Cair looked around frantically. "Lord Finbar, help me!" she cried.
Most of the eyes in the room went to the far table, where the king was completely hidden behind a wall of guards and sparkling courtiers. One of those was Lord Finbar, tall and handsome with his yellow, almost human-colored hair. Only the feeling of power from him and the otherworldly handsome face marked him as more. Uar was still standing to one side watching the show, but not shielding his brother. Lord Finbar was planted in front of his monarch. He was an intimate of the king's, but no friend to my aunt or my cousin, last I knew. Why would she appeal to him now?
The king was completely hidden behind the glittering, bejeweled throng that included Finbar. Maybe he was no longer even in the room, and the nobles were only using themselves as a stalking horse. But tonight, that did not matter. What did matter was why Cair would appeal to the tall blond noble who had never been her friend.
His high, sculpted-cheekboned face was set in arrogant lines, as cold as any I'd seen. It made me think of my lost Frost, when he was either at his most afraid, or most embarrassed. It was a face to hide behind, that arrogance.
Cair called out to him again, more frantically. "Lord Finbar, you promised."
He spoke then. "The girl is clearly deranged. The killing of her own matriarch is proof of that." His voice was as cold and clear as the pale line of his cheek. The words dripped surety and an arrogance bred from centuries, not of his ancestors' ruling, but of he himself ruling. Immortal and noble; it was a recipe for arrogance, and stupidity.
Cair cried out, "Finbar, what are you
saying? You promised you would protect me. You swore."
"She is deranged," he repeated.
Sholto looked at me, and I understood. I spoke, and my voice carried, echoing. Tonight I held more than my own magic. "Lord Finbar, give us your oath that you did not promise my cousin your protection, and we will believe you. She is deranged."
"I do not answer to you, Meredith, not yet."
"It is not I, Meredith, who asks for your oath. Tonight I ride at the head of a different court. It is with that power that I ask a second time, Finbar. Give your oath that she lies about your protection, and no more need be said."
"I do not owe the perverse creature at your side my oath."
He had used Queen Andais's nickname for Sholto. She had called him her Perverse Creature, sometimes simply Creature. Bring me my Creature. Sholto had hated the nickname, but you did not correct a queen.
Sholto urged his many-legged horse forward, with his own extras echoing the theme. I thought he'd lose his temper, but his voice was as calm and arrogant as Finbar's had been. "How does a lord of the Seelie know the Dark Queen's nicknames for her guards?"
"We have spies, as you do."
Sholto nodded, his hair catching the yellow light, except that there was no light in the room quite the color that was sparkling in his hair. "But tonight I am not her creature. I am the King of the sluagh, and the Huntsman, this night. Would you refuse your oath to the Huntsman?"
"You are not the Huntsman," Finbar said.
It was the blond-haired noble who rode with us who said, "We attacked the hunt, now we ride with it. They are the huntsmen for this night."
"You are bespelled, Dacey," Finbar said.
"If the Great Hunt is a spell, then I am under it."
One of the other nobles said, "Finbar, simply give your oath that the madwoman lies, and this will be done."
Finbar said nothing to that. He just looked handsome and arrogant. In the end, it was the last defense of the sidhe, beauty and pride. I'd never had enough of either to learn the trick of it.
"He cannot give oath," Cair said, "for he would be forsworn with the wild hunt standing in front of him. It would be his doom." She sounded angry now. She, like me, had never been beautiful enough to earn the arrogance that the true sidhe had. We could have been friends, she and I, if she hadn't resented me so.
"Tell us what he promised you, Cair," I said.
"He knew I could get close enough to her to place the spell upon her."
"She lies." This came not from Finbar, but from his son, Barris.
Finbar said, "Barris, no!"
Some of the hounds had turned toward Barris where he stood at the end of the far side of the room. He had not joined his father in protecting the king. The huge dogs began to creep toward him, growling that low, threatening sound. "Liars were once the prey of the hunt," Sholto said, and he was smiling, a very satisfied smile.
I touched his arm again, to remind him not to enjoy the power too much. The hunt was a trap, and the longer we rode in it, the harder it would become to remember that.
He reached back, and took my hand in his. He nodded and said, "Think carefully, Barris. Is Cair a liar, or does she tell the truth?"
Cair spoke. "I am telling the truth. Finbar told me what to do, and promised that if I did it, he would let Barris and me be a couple. And that if I became with child, we would marry."