A Caress of Twilight

"My queen, I think this unwise."

"I did not ask what you thought, I said only to do it." She leaned forward in her chair. "Now, Sage." You didn't need a translator to hear the threat in those two words.

Sage's wings slicked tight together, then he flung himself off the edge of the dresser, not flying, as if he meant to plunge to his death, but he didn't fall. He grew. He was suddenly tall, taller. He was nearly as tall as I was, four feet eight, nine. The wings that had been lovely when tiny were like stained glass, artwork worn across the back of his body. Muscles showed under his butter yellow skin, and when he turned to look at me over his shoulder, the black eyes were the shape of almonds, and his red lips were moist and full. There was something terribly sensual as he stood there, his wings nearly filling one side of the room.

"Is he not lovely, Meredith?" Niceven said, her voice full of longing.

I sighed. "He is lovely to the eye, but in his present size sex is an even greater boon, for whosoever gets me with child will be King." I had to step to one side to see her clearly past Sage's wings. "Is it a bid for the Unseelie throne, Niceven? Is that your goal? I wouldn't have thought you that ambitious."

"I bid for no throne," she said.

"Liar and oath breaker," Doyle said. He had never moved out of the mirror's sight, as if he wanted her to remember, always, that he was by my side.

She turned a flat and very unfriendly gaze to him. "Mind your ma

"Give Meredith the cure as you swore you would."

"Queen Andais said the green knight was to be cured at all costs."

Doyle shook his head. "She could not have dreamt this cost. There have always been rumors that some of the demi-fey could grow larger, but rumors, fables, no truth until now. The Queen would think ill of a demi-fey king, especially one who is your puppet in all things."

She hissed at him, and in that one movement she seemed very alien, as if I'd figure out what she truly was if I thought hard enough, and it wouldn't be human. The white mouse had crouched away from her as if it feared her temper.

"You have a choice here, Queen Niceven," I said. "You can either give me the cure for Galen as you swore you would, or I can tell Queen Andais about your plotting."

Niceven looked at me, eyes narrow. "If I give you the cure, you will not tell Andais about all this?"

"We are allies, Queen Niceven. Allies protect each other."

"I have not fully agreed to an alliance merely for an offering of blood once a week. Have sex with Sage and I will be your ally."

"Give me the cure for Galen, take your blood offering once a week, be my ally, or I tell Aunt Andais what you tried to do here."

Niceven didn't look angry anymore, she looked frightened. "If I had not had Sage show you his secret, then you would not have had anything to blackmail me with."

"Perhaps, or perhaps even a little seed in the wrong place can cause a large problem."

"What do you mean?"

"Galen's father was a pixie, and that's not much bigger than Sage in his true form. There have been odder mixes in the courts. I think Andais would see your demand that one of your men fuck me as a grave breach of trust."

She spat, and the mouse scrambled out of sight; even her ladies-in-waiting backed up. "Trust, what do the sidhe know of trust?"

"About as much as the demi-fey," I said.

She gave me a truly evil look, but I was expecting it, or something like it. I smiled at her around the curve of Sage's wings. "I'd asked for an alliance so you and yours could spy for me." I looked at Sage, nearly as tall as I was. "But here is proof that you have other talents. Your swords are not merely the pinpricks of bees but something much more."

She shifted in her chair, a small movement, but she was nervous. "I do not know what you mean, Princess Meredith."

"I think you do. An alliance I still want, but your contribution to the alliance will go beyond spying."

"To what? Sage is but one man. You have other and larger swords at your back."

I touched Sage's shoulder. He jumped as if it had hurt, but I knew that it hadn't. I leaned in against the back of his body. He tensed. "Is what the queen says true, Sage? Is your sword so small?" I looked at Niceven as I said it.

She gave me angry eyes. "That is not what I meant and well you know it."

"Do I?" I asked, ru

Her face was angry, blank. "I don't know what you mean."

I touched Sage's hair, and the hair was soft as spider silk, or downy feathers, softer than any hair I'd ever touched. "Never offer to give up that which you ca

She shook her head. "I don't understand you, Princess."

"Be stubborn then, but know this. I offer you alliance, true alliance in exchange for a blood offering once a week. You cease to spy for Cel and his people."

"Prince Cel may be locked away, Princess, but Siobhan is not, and she is more frightening to some than Cel will ever be."

I noticed her phrasing. "More frightening to some, but not to you."

Niceven bowed her head. "I find Cel's brand of madness more frightening than Siobhan's ruthlessness. You can plan around a ruthless man, but a madman throws all your plans to the wind."

I nodded. "Your wisdom does you credit, Queen Niceven."

"For a chance for one of my men to be King of all the Unseelie, I would have risked all, but for mere blood, I will have to think upon it."

"No, an alliance now, or the queen will know of your ambition."

Niceven gave me a look of pure venom.

"I will do it, Niceven, do not mistake me on this. Alliance, or answer to Andais."

"I have no choices left then," she said.

"No," I said.

"Alliance then, but I think both of us will regret it."

"Perhaps," I said, "but now the cure for Galen and our business can be done for today."

Niceven turned her attention to Sage. "Give the princess the cure, Sage."

He frowned. "How, my queen, if I am not allowed to give it to her as you gave it to me?"

"Though I gave it to thee through more intimate contact, it only needs your body to enter hers to be given."

"No sex," I said.

She gave me a long-suffering look. "A kiss, Meredith, a kiss and you are free to take no pleasure from it."

I had to move to one side by Doyle so Sage could turn around. His wings seemed to fill all the space between the dresser and the bed. When Sage was turned around, I stepped back in front of him. His wings rose above his shoulders like the top of some golden bejeweled heart. His hair was only a shade more golden than the soft yellow of his skin. He looked almost unreal in his loveliness until you reached his eyes. Those glittering black eyes held not just anger, but malice. It made me remember that he was just a bigger version of the things that had taken bites out of Galen.

"No biting, no bloodletting," I said.

He laughed, flashing teeth that were a little too pointy for comfort. "Blunt negotiating for a sidhe princess."

"I don't want you to have any room to say you misunderstood me, Sage. I want this to be very clear between us."

Niceven spoke from the mirror. "He will not harm you, Princess.

Sage turned his head to gaze over his shoulder at her. "A little blood is fine spice for a kiss," he said.

"Perhaps to us, but you are to do exactly as the princess bids you. If she says no blood, then no blood."

"Why should we heed a sidhe princess?" he asked.

"You are not heeding the princess, Sage, you are heeding me." She gave him a look that leaked some of the malice from his eyes.