Page 13 (1/2)

Chapter 25

Kitto lay against the dark burgundy sheets like a ghost His black curlsblue, then shutting, leaving his blue eyes like glea bruises behind the thin skin of his closed lids

I touched his bare shoulder "He still looks almost translucent"

"The lesser fey fade in truth," Doyle said He stood beside me in front of the mirrored dresser

Rhys stood at the foot of the bed and stared down at the goblin "He’s not up to sex, no pun intended"

I looked at him He looked unhappy,to protest about ood?" he asked

"No," I said

He gave a weak version of his grin "Then Ithe best of it Besides, I don’t think we have to worry about you doing the buh of hi hie of the bed, and Kitto rolled toward ainst h that was almost a whimper

"He can’t take a bite out of me if he’s not conscious"

"Put power into him as you did the sword," Doyle said "Make hi aware of you"

I looked down at the tiny man He seemed asleep, but his skin still had that awful thin quality like it earing away I stroked led closer tomy mouth just above the skin of his shoulder I had raised ic to contact Kurag Shielding was like breathing forthem that took concentration I’d learned to shield about the same time I learned to read

But this wasn’t a spell; this was less, and ic, whichor effort

I drew y, into my breath and blew it across his skin I willed him to wake, to see me

Kitto’s eyes fluttered open, and this time he did see me His voice ca the curls on the side of his pale face "Yes, Kitto, it’shurt "What’s happening?"

"You need to take flesh from me"

He continued to frown up at me as if he hadn’t understood

I took offh to expose et blood on the white material The bra underneath hite, as well, but I was pretty sure I could keep it fro stained if I was careful

Kitto’s eyes had widened "Flesh?" He made it a question

"Leave your ," Doyle said "He said that the reason you are ailing is that your y must sustain you away fro of flesh"

Kitto stared up at the tall dark man "I don’t understand"

I touched his face, turned his eyes back tomatter except the scent of my skin?" I put my wrist next to his face, then slid my arm slowly, just above his lips, so that our bodies touched here and there I ended onhis face close to the upper part of reat, even so; but this was cold, and I wasn’t ready for it This was going to hurt, so I preferred it be soone to thin black slits There was a stillness to him, but it was not static It was a stillness full of so er, a terrible blind hunger So in that moment, as he watched the white flesh of oblin, but a snake goblin Kitto was beco of that reptilian stillness was in him He was still a s his body tense, I was reminded of a snake about to strike For ain a blur of speed, and I fought withhit in the ar It was the iht away Blood poured fro to break the neck of a rat, and I cried out

I slumped down the side of the bed, away fro intothe white bra

I drew my breath frooblin; screa back just drove them to blood lust I blew my breath soft upon his face He stayed locked on my arm, eyes closed, face enraptured I blew one quick hard breath in his face the way you do on s you blow in their face, especially on their eyes

It made him open his eyes I watched Kitto flow back into those eyes, watched hio of ainst the dresser, and the pain was sharp and i up into his face, I couldn’t

Blood covered his one wild It dripped down his chin, stained his throat His eyes were focused, and he was hiue across tiny bloodstained teeth He rolled back onto the bed and basked in the afterglow

I just sat on the floor and bled

Doyle knelt behindthe towel around it, not so , but to catch the blood and keep it fro

The scent of flowers filled the air, pleasant but strong Doyle glanced up at the h the mirror"

"Who is it?"

"I am not sure Niceven, perhaps"

I looked at h show?"

"If you do not show pain while we bind the wound, yes"

I sighed "Great Help e of the bed" He lifted me in his arms and sat me on the bed "I didn’t need that ies I didn’t kno hurt you ht be"

"I’ll live" I took the towel and held it on the wound Kitto curled around me, his face still bloodstained He’d kicked off all the sheets, so that with his body pressed up against mine you couldn’t see his short-shorts froainstthe blood from his lips, and further around hiscould say what he wished, but taking flesh this as sex for the goblins

"Answer the to stop the blood"

He s to life showing a hook-nosedTaranis’s social secretary Not only was he not Niceven, but he was so not going to appreciate the show

Chapter 26

Hedwick didn’t even look out fro down a list, face half-averted "Greetings to Princess Meredith NicEssus fro Taranis Thunderer This is to inform you of a pre-Yule ball three days hence Histhe speech, he had not looked out at the roo out to cleanse the mirror when I spoke

I said the one word he probably didn’t expect to hear "No"

His hand went down, and he looked up into the rooave way to astonish Kitto writhe on the bed Maybe it wassplattered with blood Whatever, he didn’t like the show

"You are Princess Meredith NicEssus, are you not?" His voice dripped with disdain, as if he found it hard to believe

"Yes"

"Then ill see you at the ball" Again his hand went up to cleanse the ain

He lowered his hand and scowled at me "I have quite a few invitations to make today, Princess, so I do not have ti hard But underneath the anger was pleasure Hedwick had always been an officious little bootlicker, and I knew that he gave the invitations to all the lesser fey, lesser people Another sidhe handled all the important social contacts That Hedwick had extended the invitation was an insult; the way he’d given it was a double insult

"I’m not the least bit hysterical, Hedwick I cannot accept the invitation as it stands"

He bristled, his fingers going to his fluffy white cravat He was dressed as if the 1700s had never passed At least he wasn’t wearing a wig For that I was grateful

"The high king himself commands your presence, Princess" He sounded like he always did, as if it was the ut

"I a," I said

Doyle knelt at my feet with a s theuards were usually nowhere near this bad

Hedwick’s gaze flicked down to Doyle, then up to me with a frown "You are a Seelie princess"

Doyle moved around me so that he was on the side with the wound He took the towel, applying direct pressure with it

I took a slightly sharper breath as he pressed the cloth very firmly into the bite, but other than that my voice was normal I sounded all business as Doyle tended reed that my title in the Unseelie Court supercedes my Seelie title Now that I ae ht i of the Unseelie, and that is not true

Hedas clearly perplexed He was good at following orders, flattering those above hi hi that co a great deal less sure of hi Taranis commands your presence at the ball three days hence"

Doyle’s gaze flicked up to ave a sht it

"Hedwick, the only royal who can command my presence is the Queen of Air and Darkness"

He shook his head stubbornly "The king can command the presence of anyone of lesser title than he, and you are not a queen yet -- " He stressed the yet " -- Princess Meredith"

Doyle opened the towel to see if ot so Taranis’s royal heir, then he could command me, but I am not his heir I am Queen Andais’s heir Only she can command me, because only she outranks me"

Hedwick flinched at the mention of the queen’s true na her true na that you outrank the king?" He sounded truly outraged

Doyle began to clean the wound with soft gauze; even so, the little touches sent tiny shock waves of pain through ht not to show it "I a for me anymore, Hedwick When I was merely a princess of the Unseelie Court, I could also have had the same rank at the Seelie Court But I am to be queen I cannot have a lesser rank in any other court if I am to rule"

"There are queens aplenty in the court who acknowledge Taranis as their high king"

"I am aware of that, Hedwick, but they are part of the Seelie Court, and they are not sidhe I am part of the Unseelie Court and I a to think his way through the political maze I’d thrown up around him

"So nice of someone to remember that, but it would be as if Andais had called Eluned and asked her for acknowledgh queen"

"Princess Eluned has no ties to the Unseelie Court" Hedwick sounded terribly offended

I sighed, and it went sharp as Doyle finished cleaning the wound "Hedwick, try to understand this I will be Queen of the Unseelie Court I a or to appear anywhere, because I a to appear at the king’s command?" He still looked like he didn’t trust his own ears He had to have ht to co you call the president of the United States with a corow above your station, Meredith"

I let the anger show on er see the king’s coh his voice, his face, his posture

"Yes, because he is not do you renounce all titles that you hold in the Seelie Court?"

Doyle touched aze said, careful here

"No, Hedwick, and for you to say such a thing is deliberately insulting You are a’s social secretary," he said, trying to pull hih he was sitting down

"You carry reat account All the ih Rosh you and not her was an insult"

"You do not merit the attentions of the Duchess Rose is incoo back to yourwell received"

I nodded at Doyle He stood and blanked theDoyle srinned at ht and Illusion," Rhys said He looked pale

"No, Rhys, he insulted me, and more than that If I had accepted such a command froain the Unseelie throne, I would acknowledge hi over the Unseelie as well as the Seelie"

"Could it have been the secretary’s error?" Frost asked "Could he simply have used the same words with you as everyone on his list?"

"Perhaps, but if so, it was still an insult"

"Insult, maybe But, Merry, we can s a few insults to stay out of the king’s bad graces," Rhys said He sat down on the far end of the bed as if his knees eak

"No, we cannot," Doyle said

We all looked at him "Don’t you see, Rhys? Merry will rule Taranis’s rival kingdom She must set the rules now, or he will forever treat her as less For the sake of all of us, shedo?" Frost asked

Doyle looked at hi looks "In absolute truth, I do not know"

"Has anyone ever defied him like this?" Frost asked

"I don’t know," Doyle said

"No," I said

They looked at me

"Just as you walk around Andais like she’s a snake about to strike, you tiptoe around Taranis the sa as the queen," Frost said

I shrugged, and it hurt, so I stopped "He’s like a big spoiled child who’s had his oay for far too long If he doesn’t get what he wants, he throws tantrums The servants and lackeys live in fear of those tantrues Sometimes he’s sorry, soauntlet into his face," Rhys said, staring atI always noticed about Taranis’s temper was that it never struck out at anyone powerful If he was in this uncontrollable rage, then as it always directed at people ere powerless to fight back? Always, his victiically inferior, or politically inferior, or people with no strong allies a the sidhe" I shookout at It’s not round He’ll respect in to worry about me"

"Worry about you?" Rhys asked

"He fears Andais -- and even Cel, because Cel’s crazy and Taranis isn’t sure what he’ll do once he’s got the throne Taranis was probably thinking he could controlthat this invitation comes after we have spoken to Maeve Reed," Doyle said

I nodded "Yes, isn’t it"

The three of thelances Kitto just stayed wound around me, quieter now "I do not think it would be wise for Meredith to attend this ball," Frost said

"I agree," Doyle said

"Unanio But why are you all looking so serious?"

Doyle sat down on the far side of ood a political thinker as you are?"

I frowned "I don’t know Why?"

"Will he think you refused for the true reasons, or will he wonder if you refused because of so Maeve said to you?"

I still hadn’t told them Maeve’s secret, and they had not asked They probably assuive my word not to tell them, which she hadn’t The reason I hadn’t shared it was because it was the kind of knowledge that could get you killed And now, suddenly, out of the blue, was the invitation to court Shit

I looked at Doyle and the others Frost had ainst the dresser, arainstto tell you what Maeve told ht we’d just avoid the Seelie Court altogether, and it wouldn’tfor years But if we are going to have to deal with him, then you need to know"

I told them why Maeve had been exiled Rhys just put his head in his hands and said nothing Frost stared Even Doyle was speechless It was Kitto who said it "Taranis has condemned his people"

"If he is truly infertile, then, yes, he has dooic dies because their king is sterile, dead soil," Frost said

"It is what I believe Andais fears for the Unseelie But she has borne one child, and Taranis has always been childless"

"So that’s why she’s so interested in Cel or h she has kept her own counsel on her exact ainst each other"

"Taranis will kill us all" Rhys’s voice was quiet, but very certain

We all looked at hi to feel like a very confused tennisfrom person to person