A Lick of Frost(55)

"What look?" Frost asked, but I didn't ask because I could see it, and I'd seen it before. Frost's need and uncertainty were plain in his eyes, in the lines of his mouth.

"I want sex," Rhys said, "but you need reassurance, and that takes longer to get."

"I do not know what you mean," Frost said in a cold voice. His face was at its arrogant best again, that moment of uncertainty hidden behind years of courtly living.

Rhys smiled. "It's all right, Frost. I understand, really I do."

"There is nothing to understand," Frost said.

I slipped naked under the covers, almost too tired to care who won the conversation. I settled against the pillows and waited for one of them to climb into bed with me. I was so tired, so overwhelmed with all of the day's events that it didn't seem to matter who slept next to me, as long as someone did.

"Doyle isn't just your captain, Frost. You've been each other's right hands for centuries. You're feeling the lack of him."

"We are all feeling the lack of him healthy at our sides," Frost said.

Rhys nodded. "Yes, but only you and Merry feel his loss this deeply."

"I do not understand you," Frost said.

"That's okay," Rhys said. He looked at me. The look asked me, did I understand? I thought I did.

"Come to bed, Frost. Sleep with me." I patted the bed.

"Doyle told me to take care of you until he is able."

I smiled at the face that was trying for blankness and failing around the edges. "Then come to bed and take care of me, Frost."

"You promised me sex, and I am going to hold you to it," Rhys said.

Frost hesitated by the bed. "We have never shared the princess."

"And we aren't going to now," Rhys said. "I'll share sometimes with the newer men because Merry likes me better than she likes them." He smiled, and I returned the smile. Then his face sobered, and there was something far too serious in his face. "But I could not bear to share her with you and see how she feels about you. I know she loves you more, you and Doyle, but I do not wish the fact rubbed into my body like salt into a wound."

"Rhys," I said.

He shook his head, and pushed a hand toward me. "Don't try to save my ego. You'd have to lie to do it, and the sidhe don't lie."

It was Frost who said, "Rhys, I do not mean to cause you pain."

"You can't help being who you are, and she can't seem to help loving you. I tried to hate you for it, but I can't. If you get her pregnant, and I end up back with Andais, then I'll hate you, but until then, I'll try to share with some grace."

I wanted to say something to make it better, but what could I say? Rhys was right; any comforting words would have had to be lies.

"I do not slight you on purpose, my white knight," I said.

Rhys smiled. "We are both equally pale, my princess. We knew going into this that only one man can be king. Even I think that Doyle and Frost together make a good ruling pair for you. Too bad that even among the Darkness and the Killing Frost there will be a winner and a loser."

With that, Rhys left, closing the door behind us. I heard him speak to the dogs, who must have been waiting outside the door. We did not let the dogs in when we spoke to Andais because she had touched the black dogs and they had not transformed into special dogs for her. The magic had not known her, and she resented it. Frost feared that the lack of a dog meant he was not sidhe enough. Andais simply hated the fact that the returning power didn't seem to know her. She was queen, and all the power of her court should have been hers, but it didn't seem to be working that way.

I almost called to Rhys to let the dogs in but didn't, because it would be a reminder to Frost of what he lacked. The door closed softly, but firmly, and I was left looking up at the man who had stayed.

Frost took off his suit jacket, and the moment he did I could see all the weapons he was carrying. There were many guns and blades, but he was always armed for war. I counted four handguns and two blades in the front of the leather. There would be more, because there were always more weapons than met the eye with the Killing Frost.

"You smile. Why?" he asked softly. He began to undo the buckles that held the leather in place.

"I would ask what army you had planned to fight today with so many weapons, but I know what you feared."

He removed the weapons carefully and laid them across the bedside table. The armament on the wood was heavy with the potential for destruction.

"Where did you put your gun?" Frost asked.

"It's in the drawer of the bedside table."

"You took it off as soon as you entered this room, didn't you?"

"Yes," I said.