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silver veil emphasizing his body instead of hiding it.
"Frost, you're almost too beautiful to be real."
"She treats us like dolls to be dressed at her whim." It was the closest thing
to an overt criticism of the queen that I'd ever heard him say.
"I like it, Frost," Rhys said. "It's you."
He scowled at Rhys. "It is not me."
I'd never seen the tall guard so angry about something so small. "It's just
clothes, Frost. It won't hurt you to wear them with grace. Showing your
displeasure in them could hurt you, very much."
"I have obeyed my queen."
"If she knows how much you hate the clothes she'll order more of the same for
you. You know that."
The scowl deepened until he managed to put lines across that perfect face.
Then a scream came from the room behind him. Even wordless, I recognized that
voice. It was Galen.
I stepped forward. Frost stood his ground.
"Get out of my way, Frost," I said.
"The prince has ordered this punishment, but has graciously allowed privacy.
No one may enter until it is complete."
I stared up at Frost. I couldn't fight my way past him, and I wasn't going to
kill him. It used up my options.
"Merry is being named coheir tonight," Rhys said.
Frost's eyes flicked from one to the other of us. "I do not believe it."
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Galen screamed again, and the sound raised the flesh on my arms, clenched my
hands into fists.
"I will be coheir tonight, Frost."
He shook his head. "That changes nothing."
"What if she told you that our celibacy will be lifted for Merry, and Merry
alone?" Rhys asked.
Frost managed to look arrogant and disbelieving. "'What if' is not a game I
will play with you."
Galen gave another sharp scream. The queen's Ravens do not scream easily. I
moved toward Frost, and he tensed. I think he was expecting a fight.
I ran my fingers lightly over the front of his shirt. He jumped as if I'd hurt
him. "The queen will announce tonight that I am to have my pick of the Guards.
She's ordered me to sleep with one of you tonight, or tomorrow I will have a
starring role in one of her little orgies." I wrapped my arms around his
waist, pressing myself lightly against his body. "Trust me, Frost, I will have
one of you tonight, and tomorrow, and the night after that. It would be a
shame if you were not among those I bedded."
The arrogance was gone, replaced by something eager and afraid. I didn't
understand the fear, but the eagerness, that I understood. He looked to Rhys.
"Your oath that this is true."
"You have it," Rhys said. "Let her pass, Frost."
He stared down at me. He still hadn't touched me back-my caress had been like
a kiss against unresponsive lips-but he moved out of the way, sliding from the
circle of my arms. He watched me like you'd watch a coiled rattlesnake, no
sudden movements, and no trust that it wouldn't bite you anyway.
He was afraid of what was happening in that room.
I walked past him. I felt Rhys at my back, but all I could see was what lay in
the center of the room.
There was a small water garden in the center of the room, with a large
decorative rock in the center of it.
Stepping-stones led to the rock, in which were embedded permanent chains.
Galen was chained to the rock. His body was almost lost to sight under the
slowly fanning butterfly wings of the demi-fey. They looked like true
butterflies on the edge of a puddle, sipping liquid, wings moving slowly to
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the rhythm of their feeding. But they weren't sipping water, they were
drinking his blood.
He screamed again, and it sent me rushing forward. Doyle was suddenly in front
of me. He must have been guarding the other doors. "You cannot stop them once
they have begun to feed."
"Why is he screaming? It shouldn't hurt that much." I tried to get past him,
and he grabbed my arm.
"No, Meredith, no."
Galen shrieked long and loud, his body arching against the chains. The
movement dislodged some of the demi-fey, and I glimpsed why he was screaming.
His groin was a bloody mess. They were taking flesh as well as blood.
Rhys hissed, "Bloody beasts."
Doyle tightened his grip on my arm.
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"They're mutilating him," I protested.
"He will heal."
I tried to pull away but his fingers were like something welded to my skin.
"Doyle, please?"
"I am sorry, Princess."
Galen shrieked, and the rock strained under the pull of his body, but the
chains held. "This is excessive and you know it."
"The prince is within his rights to punish Galen for disobeying him." He tried
to pull me farther away, as if that would make it better.
"No, Doyle, if Galen has to endure it, I won't look away. Now let go of me."
"You promise not to do anything rash?"
"My word," I said.
He released me, and when I touched his shoulder, he moved to one side so my
view was unobstructed.
The wings were every color of the rainbow, and some that the rainbow could
only dream of-huge wings bigger than my hands flexing slowly in and out above
brief glimpses of Galen's nearly nude body. His pants were down around his
ankles, and there was no other clothing that I could see. There was a terrible
beauty to the scene, like a very pretty slice of hell.
One set of wings was larger than the others, like huge pale swallow-tailed
kites. It was Queen Niceven herself feasting just above his groin. I had an
idea. "Queen Niceven," I said, "it does not become a queen to do the dirty
work of a prince."
She raised her small pale face and hissed at me, her lips and chin red with
Galen's blood, the front of her white gown splattered with crimson.
I held up the hand with the ring on it. "I am to be named coheir tonight."
"What is that to me?" Her voice was like evil bells, sweet and disturbing.
"A queen deserves better than the blood of a sidhe lord."
She watched me with tiny pale eyes. She was all leprous in her paleness, like
a tiny ghost.
"What do you offer that is more tender than this?"
"Not more tender, but more powerful. The blood of a sidhe princess for the
queen of the demi-fey."
She stared at me, one dainty hand wiping at the blood on her mouth. She rose
on huge luna-moth wings to fly toward me. The others continued to feed.
Niceven hovered in front of my face, her wings making a small current of air
against my skin. "You would take his place?"
Doyle said, "No, Princess."
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I silenced him with a gesture. "I offer Queen Niceven of the demi-fey my
blood. The blood of a sidhe princess is too fine a prize to be shared."
Frost and Rhys moved up beside Doyle. They watched us as if they'd never seen
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such a show before.
Niceven licked her lips with a tiny tongue like the petal of a flower. "You
would let me take blood from you?"
I held up a finger to her. "Let him go, and you may pierce my skin and drink."
"Prince Cel petitioned that we ruin this one's manhood."
"As Doyle said, it will heal. Why would the prince ask a favor of the demi-fey
for something that is not permanent damage?"
She hovered near my finger for all the world like a butterfly inspecting a
flower. "That, you have to ask
Prince Cel." She turned her gaze from my finger to my face. "You should have
heard what he wanted us to do at first. Wanted us to ruin him for life, but
the queen does not allow her lovers to be damaged goods." Niceven hovered
close to my face, her tiny hand touching the tip of my nose. "Prince Cel
reminded me that he will be king someday." She touched my lips lightly with
those diminutive fingers. "I
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