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"To ease Kitto's fears, I will caress him."
There were shouts and sounds from beyond the mirror. They were typically masculine sounds, and
wouldn't have been out of place in most bars on a Saturday night.
Kurag ignored them, as he should have, but the effort showed in his big hands, the set of his shoulders.
His queen tensed, as if she were poised to leap to safety.
"It will not be much of a show by goblin standards, or even by Unseelie standards, but I will ease his
fears and open him to his magic."
"I've seen him shine, Merry. I believe he's sidhe. I believe he has magic in him. But not the kind of magic
that will help on a battlefield. And that is the only kind of magic we need."
"You say that, Kurag," Doyle said, "because the goblins have never known any other kind of magic."
"I say it because it is true." His eyes were more orange than yellow, colored with his anger.
"Do you want to see him shine with the magic that could be yours, Kurag?" I asked, and I dropped my
voice a little. I admit to using his attraction to me against him. If we could gain the goblins for
near-permanent allies, we could keep most of our enemies at bay. For the lives of those I held dear, for
the future of the Unseelie Court itself, I could manipulate a king.
He gave a gruff nod. Creeda clapped her many hands together, those that had mates to clap, and
bounced like a child on his lap.
I looked at Kitto. I asked him with my eyes if he was ready. He mouthed, Yes. I kissed him gently on
the mouth, not as foreplay but as a thank-you, and as an apology for making him do something he didn't
want to do.
I could feel the reluctance in his body and I was torn. I knew Kitto well enough to put him in the right
mind-set quickly, but if I did it in front of the goblins they'd know how to do it, too. I knew how to make
Kitto shine, because I was his lover and his friend. If I went slower and did more things, with the touches
that were truly his favorites lost in many touches, then Creeda would not have the keys to his body. It
would take longer, but I didn't want to help Creeda torment him. I would do my best to see that Creeda
never got her hands on him, but I knew too much of royal politics to be certain I could keep him safe.
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You do not lightly refuse a queen, any queen.
I made my decision, and drew Kitto into my arms.
CHAPTER 4
I sat on the edge of the bed with Kitto in my lap, his legs straddling my body as if I were the boy and he
the girl. His shorts were stretched tight across the firm roundness of his buttocks, and my hands cupped
that firm flesh through the cloth. I held him in my lap while my mouth explored his face, his neck, his
shoulders. I bit gently at his shoulder, and he shuddered against me. Even through the cloth, I felt him
grow firm. I kept one hand on his buttock, to keep him from falling, but the other I trailed up his back. I
played on the rainbow scales on his back and found the line of naked skin that traced up his spine. I
caressed a fingertip up that long, smooth line of skin, and it brought his breath shivering, flung back his
head, put his face up to mine with his eyes closed and his lips half parted. But still he did not shine.
He was beautiful as he sat in my lap, but there was only the magic of bare skin and delighted flesh. He
did not glow with power.
"Make him glow, make him glow!" Creeda cried, as if she had waited as long as she could to exclaim.
At the sound of her voice, Kitto wilted, both with the slump of his shoulders and the lowering of his
head, and the press of him against my stomach lessened. It was as if just the sound of her voice made him
remember unpleasant things. The goblins do not see marriage vows the way we do, and both partners
are allowed certain freedoms. Whatever child results from whatever liaison is raised by the married
couple as their own. There's no shame or screams of being cuckold. Maybe that's why there's no
hereditary monarchy. But whatever the custom, I hadn't known that Kitto had ever been Creeda's pet.
Kurag said, "Hush, Creeda." But the damage was done.
Kitto wrapped his legs around my waist like a child clinging for comfort. He hugged himself to me and
buried his face against my shoulder.
I looked up at Kurag. "I didn't know your queen knew Kitto that well."
"She didn't."
I patted Kitto's back and wasn't sure I believed him, but I couldn't think of a good reason for him to lie.
"Then I don't understand his level of fear around her."
"Creeda, like most of our women, is eager to try a goblin who is also sidhe. He will have his choice of
females at the banquet." Kurag didn't look particularly happy about it, and I wasn't exactly sure why, but
it didn't matter, not really.
"Goblins will rape an enemy, or a prisoner, but they do not rape each other," I said.
Kurag looked past me to Rhys. "Your pale prince knows just what we do to prisoners." He gave an
ill-tempered leer, as if he was happy to be back on ground he enjoyed. He liked teasing Rhys.
Rhys moved on the bed behind me. He'd been very still during the scene with Kitto. "I know I was a
fool, Kurag. The princess has told me that I could have saved myself a great deal of pain, if I'd known
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what to ask for."
Kurag's leer faded into a frown. "A sidhe admitting he is a fool, it's a miracle."
I glanced back just enough to catch Rhys's nod. "We are an arrogant race, but some of us can learn
from our mistakes."
"And what have you learned, pale prince?"
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