A Kiss Of Shadows by Hamilton Laurell K

Author:Hamilton, Laurell K. [Hamilton, Laurell K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery, Science Fiction, Romance, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy, Magic, Fantasy, Adult, Horror, Erotica
ISBN: 9780345490650
Google: XBM0WqYfVTIC
Amazon: 0345423402
Goodreads: 139417
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2000-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

THE LEATHER OF THE UPHOLSTERY SIGHED WITH AN ALMOST HUMAN sound as I settled back against the seat. A panel of black glass blocked our view of Barinthus. It was like being in a black space capsule. There was a cloth-wrapped bottle of wine in a silver bucket in a small compartment across from us. Two crystal glasses sat in holes meant to cradle them, waiting to be filled. There was a small tray of crackers and what looked like caviar behind the wine.

“Did you do this?” I asked.

Galen shook his head. “I wish I had, though I’d have known to leave out the caviar. Peasant taste buds.”

“You don’t like it either,” I said.

“But I’m a peasant, too.”

I shook my head. “Never.”

He gave me his smile, the one that warmed me down to my socks. Then the smile faded. “I peeked in back before we drove off.” He shrugged at my look. “I agree that the queen is acting strangely. I wanted to make sure there were no surprises behind all that black glass.”

“And?” I said.

He picked up the wine. “And this was not here.”

“You’re sure?” I asked.

He nodded, sweeping the cloth aside enough to read the label on the wine. He gave a low whistle. “It’s from her private stock.” He held the bottle carefully for me because it had been opened so it could breathe. “Would you care to try some thousand-year-old burgundy?”

I shook my head. “I’m not eating or drinking anything that this car happened to put out for us. Thanks anyway.” I patted the car’s leather seat. “No offense meant.”

“It could be the queen’s gift,” Galen said.

“An even better reason not to drink it,” I said. “Not until I find out what’s going on.”

Galen looked at me, nodding, and put the wine back in the bucket. “Good point.”

We settled back into the leather seats. The silence seemed heavier than it should have, as if someone were listening. I always thought it was the car that was listening.

The Black Coach is one of the objects among the fey that has an energy, a life, of its own. It was not created by any fey or ancient god that we knew of. It has simply existed for as long as anyone among us can remember. Six thousand years and counting. Of course, then it had been a black chariot pulled by four black horses. The horses were not sidhe horses. They didn’t seem to exist at all until after dark. Then they were things of blackness with empty eye sockets that filled with leprous flame when they were hooked to the chariot.

It was a coach—a coach and four—by the time I saw it. One day, no one remembers just when, the chariot had vanished and a large black coach had appeared. Only the horses had remained the same. The coach had changed when chariots were no longer in use. It had updated itself.

Then one night not even twenty years ago the Black Coach had vanished and the limo had appeared.

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