A Caress of Twilight

"What do you want from me, Merry?" He was looking angry and sullen again.

"Distract me while I reassure Kitto."

He shook his head hard enough to send his white curls flying. He winced, and put a hand up to his neck. There was a bandage on it, but apparently it still hurt. The wound wouldn't last long; a couple of hours and he'd be healed.

"I vowed never again to let goblin flesh touch mine, Merry. You know that."

"He's going to be touching me, Rhys, not you."

"No, Merry, no."

"Then pack your bags and go."

His eye widened. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that I can't risk you hurting Kitto and screwing up the treaty with the goblins."

"I said I was sorry about that."

"But not sorry enough to make friends with Kitto. Not sorry enough to behave like a bodyguard instead of a spoiled, bigoted child."

He stood in the half-open doorway, staring at me. "You can't mean that you'd kick me out in preference to this... goblin."

I shook my head. "My enemies are the goblin's enemies for three more months. That has kept me safer than any of you have managed to do. No one wants to risk facing the entire goblin army. The fact that you can't see past your own prejudices to how important this is means you're too flawed to be my guard." I ran my hand down Kitto's arm, pressed his head more firmly into my shoulder, forced Rhys to look at him.

The rage in his face was raw. "They" -- he pointed at Kitto -- "made me flawed." He tore his eye patch off and stalked into the room. "They did this to me." He kept his finger pointed at Kitto as he advanced toward us. "He did this!"

Kitto raised his face enough to say, "I have never harmed you."

Rhys's hands trembled as he balled them into fists. He stood above us, looming, trembling with rage, with the need to strike out at something, at someone.

"Don't, Rhys," I said, my voice low, calm. I was afraid if I raised my voice, it would set him off. I really didn't want to lose him, but I didn't want Kitto hurt either.

I heard a sound behind us, though I couldn't see the doorway through Rhys. Doyle's voice came clear and deep. "Is there a problem?"

"Thanks to Rhys, I need to renew my vows with Kitto, so I told him he needed to distract me while we did it."

"I would be happy to distract you, Princess," Doyle said.

"Oh, yeah, you're great at foreplay as long as there's no follow-through, and let me just say that that's really begi

"Frost should be back from his assignment very soon. He's told the starlet that she'll have to find someone else to guard her from her would-be fans."

We were still speaking around Rhys's body. "I thought Frost's body-guarding gig lasted until the end of the week, at least."

"I thought it prudent after last night's attempt that we have him with us. I've sent him on ahead to scout Ms. Reed's home."

"Scout?" I made it a question.

"She is, after all, full Seelie Court sidhe, once a goddess, but yet no longer of either court. She might feel she is beyond the limits of our laws. I would be a poor guard indeed to simply allow you to walk into her home without some preparation."

"So you just pulled Frost off a job for our agency and reassigned him, without asking Jeremy, or me."

Silence.

"I'll take that as a yes." I frowned up at Rhys. "Move to one side, Rhys. The threat display is getting a little old."

Rhys looked a little surprised, as if I was supposed to be quaking in my boots. Of course, maybe the show wasn't for me. Kitto looked pale and very frightened.

"Move!" I said.

"Do as the princess bids," Doyle said.

Only then did Rhys move, reluctantly, to one side. I stared past him at Doyle, who was just inside the door. "Either Rhys helps distract me while Kitto gets reassured, or he packs his bags and goes back to Illinois."

Doyle looked completely surprised. You didn't see that response too often in the Queen's Darkness. It made me just a little happy. "I thought you enjoyed Rhys's attentions."

"I love having Rhys in my bed, but that doesn't matter. If he can't control himself around Kitto, then eventually he's going to blow up and hurt him. You know Kurag didn't want to join a treaty with me, Doyle. He tried to weasel out of it from the begi

"That is true enough, Princess," Doyle said. "But if you send Rhys home, our Queen will also send a new guard to replace him, and there are many less pleasant guards she could send than Rhys."

"It doesn't matter. Either Rhys does this, or he's out. I'm tired of the histrionics."

Doyle took a deep enough breath that I could see the rise and fall of his chest from across the room. "Then I will stay and guard everyone's safety."

Rhys turned toward him. "You don't mean that I have to do this."

"Princess Meredith NicEssus, wielder of the hand of flesh, has given you a direct order. If you do not obey it, then the princess has already told you the penalty."

Rhys walked toward Doyle, the anger fading. "You would cast me aside for this? I am one of your best guards."

"I would hate to lose you in this fight," Doyle said, "but I ca

"That's not what you said last night," Rhys said.

"She is right, Rhys, you have endangered our alliance with the goblins. If you ca

"I am not afraid of him," Rhys said, pointing again.

Kitto cowered back against me at Rhys's anger.

"All mindless hatred comes from a root of fear," Doyle said. "The goblins hurt you long ago, and you fear ending up in their hands again. You can hate them if you like, and you can fear them, if you must, but they are our allies, and you must treat them as such."

"I will not help that... thing sink its fangs into an Unseelie princess."

"If you had behaved yourself," I said, "I wouldn't be forced to do this again so soon. You're about to cause me pain, Rhys, and if I'm willing to endure it, then the least you can do is make it not completely unpleasant."

Rhys went to the window, gazing out. He spoke without turning around. "I don't know if I can do this."

"Just try," I said, "but really try. You can't just put a toe in, declare the water cold, and run home. You have to stay with it. If you truly can't bear it, we'll talk, but first you have to try."

He leaned his head against the window glass. He finally raised his head, squared his shoulders, and turned to face the room. "I'll do my best. Just make sure he doesn't touch me."

I looked down at the little goblin's pale face and frightened eyes. "Rhys, I hate to break it to you, but I don't think Kitto wants to touch you any more than you want to touch him."

Rhys gave a small nod. "All right then, let's do this. We've got clients waiting." He managed a faint smile. "Mysteries to solve, bad guys to catch."

I smiled at him. "That's the spirit."

Doyle closed the door behind him and leaned against it. "I will not interfere unless there is danger."

For the first time Doyle was protecting me not from any outside force, but from one of my own guards. I watched Rhys as he walked toward Kitto and me. The bandage on his neck was almost as big as my palm. Maybe Doyle wasn't around just to keep Kitto and me safe from Rhys; maybe, just maybe, he was also here to keep Rhys safe from me.