Fear poured over me again, and the fresh memories of holding Sholto’s body on the beach. I didn’t think I could bear seeing Doyle dead. I admitted to myself that I would not grieve Mistral as much, but I remembered the moment on the battlefield when I’d thought my cousin Cel had killed Doyle. If I left them, then Doyle would still have Frost; they would not be alone, but I would be. I would be worse than alone.

“One kiss, Meredith, one willing kiss, for the lives of two of your lovers, is that so much to ask?”

“No, not if it were just one kiss, but if I give you a kiss, uncle dearest, then what happens next?”

“I kiss you back, of course.”

“I am not stupid, uncle; if I kiss you willingly, what does the spell do?”

“You will no longer be afraid; you will be safe and happy in my arms.”

“But for it to work you must win a kiss from me.” I laughed, I couldn’t help it. “You need to ‘Kiss the Girl,’” I said.

“Yes, I suppose I do need to kiss the girl.”

“No, uncle, I’m quoting a movie that you’ve never seen.”

“I do not know what you are talking about, Meredith. The assassins are even now in place, and I promise you they will strike, as they did this morning for your shadow lord.”

“You don’t even know there was a movie of ‘The Little Mermaid,’ do you?”

“I have read the story by Hans Christian Andersen, if that’s what you mean.”

“Yes, that is what I mean. I forgot the Seelie Court enjoys reading fairy tales, and laughing at how wrong the humans get things.”

“It would be a shame if you kissed me too late to save them, Meredith. I can only offer their safety for a little while, and then the assassins will do their jobs and it will be too late.”

“They made a movie of the story. They made a movie of ‘The Little Mermaid,’ and there was a song in it called ‘Kiss the Girl.’”

“What does it matter, Meredith? Why this delay, do you want them dead?”

“You don’t understand. By killing Sholto you put them all on alert, and I trust my men, and the human guards, and the human police, to fight.”

“It will not be a fight, Meredith, any more than Sholto had a chance to fight.”

“What of my babies? What happens to them if I let you bespell me?”

He settled his weight more firmly against me, one knee between my legs. “They are our babies, Meredith. They will come with you to the Seelie Court. They will be princesses and prince here with us.”

“You’ll never take them to a Disney movie, or read them a fairy tale without showing your disdain for the human who wrote it. You won’t love them.”

“I will love them, as I love you, Meredith.”

“You don’t love me!” I yelled it at the floor, the echo of my own voice strident in my ears.

“I love you, Meredith.”

“Swear it, swear that you love me truly, swear it by the Darkness That Eats All Things; swear that oath, uncle, and I may give you your willing kiss.”

“That is an Unseelie oath, and I will not utter it.”

“It is an oath that will hunt you down and destroy you if you break it. The only reason not to take such an oath is that you know you do not love me.”

“You will love me, Meredith. You will adore me. Our children will see us as a devoted couple.”

“You are not their father! The genetic tests will come back in a few weeks and that will prove that I was pregnant before you forced yourself on me. The tests will prove that you are a ra**st, a liar, and infertile, and I will do everything I can to get you convicted of my rape. I will plaster it across the human media, that the great King of the Seelie is so insecure that he has to beat and rape rather than seduce.”

“You won’t; you will drop the charges against me, Meredith. You will tell everyone that you came to me willingly, Meredith.”

Of course I would; he was right, of course.

“You will tell the newspapers and the television that the Unseelie kept you prisoner and it was only when Shadowspawn, Darkness, and Storm were dead that you felt safe enough to escape to the Seelie Court with your babies.”

“You always go too far, uncle,” I said. “You almost have me under your spell, and then you say something that is so outrageous that even your magic can’t make me believe it. You are evil, uncle, did you know that?”

He got both of his legs inside mine, and only the dress with all its layers of petticoats kept him from pressing closer, but even through all the clothing I could feel him against me. I had to swallow past the lump in my throat. I prayed to Goddess that he would not touch me again.

“Do you feel that, Meredith?”

“I don’t know what you mean, uncle.” It was a lie, but I was not going to play along.

He ground himself in against my ass. “Do you feel me now, Meredith?”

“Yes,” I whispered.

“I dressed you for this dream, Meredith; I can just as easily undress you with a thought.”

“Don’t.”

“Kiss me, Meredith, and then you will want me to, and it will not be rape.”

“Lust magic is the same as date-rape drugs in human courts, Uncle Taranis. Even if you bespell me, humans have forensic wizards who specialize in understanding spells like this; I have too many friends among the human police. They won’t believe that I was willing. Even if you win this moment, the police will free me of your spell eventually, and when they do, you will be jailed, or exiled from this country.”