It was hard to tell behind the large sunglasses, but I think she frowned. "You are playing word games with me, Meredith. Emrys was one of the few among the courts that I might truly have called friend. If he was not executed, then what? Are you hinting at assassination?"
I shook my head. "Not at all. The King challenged him to a personal duel."
She jumped as if I'd struck her, sloshing some of the rum over the white of the robe. The maid offered her a linen napkin. Maeve handed the drink to the woman and began to wipe at her hand, but not like she was paying attention to what she was doing.
"The King does not take personal challenges. He is too valuable to the court to risk on a duel."
I shrugged, watching my image imitate me in her glasses. "I just report the news, I don't explain it."
She put the napkin on the tray, but refused the return of her drink. She leaned forward, still holding the robe closed at neck and thigh. "Swear to me, your solemn oath, that the King slew Emrys in a duel."
"I give you my oath that this is true."
She leaned back suddenly, as if all the energy had drained from her. Her hands were still feebly clutching at the robe, but she looked half-swooned.
The maid asked, "Are you all right? Is there anything you need?"
Maeve gave a weak wave. "No. I'm fine." She'd answered the questions in reverse order, a bit of a slip, because she was obviously not all right.
"So, I was right." Her voice was very soft as she said the last.
"You were right about what?" I asked, voice equally soft. I eased down to the foot of my own lounge chair so she would be sure to hear me.
She smiled then, but it was weak and not at all humorous. "No, you won't get my secret that easily."
I frowned, and it was genuine. "I don't know what you mean."
Her voice was more solid, more certain of itself as she spoke. "Why did you come here today, Meredith?"
I sat back a little. "I came because you asked me."
She sighed loud and long, not for effect this time, but I think just because she needed to. "You risked Taranis's anger simply to visit with another sidhe? I think not."
"I am heir to the Unseelie throne. Do you really think Taranis would risk harming me?"
"He challenged Emrys to a personal duel for merely asking why I had been exiled. You yourself were beaten as a child for asking about my fate. Now, here you sit speaking with me. He will never believe that I have not told you the reason for my exile."
"But you've told me nothing," I said, and I tried to keep the eagerness out of my body language, though I think I failed.
She gave another slight smile. "He will never believe that I have not shared my secret with you."
"He can think what he likes. To harm me would mean war between the courts. I don't believe that any secret you have is worth that."
She laughed, derisive again. "I think the king would risk war between the courts for this."
"Fine, the king might risk a war where he could sit safely behind the front lines, but Queen Andais would be within her rights to challenge him to one-on-one combat. I don't believe Taranis would risk that."
"You are the heir to the dark throne, Meredith. You have no idea what power resides in the light."
"I've seen the Seelie Court, Maeve, and I agree that once you've fallen afoul of it, you're afraid of the light; but everyone fears the dark, Maeve, everyone."
"Are you saying that the high king of the Seelie Court is afraid of the Unseelie Court?" Her voice held an amazing amount of outraged disbelief.
"I know everyone at the Seelie Court fears the sluagh."
Maeve sat back in her chair. "Everyone fears them, Meredith, at both courts."
She was right. If the Unseelie Court was all that was dark and frightening, then the sluagh was worse. The sluagh was home even to the things that the Unseelie feared. It was a dumping ground for nightmares too terrible to contemplate.