A Caress Of Twilight   ::   Гамильтон Лорел

"Are you all right, Kitto?"

He blinked and looked up at me. His gaze slid from the fluttering fey, across my bare breasts, and the look of hunger changed but a very little. That one look frightened me. Something must have shown on my face because Kitto hid his own face against my bare hip, snuggling under the sheet.

"The taste of flesh has made our little goblin bold." Doyle was in the doorway.

The little fey turned in midair to give a small bow. "The Queen's Darkness, I am honored."

Doyle gave the barest of bows, a mere nod to courtesy. "Sage, I must say that I am surprised to see you here."

The tiny flying man rose upward so that he could come close to seeing Doyle eye to eye; but he stayed out of reach, like the shy insect he resembled.

"Why surprised, Darkness?" His voice didn't sound so much like joyous bells now.

"I did not know that Niceven could spare her favorite lover."

"No more that, Darkness, and well you know."

"I know that Niceven had child and husband by another, but I didn't think the demi-fey cared so very much for the niceties."

Sage flew a little higher, a touch closer. "You think because we are not sidhe that we do not know the law." The anger could have sounded impotent coming from that tiny chimelike voice, but it didn't. It was the sound of chimes when storm winds strike them, a frightening music.

"So," Doyle said, "no longer queen's lover. Whatever have you been doing with yourself, Sage?" I had never heard Doyle so chiding before. He was deliberately baiting Sage. I'd never seen Doyle do much of anything that didn't have a purpose to it, so I let it go. But it all had a personal feel to it. What could this minute man have done to the Queen's Darkness, to earn such personal attention?

"I have had the whole of our kingdom's women to please me, Darkness." He flew almost into Doyle's face. "And you, one of the queen's eunuchs, what have you been doing with yourself?"

"Look at what lies in the bed, Sage. Tell me that that is not such a bounty as man or fey would sell their soul for."

The fluttering man didn't even bother to turn around. "I did not know that you liked goblins, Doyle. I thought that was Rhys's peculiarity."

"You can be deliberately obtuse, Sage, but well you know the meaning of my words."

"Rumors are swift things, Darkness. They say that you guard the princess but do not share her bed. There has been much speculation as to why you would pass by such a bounty, when the others have partaken of it." The little man flew close enough that his wings almost brushed Doyle's face.