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spilled around her to form a half circle. She was as tall as any of them, and there was nothing fragile or
fearful about that shining figure. She seemed very sure of herself.
"Are you admitting, before the entire court, that you tried to assassinate Princess Meredith earlier
tonight?" Andais asked.
"I am," Miniver said, and her voice rang through the room, matter-of-fact, as if now that the worst was
happening she didn't need her anger anymore.
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"Take her to the Hallway of Mortality, and leave extra guards."
They began to close around her, but Miniver's voice carried: "I have given challenge. That challenge must
be answered before my punishment begins. That is our law." I think the guards might have managed to
take her away, but there were other voices.
"Regrettable as it is to agree with such an undeniable criminal," Afagdu said, "Lady Miniver is correct.
She has challenged the princess, and that challenge must be answered before any action may be taken
about her crime."
Galen spoke from behind me. "So she tries to kill Merry earlier, fails, and now she gets another try. I
don't think so."
"It is our law." Doyle's hand had reached out, and I took it, resting my face against the nude line of his
hip. Nervous touching.
"No," Andais said, "the young knight is right. To allow her to go forward with this challenge is to reward
her for trying to assassinate a royal heir. Such treachery will not be rewarded."
"When it was Cel and his allies who challenged the princess over and over, you did not intercede,"
Nerys said. "You were more than willing that Meredith take the field when it was your son behind the
duels. We all knew that Cel meant her death. Meredith did her best to give no offense to anyone, yet
sidhe after sidhe found an excuse to challenge her. When you challenge a mortal being to duel after duel
against the immortal sidhe, what is it but an assassination plot by another name?"
Andais shook her head, not as if she did not agree but as if she didn't want to hear. "Take Miniver away,
now!"
"No one is above the law, except the queen herself, and the princess is not yet queen." This from another
of the lords who had stood when Miniver gave her rant against my mortality.
"Have you turned against me, too, Ruarc?" Andais asked.
"I speak the law, nothing more," he said.
"You did not stop the duels before," Nerys said.
"I stop it now," Andais said.
"Are you saying that Meredith is too weak to defend her claim to the throne?" Afagdu asked.
"If that is true," Nerys said, "then let her take the throne, for once she is queen we can challenge her and
if she refuses, she will be forced to relinquish her crown."
Maelgwn spoke, and he, like Afagdu, had not been one of the nobles who stood. "Princess Meredith
fights now, or later, my queen. Too many of the houses have lost faith in her. She must regain that faith or
she will never be queen."
"We have not lost faith," Miniver said from behind her wall of guards, "for you cannot lose what you
have never had."
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Doyle's hand tightened on mine, and I slid my arm around his waist. I'd been trapped by our laws
before. I probably knew the laws concerning dueling better than most, because I had looked for a
loophole three years ago, before I'd been forced to flee the court before I was dueled to death. And
everyone had known that Cel was behind it all. If someone else hadn't been trying to kill me, again, it
would have been good to hear the truth about Cel spoken aloud in open court.
I clung to Doyle, realizing in a strange way that I was right back where I'd begun three years ago. I'd left
for fear that the next duel would be my last, and now here I was, challenged again. Challenged not just by
a sidhe, but by the head of an entire house. There are three ways to be head of a house. You can inherit
it, you can be elected into it, or you can challenge one after the other of a house until you either destroy
them all or they concede that you are the better fighter, and they will not stand in your way. Guess which
way Miniver had made her mark in our court?
Miniver had been one of the last of the Seelie nobles to ask admittance to our court. She had waited a
handful of days until she found which of the noble houses was most respected for their magic, then she
had challenged them, one after the other, until five duels later they had given her their respect, and their
allegiance.
As the challenged, I could choose weapons. Before I'd come into my hands of power I would have
chosen knives, or guns if it were still allowed, but now I had a hand of power that was perfect for this
challenge. Before we fought, we would each nick our body, and taste each other's blood. A small cut
was all the hand of blood needed. The problem was, if I chose magic and Miniver didn't bleed to death
fast enough, she would kill me.
I spoke with my face pressed against Doyle's skin. "The sidhe never call it a duel to the death. What
blood does she call?"
Doyle's deep voice cut across the murmur of voices. "The princess asks to what blood does her
challenger call?"
Miniver's voice rang out clear and strangely triumphant, as if we'd been silly to ask, "To third blood, of
course, and if I could ask for a duel to the death, I would do it. But the immortal sidhe cannot die, unless
tainted by mortal blood."
I stood up, one arm wrapped tight around Doyle's waist. The men moved back to make a sort of curtain
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