"Even for Andais this is psychotic. Why invite me home to be an honored guest, but set me up for execution on the way to the court? It makes absolutely no sense."
"No one could have gotten that ring without her permission, Merry."
Something white was sticking out from between the seat and the back.
I moved closer to it and found it was half an envelope. "This wasn't there before," I said.
"No, it wasn't," Galen said. He picked his sweater up off the floor and slipped it on.
I pulled at the envelope, and it felt as if something was pushing from the other end; it was a flexing, as if of muscle. It brought my pulse in my throat, but I took the envelope. It had my name written across it in beautiful handwriting-the queen's handwriting.
I showed it to Galen as he continued to dress. "You'd better open it," he said.
I turned it over and found her seal set in black wax, unbroken. I broke the seal and pulled out a single sheet of thick white stationary.
"What does it say?" Galen asked.
I read it aloud to him. "'To Princess Meredith NicEssus. Take this ring as a gift and a token of things to come. I want to see it on your hand when we meet.' She even signed her name." I looked at Galen. "This makes less and less sense."
"Look," he said.
I looked where he was pointing, and there was a small velvet bag sticking out of the seat now. It had not been there when I took the envelope out of the seat.
"What is going on?"
Galen pulled the bag into sight, carefully. It was very small, and the only thing in it was a piece of black silk. "Let me see the ring," he said.
I slipped the silver ring off the cord, holding it in the palm of my hand. The cold metal grew warm against my hand. I waited tensely for it to grow hot, but it was just a slight pulsing warmth. Either it was part of the ring's enchantment or... I held the ring out to Galen. "Hold it in the palm of your hand; see what you feel."
He took the ring tentatively between two fingers and laid it in his opposite hand. The heavy octagonal ring sat in his palm gleaming softly.
We sat and stared at the ring for a few seconds. Nothing happened. "Is it warm?" I asked.
Galen looked up at me, eyebrows raised. "Warm? No, is it supposed to be?"
"Not for you, apparently."
He wrapped the ring in the bit of silk and slipped it into the small velvet bag. It fit perfectly, but there was no room for the heavy cord. He looked at me. "I don't think the queen did the spell. I think she put this ring in here for you as a gift, just like the note says."
"Then someone else added the spell," I said.
He nodded. "It was a very subtle spell, Merry. We almost didn't notice it."
"Yes, I almost thought it was me making up my mind. If it had been some outrageous lust spell we'd have noticed something wrong much sooner." There weren't that many people in the Unseelie Court who were capable of such a sophisticated love spell. Love wasn't our specialty; lust was.
Galen echoed my thoughts. "There are only three, maybe five people in the entire court that could do such a spell. If you'd asked me, I'd have said none of them would willingly hurt you. They may not all like you, but they aren't your enemies."
"Or they weren't three years ago," I said. "People change their minds, new alliances form."
"I haven't noticed anything that different," Galen said.
I had to smile. "You say that like it's a big surprise that you wouldn't notice political wheeling and dealing behind the scenes."
"All right, all right, I'm not a political animal, but Barinthus is, and he never mentioned any change of heart this severe among the neutral parties at court."
I held my hand out for the ring. Galen handed me the bag. I took the ring out and laid it on my palm. Even before the ring touched my skin I could feel the small warmth. I wrapped my hand around the ring, squeezing it in my fist, and the warmth grew. The ring, my aunt's ring, the queen's ring, answered to my flesh. Would that please our queen or anger her? If she didn't want the ring to acknowledge me, why would she have given it to me?
"You look pleased," Galen said. "Why? You've just been the victim of an assassination attempt-you do remember that part, right?" He was studying my face, as if trying to read my expression.
"The ring is warm to my touch, Galen. It's a relic of power and it knows me." The seat underneath me twitched. It made me jump. "Did you feel that?"
Galen nodded. "Yes."
The overhead light flashed on, and I jumped again. "Did you do that?" I asked.
"No."
"Me, either," I said.
This time I watched the leather seat push out the object. It was like watching something alive twitching. It was tiny, silver, a piece of jewelry. I was almost afraid to touch it, but the seat kept moving until the item lay bare to the light, and I could see at a glance that it was a cufflink.
Galen picked it up. His face darkened, and he held it out to me. The cufflink had the letter "C" in lovely flowing lines. "The queen had cuff links made for all the guards about a year ago. They have our first initials on them."
"So you're saying a guard put the spell in the car and tried to bury the letter and the bag in the seats."
Galen nodded. "And the car kept the cuff link until it showed it to you."
"Th... thanks, car," I whispered. Thankfully, the car didn't seem to acknowledge the greeting. My nerves were grateful for that. But I knew that it had heard me. I could feel it watching me, like the sensation of eyes staring at the back of your head, and when you turn around there is someone watching.