it Andais who made it impossible for you to have his love? She would never have risked the two of you joining your power together."
"And now there is a queen of faerie who would have let you have all you desired, but it is too late," Rhys said quietly.
"Are you jealous of the closeness you see between Frost and Doyle?" I asked it with a careful, quiet voice.
"I am jealous of the power I see in the other men. That I will admit to, and the thought that without your touch I will never come back to my power is a hard thing." He made certain to give me eye contact, but his face was a mask of arrogance, beautiful and alien. It was a look that I'd seen him give Andais. It was his unreadable face, and he'd never had to use it on me before.
"You flooded every river around St. Louis when Merry and you had sex only in vision," Rhys said. "How much more power do you want?"
This time Barinthus looked away, and would not meet anyone's eyes. That was answer enough, I supposed.
It was Doyle who stepped forward a step or two, and said, "I understand wanting to have all the old power back, my friend."
"You have regained yours!" Barinthus yelled. "Don't try to soothe me when you stand there full to bursting with your own power."
"But it is not my old power, not completely. I still cannot heal as I did. I cannot do many things that I once could do."
Barinthus looked at Doyle then, and the anger in his eyes had turned them from happy blue to a black where the water runs deep and there are rocks just under the surface, ready to tear the hull of your boat and sink you.
There was a sudden splash against the side of the house. We were too far above the sea for the tide to find us, and it was the wrong time of day for it anyway. There was another slap of water, and this time I heard it smack into the huge windows of the master bathroom attached to this bedroom.
It was Galen who slid from the doorway and walked farther into the bathroom to check on the sound. There was another burst of water on the glass, and he came back, his face serious. "The sea is rising, but the water is like someone picked it up and threw it at the windows. It is actually separating from the sea, and seems to float for a moment before it hits."
"You must control your power, my friend," Doyle said, his deep voice going deeper with some strong emotion.
"Once I could have called the sea and washed this house into the water."
"Is that what you want to do?" I asked. I squeezed Frost's hand and then moved forward to stand with Doyle.
He looked at me then, and his face showed great anguish. His hands ground into fists at his side. "No, I would not wash away into the sea all we have gained, and I would never harm you, Merry. I would never dishonor Essus and all he tried to do by saving your life. You carry his grandchildren. I want to be here to see the babes born."
His unbound hair writhed around him, and where most hair seemed to blow in wind, there was something of liquid in the way his hair moved, as if here in this room somehow the currents below touched and played with his ankle-length hair. I was betting that his hair didn't tangle either.
The sea quieted outside, the noise drawing away until it was just the quiet hush of water on the narrow beach below. "I am sorry. I lost control of myself, and that is unforgivable. I, of all sidhe, know that such childish displays of power are pointless."
"And you want the Goddess to give you back more power?" Rhys asked.
Barinthus looked up and that flash of black water showed for a moment, then was swallowed into something calmer, more controlled. "I do. Wouldn't you? Oh, but I forgot, you have a sithen waiting for you, regained from the Goddess only last night." There was bitterness to his voice now, and the ocean sounded just a little rough, as if some great hand stirred it with an impatient hand.
"Maybe there's a reason the Goddess hasn't given you back more of your powers," said Galen.
We all looked at him. He leaned in the doorway looking serious but calm.
"You