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bathroom door. Race you!
The night was magical, but morning came far too
early. Ric opened one eye and growled toward the
insistent knock on the bedroom door. Go away!
Message from the queen.
Shit, that was Sean s voice. What the hell was Kieran
thinking, getting his son involved in this mess? Ric pulled
Cindy Spencer Pape 251
the duvet up over a still-sleeping Meagan and dropped a
kiss on her forehead before he slid out of bed and tied on
the jacquard silk bathrobe the housekeeper had provided.
With a finger to his lips he cracked open the door and
slipped out.
Sure enough, Kieran s son stood outside the door in
his guardsman s uniform. Another man in the same garb
stood watch at one end of the corridor, while a man in the
Rose family livery held the pair of deerhounds at the other
end.
What does she want?
Sean snorted and hid a grin as he ran an appraising eye
over the robe. You, apparently.
Ric winced and thumped his head against the paneling.
Fuck. I don t suppose there s any coffee in this place?
There was no way he was going to be able to face Llyris
without a hot shower and caffeine first.
The younger elf grinned and pointed toward a serving
cart. Sure enough, a porcelain urn sat on a warming pad,
next to an oversized stainless-steel travel mug. Seems
somebody warned the housekeeper.
Thank you. Or your father, whichever. He poured
the contents of the carafe into the travel mug and sipped
appreciatively. Now what the hell are you doing here,
Sean?
My job, bard. I know you like to think of me as an
infant, but I ve been a sergeant for forty years. Time does
move on.
Ric did the mental calculations and realized that Sean
was probably well over two hundred years old. Certainly
not a child anymore. Fuck. He took another swallow of
the strong coffee. I need a shower.
Sean glanced at his watch, one of the few items of
252 Motor City Fae
technology Llyris allowed on her employees. You ve got
twenty minutes, give or take, before Her Majesty has
kittens.
Yeah, yeah, we should all be so lucky. Ric was
already opening the door. A tiny smile twitched at the
corners of his lips as his eyes immediately sought out the
lump in the covers that was his beloved. Let Lady Rose
sleep another hour or so. She is not a morning person.
There s someone named Sinead cooling her heels in
the library as we speak, Sean told him, his expression
amused. She apparently thought she was in charge.
Ah. Ric was sure Sean had quickly disabused
Meagan s self-appointed minder of that particular notion.
She d growled at Ric all through the ball last night and
pitched a hissy fit when they d decided to come through
the portal and visit the estate. He knew she was steering
Meagan right, but also knew the shrew was putting his
darling through her own version of elven boot camp. Let
her stew for a while. An hour.
Meagan didn t wake while Ric showered and dressed.
He debated the idea of blinking her fresh clothes, but
decided against it. She had the ability to do it herself.
She roused when he bent over to kiss her goodbye.
Is it morning already? She returned his kiss before
using both hands to shove her long tousled curls back out
of her face.
Afraid so. Sorry I didn t let you get much sleep last
night. You ve got another hour or so before you have to
get ready for your meeting with the lord chamberlain, but
I ve been summoned.
Bugger.
He laughed and kissed her nose. Exactly.
I won t see you again before the council meeting, will
Cindy Spencer Pape 253
I? He made out the last words even though they were
muffled by a prodigious yawn.
Probably not. He nearly winced at the regret in his
own voice. But you ll be safe. And you ll be wonderful
at the meeting, I ve no doubt. I ll come find you when I
can. Somehow, I promise, I ll come up with a way for us
to be together.
I know. She gave him a beatific smile and sat up,
tugging the blanket up around her breasts. We ve got all
the time in the world, Ric. We ll work it out, don t worry.
We don t have to solve everything this morning.
Her cheerful confidence humbled him. As wise as she
is beautiful. Now take care, my love. And knock em
dead. He sat on the bed and took her in his arms for one
last kiss.
Goddess, how am I supposed to leave after that? He
winced as his suddenly too-tight trousers threatened to
amputate a certain portion of his anatomy.
Get used to it. She grinned and snuggled back down
into the pillows with another yawn. Love you.
I love you, Meagan.
Saying goodbye to Ric proved to be the highlight of
Meagan s morning, which didn t bode at all well for the
rest of the day. Well, not so much saying goodbye to him,
but hearing him say he loved her, promising to work on a
way for them to be together, that meant more than all the
estates and apartments and tiaras that elf-world here could
come up with.
The lord chamberlain, whatever the hell that meant,
was like Sinead squared. He explained the governing
process of the Seelie Court and Council in such
excruciating detail a kindergartener could have
254 Motor City Fae
understood. She fought the urge to shoot him with a spit
wad. It was clear he disapproved of her on principle, but
she didn t think it was because she was a halfling. He
didn t seem worried about that. Apparently the problem
was her having spent the formative years of her life in the
mortal realm.
Still, it was useful to know what to expect from
today s council meeting. She now knew she d be formally
presented by the queen before assuming her seat and
before any other business was attended to. That business
being, of course, Owain s petition to unseat the queen and
elect a new monarch in her place.
Despite Sinead s objections, she dressed in a simple
silk suit for the meeting. She knew the coronet was a
requirement, but she wanted an outfit that made her feel
confident, not like she was dressed up for a Halloween
party as a fairy princess. Despite her grumbling, Sinead
had managed to find something in rose silk, with a jaunty,
40s flair, which Meagan loved instantly.
So now she had an hour to kill before the main event
and her stomach was way too full of butterflies to allow
her to eat or anything practical like that. She grilled
Sinead about the other members of the council until the
tutor threw up her hands in frustration.
Enough. If you have any more questions, we can go
to the library and you can look up the answers yourself.
Library? No one had mentioned one of those, but of
course there would be. Cool. Let s go.
The library was apparently in the same wing of the
palace as the council room, so her team of babysitters
decided it was an acceptable use of time. Boy, were they
going to be having some interesting conversations as soon
as this election nonsense was over. One of the reasons she
Cindy Spencer Pape 255
liked painting for a living was not being constantly under
the thumb of a supervisor. Meagan Kelly was not cut out
to be anybody s minion, especially someone who
technically worked for her.
So finally they all trooped down to the library. Sinead,
Quinn, Liam with the two humongous dogs and the
queen s two guards, Sean and Alasdair. The only one of
the entire entourage who treated Meagan like a person
was Sean, the guardsman who claimed to be the son of
Kieran from the night before. The whole overlapping
generations thing was definitely going to take some
getting used to. Kieran and Sean looked way more like
brothers than father and son. At a guess she d have put
both of them in their thirties, but based on Sean s remarks
he was over two hundred and his father was a
contemporary of Ric s. She wondered if she d ever get the
hang of this place.
The library turned out to be a series of spacious, book-
lined rooms with small, high windows and vaulted
ceilings. At Quinn s quiet request, they were given a [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] - zanotowane.pl
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