His laughter did not so much roll out of the blade as roll through the room. "What would you have of me, Merry, daughter of Essus?"
He'd offered his help, and that was what I needed. I described the condition we'd found Kitto in. "He's fading."
Kurag cursed in the guttural language that was high goblin. I understood only about every other word. Something about black tits. "The mark ties you together, you and Kitto. Your strength should sustain him." His hand passed over his face like a yellow ghost in the blade. "This should not be happening."
I thought of something. "What if the mark healed over?"
"The mark would not heal, it would scar," he said.
"It did heal, Kurag, and it did not scar."
His orange eyes got very close to the blade, and very wide. "That should not happen."
"I didn't know that it was a problem to have it heal. Kitto didn't say anything."
"A lover's mark always scars, Merry. Always. At least among our kind." I couldn't read his expression in that narrow piece of reflection, but suddenly he let out a great snort, and said, "Has he been allowed to mark that white flesh only once?"
"Yes," I said.
"And the sex?" He sounded suspicious now.
"The treaty demanded only that I share flesh. Sharing true flesh is more valuable among the goblins than sex."
"Gabriel's Hounds take me. Yes, we value flesh, but what's a little bite without a little poke? Sinking teeth and dick into flesh, Merry girl, that's the ticket."
"Kitto shares my bed, Kurag, and stays with me most of the time, touching me. He seems to need to touch me."
"If the touch of your skin was all he had..." He dissolved into high goblin again, which goblins rarely did; it was considered rude to use a language that the other person didn't know. My father had taught me some goblin, but it had been too long, and Kurag's use was too rapid for my rusty skills.
When Kurag had ranted long enough, he paused for breath and spoke in a language we could all understand. "The high and mighty sidhe, goblins are good enough to fight all your wars, do most of the dying, but not good enough to fuck. Sometimes I hate you all. Even you, Merry, and you're one of my favorites."
"I love you, too, Kurag."
"Don't sweet-talk me, Merry. If you'd have fucked Kitto regularly, the mark would have scarred. He needs a constant supply of flesh to sustain him out in the Western Lands. Either true flesh or fucking, but his tie to you is too weak without it, and he is dying because of it."
I looked down at the still, cold figure in my arms, then realized he wasn't as cold. He was still chilled, very, but not icy. "He's warmer." I said it softly, I think because I couldn't quite believe it.
Doyle touched Kitto's face. "He is warmer."
"Is that you, Darkness?" Kurag asked.
"It is I, Goblin King."
"Is he truly fading? I don't think Merry has ever seen anyone fade."
"He is fading," Doyle said.
"Then why is he warmer? If he is fading, then he should grow colder and colder."
"Merry has been holding him in her arms for a time. I believe that is warming him."
"Maybe it's not too late then. Is he strong enough to fuck?"
"He is barely conscious," Doyle said.
Kurag said a sharp word that I knew meant something that no goblin ever wished on another: impotency. It was their worst insult one to the other. "Can he tear her flesh with his teeth?"
We all stared down at the still form. He was warmer, though he still hadn't moved at all. "I don't think so," I said.
"Blood then, can he take blood?" Kurag asked.
"Maybe," I said.
"If we wiped it upon his mouth, we might get some of it into him," Doyle said. "If it did not choke him."
"He's a goblin, Darkness. He can't choke to death on blood."
"Does it have to be Merry's blood?" This from Rhys.
"I know you of old ... Rhys," and that silence held a name that no one used anymore. "You should come visit us again, sidhe. The womenfolk still talk of you. That's high praise from a goblin female."
Rhys had gone very pale and very quiet. He made no answer.
Kurag gave an unpleasant laugh. "Yes, it must be Merry's blood. Later, if some of the rest of you want to share blood and flesh with Kitto, feel free. The sidhe are always good eatin'." He glared at me with those orange eyes. "If the blood revives him, then give him flesh, Merry, real flesh this time." His eyes suddenly grew huge in the blade. He must have nearly pressed his nose to the blade. "You thought you'd get the goblins as allies for six months and not have to bed one of us. You shared flesh, so I can't say you lied about the alliance. But you pixied on the spirit of it. You know it and I know it."
I placed my still-bleeding finger against Kitto's lips, painting them crimson while I talked to his king. "If I take him to my bed, then he has a chance to be king, king of all the Unseelie. That is worth more than a six-month alliance."Kitto's eyes flickered; his mouth made a small movement. I slid my finger over his lips, between his teeth, and his body jerked, once.
"Oh, no, you won't get me that easy, Merry girl, not that easy. You give him flesh like you should have done all along, and you get only three more months out of us. After that, your battles are your own."
Kitto began to suck on my finger like a baby, gently at first, then harder, harder, teeth beginning to graze my skin. "He's sucking my finger, Kurag."
"I'd take the finger out before you lose it. He's not in his right mind yet, and goblins can bite through iron."
Kitto fought me, his mouth trying to hold on to my finger. By the time I pulled it free, his eyes were trying to open.
"Kitto," I said.
He didn't react to his name, or anything else, but he was warmer, and he was moving.
"He's moving, and he's warmer," I said.
"Good, very good. I've done my good deed, Merry. The rest is up to you."
I looked directly into the blade again, instead of down at Kitto. "You're just going to sit back and watch who wins, aren't you?"
"What matters to us who sits on the Unseelie throne? It matters to us only who sits on the goblin throne."
Doyle's deep voice cut in. "And what if Cel's followers were planning war with the Seelie?" Doyle knelt down, one hand squeezing gently but firmly on my shoulder. I think he was warning me not to interrupt.
"What are you babbling about, Darkness?"
"I am privy to much among the sidhe that the goblins do not know."
"You are not at court now."
"I am not without ears."
"Spies, you mean."
"I did not use such a word."
"Fine, fine, play the word games that you are all so fond of, but speak plainly to me."
"There are those at the Unseelie Court who believe Andais is desperate to have Meredith named her heir. They believe having a mortal on the throne is the end of them. They are talking about going to war on the Seelie before they all become powerless mortals. Our strength comes from our kings and queens, as you know."
"What you tell me is enough to make me throw in my lot with Cel's people."
"If the goblins were Merry's allies, then no one at the Unseelie Court would risk fighting against her. They dare to challenge the Seelie only because they assume they will have the goblins' support."
"What is it to us if the sidhe kill each other off?"
"You are bound by word, blood, earth, fire, water, and air to support the rightful heir to the Unseelie throne in all matters of strife. If Merry sits on the throne and Unseelie rebels fight against her while you sit back and do nothing, then your oath will come back upon you."
"You can't frighten me, sidhe."
"The Nameless walks the land again, and you think it is I whom you should be frightened of? There are terrible things far beyond me that will rise from the depths, descend from the sky, and take rightful payment from those who are forsworn by such oaths as you have taken."
It was difficult to tell in the blurred image, but Kurag looked worried. "I hear your words, Darkness, but Merry has fallen silent. Are you her new puppet master?"
"I tend your goblin, Kurag, and I have a better use for my tongue than telling you what you already know."
"I remember my oaths, girl."
"No, Kurag, that is not what I mean. The sidhe may not bear tales to the goblin mound, but you and I both know you have other means." I did not say out loud that the lesser fey at court, some servants, some not, talked to the goblins, sometimes for a price, sometimes for the feeling of power it gave them. My father had given his word never to tell of Kurag's system of spies. I had given no such oath. I was free to reveal the goblins' secret, but did not.
"Speak freely, Princess, and do not toy with this old goblin."
"I have spoken as freely as I intend to, Kurag, Goblin King."
He blew out a loud breath. "Merry girl, you are too much your father's daughter. Essus was my favorite of all the sidhe. His loss was great to all the courts of the Unseelie, for he was true friend to many."
"That means a great deal coming from you, Kurag." I didn't thank him, because you never thank an older fey. Some of the younger ones are cool with it now, but it's an old prohibition among us, almost a taboo.
"Do you honor all the oaths your father gave?"
"No, some I did not agree with, and some I know nothing of."