A Caress Of Twilight

Chapter 11

Julian had gone after Maeve. It left young Frank standing by the exit looking lost. His eyes were too large in his pale, startled face. I doubted Frank had ever seen a sidhe in her full power.

I was still kneeling, the glow beginning to fade from my skin, when Doyle came to stand beside me. "Princess, are you well?"

I looked up at him and realized I must have looked a little startled myself. I could feel the heat on my mouth where her lips had touched mine. It was like I'd taken a sip of spring sunshine.

"Princess?"

I nodded. "I'm all right." But my voice came out hoarse, and I had to clear my throat before I said, "I've just never …" I tried to put it into words. "She tasted like sunshine. And until this second I didn't know that sunshine tasted like anything."

Doyle knelt beside me and spoke softly. "It is always difficult to be touched by those who hold such elemental powers."

I frowned at him. "She said she thought it was the men she needed to be afraid of. What did she mean by that?"

"Think how you were after just a few years alone out here. . and magnify that by a human century."

I felt my eyes widen. "You mean she's attracted to me." I shook my head before he could say anything. "She's attracted to the first sidhe she's touched in a hundred years."

"Do not underestimate yourself, Meredith, but I have never heard it said that Conchenn was a lover of women, so, yes, it is the touch of sidhe flesh that she craves."

I sighed. "I cannot blame her." And then another thought occurred to me. "You don't think she's invited us here to ask if I'll share one of you with her?"

Doyle's dark eyebrows raised over the top of his sunglasses. "I had not thought of such a thing." He seemed to be thinking about what I'd said. "I suppose it is possible." He frowned. "But it would be the height of rudeness to ask such a thing. We are not merely your lovers but potential husbands. It is not casual."

"You said it yourself, Doyle, she's been alone for a century. A hundred years might wear down anyone's sense of politeness."

There was movement behind us; we turned to find Frost already on his feet facing the entrance. It was Rhys. "What have you guys been doing in here?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

He gestured at Doyle and me kneeling on the floor. There was still the faintest of glows to my skin like a memory of moonlight.

I let Doyle help me to my feet; I was strangely unsteady. Maeve had caught me off guard, true, but I'd been touched a great deal more by other sidhe and not been this shaken.

I spoke. "Maeve Reed dropped her glamour."

Rhys's eye widened. "I felt it outside. You're telling me that all she did was drop her glamour?"

I nodded.

He gave a low whistle. "Sweet Goddess."

"And that is the point," Doyle said.

Rhys looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"We have all been worshipped in the past, but for most of us it is in the long past. For Conchenn it has been less than three hundred years. She was still being worshipped in Europe when we were asked to… leave."

"So you're saying that she's got more power because she was being worshipped?" Rhys asked.

"Not more power," Doyle said, "but more. ."

"Oomph," I suggested.

"I am unfamiliar with the word," he said.

"More. . jazz, more bite, more crack to the whip." I waved my hands in the air. "I don't know. Rhys knows what I mean."

He came down the three steps to the living room. "Yeah, I know what you mean. She's got more of a charge to her magic."

Doyle finally nodded. "I will accept that."

Frost came to stand with us. Doyle looked at him from behind dark glasses, and the bigger man hesitated, frowning. "I have an insight to add, my captain."

The two men carefully measured each other. I interrupted. "What's wrong with you two? If Frost has something to add, then let him say it."

Frost continued to look at Doyle, as if waiting. Finally, Doyle gave one quick nod. Frost gave a small bow. "I have watched movies on Meredith's television set. I have seen how humans react to these movie stars. Their adoration of the actors is a type of worship."

We all looked at him. It was Rhys who whispered, "Lord and Lady, if anyone could prove that she's been worshipped. ." He let his voice trail off.

Doyle finished the thought for him. "Then there would be grounds to exile us all from this country. The one thing we were forbidden to do was set ourselves up to be worshipped as gods."

I shook my head. " She did not set herself up to be worshipped as a deity. She was just trying to earn a living."

The men thought about that for a few seconds, then finally Doyle nodded. "The princess is correct by law."

"I don't think Maeve intended to get around the law," I said.

He shook his head. "I do not mean to imply otherwise, but whatever her intent, she has the added benefit of having been worshipped by humans for the last forty years. A human movie star cannot take advantage of that kind of energy exchange, but Maeve is sidhe, and she will know exactly how to use such energy."

"What does that say about the models and actors in Europe that have sidhe blood in them?" I asked. "Or even the royal families of Europe? Sidhe had to marry into all the royal houses of Europe to cement the last great treaty. Are they all taking extra benefit from their human admirers?"

"It is not something I can speak to," Doyle said.

"I'll take a guess at it," Rhys said.

Doyle frowned at him, and the look was clear even through the dark glasses. "We are not paid to guess."

Rhys grinned through his fake beard. "Think of it as an extra plus when you hire me."

Doyle lowered the glasses enough for Rhys to see his eyes.

"Ooh," Rhys said. Then, laughing, he said, "I'll bet that anyone with enough sidhe blood in them can gain power from all that human adoration. They may not be aware of it, but how else do you explain the successful reigns of the royal houses with the highest percentage of sidhe blood? All are still active, while the houses that took the sidhe only once treated it like a plague and stopped, and they have died out."

Julian came back into the room. "Ms. Reed has requested that this meeting continue out by the pool, unless there is some strong objection against it."

"I don't see a problem with taking this outside on such a beautiful day," I said.

"Nor I," Doyle said.

The others agreed — everyone but Kitto. He was still huddled by the couch. I finally had to go to him and take his hand. He whispered, "It will be very open and very bright out there."

Kitto had spent centuries inside the dark cramped tunnels of the goblin mound. I'd always wondered why in the old stories the goblins always fought under a dark sky, as if they brought the darkness of the ground with them. If they were all as bothered by openness and light as Kitto, maybe they couldn't have fought without their darkness. Or maybe it was just Kitto. I shouldn't make such a wide assumption based on only one goblin.

I took his hand in mine and led him like a child. "You can stay by me. If it gets to be too much, Frost can take you back to the van."

"Is there some problem?" Julian asked. He's agoraphobic."

"Oh, my," Julian said.

"If he wishes to remain here in L.A., he's got to work on it," I said.

Julian gave a small nod of his head, almost a bow. "As you like, he is your. . employee."

Kitto was one of the few guards who did not work for the agency. He just wasn't suited for that kind of work. I wasn't sure what kind of work he was suited for, but it wasn't bodyguard work, and it wasn't detecting. But I didn't correct Julian about Kitto's status.

"If you're sure?" Julian made it a question.

I gripped Kitto's hand more firmly. "I'm sure."

"Then follow me, Princess, gentlemen." He started down the hallway that Maeve had fled down, and we followed. Doyle insisted on walking first and insisted that Frost go last. I ended up in the middle with Rhys on one side and Kitto on the other. Rhys took my other hand and tried to get me to skip down the hallway, while he hummed "We're off to See the Wizard" under his breath.