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THE STONE ROAD ENDED ABRUPTLY IN THE GRASS THE ROAD, LIKE THE paths, stops short of anybut grass beyond Grass trampled down by many feet, but trampled down evenly so that no one as more traveled than any other One of our old nicknames is "the hidden ones" We may be a tourist attraction now, but old habits die

hard

So binoculars, and see nothing for days, nights If anyone atching in the chill dark, they were about to see "so"

I didn’t try to find the doorway Doyle would get us inside without any effort from me The door rotated on some schedule of its own, or perhaps the queen’s schedule Whatever caused it to move, sometimes the door faced the road and soer, if I wanted to sneak out at night and come home late, I could only hope that the door hadn’t ic needed to search for the opening would alert the guards within, and the jig, as they say, would be up I’d thought er that that darass My heels sank in the soft earth, and I was forced to walk alun in its ankle holster lad I hadn’t chosen higher heels

As Doyle led hts, the darkness seehts had been diht and substance I clung a little harder to Doyle’s arht behind us and walked into the star-filled dark

Doyle ht?"

"I can conjure my oill-o’-the-wisp, thank you very ed, and I could feel the rasp "As you like" His voice had fallen into its usual neutral tone Either he was having trouble finding a round for his voice, or it was si the latter

By the time Doyle stopped halfway around the ht of stars, and the rising ave a s rass-covered earth Without sorassy spot looked just like every other grassy spot

The wind blew through the grass like fingers ruffling a box of lace The night was full of the dry rustling of auturass, but faintly, oh so faintly, you could hear nize the tune or even be a hundred percent sure that you’d heard anything but the wind, but that phanto near the entrance Sort of like a spectral doorbell or a ame of "hot and cold" No music meant you were cold

Doyle drew his arrass of the rass rass was still there underneath the door in some metaphysical space However it worked, a rounded doorway appeared in the side of the ht size to ad If needed, the doorway could be big enough to have a tank driven through, as if the doorway sensed how big it needed to be

The light appeared brighter than I kneas because ht hite but not harsh, a soft white light that breathed fro

"After you,as he said it

I wanted to co hill I was reround whether it be a sithen or a grave I don’t knohy I suddenly thought of that particular analogy Maybe it was the assassination atteh the door

I stood in a huge stone hallway large enough for that tank to have driven through co his head The hallas always large no matter how small the doorway happened to be Doyle joined rey stone wall Just as the outside of the mound hid its entrance, so the inside did as well If the queen wished it, the door wouldn’t appear frouest to prisoner here The thought was less than coht that filled the hallas sourceless, coranite, which means it wasn’t native to St Louis If you want stone here it’s red or reddish tan, not grey Even our stone is imported from some alien shore

I’round Meadows and orchards and a sun andorchards and flower gardens with a few straggling blossoer and more square than they should be, and the blueprint of the interior seeh it, like walking through a fun house made of stone instead of mirrors But there are noto believe that the others are keeping secrets from me That wouldn’t surprise e there are no worlds under the ground, just stone and rooms

Doyle offered htly, out of habit mostly

There was a sharp bend to the corridor I heard footsteps coently on my arm I stopped and looked at him "What is it?" I asked

Doyle led me back down the corridor I walked backith hirabbed a handful of h to bareyou off balance on the stones, Princess" He sounded angry with uns inside the mound," he said

"Since when?"

"Since you killed Bleddyn with one"

We looked at each other for a frozen second, then I tried to move away, but his hand closed overever closer, Doyle jerked ainst him He pinned me to his body with an arm across my back He opened his mouth to speak, and the footsteps turned the corner

We were left standing in full sight, Doyle pinning me to his body, the other hand onof one

The two men that stepped around the corner fanned out so that they covered as hting

I looked up into Doyle’s face and tried to put the request into one glance I begged hiun and not to take it

He put his ainst my cheek, and whispered, "You will not need it"

I just looked up at hihtened the ive un," I whispered

He uards He still had the grip on my arm All the others could see was the sweep of Doyle’s cape

"What’s wrong, Doyle?" one of the ," he said But he forced rip both e, and to get a fir I’d have struggled et away, but even if I escaped Doyle, he’d seen the gun There was nothing I could do about it, so I didn’t struggle But I was not happy

Doyle used his other ar position Except for h He knelt, his cloaked back still hiding us fro toward the gun, I thought about kicking hi difficult, but there was no point He could have crushed ht If he crushed un out of the ankle holster I sat on the floor and let hirip, let him move my body as he wanted Only er out of theo and slid the gun behind his own back, though the leather pants were tight enough that it couldn’t have been co into his back until he bled

He took one ofme stand Then he turned with a flourish of his cape to presentrey hallway and what had just happened I realized that Doyle was uneasy about the gun or his choice of taking it, orif I had other weapons He was ill at ease and he was covering

"A sreeed to Frost, Doyle’s second in command Other than the fact that they were both tall, physically they were al curtain to Frost’s ankles was silver, a shi metallic silver like Christmas tree tinsel The skin was as white as rey like a winter sky before a storantly handsome His shoulders were a touch broader than Doyle’s, but other than that they were both very alike and very unalike

He wore a silver jerkin that hit him just above the knees to meet the silver cloth of his pants, tucked into silver boots The jeweled belt at his waist was silver studded with pearls and diaraced his chest He gleareat silver piece, more statue than man But the sword at his side with its silver-and-bone hilt was real enough, and if you could see one weapon, there’d beFrost If he’d ever had another naical or bespelled weapons-for Frost it was al unarrey eyes, clearly suspicious

I foundto fill the silence Distraction as needed I let go of Doyle’s hand and took a step forward Frost was vain about his appearance and his clothes "Frost, what a bold fashion state and e of the tunic before he could stop himself He frowned at e in tone made mockery of his polite words

I didn’t care He wasn’t wondering about what Doyle was hiding That was all I had wanted to accomplish

"What about uard I didn’t trust hi weak about Rhys, a sense that he wouldn’t exactly die for your honor, but right up to that point you could depend on hith spill of white wavy hair over one arm so I’d have an unobstructed view of his body Rhys was a full half foot under six feet, short for a guard To e he was full-blooded court He just happened to be short His body was encased in a white bodysuit so tight that you knew at a glance that there was nothing under it but hi the round collar and the slight flare of the long sleeves, and encircling the cutout over his sto off her cleavage

He let the cape and his hair fall back into place He smiled his full cupid-bow lips at me They matched the round boyishly handsome face and the one pale blue eye His eye was a tricircle of blue; cornflower blue around the pupil, sky blue, then a circle of winter sky The other eye was lost forever under a furrow of scars Claw le clawacross otherwise perfect skin to cross froe of his nose and the lower left cheek He’d told me a dozen different stories about how he lost his eye Great battles, giants, I think I reon or two I think it was the scars that made him work so very hard on his body He was small, but every inch of him was muscled

I shook my head "I don’t knohether you look like the top of a pornographic wedding cake or a superhero You could be Ab Boy, or Abdorinned happily

"A thousand sit-ups a day does wonders for your abs," he said, running a hand over theuess"

"Where is your sword?" Doyle asked

Rhys looked at him "The saht"

Doyle glanced at Frost "What of you, Frost?"

Rhys answered with a quick slea him a weapon at a time She’s decreed he has to be unaro to the throne roouard unarmed," Frost said

"Nor I," Doyle said, "but she is the queen and ill follow her orders"

Frost’s handsoht lines If he’d been human, he’d have had frorinkles by now, but his face was unlined and alould be

"Frost’s clothes are fine for a welcome home banquet, but why are you and Rhys dressed so" I spreadto find a phrase that wasn’t an insult

"The queen designed my outfit personally," Rhys said

"It’s lovely," I said

He grinned "Just keep saying that as you ht"

My eyes widened "Oh, please She isn’t taking horain, is she?"

Rhys nodded "Baby horoes into overtime" He looked down at his clothes "A shao"