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Chapter Forty-Three

We were left alone in the circle of stones under the round, white glow of midsummer&039;s moon It rose above us, unnaturally close, a harvest h that it seemed as if we had only to reach out to caress the surface of it In that moment, I wasn&039;t certain whether it was illusion or reality Could I have touched the moon? Perhaps, but the two men with me weren&039;t interested in celestial bodies, and they convincedat, and that their bodies were the world

Their skin was as pale and perfect as that of any sidhe Only the scars that decorated their skin said that they didn&039;t have enough ic to heal their wounds cleanly But I was Unseelie, not Seelie, and scars were just another texture to run ue across, and worry at with my teeth

I made Holly cry out with pleasure with my teeth around a scar on the hard, muscled expanse of his stomach Ash&039;s back was crisscrossed with claw ertips across all of it, and said, "What happened?"

Ash lay on the grass in the nest we had ers play across his bare back, but he drew no breath to answer me It was Holly who answered "Cathreat warrior, but he hunted the younger warriors whoht be a threat to him someday A lot of the warriors bear scars from him"

I traced the claw marks down and down, until I found the firentleness of it I didn&039;t know if it was the oblins to ientleness, and not just pain, worked for theazed at me across his brother&039;s body, then he touched the scars and sht smile "When Ash was healed, we hunted Cathmore down We killed him and took his head so everyone would know that we had slain him"

He showedthe muscle to show a curve of hard white scar tissue The scar looked as if his arm had nearly been cut off "Cathmore did that, with his sword, Cathoblin to name his sword after himself I&039;d always found it a little odd, but it wasn&039;tertips down the line of it "A fearsorinned atblow," I said

That aze over his shoulder at oblin law The one who strikes the killing blow gets first pick of the weapons"

"I had forgotten that your father used to bring you to visit the goblins," Ash said, propping hioblins are the foot soldiers of the faerie court No war has been won since the goblins joined us that would not have been lost without you"

"Now that we are forbidden to et that," Ash said "We are an embarrassment even to the Unseelie"

"We don&039;t clean up well enough for the press to please the queen," Holly said He was sitting up now, his knees drawn to his chest, his arer, ht have been when he was young enough for Cathmore to think therass underneath until I was in front of Holly His gaze did not even pretend to look away from my breasts It didn&039;t bother me We were naked, and I wanted theaze stay on the heavy roundness of "

He looked at er in the crimson of his eyes I hesitated in thethe anger

"Good enough to fuck, but not to be seen in public with," he said

I leaned back on my heels "I don&039;t understand"

Ash sat up, one knee bent, the other leg out straight so he fra to be ashaaze frohed, and it was that masculine sound, pleased and sure of itself "You&039;re not the first sidhe woman to want to sample forbidden fruit"

"You&039;ve said that I was"

"In public," he said "In front of the other goblins, yes If a goblin lays with a sidhe, then they dom is to be seen as weak To be seen as weak is to invite challengers We are already half sidhe, Meredith If the goblins knee could take our sex gentle and enjoy it, ould be challenged until even ere killed"

Holly traced e of his hand "Gentleness has no reward for goblins, only punishlanced at Holly, then back to Ash as he said, "We have lived by that rule We have punished others ere gentle Your own pet goblin, Kitto, suffered at our hands"

"Did you enjoy his suffering?" I asked

He soblin, with that pretty sidhe face"

"Human too," I said

He nodded, but reached out to touch h it does not show"

I looked away froht "My cousin, Cair, hated her brownie looks enough to kill our grandmother in a bid for power"

"We heard you hunted her doith the wild hunt Named her kinslayer"

I nodded "Yes"

Holly wrapped his arentle He held me, and whispered in my hair, "When we are alone we can say how terrible for you That we&039;re sorry for the loss of your grandon his face "But in the world, in front of anyone, Meredith, and I oblins"

"I understand," I said

"The other is not an act, Meredith It is us, too"