I smiled, because he was too right.
"They would never arrive in time," Frost said.
I called out, "Biggs, Veducci, Shelby, Cortez, all of you."
Cortez had to stay with Nelson to keep her in her chair so she didn't go to the mirror, but the rest came to me.
"Meredith," Taranis said, "what are you doing?"
"Getting help," I said.
Doyle motioned the men to stand between us and the mirror. They formed a wall of suits and bodies. It helped. What in Danu's name was the spell? I knew better than to invoke the name of the Goddess, I really did. But I had had a lifetime of saying it, like a human who says, "What in the name of God." You don't really expect God to answer, do you?
The room smelled of wild roses. A wind eased through the room as if someone had opened a window, though I knew no one had.
"Merry, cool it," Rhys said, softly.
I knew what he meant. We had managed to keep some secrets from Taranis about just how active the Goddess was being for me. In faerie this was the beginning of full manifestation. If the Goddess - even a shadow of her - appeared in this room, Taranis would know. He would know that he needed to fear me. We weren't ready for that, not yet.
I prayed silently, "Goddess, please, save your power for later. Do you not give our secret away to this man."
The smell of flowers grew stronger for a moment, but the wind began to die down. Then the smell began to fade like expensive perfume when the wearer leaves the room. I felt a tension go out of the men around me. The humans simply looked puzzled. "Your perfume is amazing, Princess," Biggs said. "What is it?"
"We'll talk about cosmetics later, Mr. Biggs," I said.
He looked embarrassed. "Of course. I am sorry. There is something about you people that just makes a poor lawyer forget himself." His words could be terribly true. I was hoping that no one in this room discovered just how true they could be.
"King of the Seelie Court, you insult me, and my court, and through me, my queen," I said.