A Lick Of Frost   ::   Гамильтон Лорел

"No one elsehere truly understands what they are capable of. I must be there to see that if harm happens it is not Merry that it happens to."

"You mean you'll take the abuse so she doesn't have to," Rhys said.

Kitto nodded.

I sat up and hugged him. "I don't want you to be hurt either."

He leaned into the hug. "And that is why I would take the hurt willingly. Besides, I am harder to hurt than you are."

"If you will allow me, I will join you and Merry this afternoon," Rhys said.

"Tonight, you mean," I said.

"No, I don't know if I'm that strong yet." He looked down, then up, but it was not me he looked at. "I don't know if I am as strong as my friend."

"Friend?" Kitto made it a question.

Rhys nodded.

"How can you say you are not as strong as me?" Kitto asked.

"I was the victim of the goblins who hurt me for a single night. Yet I have feared and hated all goblins for years. You have taught me that it was wrong. But I still don't know if I am strong enough to be in the room when Merry goes to the goblins tonight. I don't know if I can stand to be in the room and watch and guard her. You had years of… hurt, by the very goblins who will be here tonight. Yet you will give yourself to them to protect Merry. I say to you, Kitto, that is a kind of bravery that I do not have." His single beautiful eye shimmered in the dimness.

Kitto reached out and touched his arm. "You are brave. I have seen it."

Rhys shook his head and closed his eye. One lone tear trailed down his face, shining more than any human tear would have in the twilight of the room.

Kitto touched that single tear with one fingertip. He offered the trembling drop to me, but I shook my head. He raised it to his lips, and Rhys watched him lick his tear off of his finger. Tears were not as precious as blood and other fluids, but they were still gifts. I knew that sometimes the goblins tortured simply to gather tears.

The sidhe would make you cry, but they didn't value the tears.

"Can I join you?" Rhys asked, and I knew it wasn't me he was asking.

Kitto gazed into his face and finally nodded yes.



CHAPTER 18

RHYS'S CLOTHES AND WEAPONS ENDED IN A HEAP BY THE BED. Stripped, he was as amazing as ever. There were guards who had longer waists, or broader shoulders, but no one had the sculpted muscles in stomach, chest, arms, and legs that Rhys did. All of him was smooth and hard and strong.