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My wolf growled, low and threatening. “Take your hands off me now before Grieve shows up here with a stake. And he will.”
“Perhaps I should have him put down. Rabid curs are dangerous.” But the next moment, Lannan let go and stepped away. He gave me a narrow look. “Oh, sweet Cicely. I hear you are going to protect me tonight against Myst and her minions.”
“I wouldn’t laugh them off so easily if I were you.” I grabbed a pair of bikinis out of my drawer and stepped into them before he could get a better look at my snatch. I fastened my bra, yanked on my jeans and zipped them up, and pulled a thick sweater over my head.
“Perhaps not, but would you have me turn tail and run from the Goddess of the Ice Sculpture?” His voice was still sarcastic, but he sobered somewhat and I could see beneath the veneer. Lannan wasn’t quite as confident as he sounded.
“Where’s Regina? Will she be there?” Maybe I could get his mind off my body by mentioning the one woman—well, vampire—he seemed to actually give a damn about. The fact that they were brother and sister squicked me out, but hey, it worked for them, and as long as I didn’t have to join their reindeer games…
He shrugged. “She is preparing. She will be there, along with a veritable army of my guards. We should be able to put down any uprising by the Indigo Court.”
“There’s also a group coming in from the Consortium and twelve of Lainule’s elite warriors. As well as the rest of us, for all the good we can do.” I brushed my hair back, sleeking it into a ponytail. I didn’t want to put on makeup, but at a look from Lannan—he pointedly nodded to my dresser, where I saw a palette of cosmetics set out—I sighed and sat down at the vanity, making quick work of painting my face.
“So, you really expect there to be trouble?” This time, his voice was sober, and I could feel his eyes on my back even though I couldn’t see him in the mirror.
I nodded slowly. “Think about it. Not only did we rescue Grieve, but I stole something away from her grasp. Something she wanted so much that I guarantee you she’s out to kill me. Furthermore, when you give the order for the town to evacuate, Myst isn’t going to like the idea of relinquishing her feedlot without a fight.”
“Yes, I know about Lainule’s heartstone. I heard the story. Wrath told me.” Lannan’s hands were on my shoulders, but this time, he didn’t seem out to grope me. He leaned down to whisper in my ear. “You are brave, Cicely, for one of the magic-born.”
“I am also my father’s daughter.” I let out a long sigh and glanced over my shoulder. “Lannan, we can’t let them win. Do you understand why I went to the Consortium?” I was hoping against hope that he wouldn’t hold it against me. “I know Crawl would probably order you to kill me or something equally as bad because of what I did…”
Lannan dropped his hands away from me and strode over to a chair where he could look me in the face. He quietly crossed his right leg over his left, folding his hands on his crotch. Nervous, I waited for a moment, but he showed no sign that he was about to jack off in front of me, so I relaxed.
“Cicely, I am not my predecessor. Yes, I am a hedonist. Yes, I would love to fuck you in every hole you have, but trust me—I do not relish altercations. Though I could probably take them on, I have no desire to fight your father and Grieve. Not at this moment. But you must understand something about me.”
He leaned forward, staring intently at me with those jet obsidian eyes. “I am not stupid. Never underestimate my intelligence. I don’t crave the same type of power Geoffrey sought. I am Regent by default. I would not keep this position if given the choice. I am far happier being free of these responsibilities, but when the Crimson Queen gives a directive, I obey to the best of my abilities.”>“Let’s pray I don’t have to do that.” After a moment, I asked, “What of the Unseelie? If Myst was Unseelie and she is now Queen of the Indigo Court—what of the rest of the darker Fae? Did they all become part of the Indigo Court? And Lainule, is she the Queen of Seelie?”
Wrath looked surprised at my question but walked me toward the grand staircase leading upstairs. As we ascended, he tried to explain.
“There are the Grand Courts, and then the Lesser Courts. There are Fae Queens all over the world—each rules a different region. Lainule—and I—are Queen and King of about half of this continent. Myst wasn’t the Unseelie Queen before she was turned, but she killed Tabera, who was, by destroying her heartstone and set herself up in her place. She may have taken the title of Winter, but she is not recognized as the Queen of Ice and Snow here, though. She is an upstart.”
“So what happened to the Unseelie under Tabera’s—is that her name—rule?”
“Myst terrified them. They scattered. The Wilding Fae are remnants of some of them, and others joined the Court of Rivers and Rushes even though they don’t really fit in.” Wrath frowned, looking very much like he was trying to decide whether to tell me something.
“What is it?” I pressed him. If the Fae were part of my heritage, it was important I know things like this. “I want to learn. It’s my heritage.”
“So it is.” After a moment, he stopped and leaned on the curved railing. I sat down on the step next to him. “The balance has been disrupted in this region for so long that chaos became normal. As I said, when Myst reemerged, she took the place of the Unseelie Queen—the Queen of Winter, who rules over chaos.”
“Myst doesn’t strike me as someone who likes to share.”
“No, she does not. Myst seeks to conquer. Here, it’s easier to build her armies because the Grand Courts live far away on the other side of the world. Summer and Winter are the sun and the moon—day and night, and while they do not necessarily like each other, they accept the necessity for both powers to instill a natural balance.”
I nodded, slowly beginning to understand. “But why haven’t the Grand Courts stepped in?”
“There are many things that are too difficult to explain in one brief talk. They are old, Cicely, in a way that Lainule and I are not, and they often overlook the dangers that evolve outside of their area. The Grand Courts are so far removed from the world in which we live that they ignore things until it’s too late.”
“Almost like Crawl is for the vampires…”
“Yes, they live in a different realm, so far in the mists…”
“So Myst was able to sneak in and cause havoc.”
Wrath clapped me on the shoulder. “You do understand. Very good. But we cannot allow her to succeed—her idea of normalcy is to fill the world with skulls and sinew, to rip and shred and destroy. She is destruction incarnate, without check. She is the untamed force of the storm, of death on a rampage.”
“If she is a force and fury, then perhaps she cannot help herself,” I said softly. “If Myst killed Tabera, and for a time there was nothing to check Lainule as Myst gained her power, why didn’t Summer rage through, since she has had no opposition all of these long years?”
“My Lady rules with justice. It may not seem kind, at times, but the Queen of Rivers and Rushes understands the nature of checks and balances. She sees the universal scale of creation and destruction and understands the need for both, even if we haven’t had our opposing force for so very long.”
