into his mouth, perhaps to hide his actions from Taranis. I wasn't sure, and I did not care. The feel of his mouth was like a velvet glove around my flesh.
I let out a shaking breath -- and I could think again, a little. Doyle ran his fingers from the base of my skull to the top of my head, kneading along my scalp under my hair. What should have been terribly distracting cleared my mind.
"I have tried to be polite, Taranis, but you have been as blunt with your magic as I am about to be with my words. Why is it so important that you see me at all, let alone before Yule?"
"You are my kinswoman. I wish to renew our acquaintance. Yule is a time of coming together."
"You have barely acknowledged my existence most of my life. Why do you care to renew our relationship now?"
His power seemed to fill the room, as if I were trying to breathe something more solid than air. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't see. The world was narrowing down to light; light was everywhere.
A sharp pain brought me back so abruptly that I screamed. Kitto had bitten my leg like a dog trying to get my attention, but it had worked. I reached down and stroked his face. "This interview is over, Taranis. You are being unaccountably rude. No sidhe does this to another sidhe, only to the lesser fey."
Frost rose to his feet to blank the mirror, but Taranis said, "I have heard many rumors about you, Meredith. I wish to see for myself what you have become."
"What do you see, Taranis?" I asked.
"I see a woman where once there was a girl. I see a sidhe where once there was a lesser fey. I see many things, but some things will go unanswered until I see you in person. Come to me, Meredith, come and let us know one another."
"Truth between us, Taranis, I can barely function in the face of your power. You know it, and I know it. This is from a distance. I would be a fool to let you try this in person."
"I give you my word that I will not vex you in this manner if you will but come to my court before Yule."
"Why before Yule?"
"Why after Yule?" he countered.
"Because you seem to want it so badly, and that makes me suspicious of your motives."
"So, because I want a thing too much, you would deny me, just for the wanting of it."
"No. It is because you want a thing too much and seem willing to do anything within your power to get it that I fear your wanting of it."
Even through the golden mask I saw him frown. He wasn't following my logic, though it seemed clear enough to me. "You have frightened me, Taranis. It is as simple as that. I will not put myself in your grasp, not until you take some very serious oaths... that you will behave yourself around me and mine."
"If you will come before Yule, I will promise whatever you like."
"I will not come before Yule, and you will still promise whatever I like. Or I will not come at all."
He began to shine, his red hair glinting like hard blood. "You would defy me?"
"I cannot defy you because you have no power over me."
"I am Ard-Ri, the high king."
"No, Taranis, you are high king of the Seelie Court, as Andais is high queen of the Unseelie. But you are not my Ard-Ri. I am not of your court. You made that clear to me when I was younger."
"You would hold old grudges, Meredith, when I extend my hand in peace."
"I will not be swayed by pretty words, Taranis, or pretty sights. You nearly beat me to death once when I was a child. You cannot blame me for fearing you now, not when you went to such trouble to train me to fear you."
"That is not what I meant for you to learn," he said, without denying that he'd beaten me. At least that part was honest.
"What did you mean for me to learn, then?"
"Not to question your king."
I sank into the feel of Doyle's hands and mouth on the back of my neck, on Frost's tongue licking across my palm, on Kitto's teeth biting gently along my leg. "You are not my king, Taranis. Andais is my queen, and I have no king."
"You seek a king, Meredith, or so rumor says."
"I seek a father for