"Yes," I said.
"Yes, what?" she said.
"Yes, they are a pretty pair, Aunt Andais," I said.
She nodded as if pleased. "I charge you, Doyle, to take Frost to his room and see that he puts on the clothes I had made for him. Bring him to the banquet in those clothes or deliver him over to Ezekial for torture."
"As m'lady wishes, so shall it be done," Doyle said. He stood, drawing Frost to his feet, a hand on the taller man's arm.
They both began to back toward the door, heads bowed. Doyle flashed me a look as they moved away. He might have been apologizing for leaving me with her, without him, or warning against something. I couldn't decipher the look. But he left the room with my gun still in his waistband. I'd have liked to have had the gun.
Rhys moved so he'd be by the door like a good guard. Andais watched him move the way cats watch birds, but what she said was mild enough, "Wait outside the door, Rhys. I wish to speak with my niece in private."
The surprise showed on his face. He glanced at me, the look on his face almost asking my permission.
"Do as you are told-or do you wish to join the others in Ezekial's workplace?"
Rhys bowed his head. "No, my lady. I will do as I am told."
"Get out," she said.
He left with one more quick glance for me, but he closed the door behind him. The room was suddenly very, very quiet. The sound of my aunt's dress moving along the floor was loud in the stillness, like the dry rustling scales of some great serpent. She walked to the far end of the room where steps led to a heavy black curtain. She flicked the curtain aside to reveal a heavy wooden table with a carved chair at one side and a backless stool at the other. There was a chess game laid out on the round table, the heavy pieces worn smooth from centuries of hands shifting them across the marble surface. There were literally grooves worn in the marble board like paths worn by tramping feet.
Against the rounded wall of the large alcove was a wooden gun case full of rifles and handguns. There were two crossbows on the wall above the gun case. I knew the arrows were underneath in the closed doors of the bottom of the case, along with the ammunition. There was a morning star like a heavy spiked ball on a chain and a mace mounted to one side of the gun case. They were crossed like the crossed swords on the other side of the case. A huge shield with Andais's livery of raven, owl, and red rose on its surface was underneath the mace and morning star.
Eamon's shield was underneath the crossed swords. There were chains in the wall set for wrist and ankle on either side. There were hooks above the chains where a whip lay coiled like a waiting snake. A smaller whip hung above the right-hand side's chains. I would have called it a cat-o'-nine-tails, but it had many more tails than that, each one weighted with a small iron ball or a steel hook.
"I see your hobbies haven't changed," I said. I tried for neutral, but my voice betrayed me. Sometimes when she swept back that curtain, you played chess. Sometimes, you didn't.
"Come, Meredith, sit. Let us talk." She sat in the high-backed chair, spilling the train of her dress over one arm so it wouldn't wrinkle. She motioned me to the stool. "Sit down, Niece. I won't bite." She smiled, then gave an abrupt laugh. "Not yet, anyway."
It was as close as I was going to get to a promise that she wouldn't hurt me-yet. I perched on the high, backless stool, the heels of my shoes through one of the spindles to help keep my balance. Sometimes, I think Andais won chess matches simply because the other person's back gave out.
I touched the edge of the heavy marble board. "My father taught me to play chess on the twin of this board," I said.
"You do not have to remind me, yet again, that you are my brother's daughter. I mean you no harm tonight."
I caressed the board and glanced up at her, meeting those pleasant unreliable eyes. "Perhaps I would be less cautious if you didn't say things like 'I mean you no harm tonight. ' Perhaps, if you simply said you meant me no harm." I made it half question, half statement.
"Oh, no, Meredith. To say that would be too close to lying, and we do not lie, not outright. We may talk until you think that black is white and the moon is made of green cheese, but we do not lie."
I said, as evenly as I could, "So you do mean me harm, just not tonight."
"I will not harm you if you don't force it upon me."
I looked at her then, frowning. "I don't understand, Aunt Andais."
"Have you ever wondered why I made my beautiful men celibate?"
The question was so unexpected that I simply stared at her for a second or two. I finally closed my mouth and found my voice. "Yes, Aunt, I have wondered." Actually it had been the great debate for centuries: why had she done it?
"For centuries the men of our court spread their seed far and wide. There were many half-breeds but fewer and fewer full-blooded fey. So I forced them to conserve their energies."
I looked at her. "Then why not allow them access to the women of the high court?"
She settled back against her chair, leather-clad hands caressing the carved arms. "Because I wanted my bloodline to continue, not theirs. There was a time when I would have preferred you dead than risk you inheriting my throne."
I met her pale eyes. "Yes, Aunt Andais."
"Yes, what?"
"Yes, I knew."
"I saw the mongrels taking over the entire court. The humans had chased us underground and now their very blood was corrupting our court. We were being outbred by them."
"It is my understanding, Aunt, that humans have always outbred us. Something to do with the fact that they're mortal."