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Chapter 37

THE STEW WAS THICK WITH BEEF, THE BROTH DARK AND HEAVY with a faint tang of soie May knew my favorite dishes, and this one had been on the list since before my father and I left faerie for the huht It was the sa that hadn&039;t changed, so that was the same as it had always been

"Merry," Galen said, "are you crying?"

I shook my head, then nodded

He put his butterfly-free ar me close I must have bent over too much, because the gling in ht I had good posture, but until the

"Do you hurt?" Doyle asked

I shook my head

"You flinched," he said

"The ," I said My voice was much steadier than , not one little bit

Kitto er toon the tip of his finger He raised it to his lips, and licked my tear from his skin

It made me smile, and the tears fell a little faster because of it, as if I&039;d been holding"The stew is one ofelse is changing, and I&039;ood"

I leaned into the warazed at the others I suddenly knehat I wanted "Kissto?" Frost asked

"All of you"

Galen bent doard me, and I raised my face to him His lips touched mine, and my body moved of its own volition My arms swept up his body, and we embraced as we kissed My hands explored the naked warmth of his body, not as foreplay, but because twice in less than a day I had thought the darkness would take one or both of us, and ould never again hold each other this side of the grave

We kissed, and his hands were strong and gentle on my body, and the tears cahter, and said, "Merry, Merry, don&039;t cry"

"Let her cry," Rhys said "To have a wo" He stepped up to e of the bed He wiped ood hand "Are any of these tears forHe wiggled the fingers a little "It will heal"

I nodded again "I sent you out into the snow, and didn&039;t even say good-bye"

He frowned at h to shed tears at the thought of ood-bye" He wiped fresh tears aith his hand, still frowning

I searched his face, the scars that had stolen his eye long before I was born I traced the lines of those marks in his skin I put a hand on either side of his shoulders, and drew him close to me, until I could lay a kiss upon the smoothness of the scar where his other eye should have been

The thought that he was right, that I didn&039;t love hih I wasn&039;t sure why It just see that I sent hih to say good-bye If so to die for you, shouldn&039;t you care? Shouldn&039;t it h to kiss hiently on the lips He ca, so that even as we kissed, his body was stiff and uneasy I balledhi him to catch himself on the bed with his one hand

I kissed him as if I would climb inside him He responded to the fierceness of my mouth with his own He let h he ard with the one arainst me, but it was as if his clothes offended ainst ht That he was all right with being third in co to risk his life as if he was I wanted to hold him and tell him I was sorry that my heart didn&039;t have room for everyone, and most of all that he could have died out there in the dark and the cold, and ould never have known That I wouldn&039;t have known The Goddess had warned me to protect Galen and Barinthus But it was as if Rhys wasn&039;t ih to her to waste such power

I would never be able to send hi if I sent him to his death I pulled his shirt out of his pants I had to touch more of him I had to tell hi to me That I did see him That I never wanted him to die in the dark where I could not find hiood arm, so that I could slide the shirt free I meant to run my hands over that pale skin, but Rhys let hiainst otten everything but the feel of his body pressed against mine

Pain, sharp and immediate like tiny needles, pierced the skin of my sto had bitten him, and maybe it had

He raised up on his knees, and showed his stomach It looked like a bloody version of the moth on my stomach He touched it, and it was flat, one-died and red, puffy and swollen, but I could see the ie of the moth on his stomach

The other men crowded round, and it was Galen who asked, "It&039;s not the saently, and even that made Rhys flinch

"Ow," Rhys said

Doyle s crushed or"

"Yes," Frost said

"It cannot be," Hawthorne said

"It cannot be what?" Galen asked

"A calling" Doyle was pulling his black T-shirt out of his pants I was about to point out that he&039;d never get the shirt off without taking his shoulder holster off first, but he raised the neck of the shirt over his head so that it sat behind his shoulders, still covering his ar his chest and sto?" I asked

"What were you thinking just before you kissed Rhys?" he asked

"That I didn&039;t want hio into the dark alone, and not be able to find hi as if he hurt, but he was using both arain He noticed it, too, because he took his arers "Healed" He looked down at the wound on his stomach, then up at ettattoos" He tried to htness of his words

I touched the s, irritated at the touch "Mine&039;s still alive"

Doyle crawled up on the bed, and for once I moved back fro, but ready to keep him away from my body

"It may be that your mark of power sis" He was above me now, on all fours, so that his body straddled , then it will enable you to do just what you wish You will be able to find Rhys in the dark or the light You will have only to think of hiuide you to him Some of them would alert the bearer of the er or injured"

"A true calling could doa us for centuries," Hawthorne said

"How can you doubt," Adair said, and he had re He looked so sure of it all "She is our ameraudur"

Doyle started to lie down on top of me, but I kept my hand in the way I had more questions before we continued with our little experiment The moment my hand touched his bare chest, the pain was sharp and immediate But it wasn&039;t my hand that hurt, it was my chest, exactly where I touched Doyle Blood trickled down his chest, just below the silver nipple ring Other than a tightness around his eyes, he didn&039;t react to the pain at all

"That answers one question" Nicca ly perfectly at ease "It isn&039;t just the ive htness in my shoulders eased that I hadn&039;t even realized was there

He smiled down at me, a quick flash in his dark face "You did say you wanted a kiss"

"Why does this please you so much? It bloody hurts"

The smile faded "I am never happy to cause you pain, Meredith, but that you are "

"Why?" I asked

"It means you are a power" Rhys did not look pleased "Once I marked others, but when I joined the queen&039;s service, she marked me Then even that faded, and there were no htly over the raised and reddened skin

Hafwyn spoke in a low voice "Do you want e them?"

"Until they heal, yes," Doyle said, and slid off the bed

"The queen will be pleased, but others will not be," Hawthorne said "There are those who always believed the reater than themselves A mark that said plainly, this person is my master"

I looked at him still covered in armor, helmet in place "Is that how you feel about it?"

"I did once," he said

Frost pushed up his jacket sleeve to bare his lower arm "If the marks work as they should, it will be ies between us, warnings As ainst yours, I would rather the sign be on hed "Better strategy than the chest I did not think"

"You were befuddled with her beauty and the proain "Yes"

Frost held his ar the le "Why does it hurt me every time? There are no marks on my skin"

"You already bear the ently, his eyes full of soe that I did not have "Merry, you should know by now that no power coue, but I couldn&039;t He was right I stared at his pale,I took a deep breath, and let it out as I laid my hand on him His breath hissed out between his teeth

I asp I looked at Galen and Nicca still on the bed "If we all three have marks, then what happens if we touch each other?"

"Let us not find out, not tonight," Doyle said "I do not know if it would work as it should between the three of you, not with all of you so fresh"

Kitto caladly carry your symbol, Merry"

I had to smile at him If the marks really could help us keep track of one another, I didn&039;t want to leave Kitto out "Your ar I braced for it, and laid ry cat, but did not pull away When I drew back the moth was bloody on his skin

I touched e arms for the next one, okay?"

"And ill be next?" Ivi said "Nothing personal, Princess, but I bargained for sex, not slavery"

I frowned at him "What do you mean by &039;slavery&039;?"

"The marks mean we are your men," Doyle said "They are proof that the Goddess has chosen us for you"

"So this won&039;t ith just anyone?" I asked

He shook his head "Only with those who are truly meant to be yours"

"Define &039;mine&039;?" I asked

Doyle frowned "I ahter would come just when you needed him, and he would take oath Sometimes it was a seeress, but they would be exactly who and what you needed to succeed at whatever quest had begun"

"The reat need," Rhys said

"But once marked, it cannot be undone," Hawthorne said

"The queen&039;s marks faded," I said

"Best not say we told you that," Rhys said "Not outside this rooladly take oath to the princess," Adair said He laid his hel the armor at his hands and aret in and out of plate armor with help

I pressedhappened

"Shit," Rhys said

Doyle nodded "To join Andais and prove worthy of herin them Merry&039;s ht?" Galen asked

"The queen will be co to fetch her for the call," Frost said

"I would feel better if we did at least one If she lies with Adair and still his skin does not take the mark, then perhaps she has called all she needs to win" Doyle moved to Adair&039;s other side to help hurry him out of his ar on the other side They began dis bits of skin and the undergar

He looked fro with me?"

"We do not jest," Doyle said, as he and Frost undid the straps that held the cuirass They lifted together and peeled hie on his side where Hafwyn had conserved her ic and not healed hihtly," Frost said He got the last of the aran to help strip away the cut and bloodstained padding "But what if we lose our battle because we lack one strong warrior h to ht "I will not have uards" He gazed down at the still bloody wound on his ars, but pri will not win you herAdair to finish the last of the undergarments himself

"If you can win the lady&039;s favor, then do it," Frost said, and his voice was al