Лорел Гамильтон - A Caress Of Twilight

"Princess Meredith, to what do I owe this unexpected honor?" Her voice held just a trace of peevishness. Apparently, we had awakened her entire court from their beds.

"Queen Niceven, you promised me the cure for Galen if I fed your servant. I have lived up to my bargain, but you have not lived up to yours."

She sat up a little straighter, hands folded in her lap, ankles crossed. "Sage has not given you the cure?" She sounded truly puzzled.

"No," I said.

Her gaze left my face and found the tiny man who had alit upon the edge of the dresser so he could be easily seen from the mirror. "Sage, what is this about?"

"She refused the cure," he said, spreading his hands out as if to say not my fault.

Niceven looked back at me. "Is this true?"

"Did you truly think I would accept him in my bed?"

"He is a wonderful lover, Princess."

"To one of your height perhaps, but to one of mine, it grows a little ridiculous."

"Or rather doesn't grow enough," Rhys said, from the back of the bedroom.

I shot him a hard look. He shrugged, almost an apology, then turned back to the mirror.

"If size is the only problem, that can be remedied," Niceven said.

"Your majesty," Sage said, "I do not think this is wise. Only Meredith swore a solemn oath not to reveal our secret."

"Then let them all swear," she said.

I shook my head. "We swear nothing," I said. "If you do not give the cure for my knight now, then I call you oath breaker. Oath breakers do not have long political careers among the fey."

"The cure is there for the taking, Princess. It is not my fault if you will not partake."

I stepped closer to the mirror. "Sex is a greater boon than sharing blood, and well you know it, Niceven."

Her face seemed to become even thinner, her pale eyes glittering with anger. "You overstep yourself, Meredith, forgetting my title."

"No, it is you who overstep yourself, Niceven. You retain your title as queen at Andais's sufferance, and well you know that. I will have you up before my aunt as an oath breaker if Galen's cure is not forthcoming immediately."

"I will not be turned from my course by anger, no matter how much you taunt me, Meredith," Niceven said. "Reveal yourself, Sage."

"My queen, I think this unwise."

"I did not ask what you thought, I said only to do it." She leaned forward in her chair. "Now, Sage." You didn't need a translator to hear the threat in those two words.

Sage's wings slicked tight together, then he flung himself off the edge of the dresser, not flying, as if he meant to plunge to his death, but he didn't fall. He grew. He was suddenly tall, taller. He was nearly as tall as I was, four feet eight, nine. The wings that had been lovely when tiny were like stained glass, artwork worn across the back of his body. Muscles showed under his butter yellow skin, and when he turned to look at me over his shoulder, the black eyes were the shape of almonds, and his red lips were moist and full. There was something terribly sensual as he stood there, his wings nearly filling one side of the room.

"Is he not lovely, Meredith?" Niceven said, her voice full of longing.

I sighed. "He is lovely to the eye, but in his present size sex is an even greater boon, for whosoever gets me with child will be King." I had to step to one side to see her clearly past Sage's wings. "Is it a bid for the Unseelie throne, Niceven? Is that your goal? I wouldn't have thought you that ambitious."

"I bid for no throne," she said.

"Liar and oath breaker," Doyle said. He had never moved out of the mirror's sight, as if he wanted her to remember, always, that he was by my side.

She turned a flat and very unfriendly gaze to him. "Mind your manners, Darkness."

"Give Meredith the cure as you swore you would."

"Queen Andais said the green knight was to be cured at all costs."

Doyle shook his head. "She could not have dreamt this cost. There have always been rumors that some of the demi-fey could grow larger, but rumors, fables, no truth until now. The Queen would think ill of a demi-fey king, especially one who is your puppet in all things."

She hissed at him, and in that one movement she seemed very alien, as if I'd figure out what she truly was if I thought hard enough, and it wouldn't be human. The white mouse had crouched away from her as if it feared her temper.

"You have a choice here, Queen Niceven," I said. "You can either give me the cure for Galen as you swore you would, or I can tell Queen Andais about your plotting."

Niceven looked at me, eyes narrow. "If I give you the cure, you will not tell Andais about all this?"

"We are allies, Queen Niceven. Allies protect each other."

"I have not fully agreed to an alliance merely for an offering of blood once a week. Have sex with Sage and I will be your ally."

"Give me the cure for Galen, take your blood offering once a week, be my ally, or I tell Aunt Andais what you tried to do here."

Niceven didn't look angry anymore, she looked frightened. "If I had not had Sage show you his secret, then you would not have had anything to blackmail me with."

"Perhaps, or perhaps even a little seed in the wrong place can cause a large problem."

"What do you mean?"

"Galen's father was a pixie, and that's not much bigger than Sage in his true form. There have been odder mixes in the courts. I think Andais would see your demand that one of your men fuck me as a grave breach of trust."

She spat, and the mouse scrambled out of sight; even her ladies-in-waiting backed up. "Trust, what do the sidhe know of trust?"

"About as much as the demi-fey," I said.

She gave me a truly evil look, but I was expecting it, or something like it. I smiled at her around the curve of Sage's wings. "I'd asked for an alliance so you and yours could spy for me." I looked at Sage, nearly as tall as I was. "But here is proof that you have other talents. Your swords are not merely the pinpricks of bees but something much more."

She shifted in her chair, a small movement, but she was nervous. "I do not know what you mean, Princess Meredith."

"I think you do. An alliance I still want, but your contribution to the alliance will go beyond spying."

"To what? Sage is but one man. You have other and larger swords at your back."

I touched Sage's shoulder. He jumped as if it had hurt, but I knew that it hadn't. I leaned in against the back of his body. He tensed. "Is what the queen says true, Sage? Is your sword so small?" I looked at Niceven as I said it.

She gave me angry eyes. "That is not what I meant and well you know it."

"Do I?" I asked, running my fingertips down Sage's arm. He shivered under my touch. I watched jealousy flare across her face before she could catch it back. "Niceven, Niceven, do not give up to others what you hold most precious."

Her face was angry, blank. "I don't know what you mean."

I touched Sage's hair, and the hair was soft as spider silk, or downy feathers, softer than any hair I'd ever touched. "Never offer to give up that which you cannot afford to lose."

She shook her head. "I don't understand you, Princess."

"Be stubborn then, but know this. I offer you alliance, true alliance in exchange for a blood offering once a week. You cease to spy for Cel and his people."

"Prince Cel may be locked away, Princess, but Siobhan is not, and she is more frightening to some than Cel will ever be."

I noticed her phrasing. "More frightening to some, but not to you."

Niceven bowed her head. "I find Cel's brand of madness more frightening than Siobhan's ruthlessness. You can plan around a ruthless man, but a madman throws all your plans to the wind."

I nodded. "Your wisdom does you credit, Queen Niceven."

"For a chance for one of my men to be King of all the Unseelie, I would have risked all, but for mere blood, I will have to think upon it."