vision when we deal with King Taranis."

"Office supplies," Cortez said. "You mean like paper clips?"

"Maybe," Veducci said. He turned to me. "What do you think, Princess, would a paper clip be helpful?"

"It depends on what it's made out of, but a handful of them might help."

"We can test it for you," Rhys said.

"How?" Veducci said.

"If it bothers us to touch it, it'll help you."

"I thought it was only lesser fey that couldn't touch metal," Cortez said.

"Some of them can actually be burned by the touch of some metals, but even the sidhe don't truly enjoy most man-forged metal," Rhys said, still with that smile.

"Burned just by touching metal," Nelson said.

"We don't have time to discuss the wonders of the fey if we're going to get those office supplies," Veducci said.

Farmer hit the intercom and spoke to one of the many secretaries and personal assistants who had seemed to be in the offices outside. He requested metal paper clips and staples. I suggested, "Box cutters, pocket knives."

Shelby, Grover, and the other male assistant all had pocket knives. "You were pretty fascinated with the princess," Veducci said. "I'd add a handful of something else, just in case."

I watched Veducci hand out the office supplies. He'd taken charge, and no one had questioned it. He was supposed to be our enemy, but he was helping us. Had he told the truth? Was he here for justice, or was it a lie? Until I found out what Taranis wanted, I couldn't afford to trust anyone.

Veducci came to stand in front of where I sat. He nodded at Doyle and Frost, who were still pressed to me, one on each side. "May I offer the princess some extra metal to hold?"

"She is carrying metal, as are we all."

"The guns and swords, we see them." Then Veducci's eyes flicked to me. "Are you saying the princess is armed?"

I was actually. I had a knife strapped to my thigh in a holder I'd worn before. I had a gun at the small of my back in one of those new sideways holsters that were designed to be worn there. We didn't actually expect me to use the gun for shooting, but it was a way to carry a lot of metal—steel and lead—on me and not make it obvious to Taranis. He'd see me wearing metal as an insult. The guards could get away with it, because they were guards; they were supposed to be armed.