Page 9 (2/2)

"You flooded every river around St Louis when Merry and you had sex only in vision," Rhys said "How much more power do you want?"

This time Barinthus looked away, and would not h, I supposed

It was Doyle who stepped forward a step or two, and said, "I understand wanting to have all the old power back, ained yours!" Barinthus yelled "Don&039;t try to soothewith your oer"

"But it is not my old power, not cos that I once could do"

Barinthus looked at Doyle then, and the anger in his eyes had turned them from happy blue to a black where the water runs deep and there are rocks just under the surface, ready to tear the hull of your boat and sink you

There was a sudden splash against the side of the house We were too far above the sea for the tide to find us, and it was the wrong time of day for it anyway There was another slap of water, and this tie s of the master bathroom attached to this bedroom

It was Galen who slid from the doorway and walked farther into the bathroom to check on the sound There was another burst of water on the glass, and he ca, but the water is like someone picked it up and threw it at the s It is actually separating from the sea, and seems to float for a moment before it hits"

"You must control your power,deeper with so emotion

"Once I could have called the sea and washed this house into the water"

"Is that what you want to do?" I asked I squeezed Frost&039;s hand and then moved forward to stand with Doyle

He looked at round into fists at his side "No, I would not wash away into the sea all we have gained, and I would never harm you, Merry I would never dishonor Essus and all he tried to do by saving your life You carry his grandchildren I want to be here to see the babes born"

His unbound hair writhed around him, and whereof liquid in the way his hair moved, as if here in this room somehow the currents below touched and played with his ankle-length hair I was betting that his hair didn&039;t tangle either

The sea quieted outside, the noise drawing away until it was just the quiet hush of water on the narrow beach below "I aivable I, of all sidhe, know that such childish displays of power are pointless"

"And you want the Goddess to give you back more power?" Rhys asked

Barinthus looked up and that flash of black water showed for acalot, you have a sithen waiting for you, regained froht" There was bitterness to his voice now, and the ocean sounded just a little rough, as if soreat hand stirred it with an impatient hand

"Maybe there&039;s a reason the Goddess hasn&039;t given you back more of your powers," said Galen

We all looked at hi serious but calm

"You have no stake in this, boy You don&039;t remember what I lost"

"I don&039;t, but I do know that the Goddess is wise, and she sees further into our hearts and minds than we do If this is what you do with only part of your power back, how arrogant would you be with all of it back?"

Barinthus took a step toward hie me"

"He is father toto my queen as ods themselves"

There was a knock on the door It made me jump Doyle called out, "Not now"

But the door opened, and it was Sholto, Lord of Shadows and That Which Passes Between, King of the Sluagh He came in with his unbound hair, in a white-blond cloak over a black-and-silver tunic and boots

He wasted a sot the full iold around the pupil, then amber, then yellow like aspen leaves in the fall His smile faded as he turned to the other , Sea Lord, and I have been crowned by faerie and the gods theht h Lord," Barinthus said, and again there was that angry sound from the sea outside

Sholto&039;s sant, starkly beautiful, and totally unfriendly "You will," he said, and his voice held an edge of anger There was a sparkle of gold as his eyes began to shine

The sea outside slapped against the glass again, harder, angrier It wasn&039;t just that it was a bad idea for the erous for all of us here by the sea I couldn&039;t believe that Barinthus, of all people, was behaving so badly He&039;d been the voice of reason for centuries at the Unseelie Court, and nowI&039;d e in him, or maybe without Queen Andais, the Queen of Air and Darkness, to keep hi the real hih of this," Doyle said, "both of you"

Barinthus turned on Doyle, and said, "It is you who I&039;ht ht you were uard; I&039;d thought he would know better than to attract the big er a second time

Barinthus turned and looked at Galen, as still in the bathrooainst the s behind hih to shake the the crown, but if you want a piece of this fight, you ave a small siven me a choice between the throne and Frost&039;s life, I would have chosen his life, just as Doyle did"

My stohtened at his words Then I realized that Galen was baiting Barinthus, and the anxiety went away I felt suddenly cale ofslowly toward Barinthus, his hand out al to shake hands Oh, ic on us all, and he was one of the feho could have because low, or shi but pleasant, and you just felt like being pleasant back

Barinthus didn&039;t threaten again as Galen , hand out toward the other e in his voice was less, and the next slap of ocean against the as also less It didn&039;t rattle the s this tiently forward, "don&039;t we?"

Barinthus frowned, clearly puzzled "Of course I love Meredith"

"Then we&039;re all on the same side, aren&039;t we?"

Barinthus frowned harder, but finally gave a small nod "Yes" That one as low, but clear

Galen was al his ar this well from a distance, that one touch would calht if that hand once touched that ar didn&039;t completely nullify the effects of Galen&039;s char the backwash of it Most of it was concentrated on Barinthus Galen illing hi him to be friends

A scream sounded from outside the rooh pitched and terror filled Galen&039;s glamour was like most; it shattered with the scream and the adrenaline rush as everyone went for weapons I owned guns, but hadn&039;t packed one for the beach It wouldn&039;t have mattered, because Doyle pushed me to the floor on the far side of the bed, and ordered Galen to stay with o for the screah not pointed, because there was nothing to point at yet

Sholto had the door opened, staying to one side of the doorjaet of hiuard when he wasn&039;t king of his own kingdom, and he knew the possibilities of modern weapons, and a well-placed arrow Barinthus was pressed to the other side of the flattened door, the fight forgotten, as they did what they had trained to do for longer than America had been a country

Whatever they saw out there un in one hand, sword in the other Barinthus spilled around the door with no visible weapon, but when you&039;re seven feet tall, hter, you don&039;t always need a weapon You are the weapon

Rhys went next, keeping low, gun in hand Frost and Doyle glided through the door armed and ready, and just like that it was just Galen andin ht have caused one of ht of theback through that door again Death had touched me too early for me not to understand that nearly i as truly iht h to sacrifice Frost for the crown, I would have been more worried about the other wo to be friends with them for a feeeks, I loved the men, and for someone you love, you will sacrifice much Anyone who says otherwise has either never truly loved or is lying to the, just talking I whispered to Galen, "Can you understand what they&039;re saying?"

Most of the sidhe had better-than-huun now pointed at the eh it

"Voices, wo, but I can tell that one is Hafwyn, one of the, and Saraid is pissed Now Doyle, and Ivi, he&039;s upset but not angry He sounds panicked, as if whatever&039;s happened bothered hi a little "Ivi sounds contrite"

I frowned, too "Ivi is never contrite about anything"

Galen nodded, and then was suddenly all attention at the door I watched his finger begin to pull I couldn&039;t see anything around the corner of the bed Then he raised the gun toward the ceiling and let out a breath in a lohoosh, which let er

"Sholto," he said, and got up, gun still in one hand, and held his other hand down for me I took it and let him help me stand

"What&039;s happened?" I asked

"Did you know that Ivi and Doght?" he asked

I nodded "Not exactly, but I knew that Ivi and Brii took lovers a"

Sholto smiled and shook his head, his face halfway between a far too hard "It seeive her a little cuddle, and so he did seems to have terrified her"

"What did he do to her?" I asked

"Hafitness and agrees with Ivi about what he did and did not do Apparently, he maela, wrapped his arms around her waist, and picked her up off the floor, and she began to screa physically restrained fro Ivi, and the man seems honestly puzzled by the turn of events"

"Why would just being picked up make her screa their oldthem on the bed or hold thes to theer what?" Sholto asked

Galen said, "It&039;s so usually innocuous that res it all back up"

We both looked at hiave me a sour look "What, I couldn&039;t know that?"

"No, it&039;s just that" - I hugged hihtful is that big a surprise?" he asked

There was nothing polite I could say to that question, so I hugged hied me back, and kissedbeside us now, and his eyes were all for et when they see a woman who is their lover and more It was partly possessive, partly excited, and partly puzzled, as if so out in the other room was still on his mind He held his hand out to o to him Galen let me do it; we shared well most of the time, and even if we didn&039;t, Goddess had decreed that Sholto was one of the fathers of the babies I carried The fathers all got privileges I just think that none of us had expected the genetic miracle of six fathers for two babies

Sholto drew ly He was the newest to my bed of all the fathers We&039;d actually only had sex once I got pregnant, but as the old saying goes, once is enough The newness meant that I wasn&039;t in love with him I didn&039;t actually love him at all I was attracted to hih conversations to let me know if I loved hih; we liked each other a lot

"I&039;ve seen the traditional King of the Sluagh&039;s greeting to his queen," Galen said, "so I&039;ll leave you to it Maybe I can be insightful for Dogo, because he had surprised iven hiht

Sholto didn&039;t wait for Galen to close the door behind him before he showed me just how much he liked htly to me as it could be with clothes still on I let th of his arlint of the embroidery and the small jewels sewn into it, so that I ran my hands over his clothes aslove to ht with most of his clothes still on so that the satin caressed ht made me respond even more to his kisses, and sent h I couldn&039;t get as good a grip with one hand as the other because I had to reach around the sword at his waist

Sholto responded tos around his waist, and he walked us back the few feet to the bed He lowered s still wrapped around hiht against the bed

He drew out of the kisses enough to say in a breathless voice, "If I&039;d known this was the greeting I&039;d get, I&039;d have come sooner"

I srinned He had one of the rin ruined that beyond-rin, because I knew that it was for me I knew that no one else had ever made him look at them in quite that way No one had ever ether Maybe I didn&039;t love hiether I loved that he letdown those years of arrogant shields so that I could see the man behind them

"I love that youin to undo his pants He left his sword, belt, gun, and holster in place, undoing only enough of his soft trousers to spill hiht, hard and firm and as fine as any man in court

Normally, I wanted more foreplay, but in that moment it worked for ht, but it was also that Sholto had begun to condition s still hanging over the edge, and reached under s, slipping theh heels to drop to the floor He raised azed down at me naked from the waist down except for the shoes I didn&039;t ask if he wanted me to remove the shoes, because I knew he didn&039;t Sholto liked me in heels

He put his hands on either side of th of his body He angled in against e the angle He pushed hiht for him to do it all in one thrust He had to work his way in, but I was already wet, just tight I squeezed around hi his head fall a little forward so that his hair swept across my face He hesitated above me, then he pushed harder, and I as, so wide, filling me up so completely

I screa at his satin-covered ar to mark

He picked me up off the bed with most of him still inside me He heldto hi, hard thrust while he held ain

He half collapsed on the bed, half crawled us into the o of me with his arms, and only his lower body pinnedonce he was as deep as his body could go He said, "You areThis is proof of that"

It was a very old saying ahtflyers, of which his father had been one They looked like huge darkthe the fehtflyers reacted to a spine inside the penis that would have killed me, but luckily for both of us, Sholto didn&039;t take after his father that much

I spoke the next part of the ritual, because Sholto had taught it to me "You inside me proves that you are royal and I anant the reply would have been, "You inside me proves that you are royal and I will be with child"

He raised up enough to undo the belt around his tunic waist He tossed the belt with its sword and gun to one side of us, not off the bed; within reach, but out of the way He spoke as he began to wiggle out of his tunic with his body still pinningthat easy to pleasure, Meredith"

We shared well, all of us, but not so well that I could tell hiht that had helped

"I told you, I ain, then was hidden behind the rise of his tunic He stripped off the undertunic of white linen next, and I could finally see his upper body He was as muscled as any of the men except Rhys He was broad of shoulder, si up to his rib cage The tattoo was of the tentacles that he would have had had he taken more after his father Once they hadn&039;t been a tattoo, but the real thing Now he could be with me as smooth and hu he could be

Usually he asked me which I preferred, but one moment he rose above me with that flat and lovely stomach, the next tentacles writhed above me like some fantastic sea creature for through all that pale beauty He leaned over s, but he leaned over for a kiss, pressing all that ainst my body so that e kissed he held er tentacles were for heavy lifting, and wrapped around me like muscled rope but a thousand times softer, like velvet and satin and more His more human arms were in the kiss, too, but it was all a part of hi me Sholto loved that I didn&039;t recoil at his extra bits Once the sight of his uniqueness had disturbed htened ic that had joined us as a couple I had co In fact, he could certainly brag that he could do things with me that none of the others could do without another man to help them

The smaller tentacles, very thin and stretchy, had small reddish suction cups near the tips They tickled between us, and I writhed toward their touch, eager for them to find their purpose The small ends traced over my breasts until they came to my nipples, and then sucked on theer noises into his th of his back, and spilled over the hard velvet of the tentacles, caressing their undersides, where I knew they were sensitive Ithih room so that one of the ss and find that san to push his body in and out between htness, another of those ser tentacles helping support his weight above me, as he sucked all three spots expertly He knew I liked to watch hi in and out of me, so he parted all those extras like a curtain so I could raise th of our bodies I had begun by enjoying watching hi where he sucked , and fir h to an to find its rhyths fro faster

I foundsoon" He liked to know

"Which?"

"Upper," I said

He slowing above ic struck gold and silver lightning along those extra parts of hi inside h energy left to raisehands caused colored lights to burst under his skin, one ic along his skin inside ainstpleasure over ers found the hard, solidness of the heavy flesh and hts of the heavy tentacles, and where he bled the red glowed so that it spattered against ht his body to keep the slow, deep rhythling with everything, and the hair filled with light so it was likespun of crystal And then between one thrust and the next he brought ht that we filled the room with colored shadows

He collapsed above ht of hi to coainst the side of h of his upper body so I wasn&039;t trapped and I could breathe a little s, the sainst me as if every bit of him were exhausted

He lay on his side next to me while we both relearned how to breathe "I love you, Meredith," he whispered

"I love you, too" And in that moment it was as true as any words I had ever spoken

Chapter Twenty-seven

Sholto and I got dressed and joined everyone in the s rooht it was just all the "great roo roo softly into the other woman&039;s shoulder Their blond braids were intertwined and were so close to the salance which hair belonged to whoe bank of ith her shoulders hunched, her arht breasts You didn&039;t need ht sparkled in her golden hair As Frost&039;s was silver, hers was truly golden, as if the precious metal had been woven into hair I wondered if her hair was as soft as Frost&039;s

Brii was standing beside her, his yellow hair seeold He tried to touch her shoulder, and she glared at hi quietly to her He was obviously trying to soothe her

Ivi was near the sliding-glass doors talking quietly and urgently to Doyle and Frost Barinthus and Galen stood to one side The biggerto Galen and obviously upset But it had to be about Dogured out that Galen had allamour he&039;d have been hborn sidhe to try to bespell another It said clearly that the spell-caster felt superior andGalen hadn&039;t meant it like that, but Barinthus would most likely have taken it that way

Cathbodua and Usna were on the love seat, with her holding him Cathbodua&039;s raven-black hair spilled only to her shoulders, part of itwith the black trench coat that she&039;d laid on the back of the love seat The coat was a cloak of raven feathers, but like soe, cha Her skin looked paler against the pure blackness of the hair, though I kneas no more white than my own Usna was a contrast of colors coht skin marked with black and red Like the cat his mother had been shape-shifted into when she bore him, he was curled up in her lap, or as much of his six-foot-tall frame as would fit was curled up in her lap

He&039;d undone his hair so that it spilled around her black clothes and her stark beauty like a fur blanket Cathbodua stroked his hair idly as they both watched the eray eyes, theabout him, and her black ones had al the turmoil in that dispassionate way that some animals have Once he&039;d been able to turn into the cat he was colored to match, and once she could shift into the shape of a raven or a crow, and not have to depend on borrowing the eyes of so Itmore basic

Of course, I hadn&039;t realized until that ether They&039;d been partners on guard duty, but until I saw the distant and so him, I hadn&039;t realized it was more They had hidden it well

Sholto seemed to understand, orthe other guards sleep togetherThey chose to share because they thought it was safe"

Sholto nodded "Agreed" He moved forward farther into the room, and since I hadof a dance

Galen started toward us, s, and then Barinthus moved in a blur that I couldn&039;t folloithtoward the big glass s and the sea, and rocks, below