Shadowfever
Page 123
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I snorted. The air was so thick with tension, I was getting light-headed from lack of oxygen. Id never stood in a room packed with so much distrust and aggression as I was standing in today. That Ryodan had made everyone strip and have their clothes searched before returning them at the top of the stairs had only added to their bad tempers. I knew why hed done it. It wasnt about new rules. It was about throwing everyone off balance, establishing from the get-go that they werent in control of anything, not even their person. Being naked in front of clothed guards makes anyone feel intensely vulnerable.
I surveyed the room. On the east wall of the glass room, five heavily tattooed Keltar hulked in tight pants and shirts.
On the south wall, Rowena, Kat, Jo, and three other sidhe-seersall dressed in drab, snug pantsuitsstood at attention, minus Dani. I was surprised Rowena hadnt brought her, but I guessed shed decided her risks outweighed her benefitsthe most risky of her flaws being that she liked me.
On the north wall, Vlane, Velvet, Dreeliawho once again had a mouth but was wisely keeping it closedand three other Seelie of the same caste posed arrogantly, draped in see-through short shifts, their flawless faces matched by flawless genitalia.
Barrons, Lor, Ryodan, and myself occupied the west wall, closest to the door.
Rowena glared at the five Scots lined shoulder-to-shoulder like the Falcons defense. You do know how to seal it away, do you not? she demanded.
Oozing varying degrees of hostility, they glared back at her.
The Keltar were not the kind of men a woman ordered around, especially not an old woman like Rowena, who hadnt been bothering to exercise an ounce of diplomacy or charm since shed been escorted, blindfolded, into one of the glass rooms on the top floor of Chesters.
Perversion and decadence, shed snapped the moment theyd removed her blindfold. You condone this this consorting? The flesh of human and Fae mix in this place. Och, and youll be the damnation of the human race! shed hissed at Ryodan.
Fuck the human race. Youre not my problem.
Id almost laughed at the expression on her face, but I wasnt laughing now. Shed been trying to shut me out of the ritual. Acting like I was a pariah that shouldnt even be allowed in the room where this meeting was taking place.
Och, and of course we ken it. The speaker was Drustan, the Keltar who would be picking up the Sinsar Dubh and carrying it to the abbey. According to his brother, hed been burned on a pyre of sorts and had an incorruptible heart. I didnt believe it for a minute. Nobody has an incorruptible heart. We all have our weaknesses. But I had to admit that the man who looked out from those silvery eyes exuded some kind of serenity, at utter odds with his appearance. He looked like a man who wouldhave been more comfortable centuries in the past, stomping around the Highlands with a club in one hand and a sword in the other. They all did, except for Christopher, who strongly resembled Drustan, without the throwback gene. But Drustan had presence. He had a way with words and a voice that was deep, full of command, yet gentle. He spoke more softly than any of the other Keltar, but he was the one I found myself trying hardest to hear when they were all talking at once, which was pretty much all the time.
I looked at Christian and gave him a faint smile, but his expression didnt defrost one bit.
It was only last night that Vlane and the Keltars had succeeded in reconnecting the dolmen at 1247 LaRuhe to the Unseelie prison, then stormed the kings fortress to retrieve him. Hed been out roughly sixteen hours and didnt look much better than he had inside the Silvers. He was no longer a study in marble, cobalt, and jet but he was well, it made no sense, but he gave the fleeting impression of those colors. If I looked directly at his hair, I could pick out strands of copper and even a hint or two of sun-burnished gold in the dark ponytail, but if I caught it from the corner of my eye, it looked ebony and longer than it was. His lips were pink and utterly kissable, unless I turned my head suddenly. Then for a moment Id swear they were blue with cold and lightly frosted. His skin was golden, smooth, and touchable, but if I glanced sharply his way he would glow like backlit ice.
His eyes were changed, too. Lie detector extraordinaire, he now seemed to be looking right through everything around him, as if he was seeing the world completely different than the rest of us.
His father, Christopher, studied him when he thought Christian wasnt paying attention. Somebody needed to tell him there was never a time his son wasnt paying attention. Christian might seem to check out for a few moments, but if you were looking straight into his eyes, you could see that he was even more intensely focused on his surroundingsso focused that hed gone still and seemingly absent, as if opening an inner ear that demanded absolute concentration.
Lie, he said now.
Drustan scowled at Christopher. I told you to make sure hed haud his bloody whist.
Hes not hauding his whist for anyone anymore, Christian said flatly.
What do you meanlie? Rowena demanded.
They dont know for certain that their chant will work. The old texts stored in Silvans tower had deteriorated, leaving them no choice but to improvise.
And were bloody good at it. We got you out, didnt we? Cian growled.
Its his fucking fault I ended up in there to begin with. Christian jerked his head toward Barrons. I dont even know why hes here.
I surveyed the room. On the east wall of the glass room, five heavily tattooed Keltar hulked in tight pants and shirts.
On the south wall, Rowena, Kat, Jo, and three other sidhe-seersall dressed in drab, snug pantsuitsstood at attention, minus Dani. I was surprised Rowena hadnt brought her, but I guessed shed decided her risks outweighed her benefitsthe most risky of her flaws being that she liked me.
On the north wall, Vlane, Velvet, Dreeliawho once again had a mouth but was wisely keeping it closedand three other Seelie of the same caste posed arrogantly, draped in see-through short shifts, their flawless faces matched by flawless genitalia.
Barrons, Lor, Ryodan, and myself occupied the west wall, closest to the door.
Rowena glared at the five Scots lined shoulder-to-shoulder like the Falcons defense. You do know how to seal it away, do you not? she demanded.
Oozing varying degrees of hostility, they glared back at her.
The Keltar were not the kind of men a woman ordered around, especially not an old woman like Rowena, who hadnt been bothering to exercise an ounce of diplomacy or charm since shed been escorted, blindfolded, into one of the glass rooms on the top floor of Chesters.
Perversion and decadence, shed snapped the moment theyd removed her blindfold. You condone this this consorting? The flesh of human and Fae mix in this place. Och, and youll be the damnation of the human race! shed hissed at Ryodan.
Fuck the human race. Youre not my problem.
Id almost laughed at the expression on her face, but I wasnt laughing now. Shed been trying to shut me out of the ritual. Acting like I was a pariah that shouldnt even be allowed in the room where this meeting was taking place.
Och, and of course we ken it. The speaker was Drustan, the Keltar who would be picking up the Sinsar Dubh and carrying it to the abbey. According to his brother, hed been burned on a pyre of sorts and had an incorruptible heart. I didnt believe it for a minute. Nobody has an incorruptible heart. We all have our weaknesses. But I had to admit that the man who looked out from those silvery eyes exuded some kind of serenity, at utter odds with his appearance. He looked like a man who wouldhave been more comfortable centuries in the past, stomping around the Highlands with a club in one hand and a sword in the other. They all did, except for Christopher, who strongly resembled Drustan, without the throwback gene. But Drustan had presence. He had a way with words and a voice that was deep, full of command, yet gentle. He spoke more softly than any of the other Keltar, but he was the one I found myself trying hardest to hear when they were all talking at once, which was pretty much all the time.
I looked at Christian and gave him a faint smile, but his expression didnt defrost one bit.
It was only last night that Vlane and the Keltars had succeeded in reconnecting the dolmen at 1247 LaRuhe to the Unseelie prison, then stormed the kings fortress to retrieve him. Hed been out roughly sixteen hours and didnt look much better than he had inside the Silvers. He was no longer a study in marble, cobalt, and jet but he was well, it made no sense, but he gave the fleeting impression of those colors. If I looked directly at his hair, I could pick out strands of copper and even a hint or two of sun-burnished gold in the dark ponytail, but if I caught it from the corner of my eye, it looked ebony and longer than it was. His lips were pink and utterly kissable, unless I turned my head suddenly. Then for a moment Id swear they were blue with cold and lightly frosted. His skin was golden, smooth, and touchable, but if I glanced sharply his way he would glow like backlit ice.
His eyes were changed, too. Lie detector extraordinaire, he now seemed to be looking right through everything around him, as if he was seeing the world completely different than the rest of us.
His father, Christopher, studied him when he thought Christian wasnt paying attention. Somebody needed to tell him there was never a time his son wasnt paying attention. Christian might seem to check out for a few moments, but if you were looking straight into his eyes, you could see that he was even more intensely focused on his surroundingsso focused that hed gone still and seemingly absent, as if opening an inner ear that demanded absolute concentration.
Lie, he said now.
Drustan scowled at Christopher. I told you to make sure hed haud his bloody whist.
Hes not hauding his whist for anyone anymore, Christian said flatly.
What do you meanlie? Rowena demanded.
They dont know for certain that their chant will work. The old texts stored in Silvans tower had deteriorated, leaving them no choice but to improvise.
And were bloody good at it. We got you out, didnt we? Cian growled.
Its his fucking fault I ended up in there to begin with. Christian jerked his head toward Barrons. I dont even know why hes here.
