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A Lick Of Frost :: Гамильтон Лорел
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"So why?" I asked.
"Why did your father not choose me?" he asked.
I nodded.
Kitto slipped out of the bed. "This is sidhe business."
"Stay," Rhys said.
Kitto hesitated.
"Prince Essus told me that there was enough death in your life. He wanted you paired with someone whose magic was about life."
"Griffin's magic was beauty and sex."
"It complemented what your father hoped you would grow into magically." Rhys played with the edge of my hair. "He was right."
"If you were goblin," Kitto said, "beauty and sex would be useless. It would condemn you to be a slave to someone stronger and more able to fight. Your powers, Rhys, they would be valued above such soft things."
"Essus wanted something softer for his daughter," Rhys said.
"He would never have chosen Doyle, would he?" I asked.
"It would never have occurred to him that the queen's Darkness could ever be parted from her side. But no, I think if I was too harsh for his daughter to marry, then Doyle would have been out too."
"I hadn't thought about who my father might have chosen for me among my guards."
"Hadn't you?" he asked.
"No."
Kitto had picked his jeans up off the floor where he'd let them fall. "I will leave you two to talk."
"Stay," Rhys said. "Help me understand why it's you Merry comes to when she wants to relax. I'm not her heart's desire. I'm not even the one who makes her heart beat fast by a feather's touch. I need to find a place in her life, too. Help teach me how to be something new."
"I will not teach you my place, for you will replace me."
"I will never be as undemanding of Merry as you are. I have neither the personality nor the patience. But teach me to be a little less pressure so that she might turn to me for something."
"Oh, Rhys," I said.
He shook his head, sending all that curly white hair sliding around his shoulders. "You like me. You've always liked me. You enjoy sex with me, but you do not burn for me. Strangely, you burn for colder things even than my powers."
"I am Unseelie sidhe."
"You are also Seelie sidhe."
"I am part that, yes, but I am also part human, and part brownie. But if you pushed me to name myself, what I am, I am Unseelie."
He smiled, a sad sort of smile. "I know that."
"Andais accused me of remaking the Unseelie court into a mirror of the Seelie. I am not doing it on purpose.
"So why?" I asked.
"Why did your father not choose me?" he asked.
I nodded.
Kitto slipped out of the bed. "This is sidhe business."
"Stay," Rhys said.
Kitto hesitated.
"Prince Essus told me that there was enough death in your life. He wanted you paired with someone whose magic was about life."
"Griffin's magic was beauty and sex."
"It complemented what your father hoped you would grow into magically." Rhys played with the edge of my hair. "He was right."
"If you were goblin," Kitto said, "beauty and sex would be useless. It would condemn you to be a slave to someone stronger and more able to fight. Your powers, Rhys, they would be valued above such soft things."
"Essus wanted something softer for his daughter," Rhys said.
"He would never have chosen Doyle, would he?" I asked.
"It would never have occurred to him that the queen's Darkness could ever be parted from her side. But no, I think if I was too harsh for his daughter to marry, then Doyle would have been out too."
"I hadn't thought about who my father might have chosen for me among my guards."
"Hadn't you?" he asked.
"No."
Kitto had picked his jeans up off the floor where he'd let them fall. "I will leave you two to talk."
"Stay," Rhys said. "Help me understand why it's you Merry comes to when she wants to relax. I'm not her heart's desire. I'm not even the one who makes her heart beat fast by a feather's touch. I need to find a place in her life, too. Help teach me how to be something new."
"I will not teach you my place, for you will replace me."
"I will never be as undemanding of Merry as you are. I have neither the personality nor the patience. But teach me to be a little less pressure so that she might turn to me for something."
"Oh, Rhys," I said.
He shook his head, sending all that curly white hair sliding around his shoulders. "You like me. You've always liked me. You enjoy sex with me, but you do not burn for me. Strangely, you burn for colder things even than my powers."
"I am Unseelie sidhe."
"You are also Seelie sidhe."
"I am part that, yes, but I am also part human, and part brownie. But if you pushed me to name myself, what I am, I am Unseelie."
He smiled, a sad sort of smile. "I know that."
"Andais accused me of remaking the Unseelie court into a mirror of the Seelie. I am not doing it on purpose.