Swallowing Darkness

Chapter Thirty-Four

Voices came in snatches over the radio. "It's Morales, but he died in Iraq! It's Smitty... died in Afghanistan... "

"It's Siobhan," Rhys said. "She can bring back the shadows of the dead whom you know. Shit, I thought she'd lost that power."

"The princess returns power to all of faerie, Rhys, not just us," Doyle said.

The real trick to the ambush was that the soldiers didn't realize yet that they were under attack. Gregorio twisted in the seat and turned to us. "It doesn't sound like they're doing anything to our people."

"The dead are not the only mind games the sidhe can play," Rhys said.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

Shots sounded.

"They're shooting at us!" Gregorio said, and went back to the radio, trying to get someone to talk to her.

We heard Dawson's voice. "Mercer just shot Jones. He's shooting at us!"

"He's shooting at nightmares," Doyle said.

"What?" Gregorio asked.

"They're using illusion to make your solider see monsters. He doesn't know he's shooting at you," I said.

"But we're all wearing anti-faerie stuff," she said.

"Are you sure that this Mercer is wearing his?" Doyle asked.

"They could persuade him to take it off," I said.

She cursed and got back on the radio with Dawson. There was more gunfire, and it sounded different this time. Gregorio got off the radio, her face grim.

"We had to kill Mercer, our own man. He thought he was back in an ambush in Iraq."

"Get the men back in the trucks," Doyle said. "Tell them to believe nothing that they see outside of them."

"It's too late, Doyle," Rhys said. They exchanged looks that were far too serious.

"We might be able to prevent the illusions," Doyle said.

"You're our protectees," Gregorio said. "My orders clearly state that you aren't getting out of the safety of these vehicles until I hand you off at the flight line."

I gripped Doyle's hand and Rhys's arm. This was a trap for us, for my men and me. I agreed with Gregorio, but... The yelling continued, then it became screams.

"Sergeant Dawson, talk to me!" Gregorio yelled into the radio.

"We've got men bleeding. Bleeding from old wounds, but they're fresh now. What the hell is going on?"

"Cel is the Prince of Old Blood. That does not mean he's from an old lineage," Doyle said.

"You mean the prince is doing this?" she asked.

"Yes."

I sat there in the Humvee with my death grip on them both, and couldn't think. Maybe the last several days, or months, were finally catching up with me. I was frozen with indecision. The human soldiers had no chance against this, but it was a trap for us, which meant that Cel and his allies had plans to stop anything we could do. I'd dueled enough of the people with him when Cel was trying to kill me legally. I knew their powers, and some were fierce.

"Shoot them," I said. "The sidhe are not proof against bullets."

"We can't shoot at a royal prince and his guard unless they attack us with something we can see and testify to in court," Gregorio said.

"Cel can bleed most of you to death without ever lifting a weapon," I said, leaning forward as far as the seat belt would allow.

"But we can't prove he's doing it," she said. "You've never tried to prove a magic attack in a military court. I have. It ain't pretty."

"Would you rather they all die?" I asked.

"We can help them, Meredith," Doyle said.

I turned to him. "That's what he wants, Doyle. You know that. He's hurting the soldiers to lure us out."

"Yes, Meredith," he said, cupping my face with his free hand, "and it is a good trap."

I shook my head, moving back from his touch. "The soldiers are supposed to protect us."

"They are dying to protect us," he said.

My throat was tight, and my eyes burned. "No," I whispered.

"You will stay inside this truck, no matter what happens, Meredith. You must not get out."

"Once you are dead, they will drag me out. They will drag me out and kill me and your unborn children."

He flinched, something I had never seen before. The Darkness did not flinch. "That was harsh, My Princess."

"Truth is often harsh," I said, and let him hear my anger.

"She's right, Captain," Rhys said.

"Would you let them die in our place?" Doyle asked.

Rhys sighed, then kissed me on the cheek. "I will follow where my captain leads, you know that."

"No," I said, louder.

"I can't allow any of you to leave the safety of the vehicle," Gregorio said.

"What will you do to stop us?" Doyle asked, his hand on the door handle.

"Shit," she said, and started to get on the radio.

Doyle touched her shoulder. "Do not give away what little surprise we will have."

She let go of the button and just stared at him. "The princess is right. This ambush is meant to lure you to your deaths."

"It is," he said. He turned back to me. "Kiss me, Meredith, my Merry."

I was shaking my head over and over. "No."

"You will not kiss me good-bye?"

I wanted to scream at him that I would not. I would not endorse his stupidity in any way, but in the end, I couldn't let him go without it.

I kissed him, or he kissed me. He kissed me gently, his hands on my face, then he drew me into his arms so that our bodies molded against each other. He drew back with a last chaste kiss on my lips.

Rhys said, "My turn."

I turned to him with tears glittering in my eyes. I would not cry, not yet. Rhys's face was so sad, gentle but so sad. He kissed me delicately, then he grabbed me fiercely, almost painfully, and kissed me as if my lips were food and water and air, and he would die without my kiss. I fell into the fierceness of his mouth, his hands, and his body, and when he finally broke away, we were both breathless.

"Wow," Gregorio said, then said, "sorry."

I didn't even look at her, only at Rhys. "Don't go."

The door opened behind me, and I turned in time to see Doyle sliding out. I whispered, "If I am your queen, then I can order you to stay."

Doyle leaned back in the doorway. "I vowed never again to listen to humans die screaming for my cause, Meredith."

"Doyle, please."

"You are now and always will be my Merry." Then he was gone.

A sound escaped my lips that was almost a cry, but it was not a sound that I ever wanted to hear from my own mouth.

The door opened on the other side of me, and I turned to see Rhys climbing out. "Rhys, no!"

He smiled at me. "Know that I would have stayed, but I cannot let him go without me. He is my captain, and has been for more than a thousand years. And he's right. I too vowed never to let humans die for me again. It was wrong then, and it's still wrong." He reached in, touched my face.

I held his hand against my cheek. "Don't go."

"Know that I love you more than honor, but Doyle wouldn't be Doyle if he felt the same way."

The first tear trailed, hot and painful, down my face as he drew his hand away. I held on to him with both hands on his one. "Rhys, please, for the love of the Goddess, please!"

"I love you, Merry. I've loved you since you were sixteen."

I thought I would choke on the next words, but I got them out, "I love you too. Don't you die on me."

He grinned, and it almost reached his eyes. "I'll do my best." Then he was gone into the night, and the sound of fighting.