Abruptly, I got graphic sex images in my brain! Im hot and uncomfortable in my jeans. Bugger it all! Rjan is a prince, a death-by-sex Fae. Hes the one I sensed muting himself so as not to draw attention to his little entourage, but now that the craps hitting the fan, hes going to use any weapon at his disposal. I guess he figures to mess me up to get to Ryodan.
But Rjan is staring at Ryodan like he expects it to be working on him. Huh? I thought they were hetero and their killer eroticism only worked on the opposite sex. I realize that was a stupid assumption. Its just that I never saw the Unseelie princes around men and Vlane always kept it muted around humans. Theres no reason, whatever the mechanism, that it wouldnt work on both genders.
On your knees, human. Rjan tosses his golden mane imperiously. You will crawl before your king.
Ryodan laughs. Is that all youve got.
I hang back, listening, not about to get closer. Its all I can do to not start stripping. Aw, bugger, I am! My coats on the ground and Im pulling up my shirt! I make a sound of protest but it doesnt come out like that at all.
Turn it off, Ryodan says without even looking at me. Youre distressing Dani. No one distresses Dani but me.
I said kneel, Rjan says, like he cant believe Ryodan is still standing there.
And I said fuck you. Turn it off or die.
Rjan cuts it off so suddenly Im shivering, cold and miserable, like I was just sunning by a pool then got an iceberg dropped on me.
Why are you here, Ryodan says.
Rjan says tightly, What the fuck are you?
Darn good question. I wonder it myself.
If you answer me wrong one more time, your death. He kicks Velvets lifeless body.
Rjan grimaces. Unlike Unseelie, Seelie expressions make sense to me. Theyre similar to ours, I guess because theyve spent so much time preying on us. Something is killing our people.
I didnt know you counted the Unseelie as yours.
It has visited places other than Dublin. It has killed Seelie, too.
Its been in Faery.
Twice. How dare an abomination enter our realm? Never has an Unseelie been suffered in Faery!
The temperature drops and I tense, searching for a shimmer in the air. It was already colder near the church than in the rest of Dublin, but now the pages of the hymnals scattered around the street glisten with a thin sheen of ice. I see Ryodan looking around, too. Snow starts to fall. I realize Rjans temper is doing it at the same time Ryodan does. I brush snow off my bare shoulders, then I jerk, embarrassed. I was so riveted by stuff happening that I didnt realize Im only wearing my bra. I scoop up my clothes and yank my shirt over my head. I hate Fae.
To Rjan, I say, Cruce lived in Faery for hundreds of thousands of years and you guys never figured it out. Theres an Unseeliein Faery for you, sitting right next to your queen. Wait! I snicker. I forgot. She wasnt your queen either. She was human. Dudes, stupid much?
I will speak with you, Rjan says to Ryodan, when you make the runt be silent.
I puff myself up, waiting for Ryodans defense.
Be quiet, kid.
I deflate.
Youre certain its Unseelie, Ryodan says to Rjan.
I said it was, I say indignantly.
Unequivocally.
Like, I even used that exact word!
What is this abomination? Ryodan says.
We do not know. We have never needed to know about our foul brethren.
Yet youre worried enough about it that youre here. In a dark Dublin street. The new king of the Seelie himself.
It seems to mollify Rjan to hear himself called the new king of the Seelie. He looks away and doesnt say anything for a second. Then he shivers. It brings final death to our kind.
Like the spear and the sword, I say.
I told you to shut her up.
Answer her.
She cannot understand what it is to be Fae.
Ryodan doesnt say a word. He takes one step forward and Rjan immediately takes one step back all smooth, like theyre doing a choreographed dance.
One day, human
You might want to rethink what youre calling me.
I will crush you beneath my heel and
Until that fictitious day, you will answer me when I speak. He steps over Velvets body, closing the distance between them.
Rjan steps back.
How does final death differ from what the sword does, Ryodan says.
Your puny brains were not fashioned to grasp the greatness of being DAnu.
Ryodan crosses his arms, waiting. Dudes got some serious presence. I want to be like him when I grow up. Youll have no brain at all in three seconds. Two.
Rjan says tightly, The spear and sword end immortal life. They sever the connection that binds our matter together and scatter it to the wind.
Tell me something I dont know.
Even if we die, that of which we are fashioned is still out there, blowing. We feel all our kindred through all time, impressions in the fabric of the universe. We are individual yet a skein, vast and glorious. You cannot know what it is to belong to such an enormous, divine entity. This this thing whatever it is, is pruning our tree. It does more than merely unbind our matter. It scatters nothing to the wind. Nothing. It is as if those it takes have never been. Its victims are erased. You cannot begin to perceive how painful that is for us. Death, even by the sword and spear, leaves us connected. This abomination is amputating our race, limb by limb!
But Rjan is staring at Ryodan like he expects it to be working on him. Huh? I thought they were hetero and their killer eroticism only worked on the opposite sex. I realize that was a stupid assumption. Its just that I never saw the Unseelie princes around men and Vlane always kept it muted around humans. Theres no reason, whatever the mechanism, that it wouldnt work on both genders.
On your knees, human. Rjan tosses his golden mane imperiously. You will crawl before your king.
Ryodan laughs. Is that all youve got.
I hang back, listening, not about to get closer. Its all I can do to not start stripping. Aw, bugger, I am! My coats on the ground and Im pulling up my shirt! I make a sound of protest but it doesnt come out like that at all.
Turn it off, Ryodan says without even looking at me. Youre distressing Dani. No one distresses Dani but me.
I said kneel, Rjan says, like he cant believe Ryodan is still standing there.
And I said fuck you. Turn it off or die.
Rjan cuts it off so suddenly Im shivering, cold and miserable, like I was just sunning by a pool then got an iceberg dropped on me.
Why are you here, Ryodan says.
Rjan says tightly, What the fuck are you?
Darn good question. I wonder it myself.
If you answer me wrong one more time, your death. He kicks Velvets lifeless body.
Rjan grimaces. Unlike Unseelie, Seelie expressions make sense to me. Theyre similar to ours, I guess because theyve spent so much time preying on us. Something is killing our people.
I didnt know you counted the Unseelie as yours.
It has visited places other than Dublin. It has killed Seelie, too.
Its been in Faery.
Twice. How dare an abomination enter our realm? Never has an Unseelie been suffered in Faery!
The temperature drops and I tense, searching for a shimmer in the air. It was already colder near the church than in the rest of Dublin, but now the pages of the hymnals scattered around the street glisten with a thin sheen of ice. I see Ryodan looking around, too. Snow starts to fall. I realize Rjans temper is doing it at the same time Ryodan does. I brush snow off my bare shoulders, then I jerk, embarrassed. I was so riveted by stuff happening that I didnt realize Im only wearing my bra. I scoop up my clothes and yank my shirt over my head. I hate Fae.
To Rjan, I say, Cruce lived in Faery for hundreds of thousands of years and you guys never figured it out. Theres an Unseeliein Faery for you, sitting right next to your queen. Wait! I snicker. I forgot. She wasnt your queen either. She was human. Dudes, stupid much?
I will speak with you, Rjan says to Ryodan, when you make the runt be silent.
I puff myself up, waiting for Ryodans defense.
Be quiet, kid.
I deflate.
Youre certain its Unseelie, Ryodan says to Rjan.
I said it was, I say indignantly.
Unequivocally.
Like, I even used that exact word!
What is this abomination? Ryodan says.
We do not know. We have never needed to know about our foul brethren.
Yet youre worried enough about it that youre here. In a dark Dublin street. The new king of the Seelie himself.
It seems to mollify Rjan to hear himself called the new king of the Seelie. He looks away and doesnt say anything for a second. Then he shivers. It brings final death to our kind.
Like the spear and the sword, I say.
I told you to shut her up.
Answer her.
She cannot understand what it is to be Fae.
Ryodan doesnt say a word. He takes one step forward and Rjan immediately takes one step back all smooth, like theyre doing a choreographed dance.
One day, human
You might want to rethink what youre calling me.
I will crush you beneath my heel and
Until that fictitious day, you will answer me when I speak. He steps over Velvets body, closing the distance between them.
Rjan steps back.
How does final death differ from what the sword does, Ryodan says.
Your puny brains were not fashioned to grasp the greatness of being DAnu.
Ryodan crosses his arms, waiting. Dudes got some serious presence. I want to be like him when I grow up. Youll have no brain at all in three seconds. Two.
Rjan says tightly, The spear and sword end immortal life. They sever the connection that binds our matter together and scatter it to the wind.
Tell me something I dont know.
Even if we die, that of which we are fashioned is still out there, blowing. We feel all our kindred through all time, impressions in the fabric of the universe. We are individual yet a skein, vast and glorious. You cannot know what it is to belong to such an enormous, divine entity. This this thing whatever it is, is pruning our tree. It does more than merely unbind our matter. It scatters nothing to the wind. Nothing. It is as if those it takes have never been. Its victims are erased. You cannot begin to perceive how painful that is for us. Death, even by the sword and spear, leaves us connected. This abomination is amputating our race, limb by limb!
