Chapter 7 begins with Merry finally greeting Sir Hugh. His hair and clothing are all burnt. Turns out, he stood in front of Taranis when Taranis shot off his lightning load at Abeloec, thus taking the brunt of Taranis’s power. And Merry is just a total bitch about it. “What am I supposed to say to that?” I really don’t understand why Merry has to turn into such a high school bully bitch in every single book. It’s not a flattering attribute, LKH. Stop it, please.

Merry realizes that she’s still to unsteady to deal diplomatically with Hugh, so she loses herself in Frost’s eyes for a bit.

I touched his arm, and the world was a little steadier. There was something moving in the landscape of his eyes; something white, and horned. I had a glimpse of a white stag before Frost bent to kiss me. It was a chaste kiss, but that one gentle touch let me know that he understood what the calmness cost me. That kiss let me know that he understood what Doyle meant to me, and what he meant to me, and what he did not.

Aw man, poor Frost. He totally realizes that Merry doesn’t love him as much as she does Doyle, and he deals with it like a fucking adult.

Anyway, the conversation turns back to Hugh and he tells them about how magical swans have appeared in the lake near the Seelie mound, for the first time they’ve been seen since the fey moved to America. Merry is still being a petulant child about this; she’s responding to Hugh all sarcastically. Didn’t we first meet Hugh in an earlier novel, where the Seelie’s kept trying to invite Merry to some bullshit pre-Yule ball?

Just to remind us how diplomatic and noble and serious Merry is being, that one female lawyer, Nelson, takes this moment to remind us all how Merry should be freaking out about her injured lovers.

Nelson’s voice came from behind us. “How can you be so calm? Didn’t you see what just happened? They took your lovers out on stretchers.” Her voice held an edge of hysteria that promised to get worse.

Why? Why do this? Is it just a jab at how all women are delicate little flowers who are supposed to fall to pieces when their “lovers” are hurt? Is it to prove how “queenly” and deserving of her rule Merry is for her ability to shut off her feelings and face things pertaining to all the fey, not just her inner circle of fuckbuddies? Because, from everything I’ve seen so far this book, Merry’s doing a shit poor job of that.

Hugh tells them all about how things have changed since Merry released the wild hunt in the last book. Except, it wasn’t Merry who did it, it was Sholto, in the middle of a fucking stupid temper tantrum. Some more wild, magical creatures have been released from wherever who do not take kindly to liars or oathbreakers. But I thought the sidhe couldn’t lie???

Before meeting with Merry and Co, Taranis had lost his temper at some “serving wench”, and before he could injure her, a Cu Sith appeared between the king and the girl. A Cu Sith is a magical faerie dog, by the way. They were mentioned in the last book, those dogs who took the shape/breed that matched the personality of whoever they paired themselves with. I honestly cannot remember if LKH actually ever does anything with the Cu Sith in this series, other than having them be around Merry and Co. If she didn’t, it’s such a shame. There’s so many awesome things that can be done with Celtic mythology, and LKH just shits all over it in some bukake nightmare that she considers good literature. If you want to see the Cu Sith used in a really excellent manner, check out the October Daye series by Seanan McGuire. One of my favorite urban fantasy series that doesn’t just devolve into bullshit sex nonsense. 

Because Taranis had attempted this attack in full view of other Seelie nobles, and now with the scene he caused over the mirror phone, Hugh thinks that they can use an old law to force a vote of no confidence and oust Taranis as king. To do so, however, he needs to have a new ruler set up to take Taranis’s place. He suggests Merry.

Hahahahaha. Merry can’t even rule her own household, how is she going to rule over not one but TWO courts?

Merry tells him that she doesn’t believe that the Seelie will accept her, at all, but that she’ll discuss it with Queen Andais. Hugh is more confident. He tells them that after the other Seelie nobles learn of what occured today, and of Taranis’s meddlings in the rape of Lady Caitrin, they will easily vote him out.

You just know that Taranis will never leave his throne. He’ll have to be executed before he hands his throne over to another sidhe. He’s already been shown to do whatever is necessary to protect his position – he exiled Maeve Reed when she accused him of being sterile. A simple vote is going to do absolutely nothing to remove him as King, you idiots, you absolute dingbats.

So, anyway, after Hugh leaves, there’s some talk about how Verducci can “see” the sidhe for what they truly are, and it’s basically all filler conversation that I can guarantee you will lead to nothing, plot wise. Merry eventually tells them all she wants to go check on Doyle. Before she can, though, a fucking police officer comes over and tells them he needs to ask Merry some questions first.

“Can you ask them on the way to the hospital? I need to check on my men.”
He hesitated. “Do you need a ride to the hospital, Princess Meredith?”
I glanced at the clock behind the desk. We’d been driven here by Maeve Reed’s driver in her limo. He’d planned on doing some errands for Ms. Reed, then coming back to pick us up in about three hours, or at least check on us. Surprisingly, it hadn’t been three hours yet.

It has taken me well over a week to get through the first fucking seven chapters of this godforsaken novel, there is no way in hell that everything that just took place happened in less than three hours. I forgot how punishingly terrible and drawn out the first part of this book was.

Anyway, the chapter ends with Merry agreeing to a ride to the hospital to see her stupid lovers who could easily have been healed without needing the hospital, so let’s go see some bullshit about how the doctors won’t allow faerie healing!

Also, remember to check out my book giveaway, if you haven’t yet!