«I am open to suggestions,» Doyle said. Doyle was the master strategist, so whenever he asked for suggestions on a plan, it made me nervous. When he didn't know what we were doing for certain, it didn't usually bode well.

«Whatever we decide, Merry must keep the chalice,» Nicca said, «and that means that our queen can't have it, either.»

«Oh, shit,» Rhys said. «I hadn't thought of that.»

I looked at Doyle. «You talked about spies, but that's really why you don't want her to know, isn't it?»

He sighed. «Let us just say that I do not know what she will do when she finds out. The reappearance of the chalice was most unexpected, and the method by which you gained it is also unexpected.» He shrugged. «I do not know what she will do, and I do not like not knowing. It is dangerous not to know.»

«I'm only her heir if I get pregnant before Cel gets someone else pregnant. She's still my queen, and if she demands the cup of me, I'm duty-bound to give it to her, aren't I?»

Doyle seemed to think for a moment, then nodded. «I believe so, yes.»

«Merry must keep the chalice,» Nicca said.

«You keep saying that,» Rhys said. «Why are you so sure of it?»

«It vanished once because we weren't worthy to keep it. What if Merry hands it over to someone else who isn't worthy, and it goes away again?»

«I think our queen would allow Merry to keep the chalice on that logic alone,» Doyle said. «She would not risk the loss of it again.»

«If Taranis forces us to give him the chalice and it vanishes again,» Galen said, «then it would be the ultimate proof that he isn't worthy to lead.»

«And we might prevent him from taking the goblet by that logic,» Doyle said, «but only in a private audience. We cannot by hint or faintest action allow anyone to guess that we do not think he is worthy to be king.»

«Not my court, not my problem,» I said.

«We will try very hard to keep it from being our problem,» Doyle said. «Now, I think a little sleep is in order for all of us. We are leaving for the courts in less than a day, and there is much to do.»

«What do we do with the chalice? We can't just leave it here on the table,» I said.

«Wrap it in the silk and take it to the spare bedroom. Put it in a drawer beside you.»

«We're not going to lock it up in the safe? The guest house does have one.»

«I think that anyone who might want to steal it would have little trouble tearing the safe out of the wall.»

«Oh,» I said. «Maybe I've been too long out among the humans. I keep forgetting how very strong some of us can be.»

«I think, Princess, you had best not be forgetting things like that. Once we return to the high courts of faerie, you will need to remember just how dangerous everything and everyone can be.»

«Is the discussion finished?» Sage asked from midair.

Doyle looked around the room, meeting everyone's solemn face. «Yes, I believe it is.»

«Good,» Sage said. «I'm due some blood, and I want it now.»

I heard Frost take a breath to argue, and I knew the sound so well that I said, «No, Frost, he's right. We bargained, and sidhe who don't keep their bargains are worthless.»

«I will not go back on our bargain, but I do not like it.»

I sighed. I'd been feeding Sage once a week for a month, but Frost had to open his own lily-white vein once, just once, and it was a major problem. I loved Frost when I was in his arms. I even loved Frost when I was looking at his beauty, but I was beginning to not love Frost when he pouted; to not love him when he made simple things so much harder than they had to be. It made me question whether I had ever been in love with Frost, or had it just been lust? Or maybe I was just tired. Tired of it always being my blood and my body on the line. It was Frost's turn to take one for the team, and I really didn't want to hear any whining about it, no matter how delightful he looked while he did it.