Страница 50 из 77
"Jeremy is exiled from faerie, so he will not be involved."
"You're ignoring my point," I said.
"No, Meredith, I am not, but I don't know what to say to your point. Until I can think of what to say, I will say nothing." With that he went around the corner. I heard the bathroom door open, then close.
Rhys patted my arm. "Gutsy of you to suggest that fey other than sidhe should have a vote. Very democratic."
"Don't patronize me, Rhys."
He dropped his hand. "I even agree with you, Meredith, but our vote doesn't count for much. Once you're on the throne, maybe that will change; but right now, there is no way in all the kingdoms of faerie that a sidhe ruler will agree to include the lesser fey in our war talks. They'll be notified when we decide to go to war, not before."
"That's not fair," I said.
"No, but it's the way we do things."
"Get me on a throne and maybe that can change."
"Oh, Merry, don't let us risk our lives to make you queen, only to have you turn around and piss off all the sidhe. We can fight off some of them, but not all of them."
"There are a lot more lesser fey than sidhe, Rhys."
"Numbers aren't what counts, Merry."
"What does count?"
"Strength: strength of arms, strength of magic, strength of leadership. The sidhe have all that, and that is why, my pretty princess, we have ruled the fey for mille
"He's right," Kitto said softly.
I looked down at him, still pale, but not that frightening translucent uncolor. "The goblins are great warriors."
"Yes, but not great wizards. And Kurag fears the sidhe. Everyone who is not sidhe fears the sidhe," Kitto said.
"I'm not sure that's true," I said.
"I am," he said, and he crept even closer, spooning his entire body around me, holding himself as tight against me as he could. "I am."
Chapter 27
The upside to Kitto's near-death experience was that I got to go back to bed and sleep. I'd suggested that Doyle join us, but Frost had thrown a fit. So Doyle had just begged out, as long as Frost didn't get to join us either. I'd pointed out that Doyle and I had gotten the least amount of sleep last night, but Frost didn't care. I also pointed out that we were just going to sleep, so did it really matter who slept with me? Neither of them were moved by my arguments.
So, I got to go back to bed and cuddle Kitto. I made him take my usual side of the bed, though, so I could spoon around his body without lying on the shoulder that he'd bitten. I'd taken some Advil, but the shoulder still ached fiercely like it had its own pulse. It hadn't hurt nearly this much the first time he'd marked me. Maybe it was a good sign. I hoped so. I hated to have something hurt this much for no good purpose.
Jeremy had been furious that none of us were coming back to the office, until he found out that Kitto had nearly died.
He was silent for a long time, long enough for me to say his name softly.
"I'm here, Merry, just bad memories. I've seen fey fade away before. Do what you need to do to take care of him. We'll muddle through at the office. They're going to keep Teresa overnight for observation. She's sedated, so I don't know how much they're going to be observing."
"Is she going to be all right?"
He hesitated. "Probably. But I've never seen her like she was today. Her husband yelled at me for endangering her. He doesn't want her doing any more crime scenes. I can't blame him."
"You think Teresa will agree with him?"
"I don't know if it matters, Merry. I've made an executive decision. The Grey Detective Agency no longer does police work. I'm a good magician, but I had no clue what did that today. I could feel the remnants of a spell, but that was all. I told Detective Tate what I'd felt, but Lieutenant Peterson didn't want to hear it. He's determined that it's something mundane. Extraordinary, but mundane." Jeremy sounded tired.
"You sound like you need to go to bed and cuddle up to somebody, too.
"You volunteering?" He laughed. "Greedy ol' Merry wanting to take up all the fey men in L.A."
"If you need to come over and be held, you'd be welcome."
He was quiet for a moment. "I'd almost forgotten that."
"Forgotten what?"
"That it's okay to be held by your friends in ways that humans consider sexual. That it would be all right for me to come and cuddle close to you while we slept."
"If you need it."
"I've been out among the humans too long, Merry. I don't think entirely like a trow anymore. I don't know if I could go to bed with you and not have it turn sexual."
I hadn't known what to say to that.
When I woke, the light against the drapes was fading to dusk. I was still spooned around Kitto's body, and he was still pressed against me as tight as he could get. It was as if neither of us had moved all day. I lay there for a moment feeling how stiff my body was from simply being immobile for so long. The shoulder ached distantly, ignorable. Kitto's breathing was still deep and regular. What had woken me?
Then a soft knocking sounded at the door again. It opened before I could say anything. Galen peered through. He smiled when he saw me awake.
"How's Kitto?"
I moved enough to prop myself up on one elbow and look down at the goblin. He made a small sound and cuddled in against me so that there was again no space between his body and mine.
"He looks better, and he's warm." I combed my ringers through his curls. His head moved to cuddle in against the movement of my hand, but he never woke.
"Is anything wrong?" I asked.
Galen made a face that I couldn't quite read. "Well, not exactly."
I frowned at him. "What is it?"
He came into the room, gently closing the door behind him. We talked in low voices, so as not to disturb Kitto.
Galen came to stand at the end of the bed. He was wearing a long-sleeved shirt whose pale green color brought out the green tint in his skin, intensified the darker color of his hair. The pants were just faded blue jeans washed until they were almost white. There was a hole in the middle of his thigh where white threads gave hints of the pale green skin underneath.
I realized he'd said something and I hadn't been paying attention. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"
He gri
My gaze went back to the hole in his pants, then traveled up his body until I met those grass green eyes. The heat in his eyes matched the tightening in my body.
Kitto stirred beside me, opened his blue, blue eyes. Talking, doors opening, and my moving hadn't stirred him; but the tightening of my body in response to Galen, that had woken him.
I explained briefly that Niceven's man was here. Kitto had no problem with the demi-fey coming into the room. I'd known he would have no problem. I'd asked for politeness' sake. The queen wouldn't have asked, but I think it was more that she didn't care what someone thought, rather than her knowing they wouldn't mind.
Galen went back to the door and opened it wide. A tiny figure fluttered in. The body was about the size of a small Barbie doll. His wings were larger than the rest of his body, and mostly rich butter yellow with lines and bars of black and spots of blue and orangey-red. He hovered over the bed, above me. His body was a slightly paler version of the rich yellow of his wings. He wore a filmy yellow skirt, or kilt, as his only clothing.
"Greetings to Princess Meredith of the Unseelie from Queen Niceven of the demi-fey. I am known as Sage, most lucky fey to be chosen as our royal majesty's ambassador to the Western Lands." His voice was like the sound of tinkling bells, a laughing sound. It made me smile, and I knew instantly it was glamour.