Elaine Corv

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thought, as if she observed her own life with an outsider s detachment. But her traitor tongue spoke the
words anyway.
"Tell me the names of those who will die."
The bean-nighe cackled. "Too many to name." Blood ran down her legs, pooling on the algae-slimed
rocks beneath her. "You are betrayed, Wilhelmina Cole. It is your shroud I wash."
The hairs on Mina s neck stood up. "No. It s not certain."
Two red pinpoints burned far back in the bean-nighe s sunken eyes. "Is it not?"
Mina spun around and strode to the aughisky s side. Grabbing a handful of mane, she swung herself
gracelessly onto its back.
Bryan stared up at her, fear twisting his handsome face. "Maybe we shouldn t go," he said.
Mina shook her head grimly. "I won t believe that it s certain. Likely, maybe, but not certain." Her fingers
tightened in horsehair braided through with riverweed. "And if it is, then you d better believe I m taking
the bastards with me."
She touched her heels to the aughisky s flanks. It snorted and broke into a brisk trot. The other unseelie
faelings fell into line behind them, chained to Mina s will. She pulled a glamour over them that she hoped
would at least allow them to approach the palace.
After that...she d just have to see, wouldn t she?
They followed the winding Blackrush through Dere. Humans had built the ancient palace, situating it on a
wide bend in the river where queens and kings could launch pleasure barges. The Seelie Court had left it
there despite its proximity to water, having no good excuse to move it to another locale.
Mina left behind the streets she had known all her life. The shops and homes gradually changed,
becoming larger, cleaner and more ornate. The spires of the university s cathedral reached up only a few
streets away. Gates of black iron appeared in front of houses, defending drives wide enough to
accommodate carriages. Laughter and music drifted over one low wall, and Mina caught a glimpse of
women in dresses of satin and lace. The streets themselves became smoother and wider. A few servants
clad in livery ran late errands from mansion to mansion, their bearing as stiff as the starched collars of
their shirts.
Duncan used to go to parties in places like this, Mina thought. The gulf between them loomed larger
than it had ever been. She d never truly realized exactly how different the life of an educated nobleman
might be from that of a factory slave.
Mina more than half-expected to be met by an army of Knights and Hounds before they even came near
the high wall defending the palace from the city. But no ghostly white hide or vacuous pale face disturbed
the sanctity of the night. The wind began to pick up, tossing the branches of trees and flinging dead leaves
to the ground. A newspaper flopped down the street like a wounded bird.
Mina took a deep breath, smelling smoke and winter. This was her time. The seasons had turned away
from the Seelie Court. Perhaps luck would as well.
The aughisky slowed and snorted uneasily. Mina glanced down at Bryan. "Are we headed in the right
direction? Where is this secret passage you told me about?"
Strain aged his youthful features. "It s near the Screaming Tower," he whispered, naming an ancient
dungeon of ill repute, where kings of old had imprisoned their own sons and brothers lest they become
rivals for the throne. "The tower actually butts up against the wall the passage runs through it."
Mina s face twisted into a quick, nervous frown. "What idiot would build a secret passage in a dungeon?
Did they want people to escape?"
"How should I know? Maybe the Seelie Court put it in. The damned tower hasn t been used for
prisoners in a century maybe that s where they keep the Knights and Hounds when they aren t out
hunting us down."
The explanation made sense. "Take us there, then."
The walls of the palace came into view shortly thereafter, towering structures of old stone ten feet thick.
Human guards patrolled, their shapes flickering in and out of sight as they passed crenellations. The hairs
on the nape of Mina s neck stood up, and she shivered in the cold wind. There was no way they were
going to survive this.
But she couldn t abandon Duncan. She remembered the extraordinary courage he had shown time and
again in her defense. Could she do any less and still live with herself after?
It occurred to her suddenly that, with Abby gone, there would be no one to miss her if things went wrong
tonight. The thought filled her with despair.
Bryan led them along the wall, clinging to shadows. Mina dismounted and followed on foot, the aughisky
trailing after. Where the hell are the Knights? I d have them patrolling along with the human
guards. Under a glamour of invisibility, yes, but there.
I don t like this.
The blocky silhouette of the Screaming Tower appeared as a blot on the clear night sky. Bryan slipped
into its shadow, a worried look on his handsome face.
"All right," he said. "Here it is."
And he smashed his staff into Mina s face.
The blow flung her to the street and nearly robbed her of consciousness. Agony exploded through her
head, followed by nausea in her belly. Shocked, she stared up stupidly and saw Bryan standing over her.
A terrible light glowed in his eyes, as if he burned from within. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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