Doyle sat on my right, Frost on my left. My lawyers Farmer and Biggs moved a few seats down to give them room.
Shelby got the first question, "And there are now sixteen of you with access only to Princess Meredith for your, um, needs?"
"If you mean for sex, then yes," Doyle said.
Shelby coughed and nodded. "Yes, I do mean sex."
"Then say what you mean," Doyle said.
"I will do that." Shelby sat up a little straighter. "I imagine it must be difficult to share the princess."
"I'm not certain I understand the question."
"Well, not to be indelicate, but waiting for your turn must be hard after so many years of denial."
"No, it is not hard to wait."
"But of course it is," Shelby said.
"You're putting words in the witnesses' mouth," Biggs said.
"Sorry. What I mean, Captain Doyle, is that after so many years of needs unmet, it must be difficult to only have sex about every two weeks or so."
Frost laughed, then caught himself and tried to turn it into a cough. Doyle smiled. It was the first truly broad smile that he'd had since the questions had started. The white flash of his teeth in all that dark, dark face was startling if you weren't used to it. It was like having a statue suddenly smile at you.
"I fail to see the humor in being forced to wait weeks for sex, Captain Doyle, Lieutenant Frost."
"I would see no humor in that either," Doyle said, "but when the number of men grew larger, Princess Meredith changed some of the parameters for us all."
"I'm not following," Nelson said, "Parameters?"
Doyle looked at me. "Perhaps you better explain, Princess."
"When I had only five lovers, it seemed fair to make them wait for their turns, but as you point out, waiting two weeks, or more, after centuries of celibacy seems like another form of torture. So when the number of men went up to double digits, I upped the number of times I make love during a given day."
You don't get to see powerful, high-priced lawyers look that embarrassed often, but I got to see it then. They all looked at each other, Nelson actually raised her hand. "I'll ask, if no one else will."
The men let her ask. "How many times a day do you make love?"
"It varies, but usually at least three times."
"Three times a day," she repeated.
"Yes," I said, and gave her blank, pleasant face. She blushed, to the roots of her red hair. I was sidhe enough that I didn't understand this American trait of being totally fascinated with sex and totally uncomfortable with it.
Veducci recovered first, as I had figured he would. "Even at three times a day, Princess Meredith, that leaves an average of five days between lovemaking sessions for the men. Five days is a long time when you've been denied for centuries. Couldn't your three guards have tried to find something to occupy their time in between waiting?"
"A five-day wait implies that I'm only sleeping with one man at a time, Mr. Veducci, and most of the time I'm not."
Veducci smiled at me. It was a nice smile. It went all the way to his eyes, and folded the bags into smile lines that said, here was a man who knew how to enjoy life, or had once. It was like a glimpse into a younger, less tired version.
I smiled back at him, responding to that joy.
"You are totally comfortable with this line of questioning, aren't you, Princess Meredith?" he asked.
"I am not ashamed of anything I've done, Mr. Veducci. The fey, outside of some of the Seelie Court, see no shame in sex, as long as it is consensual."
"All right," he said. "I'll ask the next one. How many men at a time do you routinely sleep with?" He shook his head when he asked as if he couldn't believe he was asking it.
"I don't think that's appropriate," Biggs said.
"I'll answer it," I said.
"Are you sure… ?"
"It's sex. There's nothing wrong with sex." I held Biggs's gaze until he looked away. I turned back to Veducci. "Average is probably two at a time. I think the max that I've ever done at once is four." I looked at Doyle and Frost. "Four?" I made it a question.
"I believe so," Doyle said.
Frost nodded. "Yes."
I turned back to the lawyers. "Four, but two is average."
Biggs recovered a little. "So, you see, gentlemen, ladies, a two-day wait between sex, or less. There are married men who have to wait longer than that for their needs to be met."
"Princess Meredith," Cortez said.
"Yes, Mr. Cortez." I looked into his dark brown eyes.
He cleared his throat and said, "Are you telling us the truth? You have sex three times a day with an average of two men at a time, and sometimes up to four. Is this what you want in the record?"