A Stroke Of Midnight

CHAPTER 29

KITTO LAY BACK IN THE WATER, CRADLED AGAINST GALEN’S BODY. Galen trailed his hands over the smaller man’s arms and shoulders, stroking strong hands through the now damp curls around his face. Kitto half floated, his eyes closed as he snuggled his shoulders and head against the curve of Galen’s upper body.

I trailed my fingertips down the front of Kitto’s leg, until I traced along the top of his foot. I knew he was ticklish there, and it earned me a smile, but his eyes stayed closed. I held his foot in my hands, and licked along the top of his foot where I had touched. It made him squirm and laugh. He opened his eyes, sinking his legs below the water and sitting up. Galen’s arms spilled around his shoulders, holding him more securely against his own body.

I moved in against the front of Kitto’s body, straddling his legs. I brushed myself over the loose thickness of his groin. It drew a sound of pleasure from him. But when he put his hands at my waist, it was to stop the movement of my hips.

Kitto’s voice was a little strained, but his small hands were very firm at my waist, stopping me from pushing harder against his body. “It is Nicca who is meant to be with Galen and you this night.”

“I am content to wait my turn,” Nicca said from where he knelt beside the tub. His wings fa

Kitto shook his head, water trickling down his face from his sodden hair, his black curls flattened against the white of his skin.

I moved my groin against his, and his hands on my waist could not stop it. His fingers tightened, and again he said, “No.” But other parts of his body were already responding to even the light touch he was allowing me.

“Your body says otherwise,” I said.

He swallowed hard and blinked those blue on blue eyes up at me. “I ca

I frowned at him. “And that means what?”

“Any goblin that does anything to become your king before Holly and Ash have had their chance will be challenged and killed by them.”

“They have no right to dictate to you, Kitto,” I said. “You are sidhe now. You have a hand of power. That is sidhe magic, not goblin.”

He gave me a sad little smile. “You do not know them as I do. I would not anger them, not for anything in faerie.” He touched the side of my face where the blood still clung. “Let me help you and Galen clean yourselves.” He smiled, and it was a real smile, not so sad. “I am honored that Galen reached for me first. I know that that is not his way.” He leaned in against the taller man’s body and smiled up at him.

Galen smiled down at him and ran his hands down the other man’s arm. “I wanted to see you smile.”

Kitto smiled wider, amost a grin. “It means much to me that you care if I am happy or sad.” He looked at me, and his face sobered. “But heed me on this, Merry, sidhe or no, princess or no, you should fear Holly and Ash.”

“They will come to my body as the rest of you have. They will have their chance for kingmaking. I know to negotiate exactly what kind of sex they can have from me. Beyond that why should I fear them?”

“We will be with Merry in the goblin court,” Galen said. “We won’t let anything bad happen to her.”

“You make it sound so easy,” Kitto said, gazing up at the other man.

“How dangerous are the twins?” Nicca asked.

“They are some of the most feared warriors of our court,” Kitto said.

“They looked sort of puny standing next to the Red Caps,” Galen said.

“I do not know what this ‘puny’ means,” Kitto said.

“Small, weak,” I said.

Kitto acknowledged it with a nod. “But size is not everything in combat. Holly and Ash have a reputation for viciousness among the goblins.”

I stopped petting Kitto and went very still, because what he’d just said put things in perspective for me. For Holly and Ash to have earned such a fearsome reputation among the goblins spoke of terrible violence against a people who thrived on it.

“Goblins are stronger than we are,” Galen said. “To be half-sidhe in their court must make life hard.”

Kitto shivered, and he relaxed his hands on my waist enough for me to press the front of my body against the front of his. Galen and I held him between our bodies; he wrapped his arms around me, and clung to the feel of our bodies. “You have no idea, Galen, no idea how it marks you as victim. I was unlucky enough to be as weak as I look. Holly and Ash were beautiful children, blond and pale, and except for the eyes would have passed at either sidhe court. Even with the eyes they would have been accepted.”

“Why didn’t they petition to join our court?” I asked, my face resting on the top of Kitto’s wet hair, and the warmth of Galen’s shoulder.

“I do not know,” Kitto said, “for they suffered when they were young males. Our females liked to make them perform, until they grew strong enough to fight them off.”

Galen and I were frowning at him, but Nicca seemed to understand. “You mean the she-goblins raped them?”

Kitto nodded.

“It’s not easy for a woman to rape a man,” I said.

“It is possible,” Nicca said, and he leaned his face against the one folded arm that graced the edge of the tub. His other arm was deeper in the water, as if he sought something below its surface. “The queen is fond of force.”

I moved through the water to touch his shoulder. He started when I touched him, as if he had expected a far less pleasant touch. Nicca’s brown eyes were a little too wide. Whatever memory he was thinking upon, it was a bad one. So many bad memories among the guard, thanks to Andais.

I laid a gentle kiss on his mouth, and drew back to stare into his face. “Let me clean up, and we will make love. Gentle love, and then you will have Biddy and that will be gentle, too.”

He nodded, but it was a little too rapid, and his eyes still held that shadow of fear. I felt the water move before Kitto came beside me to add his hands to mine on Nicca’s body. “Until I became a part of the princess’s household, I did not understand that any sidhe could be forced to such horrors, not unless they had earned punishment.” He touched Nicca’s face. “I know now that there is pain in every court, and no one is truly safe.” He kissed Nicca’s cheek. “Let me help them rid themselves of the blood, and then the princess will take that sadness from your eyes.”

Nicca smiled at him. “There are other things you can do with Merry besides intercourse. You, too, could have her do things to you that would take that sorrow from your eyes, Kitto.”

He did that quick grin again, as if he was afraid to be seen smiling so broadly. “In the goblin court the one who gives oral pleasure is the lesser being. It shows that you are submissive to the one you are pleasuring.”

“That’s not how the sidhe see it,” Galen said, moving to join us at the center of the tub.

Kitto flashed him another grin. “So I have seen whenever Merry could persuade one of us to let her but touch us.”

“I like oral sex,” I said.

“We know,” the three of them said in unison, which made them all laugh.

“I don’t like that Holly and Ash feel they can dictate to you, Kitto. But if you truly aren’t comfortable with intercourse, then let me finish what I’ve only been able to start with all of you but Sage.”

“With Sage you were forbidden to have intercourse,” Nicca said. “Queen Andais doesn’t want to risk a demi-fey on our throne.”

I nodded. “So we did nothing that would risk Sage getting me pregnant.” I looked at Kitto, and didn’t fight the look that filled my eyes. “And now I’m supposed to do things with Kitto that won’t let him get me with child either.”

Kitto’s breath shook on its way out, but not with fear. “If you were a goblin and looked at me so, I would be afraid, but I’ve learned what that light in your eyes means.”