"It should," she said, "but it doesn't seem to."
Farmer touched my arm, a clear let-me-talk gesture. I leaned back into the weight of Doyle at my back and let the lawyers talk. "Which brings us to the law in question," Farmer said. "The royals of any court are exempt from the law Mr. Shelby has mentioned."
"We are not proposing to exile Princess Meredith to faerie," Shelby said.
"You know that the threat to put all her guards under some sort of legal confinement to faerie is outrageous," Farmer said.
Shelby nodded. "Fine, then just the three who are charged with rape. Mr. Cortez and I are both duly appointed officers of the United States attorneys' office. We are within our duty and rights to simply put the three guards back into the land of faerie until these charges are settled."
"I repeat, the law, as written, cannot be applied to the royals of any court of faerie," Farmer said.
"And I repeat that we aren't threatening to do anything to Princess Meredith," Shelby said.
"But we aren't referring to that royal," Farmer said.
Shelby looked down the line of lawyers on his side. "I'm not sure we're following your argument."
"Princess Meredith's guard are royal, for now."
"What does that mean, for now?" Cortez asked.
"It means that when inside the Seelie Court, they have a throne on the royal dais in which they take turns sitting beside the princess," Farmer said. "They are her royal consorts."
"Being her lover doesn't make them royal," Cortez said.
"Prince Phillip is technically still Queen Elizabeth's royal consort," Farmer said.
"But they're married," Cortez said.