I wasn't sure what to say to that.
Rhys reached out toward the mirror. The metallic shriek rose to a crescendo. I fought the urge to cover my ears. I couldn't afford to show weakness in dealing with the goblins. The two high courts of faerie would use weakness to their advantage. Goblin culture simply saw weakness as a reason to abuse you. You were either prey or predator to the goblins. I was working very hard not to be prey.
The mirror was suddenly a perfect window onto the goblin throne room. Their king was not there, though. Ash and Holly stood alone before the empty stone throne. It was Ash's hand on the glass when we saw them, his magic making the mirror sound like a battle.
He blinked solid green eyes into the mirror. There was no pupil, only a blind expanse of perfect grass green surrounded by a little white. His hair was yellow, cut short, because only the sidhe are allowed long hair on their men, but his skin was gold kissed. Not sparkling with golden bits like Aisling's, but it was close. Both the twins had Seelie skin, sunlight skin. Moonlight skin like mine, and Frost's, was plentiful at both courts. That golden color, almost like a tan, was exclusively Seelie. The eyes were goblin except for the color. Holly strode to the mirror to stand by his brother. He was identical except that his eyes were the color of red holly berries, like his namesake. The red color with no pupil was not just goblin but Red Cap goblin.
Rhys moved back from the mirror to stand on the other side of me so that I was sandwiched between him and Frost.
"The bargain is over," Holly said, his handsome face contorted with rage. He was usually the one to lose his temper first.
"To keep us waiting like this is to make us lose respect in front of all," Ash said. He didn't sound much more reasonable than his brother, which was bad, since Ash was the voice of reason for the two of them.
"Queen Andais kept us overlong," Frost said.
Rhys just moved closer to me, as if the twins' anger alone could hurt me.
Their eyes flicked to him then back to me. "Is this true, Princess?" Ash asked.
"The queen had much to show us," I said, and let my voice hold some of the upset I felt about Crystall and his fate in her bed.
"She's been entertaining the sidhe you left behind," Ash said.
Holly actually looked uneasy, his anger fading, which was unusual for him.
"Has the queen spoken to the two of you?" I asked.
They exchanged a look. Ash answered. "Apparently, the queen enjoyed watching us lick her blood off of your skin. We didn't think that any sidhe, even Unseelie sidhe, would be so goblin in their tastes."
Andais's blood had gotten on me in her most recent attempt to kill me. She'd been unhappy with me that day. Lately she'd been happier with me, so her murder attempts had stopped, and she was paying my legal bills.
"She offered you her bed?" Frost asked.
"We are not talking to you, Killing Frost," Holly said.
I put a hand on Frost's arm, letting him know that it was all right. "I must weigh the pride of all the men in my life," I said. "Frost is one of those men, and if tonight comes to pass as we have all planned, you will be, too. I know you feel that we insulted you by ignoring your call, but all of us have to wait upon the queen's wishes."
"We do not," Holly said.
"You turned her down?" I made it a question.
"We began the bargaining with what would be done and by whom," Ash said, "but she will not allow harm to come to her body. She only wishes to do harm to others."
"She actually tried to bargain that she would torture the two of you during sex?" I asked.
"Yes." Holly almost shouted it.
"She did not know that it was the gravest of insults to offer that to you," I said.
"But you knew," Ash said.
I nodded. "I visited the goblin court many times over my childhood. It was one of the few courts in faerie where my father felt that it was safe to bring me as a child."
"He would not have allowed you inside the Seelie Court," Ash said.
"No," I said.
"The goblins are not tamer than the sidhe," Holly said, his anger flaring again.
"No, but the goblins are honorable and do not break their rules," I said.
"Is it true that the queen tried to kill you when you were a child?" Ash asked.
I nodded again. "It is."
"So you were truly safer here with us than with your own kind," Ash said.
"With the goblins and with the sluagh."
Holly laughed, a harsh, unpleasant sound. "You were safer with us, and with the nightmares of faerie than with the pretty sidhe. I find that hard to believe."
"The sluagh, like the goblins, have laws and rules and they abide by them. My father knew your ways and taught those ways to me. It is why we are here speaking today."