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BY MIDNIGHT THE LAST OF THE REPORTERS HAD DRIFTED AWAY FULL OF old wine, expensive hors d’oeuvres, andit with style She’d dressed in a slinky black business suit and no blouse, so that her cleavage showed at the line of the jacket, call-girl chic She was thrilled that I was home for a visit Excited that I’d finally decided to settle doith some lucky sidhe Saddened by Griffin’s betrayal One reporter had asked her about the alleged faerie aphrodisiac that had caused a near riot at a Los Angeles police station She had no knowledge of it Andais wouldn’t let anyone else but herself answer questions I’m not sure she trusted what I’d say The ot to talk
Cel sat on her right, and I sat on her left We smiled at each other The three of us posed for pictures Hiner suit, ner dress with a short jacket set with hundreds of genuine jet beads, Andais in her call-girl business suit We looked like ere going to a very expensive, very chic, funeral If I do ever get to be queen, I’ but black
The court was very quiet tonight Cel had been led away to be prepared for his punishment The Queen had taken Doyle and Frost to her roo by the time we finished the conference, so Fflur had taken hi It left Rhys and Kitto, and Pasco, to guard ht in the second roo pink-colored hair trailed to his knees like a pale curtain Black was not his color It made his skin look purplish, and his hair alht Black looked better on Rhys, but what made the outfit was the blue shirt, a color to match his eye, that the queen allowed hiuards Kitto stayed atHe had not been allowed on ca in the courts Kitto was the only one who had been allowed to keep his jeans and T-shirt We were staying at the court tonight because it was the only reporter-free zone within fiftythe queen’s s or snapping pictures through the earthento find my old rooe wooden-and-bronze door The Abyss of Despair lay behind the door Last I’d seen this room, it had been near the Hallway of Mortality-read torture room The Abyss was supposed to be bottomless, which was impossible had it been purely physical, but it wasn’t purely physical One of the worst of our punishments was to be cast into the Abyss and to fall forever, never aging, never dying, trapped in free fall for all eternity
I stopped in thePasco and Rhys catch up to me Kitto moved to one side, out of Rhys’s reach, instinctively Rhys had not so much as touched him, just looked at hihtened the goblin
"What’s wrong?" Rhys asked
"What is this thing doing here?"
He studied the door, frowning "It’s the door to the Abyss"
"Exactly It should be down three levels of stairs, at the very least What’s it doing on the main floor?"
"You say that as if the sithen made sense," Pasco said "The mound has decided to move the Abyss up to the top floor So like that"
I looked at Rhys He nodded "It does sometimes"
"Define sometimes," I said
"About everywith people whose idea of sorabbed the huge bronze door handle "Allowbeyond doubt that it was a very heavy door Pasco was like most of the court in that he could have bench-pressed a small house if he could have found a convenient handhold, yet he opened this one door as if it had weight
The roohts that worked in the rest of the sithen didn’t quite work here I stepped into the di just ahead ofthat’s afraid of being kicked The rooe circular stone room with a round hole in the center of the floor There was a white railing around that hole, a railing li was bespelled to keep the Abyss fro the world The railing was bespelled to keep people fro over it, so no one could commit suicide in it, or fall by accident There was only one way to go over the rail, and that was to be thrown over
I gave the glowing collection of bones a wide berth, and Kitto clung to my hand like a child afraid to cross the street by himself There was another door on the far side of the roo clackety echoes in the huge roo thatme to , but I also wasn’t going to run in the high heels I’d healed one sprained ankle this week-one was enough
Two things happened at once I saw so out of the corner of my eye on the side of the Abyss opposite us, a flicker ofstood The other was a small sound from behind us I turned toward the noise
Rhys was on his knees, hands limp at his sides, an expression of bewilderment on his face Pasco stood over him with a bloody knife in his hand Rhys fell forward slowly, landing heavily, hands still at his side,like a fish pulled from the water
I moved toward the door, the wall at my back, Kitto beside me But I knew-I knew that it was too late The flicker on the other side of the room parted like an invisible curtain to reveal Rozenwyn and Siobhan The to to outflank hostly like a Halloween horror, and Rozenwyn all pink and lavender like an Easter-basket doll One tall, one short, so much opposites, yet they ainst the wall, Kitto crouching besideto make himself smaller and more invisible "Rhys isn’t dead Even a heart bloon’t kill him," I said
"But a trip into the Abyss will," Pasco said
"I take it that’sterribly cal, but my voice was calm
"We’ll kill you first," Siobhan said, "then throw you over"
"Thanks bunches, how thoughtful of you to kill me first"
"We could let you die of thirst while you fell," Rozenwyn said "Your choice"
"Is there a third choice?" I asked
"I’m afraid not," Siobhan said, the sibilance of her voice echoing in the rooed here
They’d both crossed around the edge of the railing and were co body I had the two folding knives, but they had swords I was outarmed, and about to be outflanked "Are you so fearful of me that it takes three of you to kill me? Rozenwyn nearly killed me herself I still bear her mark over my ribs"