A Kiss of Shadows - By Laurell K. Hamilton Page 0,114
made me jump. “Did you feel that?”
Galen nodded. “Yes.”
The overhead light flashed on, and I jumped again. “Did you do that?” I asked.
“No.”
“Me, either,” I said.
This time I watched the leather seat push out the object. It was like watching something alive twitching. It was tiny, silver, a piece of jewelry. I was almost afraid to touch it, but the seat kept moving until the item lay bare to the light, and I could see at a glance that it was a cuff link.
Galen picked it up. His face darkened, and he held it out to me. The cuff link had the letter “C” in lovely flowing lines. “The queen had cuff links made for all the guards about a year ago. They have our first initials on them.”
“So you’re saying a guard put the spell in the car and tried to bury the letter and the bag in the seats.”
Galen nodded. “And the car kept the cuff link until it showed it to you.”
“Th . . . thanks, car,” I whispered. Thankfully, the car didn’t seem to acknowledge the greeting. My nerves were grateful for that. But I knew that it had heard me. I could feel it watching me, like the sensation of eyes staring at the back of your head, and when you turn around there is someone watching.
“When you said all the guards, did you mean the prince’s guards, too?” I asked.
Galen nodded. “She liked the look of the female guards in men’s shirts, said it was stylish.”
“That adds what, five, six more to the list of possible suspects?”
“Six.”
“How long has it been known that the queen was going to send the Black Coach to meet me at the airport?”
“Barinthus and I only found out two hours ago.”
“They had to act quickly. Maybe the love spell wasn’t intended for me. Maybe it was just something they had lying about for some other purpose.”
“We’re lucky it wasn’t meant especially for us. We might not have come to our senses in time if it had been.”
I put the ring back in the velvet bag and picked up my turtleneck from the floor. For some reason I couldn’t define, I wanted to be dressed before I put the ring on. I looked up at the car’s black ceiling. “Is that all you have to show me, car?”
The overhead light went out.
I jumped, even though I’d hoped it would happen.
“Shit,” Galen said. He backed away from me, or from the darkened light. He stared at me, eyes very wide. “I’ve never ridden in the car with the queen, but I’ve heard . . .”
“That if it answers to anyone,” I said, “it answers to her.”
“And now you,” he said softly.
I shook my head. “The Black Coach is wild magic; I am not so presumptuous as to assume I have control over it. The car hears my voice. If there is more to it than that . . .” I shrugged. “Time will tell.”
“You haven’t been on the ground in Saint Louis an hour, Merry, and there’s been one attempt on your life. It’s worse than when you left.”
“When did you become a pessimist, Galen?”
“When you left the court,” he replied.
There was a sorrowful look on his face. I touched his cheek. “Oh, Galen, I have missed you.”
“But you’ve missed the court more.” He pressed my hand against his cheek. “I can see it in your eyes, Merry. The old ambition rising.”
I drew my hand away from him. “I’m not ambitious in the way that Cel is. I just want to be able to walk the court in relative safety, and unfortunately that is going to take some political maneuvering.” I laid the velvet bag in my lap and slipped on the turtleneck. I scrambled into my pants, fitting the gun and the knives back in place. I slipped the suit jacket over everything.
“Your lipstick is gone,” Galen said.
“Actually you seem to be wearing most of it,” I said.
We used the mirror in my purse to reapply my lipstick, and wipe it off of his mouth with a Kleenex. I ran a brush through my hair, and I was dressed. I couldn’t put it off any longer.
I held the ring up in the dimness. It was too large for my ring finger, so I slipped the ring on my first finger. I’d put it on my right hand without thinking about it. The ring was warm against my skin like a comforting touch, a reminder that it was there, waiting for