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"No," I said

"The goblins are not taain

"No, but the goblins are honorable and do not break their rules," I said

"Is it true that the queen tried to kill you when you were a child?" Ash asked

I nodded again "It is"

"So you were truly safer here with us than with your own kind," Ash said

"With the goblins and with the sluagh"

Holly laughed, a harsh, unpleasant sound "You were safer with us, and with the nightmares of faerie than with the pretty sidhe I find that hard to believe"

"The sluagh, like the goblins, have laws and rules and they abide by theht those ways totoday"

"You have bargained most carefully, Princess," Ash said, and there was no lust when he said it, though it was sex we&039;d been bargaining over No, there was respect in his face, in his eyes I&039;d earned that respect

"I am not surprised to see Frost, for lately he is half of your constant companions, but it is not usually Rhys who holds your other hand," Ash said

"Where is the Darkness?" Holly asked

"Yes, Princess, he has become like your shadow," Ash said "But today you have only Frost and Rhys by your side And it is well known that Rhys does not like goblin flesh," Ash said He estive

Rhys tensed besideto my shoulder, but otherwise he held his temper

Did they know that we had been attacked? If they did knoould they see it as an insult if we didn&039;t tell theoblins were our allies, but not our friends

"If the goblins are your allies," Ash said, "then should you have secrets from them?"

They knew Iso fast in faerie?"

"There are those aoblins atch the hu out of a huave it no credit, but now he is ain, where is your Darkness?"

"He is healing"

"But injured," Ash said He seeht not to lick my lips or show some other nervous habit I spoke srave for him to leave your side," Ash said

"Darkness in a wheelchair like an invalid," Holly said "I never thought I would see such a sha care of an injury aoblin so badly injured would either take his own life or others would take it for hioblin," I said, "for I injure all too easily" I&039;d mentioned my frailty on purpose I hoped to turn their attention froht Ash and Holly had never been with a human They had never been with anyone who could be injured so easily, and death, true death, by accident, with no coldAsh and Holly both hoped that I could bring theic as I had others But it wasn&039;t hunger for power that filled Holly&039;s face with eagerness It was hunger of a very different kind

Ash&039;s face reht up in his brother&039;s lust Holly would be the one who ht lose control and hurt me by accident, but it was Ash ould hurt hts and a little ic in hi, would do well to watch hioblins do not inherit their throne They take it by force of ar live the king

"I will not be distracted, Princess," Ash said "Not even by your white flesh"

"Aoblins liked their partners either bold as brass or demure I wasn&039;t capable of their level of boldness, so deh "You know exactly what you represent to us, Princess"

Holly stepped close to the mirror so that his handsome face filled more of the view There was no distortion as with a calass only separated one part of a roolass He looked atin his eyes beyond sex

I shivered and looked away froh this glass," he said in a voice gone low and rough with need

Frost moved closer to me Rhys put his ar with goblins, and they would use it against us

"We agreed to Darkness and one other watching our fucking," Ash said "But he is injured, so I say we have no audience"

"No," I said, voice soft

"Then all our negotiations must be redone," Ash said

Frost started to say so, but I touched his aric, back to the goblins You have a chance to be in the running for king of the Unseelie Court You will not pass up such power because Doyle is too injured to watch us fuck You will allow uard ht"

"We do not take orders from the sidhe," Holly said

"This is not an order This is simply the truth" I looked at Ash, as deeper into the rooiven you our word, Princess," Holly said "The goblins, unlike the sidhe, keep their word We will do only what has been bargained for, nothing ree to"

"The guards will be there to see that in the et carried away, but they will also be there for another reason," I said

"And ould that be?" Ash asked

"To make certain that I do not lose myself to the moment"

"Lose yourself," Holly said "What does that ained that you would do nothing I did not agree to, or ask for I fear that I s that my body cannot survive"

"What?" Holly asked, frowning

"She&039;s saying that she likes to be hurt, and she e her," Ash said

"Lying sidhe," Holly said

"I swear to you that I do not lie I uards to keep me safe froh to make it shake on his end

It made me jump "You are afraid of us," he said "The sidhe do not crave that which they fear"

"I cannot speak for anyone but myself"

"Do you want ave hiaze, full on, and let him see the truth "Oh, yes"