I almost asked, then knew it would have been a mistake. One fey does not admit to another that he is so easy to read. It simply isn't done, especially if one of them happens to be king. It is never wise to let any king know that you see too deeply into him.

"What did you have in mind, Kurag?"

His gaze switched from me to Rhys, who had moved up to stand to one side of me. "I see our white knight." This was usually Rhys's cue to say, I'm not your white knight. Today he just smiled.

Kurag frowned. I don't think he liked his insult being ignored. He held out a great yellow hand, and his queen came to him. He picked her up one-handed as if she were light as air, and sat her on his lap. "Creeda longs for a taste of sidhe flesh. She didn't get to fuck the white knight when he was here."

I felt rather than saw Rhys stiffen beside me. He wasn't going to be able to pull this off. I'd asked too much of him. Damn it.

But I'd underestimated Rhys.

He sat down on the bed. I glanced behind to see that he sat leaning forward, making the top of the robe gape, framing his chest, white surrounding white like a piece of smooth ivory wrapped up in a cloud. He propped his heels on the underpart of the bed so the robe parted in the middle, not showing much flesh, but giving the promise that only a little more movement would flaunt his legs, his thighs, all of him.

A small sound drew me back to the mirror. Creeda was making a high, thin noise in her throat. I think it was supposed to be provocative. It came out as an animal sound, but not a sound of any animal that had ever worn fur. There was something definitely insect-like about the noise.

"You gonna flash us?" Kurag asked.

Rhys just smiled.

Kurag's eyes narrowed. I watched the first flush of anger start across his face. In that moment, I realized that Rhys's teasing could backfire, badly.

Doyle stepped into the heavy silence. He pushed away from the post of the bed where he'd been leaning, watching the show. He came to stand on the far side of Rhys, even though there was room to stand on my other side. He was far less dressed, damn near naked, but neither Kurag nor his queen teased Doyle. He was still the Queen's Darkness or, simply, Darkness. The goblins can say what they like, but they were afraid of the Dark, just like everyone else.

"The time for our trip grows near, Kurag, Goblin King, and we need to know if we are visiting your sithen. Is Princess Meredith to grace the goblins' court, or not?" He leaned his long, dark body against the dark wood of the bedpost. He usually stood at attention, but I think he, like Rhys, was playing with the goblins. His arms were crossed over his chest so that the nipple ring glittered against his arm. Even his legs were crossed at the ankle. The bathing suit was so close to the color of his black skin that he looked nude. I knew just how much more compelling he looked with that last bit of cloth gone, but the goblins didn't.

Creeda was making that high-pitched noise again. She reached out with three of her hands, as if she'd try to touch the Darkness.

Kurag pulled her hands back, hugging her to him. A set of her hands moved to caress him. It might have been a nervous gesture, or she might have been so moved by the sight of the men that she needed sex. In goblin culture if you needed sex, you just took it, wherever you happened to be or whatever you happened to be doing. It made business meetings with them, odd.

"Prove that Kitto is sidhe. Prove it beyond doubt."

"If we prove it," I said, "you agree to our proposal?"

He shook his great head. "No, but if he is not sidhe, then our talks are finished."

I let some of my impatience with them show. "So, what, Kitto puts on a show for you, and we gain nothing from it? I don't think so."

The queen's hands had found Kurag's groin through his pants. Kurag ignored it, as if nothing were happening. "I think all our talks have been for nothing. I still don't think the princess has the balls to do what you're pressing her to do, Darkness."

"I am pressing her to do nothing, Kurag. Princess Meredith decided this path on her own."

Kurag shook his head. "I know you would not lie outright, but I also know that a woman besotted with a man will do much from a hint. It doesn't have to be an order. A word here, a word there." His eyes lost focus for a second, and he pushed the queen's hands away from his body. She struggled to keep her nest of hands on his groin. He squeezed her thin arms in his huge hands like a bouquet of flower stems. Only when pain crossed her face did she release him. He held the pressure for a second longer, as if he meant to crush her arms, then let her go.

She sat in his lap, rubbing her arms with some of her other hands. She looked sulky, like a child told, No. I'd have been angry. Creeda saved her anger for other things.

Doyle finally answered, "I have done nothing to persuade the princess, except remind her she will someday be queen."

"It is not certain she will be queen. Cel could still be king."

Doyle pushed away from the bed to stand straight and perfect, as he usually did. "Have you ever known me to stand at the side of the loser of such a contest?"

Kurag took in a great breath of air, then let it out slowly. "No." He didn't look happy about it.

"Then enough stalling. We have offered you a fair bargain."

Kurag's gaze flicked to me. "Is the Darkness your voice, Merry?"

"No, but when I agree with everything he's saying, I don't see a problem with letting him finish."

"So he will finish the bargaining."

I sighed. "No, that is not what I meant, and you know it. We will bring your warriors into their full power. Think of it, Kurag: Goblin warriors with sidhe magic in their veins."

"There are those who fear goblins with such magic," he said.

"I am not one of them."

He frowned, then stared at me. I let the silence draw out. I learned long ago that most people can't abide silence. They feel compelled to fill it. I waited, and finally he spoke. "Why are you not afraid? All that has kept the goblins from conquering all of faerie is the magic of the sidhe. Give us that to match our strength in battle, and none will stand before us."

"And if the goblins go to war on American soil, you will be cast out, not just from faerie, but from the last country that will tolerate you." I shook my head. "Centuries ago when we warred one upon the other, then perhaps I would fear, but not now. You like it here, Kurag. You like it far too much to risk it all, especially when you can't guarantee victory."

"There are those among the sidhe who will fear us gaining their magic."

I nodded. "I know, but that is not your problem. That is mine." Truthfully, I didn't think that bringing over half a dozen goblins to sidhe would tip the balance of power. Half-sidhe didn't usually survive to childhood among the goblins. When grown and in our power, we are hard to kill, but as children we are fragile things. Goblins come from the womb hard to kill.

He ran his big hands down the much smaller queen, the way you'd pet a dog. "You risk much, Merry."

"How much I risk is my business, Kurag. I offer you a chance at what the goblins have been denied for millennia. I offer you sidhe magic. No one else can give you that. Cel cannot. Only me, and those who stand with me."

"An extra month for each goblin you make sidhe is too much. A day extra."

I leaned forward, forcing my own robe to gape, and knew that the red satin framed my breasts as if they were white jewels. I'd never have tried this on another sidhe. I was far too human to appeal to most of them, but for the goblins, I could be beautiful. "A day extra is insulting, Kurag, and well you know it."

His gaze was solidly on my cleavage. He licked his thin lips with a large, rough tongue. "A week then."