«But you'll do what I want, won't you, Sage?»

«It would be my pleasure, Princess.» He gave a sweeping bow, then fluttered up, gave me a quick kiss on my mouth, and rose laughing into the air. «You'd be surprised how many sidhe women won't suck a man's dick.»

«You've been seducing too many Seelie sidhe,» I said.

He looked down at me, hovering on his stained-glass wings. «Maybe, or maybe too many things in the Unseelie Court have sharp teeth. A man's got to be careful where he puts himself, or he'll lose more than his virtue.»

«I don't bite,» I said.

He pouted. «Oh, too bad.»

I smiled at him. «Well, if you like it rough.»

He looked serious for a moment. «Up to a point, yes.»

«Show me the point.»

«Merry doesn't get your point until you've bespelled all three of us. What do we get if you fail?» Rhys asked.

«I will never again try to put my point on, or in, the princess.»

«Your word of honor?» Rhys said.

Sage put a hand over his heart and bowed in midair, a strangely graceful gesture. «My word of honor.»

I wanted to call it off then, because I knew Sage too well. He'd have never offered that particular wager unless he was sure. But before I could say anything, Rhys said, «Done.»

I sighed, then realized that, strangely, I was half hoping we lost. But whether we won or lost, I was going to talk to Doyle. Queen Andais had given me my guards to do with as I saw fit, but once I had a king, would she take them back? Would they lose the only opportunity they would have in the next millennium to touch themselves, to climb into a woman's mouth, to cover her body in seed? Taking them back, and cutting them off again, sounded like something Andais would do. She was a sadist, after all. If I put that as a possibility to Doyle, he might see things my way. If he didn't, I'd try it as an order. Though I didn't have much hope for that. Ordering the Darkness to do anything he didn't agree with usually meant he ignored me. Andais had said that the reason she never took Doyle to her bed was that if he got her pregnant, he wouldn't be content to be consort; he would have been king in more than just name, and she didn't share her power. I was beginning to see her point. Goddess help me, I was beginning to agree with my wicked aunt. That couldn't be good, could it?