Nelson was taller than her boss, close to six feet in her not-too-high heels. Her hair was a vibrant red that fell in waves around her shoulders. It was that rare shade that is deep, rich, and as close to true red as human hair can get. Her suit was well cut, but conservative and black, her button-up shirt white, her makeup tasteful. Only that flame of hair to ruin the almost mannish exterior she portrayed. It was as if she were hiding her beauty and drawing attention to it at the same time. Because she was beautiful. A sprinkling of freckles underneath the pale makeup didn't detract from the flawless skin, it added.
Her eyes were green and blue at once, depending on how the light caught them. Those undecided eyes couldn't stop looking at Frost and Doyle. She tried to concentrate on the legal pad she was supposed to be making notes on, but her gaze kept rising, and finding them, as if she couldn't help herself.
That made me wonder if there was more going on than just handsome men and a distracted woman.
Shelby cleared his throat sharply.
I jumped and looked at him, "I'm terribly sorry, Mr. Shelby, were you speaking to me?"
"No, I was not, and I should have been." He looked down the table on his side. "I was brought into this as a more neutral voice, but let me ask my fellow members of the bar if they are having trouble forming questions for the princess."
Several of the lawyers spoke at the same time. Veducci just raised his pencil in the air. Veducci got the nod. "My office has dealt more closely with the princess and her people than the rest of you, which is why I'm carrying certain remedies against glamour."
"What sort of remedies?" Shelby asked.
"I won't tell you what I'm carrying, but cold steel, iron, four-leaf clover, St.-John's-Wort, rowan, and ash—either the wood or the berries—have been known to work. Some say bells will break glamour, but I think high court sidhe won't be bothered much by bells."
"Are you saying that the princess is using glamour against us?" Shelby asked, his handsome face no longer pleasant.
"I am saying that sometimes when dealing with King Taranis or Queen Andais, their presence overwhelms humans," Veducci responded. "Princess Meredith, being part human, though beautiful—" He nodded in my direction.
I nodded at the compliment.
"—has never affected anyone so strongly, but a lot has been happening in the Unseelie Court in the last few days. Ambassador Stevens has filled me in, as have other sources. Princess Meredith and some of her guard have moved up the power grid, so to speak."
Veducci still looked tired, but now his eyes showed the mind inside that overweight, overworked camouflage. I realized with a start that there were other dangers besides ambition. Veducci was smart, and hinted that he knew something about what had happened inside the Unseelie Court. Did he know, or was he fishing? Did he think we'd give something away?
"It is illegal to use glamour on us," Shelby said, angry. He looked at me now, and his look was no longer in the least friendly. I looked back. I gave him the full force of my tricolored eyes: molten gold at the outer edge, then a circle of jade green, and last emerald to chase around my pupil. He looked away first, dropping his gaze to his own legal pad. His voice was tight with controlled rage. "We could have you arrested, or deported back to faerie for trying to use magic to sway these proceedings, Princess."
"I'm not dong anything to you, Mr. Shelby, not on purpose." I looked at Veducci. "Mr. Veducci, you say that simply seeing my aunt and uncle was difficult; am I difficult now?"
"From my colleagues' reactions, I believe you are."
"So this is the reaction that King Taranis and Queen Andais have on humans?"
"Similar," Veducci said.
I had to smile.
"This is not funny, Princess," Cortez said, his words full of anger, but when I met his brown eyes, they dropped from me.
I looked at Nelson, but it wasn't me distracting her; her problem was behind me.
"Which one are you staring at the most?" I asked, "Frost or Doyle; light or dark?"
She blushed in that pretty way human redheads have. "I'm not…"
"Come, Ms. Nelson, confess, which one?"
She swallowed hard enough that I heard it. "Both," she whispered.
"We will charge you and these two guards with undue magical influence in a legal proceeding, Princess Meredith," Cortez said.
"I agree," Shelby said.
"Neither I, nor Frost and Doyle, are doing this on purpose."
"We are not stupid." Shelby said. "Glamour is an active magic, not a passive one."
"Most glamour, yes, but not all," I said. I looked down the table at Veducci. They'd put him farthest from the center of the table, as if being from St. Louis made him less. Or maybe I was just overly sensitive for my hometown.
"Did you know," Veducci said, "that when you see the Queen of England, they call it being in the presence? I've never met Queen Elizabeth, and I'm not likely to, so I don't know how it works for her. I've never spoken to a human queen. But the phrase 'in the presence,' to be in the presence of the queen, means more when it's the queen of the Unseelie Court. To be in the presence of the king of the Seelie Court is also a treat."
"What does that mean?" Cortez asked. "A treat?"
"It means, gentleman, and ladies, that being king or queen in faerie gives you an unconscious aura of power, of attractiveness. You live in L. A. You see that it works in lesser ways for major stars, or politicians. Power seems to breed power. Dealing with the faerie courts has made me believe that even us poor humans do [it]. To be around the powerful, rich, beautiful, talented, whatever, it isn't just human nature to suck up. I think it's glamour. I think that success of a certain level has a glamour to it, and you attract people to you. They want to be around you. They listen to you more. They do what you say more. Humans have a shadow of real glamour; now think about someone who is the most powerful figure in faerie. Think about the level of power surrounding them."
"Ambassador Stevens," Shelby said, "shouldn't you have been the one who warned us about this effect?"
Stevens smoothed his tie, played with the Rolex watch Taranis had given him as a present. "King Taranis is a powerful figure with centuries of rulership. He does have a certain nobility that is impressive. I have not found Queen Andais as impressive."
"Because you only talk to her from a distance, over the mirrors, with King Taranis by your side," Veducci said.
I was impressed that Veducci knew that, because it was absolutely true.
"You're the ambassador to faerie," Shelby said, "not just to the Seelie Court."
"I am the United States Ambassador to the courts of faerie, yes."
"But you never step foot into the Unseelie Court?" Shelby asked.
"Uh," Stevens said, running his fingers over and over the watchband, "I find Queen Andais a little less than cooperative."
"What does that mean?" Shelby said.
I watched him play with the watch, and a tiny bit of concentration showed that there was magic on it, or in it. I answered for him, "It means he thinks the Unseelie Court is full of perversion and monsters."
They were all looking at him now. If it had been purposeful glamour on our part, they wouldn't have. "Is that true, Ambassador?" Shelby asked.
"I would never say such a thing."
"But he believes it," I said, softly.
"We'll all make a note of this, and make sure the proper authorities know of your gross dereliction of your duties," Shelby said.
"I am loyal to King Taranis and his court. It is not my fault that Queen Andais is a sexual sadist, and quite mad. She and her people are dangerous. I have said so, for years, and no one has listened to me. Now we have these charges, proving what I have been saying."