Prologue

Through the mosses bare
They have planted thorn - trees
For pleasure here and there .
If any man so daring
As dig them up in spite ,
He shall find their sharpest thorns
In his bed at night

First Page :
Despite her casting him down to this place , despite the fresg bruises on his skin and the
blood under his nails , roiben still loved Lady
Silarial . Despite the hungry eyes of the Unseelie
Court and the gruesome tasks its Queen Nicnevin set him . Despite the many ways he'd been humiliated and the things he wouldn't let himself think on while he stood stiffly behind her throne .

If he concentrated hard , he could remember
the flame of this Queen's copper hair , her
unreadable green eyes , the strange smile
she'd given him as she'd prounounced his fate
just three months past , Choosing him to leave
her Bright Court and be a servant among the
Unseelie was an honor , he told himself once more
He alone loved her enough to remain loyal . She
trusted him above her other subjects .