"
"Like calls to like," Mistral said, his eyes still directed out into the night.
"The fey in Europe intermarried with a lot of humans whose families immigrated to the United States," I said.
"Yes," Rhys said.
"So this may happen a lot?" I asked.
He nodded and shrugged. "Maybe."
"But it means more than that," Mistral said. "It means that the princess may be able to call the part-fey to her cause."
I looked up, trying to see Doyle's face, but he laid his cheek on top of my head. Not to stop me from seeing his face, but just for comfort, I think. "What does that mean?"
Doyle spoke low, his chest and throat so close to me that his voice vibrated against me. "Once, to hold some hands of power, you could call the humans to be your army, or your servants. You could call them to your side, and they came willingly, lovingly. The hand of blood was one of the few that could make humans want to join you. Literally, if you have all the power that the hand of blood once held, you call to the magic in their blood, and they will answer."
"Do they have a choice?" I asked.
"When you master this power, they will not want to have a choice. They will want to serve you, as we do."
"But... "
Rhys put his fingertip on my lips. "It's a type of love, Merry. It's the way men were supposed to feel for their lord and master. Once it wasn't like it is now, or has been for so long." He lowered his finger, and looked utterly sad. "I could do it too, call men to me. I gave them safety, comfort, joy. I protected them, and I did love them. Then I lost my powers, and I couldn't protect them. I couldn't save them anymore." He hugged me, and because Doyle was so close, he hugged us both.
Rhys whispered, "I don't know whether to be happy that this kind of power is returning to us or sad. It's so wonderful when it works, but when it went away, it was like I died with my people, Merry. They died, and they were pieces of me dying. I prayed for true death then. I prayed to die with my people, but I was immortal. I couldn't die, and I couldn't save them."
I felt the liquid on my face. I pressed my face against his cheek, and felt tears from his one good eye. The goblin who took his other eye had taken its tears too. I felt Doyle's arms tighten around us both. Then I felt Galen come in behind Rhys and hold him too.
Sholto put a hand on Rhys's hair, and Mistral's deep voice came. "I do not know if I want to be responsible for so many again."
"Me, either," Rhys said, in a voice squeezed with tears.
"Me, either," I said.
Doyle spoke. "You may have no choice."
And that was the truth, the wonderful and horrible truth.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Doyle hesitated at the door of the armored humvee. He peered into its depths as if looking into a cave that he wasn't sure was empty of a dragon. The moment I saw the line of his body, the set of his head, I realized that the army coming to our rescue was a mixed blessing.
"It's armored, and that's too much metal for you to ride inside,"
I said.
He turned and looked at me, face impassive. "I can ride inside with you."
"But it will hurt you," I said.
He seemed to think about his answer, then finally said, "It will not be pleasant, but it is doable."
I looked at the Humvee in front of us, and found the other men milling about at the door too. None of them wanted to be inside that much metal.
"None of you will be able to do magic once inside that much metal, will you?"
"No," Rhys said, beside me.
"We will be, what is the word you have used, head-blind. We will be as close to mortal senses as we can come encased in such as this."
"If someone left you inside this much metal, would you fade?"
They exchanged a look. "I do not know, but some might."
Rhys pulled me into a one-armed hug. "Don't look so serious, Merry-girl. We can do it for a short ride. Besides, this much metal doesn't just keepusfrom doing magic."
I looked at him, and thought I understood what he meant, but it was too important to leave to chance. "Do you mean that if we are attacked their magic won't work around the armored vehicles either?"
"I think this much man-made shielding will shatter any spell directed at it," Doyle said.
"Then let's get inside," Rhys said, "and get our princess out of here."
Doyle nodded firmly, and moved to slip inside. I took his arm, made him turn and look at me. I laid a kiss upon his lips. He looked startled.
"What was that for?"
"For being brave," I said.
His smile flashed bright in his dark face. "I would be brave forever for you, my Merry."
That earned him another kiss, this one with a little body language to it.
Specialist Gregorio cleared her throat loudly. Then she seemed compelled to add, "We're running a little short on time, Princess." She made "Princess" sound like an insult.
I broke from the kiss, and looked at her.
She flinched.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Your eyes — they're glowing."
"That happens sometimes," I said.
"Is it magic?" she asked.
I shook my head. "It's the effect he has on me."
"Besides," Rhys said, "her eyes are barely glowing at all. You should see what our eyes look like in the middle of major magic, or actual sex. It's a show."
She scowled at Rhys. "TMI. Too much information."
Rhys took a step toward her. "Oh, I haven't begun to tease."
Doyle and I both drew him back with a hand on one arm and shoulder. "Enough," Doyle said.
"We have to get in the big, bad car and go," I said.
Rhys turned to me and there was no teasing on his face, but almost a sadness. "You don't know what it's going to be like for us inside there, Merry."
I squeezed his arm. "If it's that bad, Rhys, then you and the other men ride in something more open. I saw some Jeeps. I'll ride in here by myself."
He shook his head. "What kind of guards would we be if we did that?" He leaned in and whispered, "And what kind of future fathers would we be?"
I laid my face against his cheek. "Being my king may never be safe, or easy."
"Love isn't supposed to be easy, Merry, or everyone would do it."
I drew back enough to see his face. "Everyone falls in love."
"It's not the falling, Merry, it's the staying in love." He flashed me that grin of his, the one that Galen had a version of that made you have to smile back. I hadn't seen Rhys do his version in a while.
I smiled at him, and gave him a chaste kiss that wouldn't make our escort complain.
"For bravery?" he asked.
"Yes."
"Our captain has it right, Merry. You make us all want to be better than we are."
"What is this a late-nightGidgetrerun?" Specialist Gregorio asked. "I don't know what you mean," I said.
She frowned at me.