A Caress of Twilight (Merry Gentry #2)(55)

The opening door saved me that time. It was Galen. He stared at Doyle on the bed and Frost holding my hand. "You called, Doyle?"
I hadn't heard Doyle say anything. I think I couldn't hear anything but the king's voice for a moment or two.
I found my voice; it was thin and breathy. "Send in Kitto. Just as he is, please."
Galen raised his eyebrows at that but gave a quick bow, unseen from the mirror, and fetched the goblin. I'd worded my request purposefully. Kitto wore very few clothes when he curled in his hidey-hole. I wanted skin touching mine, and I didn't want to ask the guards to strip.
Kitto came into the room wearing nothing but his short-shorts; from Taranis's view he would probably look nude. Let him think what he wished.
Kitto shot a questioning look at Doyle and me. He was careful not to look in the mirror. I placed Doyle's hand against the side of my neck and held out my free hand to Kitto. He came to me without question. His small hand wrapped around mine, and I pulled him to the floor so that he sat at my feet. I pulled him in against my bare legs. I had worn no hose, only purple open-toed sandals to match my dress.
Kitto curled his body around my legs, and the warm brush of his skin on mine, the feel of his hands, his arms around my bare legs underneath the skirt steadied me.I began to realize a method behind the madness when Andais spoke to the Seelie Court covered in naked bodies. I'd always assumed she did it as a sly insult to Taranis, but now I wasn't so sure. Maybe the insult began with the king, and not the queen.
"I thank you for the honor you do me, Taranis, but I cannot in good conscience agree to a feast before Yule. I would be most honored to attend once the busy season of Yule is past." My voice came out very clear, very steady, almost clipped.
Doyle finally figured out that I was after skin, because he kept his hands busy on my neck, caressing the parts of my shoulders and arms that showed. Normally, the feel of his hands running over my skin would have been seductive; now it was just something to keep me anchored.
The king lashed at me with his power, fashioning it into a whip that hurt even as it felt good. It tore a gasp from my throat, and I would have flung myself at the mirror, even cried yes, if I could have spoken, if I could have moved. In that one desperate moment, three things happened: Doyle laid a gentle kiss on my neck, Kitto licked the back of my knee, and Frost sat down on the bed to raise my hand to his mouth.
The touch of their mouths were three anchors that kept me from slipping away. Frost slipped to the floor on the other side from Kitto and slid my finger into his mouth, perhaps to hide his actions from Taranis. I wasn't sure, and I did not care. The feel of his mouth was like a velvet glove around my flesh.
I let out a shaking breath -- and I could think again, a little. Doyle ran his fingers from the base of my skull to the top of my head, kneading along my scalp under my hair. What should have been terribly distracting cleared my mind.
"I have tried to be polite, Taranis, but you have been as blunt with your magic as I am about to be with my words. Why is it so important that you see me at all, let alone before Yule?"
"You are my kinswoman. I wish to renew our acquaintance. Yule is a time of coming together."
"You have barely acknowledged my existence most of my life. Why do you care to renew our relationship now?"
His power seemed to fill the room, as if I were trying to breathe something more solid than air. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't see. The world was narrowing down to light; light was everywhere.
A sharp pain brought me back so abruptly that I screamed. Kitto had bitten my leg like a dog trying to get my attention, but it had worked. I reached down and stroked his face. "This interview is over, Taranis. You are being unaccountably rude. No sidhe does this to another sidhe, only to the lesser fey."
Frost rose to his feet to blank the mirror, but Taranis said, "I have heard many rumors about you, Meredith. I wish to see for myself what you have become."
"What do you see, Taranis?" I asked. 
"I see a woman where once there was a girl. I see a sidhe where once there was a lesser fey. I see many things, but some things will go unanswered until I see you in person. Come to me, Meredith, come and let us know one another."
"Truth between us, Taranis, I can barely function in the face of your power. You know it, and I know it. This is from a distance. I would be a fool to let you try this in person."
"I give you my word that I will not vex you in this manner if you will but come to my court before Yule."
"Why before Yule?"
"Why after Yule?" he countered.
"Because you seem to want it so badly, and that makes me suspicious of your motives."
"So, because I want a thing too much, you would deny me, just for the wanting of it."
"No. It is because you want a thing too much and seem willing to do anything within your power to get it that I fear your wanting of it."
Even through the golden mask I saw him frown. He wasn't following my logic, though it seemed clear enough to me. "You have frightened me, Taranis. It is as simple as that. I will not put myself in your grasp, not until you take some very serious oaths... that you will behave yourself around me and mine."
"If you will come before Yule, I will promise whatever you like."
"I will not come before Yule, and you will still promise whatever I like. Or I will not come at all."
He began to shine, his red hair glinting like hard blood. "You would defy me?"
"I cannot defy you because you have no power over me."
"I am Ard-Ri, the high king."
"No, Taranis, you are high king of the Seelie Court, as Andais is high queen of the Unseelie. But you are not my Ard-Ri. I am not of your court. You made that clear to me when I was younger."
"You would hold old grudges, Meredith, when I extend my hand in peace."
"I will not be swayed by pretty words, Taranis, or pretty sights. You nearly beat me to death once when I was a child. You cannot blame me for fearing you now, not when you went to such trouble to train me to fear you."
"That is not what I meant for you to learn," he said, without denying that he'd beaten me. At least that part was honest.
"What did you mean for me to learn, then?"
"Not to question your king."
I sank into the feel of Doyle's hands and mouth on the back of my neck, on Frost's tongue licking across my palm, on Kitto's teeth biting gently along my leg. "You are not my king, Taranis. Andais is my queen, and I have no king."
"You seek a king, Meredith, or so rumor says."
"I seek a father for my children, and he will be king of the Unseelie Court."
"I have told Andais long that what is ill with her is lack of a king, a true king."
"And are you such a king, Taranis?"
"Yes," he said, and I think he believed it.
I didn't know what to say to that. Finally I said, "I seek a different kind of king then, one who understands that a true queen is worth any amount of kings."
"You insult me," he said, and the light that had been friendly before became harsh, and I wished for sunglasses to shield from the unfriendly glare.
"No, Taranis, you insult me, and my queen, and my court. If you have no better words for me than this, then we have nothing to discuss." I nodded at Frost, and he blanked the mirror before Taranis could do it himself.
We remained in silence for a second or so, then Doyle said, "He's always thought himself quite the ladies' man."
"Do you mean that was some sort of seduction?"
I felt Doyle shrug, then his arms encircled me, hugging me to him. "For Taranis, anyone who isn't impressed with him is a thorn in his side. He must scratch at anyone who does not worship him. He must pluck at it, like a small piece of grit in the eye, always there, always hurting.""Is this why Andais talks to him nude and covered in men?"
"Yes," Frost answered.
I looked up at him, still standing by the mirror. "Surely it's an insult to do such to another ruler?"
He shrugged. "They have been trying to seduce one another, or kill one another, for centuries."
"Killing or seduction -- is there a third choice?"
"They have found their third choice," Doyle said against my ear. "An uneasy peace. I think Taranis seeks to control you -- and through you, eventually the Unseelie Court."
"Why is he so pressing about Yule?" I asked.
"Once there were sacrifices at Yule," Kitto said softly. "To ensure the light would return, they slew the Holly King to make way for the rebirth of the Oak King, the rebirth of the light."
We all looked at one another. It was Frost who said, "Do you think the nobles at his court are finally getting suspicious of his lack of children?"
"I have not heard even the breath of that rumor," Doyle said. Which meant that he had his own spies in that court.
"It was always a king to be sacrificed for a king," Kitto said. "Never a queen."
"Perhaps Taranis wants to change custom," Doyle said, holding me close. "You will not be going to the Seelie Court before Yule. There is no reason good enough."
I sank back against his body, let the solid circle of his arms be my comfort. "I agree," I said softly. "Whatever Taranis is planning, I want no part of it."
"We are all agreed then," said Frost.
"Yes," Kitto said.
It was unanimous decision, but somehow not very comforting.