small, but bear in mind that the Unseelie demi-fey drink blood as well as nectar. Sidhe blood is sweet to them, and royal sidhe is sweeter still. Queen Andais had once chained Galen down and given him over to those tiny mouths. Prince Cel had paid their queen, Niceven, to take more flesh than Andais had ordered. The experience had given Galen what amounted to a phobia of them. Ironically, the demi-fey liked the feel of his magic, and would hover around him in butterfly-colored clouds, but they'd learned not to touch him without asking. Penny settled onto his shoulder in her little robe, one hand in the deep green of his curls. Galen had begun to trust Penny.
Rhys had so many of the smaller fey on his shoulders, giggling under his hair, that they looked like children peeking out from between drapes, or leaves, like a storybook. That made me think of our two murder scenes, and it was as if the sunlight were a little dimmer.
"You're sad suddenly," Royal said near my face. "What did you think of just now, our Merry?"
It was always tempting to turn your head when one of them talked, but when they were sitting on your shoulder, turning your head completely knocked them off, so you had to turn just enough to meet those dark almond-shaped eyes, but not as much as I would have if he'd been standing beside me.
"Am I so easily read, Royal?"
"You gave me wings. You gave me magic. I pay attention to you, my Merry."
That made me smile. The smile made him move in against my face so that his body curved into the line of my cheek, tucking his thighs underneath my chin. His small arm went wide around my cheek so that his bare upper body was pressed against my face, and that would have been all right. I might have been able to enjoy the hug - and if most people had been watching they would have seen it as innocent comfort, like being hugged by a child - but I knew better. And if I'd had any doubts, his face was now very close to my eye and there was nothing innocent in his handsome miniature face. No, it was a very grown-up look on a face not much bigger than my thumb.
I would have been okay with that, but it was Royal, and he had to push it. His body tucked a little too close to the line of my jaw, and I could feel that he was happy to be pressed against me.
It was considered a compliment among the fey if just being close to someone aroused you, but ... "I'm glad to see you, too, Royal, but now that you've paid the compliment, a little breathing room, please."
"You should come play with us, Merry. I promise it would be fun."
"I appreciate the possibilities, Royal, but I don't think so," I said.
He pressed himself more tightly against me, putting a little hip into the hug.
"Stop that, Royal," I said.
"If you'd let me use my glamour it wouldn't disturb you. It would entrance you." And his voice held that edge of sultry bass that only a larger body with the deep chest to match should have given him. What few outside faerie realized was that some of the demi-fey had the most glamour of us all. I knew from experience that Royal could make me think he was a full-sized lover, and that his glamour could bring me to orgasm with very little effort. It was a gift, his talent.
"I forbid you that," I said.
He kissed the side of my face but he did move his lower body enough that I wasn't quite so aware that he was there. "I wish you hadn't forbid it."
Galen called from the door. "Are you coming inside?" He was frowning a little. I wondered how long I'd been standing there talking to Royal.
"You may not use your glamour but you've distracted me again," I said.
"The fact that I distract you isn't glamour, my goddess of white and red."
"Then what is it?" I asked, tired of the games.
He smiled, obviously pleased with himself. "Your magic calls to mine. We are both creatures of warmth and lust."
I frowned at him.
Sholto loomed over me, and certainly over Royal. "I do not think the princess is a creature of any kind, little man." The flock of tiny fey in his ponytail stopped playing hide-and-seek in his long fall of hair, as