Chapter Thirty-Three

The humvee crawled along the edge of the road, the trees scraping the windows, sides, and roof. "The prince and his people must still be in the road," Rhys said, "or they'd be moving faster."

"Have Mistral tell us who else is with Cel besides the captain of the guard," Doyle said.

I conveyed the request to Gregorio. She looked like she would argue, but he gave her the full force of his gaze. His face must have been almost lost in the dimness of the night and the car, but something about what she saw made her pick up the radio and do what he asked.

The answer came back as a list of the people who had backed Cel for centuries. But the crowd wasn't as large as I'd thought. Important names were missing, which didn't mean that the missing Unseelie were on my side. It simply meant that they'd abandoned Cel. One important oversight was that Siobhan was almost the only guard he had left. We'd discovered that the guards, most of whom had begun their careers as my father's personal guard, had not been asked if they wished to serve Cel. They had been forced, and no oath of allegiance had been given by most of them. Which meant that their service, and their torment by Cel, were illegal by our laws.

To join the guard of our royalty, you had to choose, and bind yourself with oaths. That Cel had stolen their freedom without that was a grave abuse of authority.

Gregorio watched our faces as she relayed the names. If she'd thought she'd learn something from Doyle or Rhys, she'd been mistaken. I think I just looked tired.

"The Queen must have given his guard a choice," Doyle said.

"The choice they should have had from the beginning," Rhys said.

"Yes," he said.

"What do you mean 'a choice'?" Gregorio asked.

"Prince Cel took over the personal guard of Prince Essus, Princess Meredith's father, after his death. By our laws, the guard should have had a choice to either follow the new prince or leave the royal service, but Prince Cel gave them no choice. The princess found this out recently, and petitioned the queen to give the prince's guard that choice."

"So they all bailed on him?" Gregorio asked.

"So it would seem."

"Or maybe they're out in the woods waiting to ambush us," Rhys said.

"That too is very possible."

"Couldn't you sense if there were that many sidhe hiding in the woods?" I asked.

"Not inside this much metal and human-made technology."

"We're almost head-blind, Merry. It doesn't kill us to be inside this much metal, like some of the lesser fey, but it curtails our magic, a lot," Rhys said.

"If there are other guards hiding in the woods, would it explain why Cel isn't attacking?" I asked. I huddled in more tightly against Doyle. Rhys was gazing out the windows, trying to see what lay ahead.

"It might," Doyle said.

Gregorio took it upon herself to hit the radio again. "The prince has a lot more personal guards than those in the road. We might want to check the woods and see what's there."

A man's voice said, "Roger that."

"So it's either a trap," Rhys said, "or he's waiting for the truck with us in it. We're his targets, after all."

"He is most likely saving his attack for us," Doyle said, "but as we cannot work magic inside the trucks, neither can he work magic upon us while we are surrounded by this much metal."

Gregorio asked, "Are you saying that we should let them throw magic at us, and the trucks will take care of it?"

Doyle and Rhys exchanged a look, then Rhys nodded and shrugged. Doyle answered. "The magic should fall apart around the trucks, and as long as your people stay inside them, they should be untouchable."

I turned in Doyle's arms so I could see his face, though dark on dark, I could see little of his expression. Of course, when he didn't wish me to, bright light wouldn't have clued me in to his thoughts.

"Are you saying that we are completely safe inside here from their magic?" Gregorio asked.

Doyle stirred beside me, pulling me even more tightly against him. Rhys took my hand in his, playing with my knuckles again in that worry-stone way, over and over.

"Either they can work magic inside here or they cannot," I said.

"It is not that simple," Doyle said at last.

"Well, since the Humvee with Galen and the others in it is going to be close to them very soon, I suggest you make it simple."

He smiled. "Spoken in the tone of a queen."

"I'm with her," Gregorio said. "I've got people depending on Dawson and me to keep them safe."

I shook my head. "Take the tone any way you like, Doyle, but you're both hiding something from me. Tell me."

"As my lady asks," he said, "no magic from his hand or the others can touch us in here. He may not know that, but we are safe inside the trucks."

"I hear a 'but' in your voice."

He smiled a little more. "But there are things that can pierce the metal."

"Remember, Merry, our people didn't use armor once, for obvious reasons, but we ran into enemies who did. Our metalsmiths came up with a few things that would go through metal."

"Such as?" I asked.

"There were spears forged long ago," Doyle said. "They are locked away with the few other magical weapons left us."

"The queen would have to give him permission to open the vault of weapons," I said.

"She would, which makes it unlikely that he would have such a thing, but I do not like the fact that he and his followers are in the middle of the road, demanding things from us."

Rhys said, "The queen would never permit him to appear weak or evil in front of the humans. She's worked too long and hard to make the Unseelie Court's reputation better to let Cel ruin it now. It's the one thing she's never allowed him to do, to abuse the humans, or be seen abusing anyone else in front of them."

"And now he's in the middle of the road, behaving badly," I said. "Exactly," he said.

"Where is Queen Andais?" I asked.

"Where indeed," Doyle said, and he moved again, as if the seat wasn't quite comfortable. It wasn't, but it wasn't the seat that was bothering him. Doyle could sleep on a marble floor and not flinch.

"You're afraid for her," I said.

"One thing she accused you of, my sweet Merry, is very true. You have stripped her of all the best and most feared of her personal guard. She retained her position, in part, because of... "

"You," I finished for him.

"Not only me."

I nodded. "You can say his name, Doyle. The Queen's Darkness, and her Killing Frost."

"It upsets you to hear his name."

"It does, but that doesn't mean we don't say it."

"It would if you were Queen Andais," Rhys said.

"I am not her."

"But Doyle is being too modest," Rhys said. "Yes, Frost was feared by the queen's enemies, but it was fear of the Queen's Darkness that kept a lot of courtiers in line."

"You exaggerate," Doyle said.

I shook my head. "I'm not sure he does. I've heard people talk about you, Doyle. I know that the queen would say, 'Bring me my Darkness. Where is my Darkness?' and then someone would die. You were her greatest threat, next to the sluagh."

"Are you saying that Captain Doyle here is as feared as the host of the sluagh?" Gregorio asked.

We all looked at her. I said, "Yes."

"One man, against a host of nightmares," she said, and didn't try to keep her disbelief out of her voice.

"He can be pretty scary all on his own," Rhys said.

Gregorio stared at Doyle, as if trying to see more of him in the dim light.

"Shouldn't you tell Sergeant Dawson that the magic will be stopped by the trucks?" I asked.

"I'll tell him it will probably be stopped." She got on the radio.

Rhys said, "Some of them might be able to make illusions real enough to lure the soldiers outside the trucks."

"What kind of illusions?" I asked.

Voices came over the radio, frantic. "Sierra four to all Sierra, we have wounded soldiers in line of travel. Stopping to render aid."

"Those kind," Doyle said.

"Tell them it's not real," I said.

"Tell them not to get out of the trucks no matter what," Doyle said.

Gregorio tried, she really did, but one thing our soldiers are not trained to do is leave their wounded behind. It was a brilliant trap. The soldiers went to check the wounded, and once they left the trucks, the sidhe attacked, and no human magic could stop them.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Voices came in snatches over the radio. "It's Morales, but he died in Iraq! It's Smitty... died in Afghanistan... "

"It's Siobhan," Rhys said. "She can bring back the shadows of the dead whom you know. Shit, I thought she'd lost that power."

"The princess returns power to all of faerie, Rhys, not just us," Doyle said.

The real trick to the ambush was that the soldiers didn't realize yet that they were under attack. Gregorio twisted in the seat and turned to us. "It doesn't sound like they're doing anything to our people."

"The dead are not the only mind games the sidhe can play," Rhys said.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

Shots sounded.

"They're shooting at us!" Gregorio said, and went back to the radio, trying to get someone to talk to her.

We heard Dawson's voice. "Mercer just shot Jones. He's shooting at us!"

"He's shooting at nightmares," Doyle said.

"What?" Gregorio asked.

"They're using illusion to make your solider see monsters. He doesn't know he's shooting at you," I said.

"But we're all wearing anti-faerie stuff," she said.

"Are you sure that this Mercer is wearing his?" Doyle asked.

"They could persuade him to take it off," I said.

She cursed and got back on the radio with Dawson. There was more gunfire, and it sounded different this time. Gregorio got off the radio, her face grim.

"We had to kill Mercer, our own man. He thought he was back in an ambush in Iraq."

"Get the men back in the trucks," Doyle said. "Tell them to believe nothing that they see outside of them."

"It's too late, Doyle," Rhys said. They exchanged looks that were far too serious.

"We might be able to prevent the illusions," Doyle said.

"You're our protectees," Gregorio said. "My orders clearly state that you aren't getting out of the safety of these vehicles until I hand you off at the flight line."

I gripped Doyle's hand and Rhys's arm. This was a trap for us, for my men and me. I agreed with Gregorio, but... The yelling continued, then it became screams.

"Sergeant Dawson, talk to me!" Gregorio yelled into the radio.

"We've got men bleeding. Bleeding from old wounds, but they're fresh now. What the hell is going on?"

"Cel is the Prince of Old Blood. That does not mean he's from an old lineage," Doyle said.

"You mean the prince is doing this?" she asked.

"Yes."

I sat there in the Humvee with my death grip on them both, and couldn't think. Maybe the last several days, or months, were finally catching up with me. I was frozen with indecision. The human soldiers had no chance against this, but it was a trap for us, which meant that Cel and his allies had plans to stop anything we could do. I'd dueled enough of the people with him when Cel was trying to kill me legally. I knew their powers, and some were fierce.

"Shoot them," I said. "The sidhe are not proof against bullets."

"We can't shoot at a royal prince and his guard unless they attack us with something we can see and testify to in court," Gregorio said.

"Cel can bleed most of you to death without ever lifting a weapon," I said, leaning forward as far as the seat belt would allow.

"But we can't prove he's doing it," she said. "You've never tried to prove a magic attack in a military court. I have. It ain't pretty."

"Would you rather they all die?" I asked.

"We can help them, Meredith," Doyle said.

I turned to him. "That's what he wants, Doyle. You know that. He's hurting the soldiers to lure us out."

"Yes, Meredith," he said, cupping my face with his free hand, "and it is a good trap."

I shook my head, moving back from his touch. "The soldiers are supposed to protect us."

"They are dying to protect us," he said.

My throat was tight, and my eyes burned. "No," I whispered.

"You will stay inside this truck, no matter what happens, Meredith. You must not get out."

"Once you are dead, they will drag me out. They will drag me out and kill me and your unborn children."

He flinched, something I had never seen before. The Darkness did not flinch. "That was harsh, My Princess."

"Truth is often harsh," I said, and let him hear my anger.

"She's right, Captain," Rhys said.

"Would you let them die in our place?" Doyle asked.

Rhys sighed, then kissed me on the cheek. "I will follow where my captain leads, you know that."

"No," I said, louder.

"I can't allow any of you to leave the safety of the vehicle," Gregorio said.

"What will you do to stop us?" Doyle asked, his hand on the door handle.

"Shit," she said, and started to get on the radio.

Doyle touched her shoulder. "Do not give away what little surprise we will have."

She let go of the button and just stared at him. "The princess is right. This ambush is meant to lure you to your deaths."

"It is," he said. He turned back to me. "Kiss me, Meredith, my Merry."

I was shaking my head over and over. "No."

"You will not kiss me good-bye?"

I wanted to scream at him that I would not. I would not endorse his stupidity in any way, but in the end, I couldn't let him go without it.

I kissed him, or he kissed me. He kissed me gently, his hands on my face, then he drew me into his arms so that our bodies molded against each other. He drew back with a last chaste kiss on my lips.

Rhys said, "My turn."

I turned to him with tears glittering in my eyes. I would not cry, not yet. Rhys's face was so sad, gentle but so sad. He kissed me delicately, then he grabbed me fiercely, almost painfully, and kissed me as if my lips were food and water and air, and he would die without my kiss. I fell into the fierceness of his mouth, his hands, and his body, and when he finally broke away, we were both breathless.

"Wow," Gregorio said, then said, "sorry."

I didn't even look at her, only at Rhys. "Don't go."

The door opened behind me, and I turned in time to see Doyle sliding out. I whispered, "If I am your queen, then I can order you to stay."

Doyle leaned back in the doorway. "I vowed never again to listen to humans die screaming for my cause, Meredith."

"Doyle, please."

"You are now and always will be my Merry." Then he was gone.

A sound escaped my lips that was almost a cry, but it was not a sound that I ever wanted to hear from my own mouth.

The door opened on the other side of me, and I turned to see Rhys climbing out. "Rhys, no!"

He smiled at me. "Know that I would have stayed, but I cannot let him go without me. He is my captain, and has been for more than a thousand years. And he's right. I too vowed never to let humans die for me again. It was wrong then, and it's still wrong." He reached in, touched my face.

I held his hand against my cheek. "Don't go."

"Know that I love you more than honor, but Doyle wouldn't be Doyle if he felt the same way."

The first tear trailed, hot and painful, down my face as he drew his hand away. I held on to him with both hands on his one. "Rhys, please, for the love of the Goddess, please!"

"I love you, Merry. I've loved you since you were sixteen."

I thought I would choke on the next words, but I got them out, "I love you too. Don't you die on me."

He grinned, and it almost reached his eyes. "I'll do my best." Then he was gone into the night, and the sound of fighting.