"She offered you blood sacrifice or sex, didn't she?"

"Yes," I said. I couldn't keep the look of astonishment off my face.

"Don't look so shocked, Meredith. I was not always queen. Once no one ruled here who was not chosen by the Goddess. I chose death and blood to cement my tie to the land. I chose the Unseelie way. What did you choose, child of my brother?"

There was a look in her eyes that made me afraid to tell the truth, but I could not lie, not about this. "Life. I chose life."

"You chose the way of the Seelie."

"If there is a way to bring power that does not kill, why is it wrong to choose it?"

"Whose life did you spare?"

I licked suddenly dry lips. "Do not ask."

"Doyle?"

"No," I said.

"Then who!" She screamed it at me.

"Amatheon," I said.

"Amatheon. He is one of your newest lovers. He helped Cel torment you as a child. Why?"

"I don't understand, Aunt."

"Why?"

"Why what?" I asked.

"Why save him? Why not kill him to bring life back to the land? He was a willing sacrifice."

"Why kill him if I didn't have to?" I asked.

She shook her head sadly. "That is not an Unseelie answer, Meredith."

"My father, your brother, would have said the same thing."

"No, my brother was Unseelie."

"My father taught me that all in faerie from lowest to highest have value."

"No," she said.

"Yes," I said.

"I thought of you while I cut Crystall up, Meredith. The only hesitation I have about giving you to the Seelies is that if I do, I cannot kill you without starting a war. I don't want to lose the option of torturing you to death, Meredith. I think once you are dead your magic will fade and the traitorous Goddess that comes to you will fade with it."

"Would you condemn all of faerie to death because it is not the faerie you wish it to be?" Frost asked it, his face astonished.

"No and yes." With that the mirror went blank again. We were left staring at our own reflections. We all looked pale and shocky. Today no good news seemed to go unpunished.