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The smile Noire gave him was the saddest thing he'd ever seen. "If you know of any way to make certain the Ceremony
goes as it should, Ailill, I beg of you to see that it does. If in thirty-one days all of you are dead, I will be dead by the thirty-
second. Perhaps Ivan is strong enough to survive, but I am not. Thank you for coming to find me. I fear I must go apologize
to Freddie now& wish me luck& " He pushed himself forward, shifting as he moved, and turned to give Ailill a last parting
look before nudging the door open and padding silently back down the stairs.
Ailill played the options over and over in his head.
On the day of the Ceremony, according to bloody tradition, sixteen people would die. The would-be Faerie Queen and
Guardians, slain by one another, the Twelve Great Beasts& and one stranger&
So Noire was either in love with that unknown sixteenth person and knew something the rest of them didn't& unlikely. Such
vital information, when his friends were at stake, Noire would not keep to himself.
Ailill immediately discarded two thirds of the Beasts, who all were either taken, disliked Noire too much for such a thing, or
had no interest in men& of the four left& they had no reason to keep a lover such as Noire a secret. Freddie and the Grand
Duke were not the sort to care who their Beasts consorted with; either was far more likely to encourage a relationship that
set everyone on their ear.
That left& oh, mercy of the Queen& surely not&
Freddie and the Queen were out, if what Verenne said was true and Ailill had no reason to doubt her. Unless he was
mistaken about the possible Beasts, the only other person Noire could be in love with was&
Grand Duke Gael d'Hiver.
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AmaSour Fiction
Ailill laughed softly and shook his head. "Leave it to Noire& " No wonder he was all but falling apart.
That, however, begged the question of why the Grand Duke was keeping their love affair a secret& because it was obvious
the secrecy was a large part of Noire's agony. Well, whatever the reason, Noire had also said it was the Ceremony that
mattered. He'd quite literally begged Ailill to help prevent it becoming yet another tragedy. If, by the grace of the Queen, they
all lived& and the Grand Duke did not step forward and reveal the secret, Ailill knew seven men he could hire to turn the
Grand Duke's life into an agony.
Sighing, standing up and futilely brushing dust and grime from his white clothes, Ailill shifted to his Form and padded down
the stairs and through the halls, eventually reaching Freddie's private suite of rooms.
The large receiving room was appointed in the requisite blue, white, and silver, even the wood of the furniture chosen for its
whitish color. Opposite the door, on the farthest end, the room spilled into an enormous balcony from which one could see
for miles.
Currently standing there, kneeling with his head down, was Noire. Ailill politely did not try to hear the words, leaving Noire to
make his apology to the stern-looking Freddie in private. Instead he padded over to where Ivan and his men sat in one
corner, helping themselves to the alcohol but otherwise being unusually quiet.
Ailill went straight to Ivan, rubbing against his legs, looking up curiously as the scent of blood caught him. The knuckles of
Ivan's right hand were split, as though he'd punched someone - hard. Chuffing softly, Ailill licked the blood away.
"That Ram had more to say after you left," Ivan said by way of explanation, steel blue eyes glinting. "I decided to share my
opinion as well. I wish Shio and Shinju were here, because I could not quite bring myself to hit that Wolf."
Licking Ivan's hand again, this time in approval, Ailill then settled his head in Ivan's lap, letting his eyes close, his growl
soften, as Ivan scratched and petted.
He looked up only when he could hear footsteps approach, and glared at Freddie in resentment.
Freddie laughed and sat down next to Ivan on the sofa. "I think you cat Forms have it best. All anyone ever does when I
shift is pull on my feathers."
"How exactly does a horse fly?" Isidor asked. "I cannot fathom it."
Freddie leaned back in her seat and turned her head to look at him in amusement. "I will show you sometime."
"Scor-ouch!" Isidor glared at Luka, rubbing his arm where Luka had punched him. He rolled his eyes. "I thank you, your
Grace."
"Better," Luka muttered.
Isidor rolled his eyes again. "Since when are you little Miss Manners?"
"Enough," Ivan said gently, but the men immediately obeyed.
Lapping at his hand one last time, Ailill moved away from Ivan and toward where Noire sat at the edge of the rug, rubbing
against him before settling down beside him.
"They are day and night," Freddie said. "It never fails to amaze me. In every way but color, they look exactly alike. I wish
others would notice; to me, it always drove home how close the Beasts truly are to their fellows. All the White this, White
that& once, things were not so." She sighed and waved her hand in the air, as if trying to flick away all the problems
buzzing around her. "Perhaps, one day, things will be right again." Sighing again, she forced herself up off the couch and
turned to face them all. "Master Ivan, gentlemen, I've heard much about you. I am most displeased that only now is Ailill
bothering to bring you to meet me. Is there something about you that he is trying to hide?"
The men threw their heads back and laughed. "He's only trying to hide us, but that's enough," Maksim said. "We're good in
a fight, but not at tea parties."
"Oh, I don't know," Freddie said dryly. "I should think you'd give me a reason to stay awake at tea parties."
Ailill shifted back to human with a groan and stood up. "Freddie, don't encourage them, please. I had finally gotten them to
promise to behave."
Freddie quirked a brow at him. "Yes, I saw how well they were behaving downstairs& "
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"You have a point," Ailill conceded, wincing. "I apologize, Grand Duchess. I did not mean to get into a fight before others
with the Countess and Earl. I did not mean to get into a fight with them at all."
"I'm well aware of who started it, believe me," Freddie said, and glared at the absent Wolf and Ram. "Still, I did expect
better of you, my White Panther." She flicked her gaze briefly to Noire, who merely lowered his dark head. "Enough, Noire. I
have said I am no longer angry& the sight of Giles climbing out of that fountain was the funniest thing I have ever seen in
my life. Oh, I wish I could do such things to that lot at times& but I am supposed to set the example. A pity."
Noire padded across the room and nudged her hand, and fondly Freddie pet him and scratched his ears. "Yes, Noire," she
said softly in reply to whatever he silently said. Noire seemed to nod, then finally pulled away and changed back to his
human shape.
"How did you do that?" Gleb asked Noire as he stood up. "I've gathered from watching Ailill throw things around - and claw
faces nearly off - that I never want to make a giant cat really mad, but it still couldn't have been easy to just pick him up and
haul him over the edge like that."
"I was angry," Noire said, ducking his head briefly before making himself look up again. "I've also& had a lot of practice
defending myself. It wasn't hard really, I already had momentum on my side - it was just a matter of using it to haul him up [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]