Swallowing Darkness

"Rhys and Galen are already with them," I said.

"Rhys would have known that there was only one person that the National Guard would come to faerie to rescue," Doyle said.

"I'd be flattered, if my life wasn't in danger so constantly."

Doyle came to me, smiling. "I will give my life to keep you safe."

I shook my head and didn't smile back. I took his hand in mine. "Silly man. I want you alive and at my side, not dead and heroic. Bear that in mind when you're making choices, all right?"

His smile had faded, and he was studying my face, as if he could read things in the back of my mind that even I didn't know. Once that look would have made me squirm, or be afraid, but not now. Now I didn't want secrets from Doyle. He could have them all, even the ones I kept from myself.

"I will do my best never to disappoint you, Merry."

It was the best I was going to get from him. He would never promise not to lay his life down to protect me, because that was exactly what he would do, if it came to it. I'd made the choice for him, in a way. I'd decided to give up all of faerie, any throne offered, to keep us all safe. I wanted the fathers of my children alive by the time they were born.

He touched my face. "You look sad. I do not want to make you sad."

I leaned my cheek against his hand, feeling the warmth and reality of him. "It makes me nervous that all our enemies seem so determined to kill you first, my Darkness."

"He's hard to kill," Mistral said.

"I am," he said.

I patted his hand and stepped away, looking at all three of them. "You better all be hard to kill, because leaving faerie won't stop all of it. It will give us some breathing room, and charging Taranis with rape will make the media our friends, and cut down on the attacks, unless they want pictures of it on the news."

"Are you saying the paparazzi will be our safety?" Doyle sounded incredulous.

"The Seelie pride themselves on being the good guys. They won't want pictures of them being bad."

Doyle looked thoughtful. "An evil turned to a good."

"What are paparazzi?" Mistral asked.

All of us, including Sholto, looked at Mistral. Then I swear that an almost evil grin crossed Doyle and Sholto's faces. "If we have to make another bargain with the devil for posed pictures, Mistral, you can be with Merry," Sholto said.

"What are you talking about?" Mistral asked.

Sholto said, "I saw those pictures, Darkness. You, Rhys, and Meredith, nude by the pool doing the nasty."

"We were not having sex," I said.

"Some of the tabloids in Europe used pictures that left that to doubt," Sholto said.

"When were you in Europe?" I asked.

"I have a clip service that cuts out anything worldwide about the fey."

"That's an excellent idea," Doyle said. "I would suggest it to the queen, except... " He turned to me. "I no longer serve that queen."

I had a moment to wonder if I should apologize for that. Then the look on his face made an apology u