"You are a battle-hardened warrior. Does a little sickness make you flinch?"
He scowled at her. His eyes flared with a hint of blue fire before he said, "I will do what is needed." He took me from the maid. He took me gently enough, while the healer said, "Support her head most carefully."
"I have seen head wounds before," the guard said. He did his best to keep me still. When the far door to the bathroom closed behind the king and the maids, the guard stood just as carefully with me in his arms.
The healer went for the door, and he followed without a word. The scratching at the door held whining now, and when they opened the door the Cu Sith stood there like a green pony. It gave a soft woof when it saw us.
The healer whispered, "Hush."
The dog whined, but quietly. It came to the guard's side, so that its fur brushed my bare feet. The touch of it sent a thrill through my body. I waited for my head to hurt, but it didn't. I actually felt a tiny bit better.
We stood in a long marble corridor lined with gilt-edged mirrors. There were two lines of Seelie nobles in front of those mirrors. Each man and woman had at least one faerie dog at their side. Some were the elegant greyhounds like my own poor dogs. I prayed that Minnie would be all right. She had been so still.
Some of the dogs were the huge Irish wolfhounds, as they'd been before the breed had almost died out. These were nothing that had ever mixed with other breeds. They were giants, huge fierce things, some slick of fur, some rough. The looks in their eyes had nothing to do with sight and everything to do with battle. They were war dogs fierce enough that the Romans had feared them and collected them for the arena.
Two of the ladies, and one of the men, held small white-and-red dogs in their arms. All nobles love a good lapdog.
I didn't understand why they were there, but there was again something about the presence of the dogs that calmed me. It was as if a soft voice said, "It will be all right. Do not fear, we are with you."
I recognized Hugh of the fiery hair. "How badly hurt is she?" He had a brace of the huge Irish hounds. They were tall enough to look me in the eye with room to spare as I lay in the guard's arms.
"A concussion, and she is with child. A month gone with twins."
He looked startled. "We must get her away."
The healer nodded. "Yes, we must."
The nobles with their dogs closed behind us, so that if Taranis had opened his door he would have seen a solid wall of sidhe nobles, and I would have been hidden from sight.
Did they truly mean to defy their king for me? We continued to hurry down the corridor as they spoke of treason.
A woman with hair that flowed in shades of blue and gray like sky or water spoke. It took me a moment to recognize her as Lady Elasaid. "The press secretary has already spoken to the human media."
"What did they say in answer to Queen Andais's accusations?"
"He said that we have offered the princess sanctuary after she was viciously attacked by her own guards."
"So they are telling the lies that Taranis told them," Hugh said.
Lady Elasaid nodded.
"Does the media know that he attacked us in the lawyer's office?" I asked.
They looked startled, as if they hadn't expected me to speak. I think that for them I was an object, and not quite real yet. They weren't joining my cause because they liked me or believed in me, they just believed in the magic and power I was helping bring back to faerie. I was simply the vessel for that power.
"Yes," Hugh said. "We made certain that it was leaked. They have pictures of your injured guards coming and going from the hospital."
We had come to a pair of huge white double doors. I had never seen this hallway. I had never before been honored with a trip to the king's bedroom. I hoped to never be so "honored" again.
Lady Elasaid came to my side. "Princess Meredith, I would give you my shawl to cover yourself, if you would like it." She held out a silken cloth in a brilliant green with gold designs. It matched my eyes. I looked at her, moving my eyes careful so that nothing hurt. They had a plan. I didn't know what it was, but the shawl matching my eyes said that they had one. If even my clothes were being coordinated then they had a plan.
"It would be most welcome," I said, and again my voice was soft, because I feared what my head would feel like if I spoke too loudly.
I had been healed of worse injuries in vision, but this time the Goddess seemed content to make me feel better in inches rather than all at once.
Hugh spoke as Lady Elasaid and another noble lady helped me slip on the robe. For robe it was, not shawl. "With a little persuasion from some of us, the king demanded a press conference so that he could tell his side of the story. He wanted to override the monstrous lies that the Unseelie were telling. The conference was scheduled to speak about the earlier attack in Los Angeles. But they are still here, Princess. They are now waiting for the king to speak to them about the accusation that he has kidnapped you."
"He let press into the Seelie mound," I said.
"How could he allow the Unseelie to be more progressive than we? Andais had called a conference to demand your return. He would appear guilty if he did less."
I thought I understood now why Deity had healed me only in small bits, enough to function, but not enough to be well. I needed to look hurt for the press. "Does he honestly believe what he said earlier, that he rescued me?"
"I fear so."
Lady Elasaid fastened a gold pin at the neck of the robe. "I would do your hair if there was time."
"We want her to look disheveled and injured," Hugh said.
I managed a smile at Lady Elasaid. "Thank you for the robe. I will be fine. Just get me to the press. I assume it's a live feed?"
Lady Elasaid frowned. "I do not understand."
"Yes," Hugh said. "It is live."
"Let us not linger here," the blond guard said.
"Only the king can see us here, and he no longer cares enough to use his mirrors for such things. We are safer here than in the next corridor," Hugh said.
"No one would dare spy on the king," a woman said.
So we stood in Taranis's own place of power, safe. Safe to plot behind his back. Safe from prying eyes, because they feared that he would see them, but his madness had made him blind.
I wondered who had first been bold enough figure out that the king's own inner sanctum was the place to plot treason. Whoever it was would be someone to be careful of. If you plot the overthrow of one ruler, it makes the idea easier next time. Or so it seems.
"We wanted to see how sensible you were before we told you our plan," Lady Elasaid said.
Hugh said, "Head wounds can make a person unreliable, and this is too dangerous a game to have you privy to our secrets if you will blurt them out."
"May I speak freely here?" I asked.
"Yes," he said.
"Get me in front of the cameras and I'll play damsel in distress for you."
Hugh and several others smiled. "You do understand."
"I've been in front of the press my whole life. I understand their power."
"We made him swear a most solemn oath that he would not reveal himself to you until we were certain you would not spoil the plan if you knew him near."
I frowned at Hugh but it hurt, so I stopped. I said, "I don't understand."
There was movement near the far door, hidden by the crowd of people and dogs. The crowd moved to either side, revealing a huge black dog. Not as huge as some of the Irish hounds, but… The black dog trotted toward me, his nails clicking on the marble.
I almost whispered his name but stopped in time. I held a hand out toward him. He laid his great furred head in my hand, then there was an instant of warm mist and prickling magic. Doyle stood before me, nude and perfect. He wore the only metal that seemed to have survived the transformation, the silver earrings that peeked from the fall of his ankle-length hair. Even the tie for his hair was gone.