away."
"I would fear that, yes, Princess, but many fear what Cel will be like when he is released from his torment. They fear he will be completely mad, and they do not wish someone like that on the throne. Barinthus believes that is why Cel's followers are passing around the fear that you will contaminate them all with mortality."
"They sound desperate," I said.
"No, the desperate part is the talk about declaring war on the Seelie Court. What I did not tell Kurag is that there is talk of war no matter which of you takes the throne. They see Cel's madness, your mortality, the queen's weakness as signs that the Unseelie are slipping away, that we are fading as people. There are some who talk of going to war one last time while we still stand a chance of defeating the Seelie."
"If we have a full-scale war on American soil, the human military will be called in. It would break part of the treaty that allowed us into this country in the first place," Rhys said.
"I know," Doyle said.
"And they think Cel is mad," Rhys said.
"Did Barinthus say who's the main voice behind the idea of war with Seelie?"
"Siobhan."
"The head of Cel's guard."
"There is only one Siobhan," Doyle said.
"Thank the Lord and Lady for that," Rhys said.
Siobhan was the equivalent of Doyle. She was leprously pale with spiderweb hair and not very tall. Physically she was nothing like Doyle. But just as whenever the queen had said, "Where is my Darkness, send me my Darkness," and someone had bled or died, so Cel with Siobhan. But she had no nickname; she was simply Siobhan.
"I hate to be picky," I said, "but did she receive any punishment for following Cel's orders and trying to assassinate me?"
"Yes," Doyle said, "but it has been months, Meredith, and the punishment is over."
"How long was the punishment?" I asked.
"A month."
I shook my head. "A month, for nearly killing a royal heir. What kind of message does that send to everyone else who wants me dead?"
"Cel gave the order, Meredith, and he is experiencing one of our worst punishments for half a year. No one expects his mind to survive. They see that as the punishment."
"And have you ever been in Ezekiel's tender care for an entire month?" Rhys asked.
Ezekiel was the court torturer, and had been for many mortal lifetimes. But he was mortal. The queen had found him plying his trade for a human city and so admired his handiwork that she'd offered him a job.
"I've never been in the Hallway of Mortality for a month, no, but I spent my share of time there. Ezekiel always said he had to be so careful of me. He'd spent so many centuries with the immortals that he was afraid he'd kill me by accident. 'I 'ave to be so careful of ya, Princess, so delicate, so fragile, so human.' "
Rhys shivered. "You imitate his voice well."
"He liked to talk while he worked."
"I apologize, Merry, you've done your time, but that means you understand what it meant for Siobhan to be in his care for a month's time."
"I understand, Rhys, but I'd have felt better if she'd been executed."
"The queen is loath to lose any noble-born sidhe," Doyle said.
"I know, there aren't enough to spare." But I wasn't happy about it. If you tried to kill a royal heir, the punishment should have been death. Anything less and someone might try again. Come to that, Siobhan might try again.
"Why does she want war?" I asked.
"She likes death," Rhys said.
I looked at him.
"I wasn't the only one who used to be a death deity, and I'm not the only one who lost a great deal of their weirding when the Nameless was cast. Siobhan was not always her name either."
That reminded me. "Tell Doyle what you discovered at the murder scene today."
He told Doyle about the elder gods and their ghosts. Doyle looked less and less happy. "I did not see Esras do this, but I know the queen gave the command for it. One of the agreements between us and the Seelie was that some spells were never to be performed again. That was one of them."
"Theoretically, if we could prove that a sidhe from either court did the spell, would that negate the peace treaty between us?"
Doyle seemed to think on that. "I don't know. In the actual agreement, yes, but neither side wishes all-out war."
"Siobhan does," I said, "and she wants me dead. Could