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“Very good,” Rhys said, “but do you know when the Unseelie became a sidhe court, separate from the sluagh?”
“When there were enough sidhe who didn’t want to be called sluagh,” I said.
“Almost,” Doyle said.
“Why almost?” I asked.
“At one time, a fey of a certain kind would simply become powerful enough, magical enough, for the very stuff of faerie to acknowledge them, and create a kingdom for them. One of the sidhe who had joined the sluagh was our first king. Faerie created a place for him to rule, and the sidhe left the sluagh’s court and made one of our own.”
“Okay,” I said.
“We’re all afraid to say it,” Rhys said, “because we’ve all managed not to say the part that is most likely to get us in trouble.”
“What part?” I asked.
“A court without a ruler begins to fade,” Nicca said.
They all looked at him as if surprised he’d had the courage to say it. It took me a moment to understand the implications.
It was Galen who had said it out loud. “Goddess save us, that’s what’s been happening to our court. We had no true ruler, so the sithen was dying. Our slice of faerie has been dying.”
“Not just ours,” Doyle said.
“Who else?” I asked.
“Our bright cousins follow a king whose sithen did not know him.”
“Their sithen didn’t know any of their nobles either?” I asked.
“Rumor has it, and it’s only rumor, that instead of welcoming sidhe who the sithen recognized, he exiled them,” Rhys said.
“It’s not rumor,” Doyle said.
We all looked at him. “Who?” I asked.
“Aisling,” he said.
Something on Frost’s face told me that he had known. The rest looked as shocked as I felt. “They had a true king and Taranis exiled him?”
Doyle and Frost nodded.
“But that is monstrous,” Nicca said. “Even Andais was willing to give up her throne if a true queen could have been found.”
“Does his court know?” I asked Doyle.
“Most, no.”
“But some?” I asked.
“Some,” he said.
“How can they support him? The Unseelie had no choice but to fade, but he had a new king to sit on the Seelie throne. They didn’t have to fade.”
“Did our sithen recognize Aisling when he came here?” Galen asked.
“No,” Doyle said.
“Why not?” he asked.
Doyle shrugged, and I guess that was answer enough, or the only answer he had.
“The bath is ready,” Kitto said, his voice as neutral and empty as a servant’s.
I touched his shoulder, and he gave me a small smile. Something occurred to me. “Did the goblin mound know Kurag when you came to this country?”
“I am not important enough to know such things. I do not know.”
“The goblins are less faded than the sidhe. They are still what we left them.”
“But wait,” Galen said, “the Seelie sidhe are less faded in power than we are. Why is that? Shouldn’t both courts be fading at about the same rate?”
“They should be,” Doyle said.
“But they aren’t,” I said.
“They don’t seem to be,” Rhys said.
“You’ve thought of something,” Doyle said.
“What made Taranis desperate enough to help release the Nameless, one of our most dangerous magicks, into the human world to kill Maeve Reed? She’d been exiled from faerie for more than a century. It couldn’t have just been Merry’s visit to her. That could have gotten him to send someone to assassinate Maeve, but not to release the Nameless.” Rhys shook his head. “I’ve been thinking about it, and I can’t make it make sense.”
“Like his inviting Merry to his ball,” Galen said. “That makes no sense either. He’s hated her all her life.”
“Not hated, Galen, you have to think more of a person to hate them, and my uncle doesn’t think anything of me. I was more a nonentity at the Seelie Court than here at the Unseelie Court.”
“So why is he so hot to see you? Why now?”
“None of us have liked this sudden invitation,” Doyle said, “but we have had our discussions, and we are going to accept.”
“I still think it’s too dangerous for Merry,” Galen said.
“We will be there to protect her,” Doyle said.
“You know, it would be really interesting to take Aisling as one of my honor guard.”
“I do not believe that Taranis would allow him to pass into his court,” Doyle said.
“If he refuses any of my guard it is within my rights to take insult and refuse the invitation,” I said.
They all looked at one another. “It has possibilities,” Rhys said.
Galen nodded. “I like anything that keeps Merry from having to attend this ball.”
“How can you say that?” Frost asked. “You saw what just the touch of Aisling’s power did to Melangell. Taranis has negotiated that only the guards who have visited Meredith’s bed may accompany her to the ball.”
It wasn’t the horror of Melangell’s sightless eyes that I was remembering, it was the moment when Aisling held me and I’d noticed that his eyes were empty, as if pieces were missing. Aisling had been trying to gain a kiss through his veil. The Goddess had come to me, and there had been no warning in my mind. No caution about touching Aisling. Was I sidhe enough to bed Aisling, veiled or unveiled? Or was it more simple than that? True love was supposed to be proof against Aisling’s magic. Was I in love enough to resist? And was the risk of Aisling’s body worth the chance to avoid whatever scheme Taranis had in store for me?
“If you do not get into the bath soon it will begin to grow cool,” Kitto said.
I hugged him, and he hugged me back. “Kitto is right. Galen and I need to get clean.”
“Then have sex,” Galen said.
I smiled back at him. “Yes, then have sex.”
“And Nicca, as well,” Doyle said, “so he will be free to go to Biddy.”
I nodded. “I’ll give them the bed. The first time you have sex with someone shouldn’t be in a bathtub, it’s too awkward.”
“You’re going to have sex in a bathtub with a six-foot-tall man with wings.” Rhys gri
“You must include Royal,” Nicca said.
“I haven’t forgotten him,” I said. “We just didn’t need him taking all our news back to his queen.”
“He will spy for Niceven,” Frost said.
“I’m aware that Royal’s first duty will be to his own queen and court.”
“Your bedroom is crawling with wingless demi-fey,” Rhys said. “It’s like an infestation.”
“Queen Niceven doesn’t want Meredith to feed any one demi-fey too many times in a row,” Doyle said.
“I do not want to share her bed with the demi-fey,” Frost said.
“Oh, Frost,” I said.
He held up a hand. “I’m not saying I won’t, but I don’t think any of us want a demi-fey with us every time we make love.”
“Your bath is going to get cold,” Kitto said again.
I stood up, and started peeling off the bloody clothes. “Everybody who isn’t getting in the tub, leave. The night isn’t getting any younger.”
Frost winced. “Will that make time speed, or slow?”
“I forgot,” I said, with my shirt in my hands, and the bra still to go. “I just forgot, it’s an expression.”
“You ca
“I’ll do my best, but it’s almost impossible to watch every word you say.”
“You must try, Meredith, you must try.”
“Let’s find out first if the goblins and the sluagh are moving at human time or our time before we panic Merry,” Rhys said.
Doyle nodded. “Take some men of your choosing and go.”
“Why am I the one who keeps having to go back and forth in the snow?”
“Death does not feel the cold,” Doyle said.
“No, but neither does the dark, and you get to stay nice and warm.” He went for the door. “I’ll leave more men than I take. This is more spying than fighting.”
“But you might need to fight,” Doyle said.
“Take at least two others with you,” I told him.
“Aye, aye, Cap’n.” He did a mock salute, then walked out.
I looked at Frost and Doyle, still standing on either side of the door. “Unless you’re staying to watch, it’s time to thin the number of people in here,” I said.