“Kitto …”

“A goblin has no resistance to sidhe magic; of course he would be ensnared by her.”

“Kitto is also half sidhe and has come into his hand of power.”

She waved it away. “He was raised goblin; he will never be as sidhe as he is goblin.”

“Why should that make a difference to his magic resistance?” I asked.

“You were taught certain skills from childhood, skills that your little man was not.”

I slid to my feet, settling the skirt in place. “Don’t call him a little man.”

“Why not? He is the smallest of your men.”

“If you were sidhe, yes, but you’ve lived with the humans long enough to understand it’s an insult.”

“What do you mean, if I were sidhe?”

“If Kitto’s goblin upbringing undermines his ability to be sidhe, then a similar argument can be made that your centuries of exile out among the humans have made you more human than you would have been had you stayed in faerie as a member of the Seelie Court.”

“I was the goddess Conchenn; how dare you compare me to some sidhe-sided goblin?”

“The goblins are every bit as fey as any sidhe, and this attitude of looking down on them because they have no magic, when it is the sidhe that stole their magic in the first place, really is racist, and arrogant. It’s like an abusive spouse who blames his wife for not being able to walk gracefully, when he’s the one who broke her leg.”

“That is not a fair comparison, Meredith. The goblins and the sidhe were at war; they would have won had we not done the spell that took their magic.”

“So I’m told by both sides, but that was a very long time ago, Maeve, a very long time ago.”

“You weren’t there, Meredith; you didn’t see your friends die at their hands.”

“No, but I have seen that the sidhe-sided goblins do fine magic once they’re brought into their power.”

“Your goblin twin lovers, Holly and Ash, are quite frightening. That you’ve armed them with your hand of flesh and blood respectively makes them very dangerous.”

“I did not share my hands of power with them, it just happened to be their latent magic.”

“Are you sure of that?” she asked, and gave me a very direct look out of those famous blue eyes.

“Kitto’s hand of power isn’t one of mine.”

“He can bring people through a mirror even against their will; that is almost useless as a hand of power.”

“It helped him and Rhys kill the goblin who tormented both of them,” I said.

“His hand of power is so useless there is no name for it.”

“It’s incredibly rare, but it has a name: the hand of reaching,” I said.

“The hand of reaching allowed small armies to be brought through a reflective surface. Your goblin cannot do that.”

“Perhaps not, but the name is for the ability, not the degree of power.”

“It needs a new name, something grand,” she said.

I shrugged.

She frowned at me. She frowned a lot, actually; if she’d been human she’d have had frown lines by now, but she was sidhe and would never truly wrinkle. She could get some lines here and there, but she’d never have the lines of her unhappiness carved into her face like most people would.

“It’s not just me who thinks the twins have only inherited your own magic, Meredith, nor am I the only one who thinks Kitto’s hand of power is weak.”

“I know that,” I said, “but the others don’t say it to my face as much.”

“You are their ruler; they dare not speak their minds to you.”

“And you are Maeve Reed, the Golden Goddess of Hollywood, and you don’t plan on going back to faerie, even if Taranis lifted your exile.”

She looked startled for a second, and then smiled. “How did you know that? I wasn’t even certain myself until recently.”

“I may not be your ruler, but I try to be your friend, and friends notice things.”

She looked embarrassed then. “I am sorry, Meredith; I’ve been rude by human standards, and you’re right. I’ve been exiled long enough that human culture is more natural to me than any in faerie, so my apologies.”

“Please don’t treat Kitto as less than the others anymore. He is my lover and maybe one of the fathers of my children. I would ask that you respect him for that, if for no other reason.”

She gave a nod that was almost a bow, but not quite. “If you wish the goblins to be thought better of, then you do need to bring one into a power that isn’t one of yours, and is more impressive than mirror-whatever.”

“I’ve been discussing that with Doyle, Rhys, and the others. When I am able to have sex again, I will try to do just that.”

Maeve shuddered. “I honestly don’t know how you can have sex with Holly and Ash. Kitto, I sort of understand, he’s like this beautiful miniature man, and he’s kind to the point I’m amazed he survived among such a savage race, but the twins … they are savages, Meredith.”

“What they are, or are not, is my business. I’m not asking you to compromise your racial purity.”

She sighed and rolled her eyes. “I didn’t mean it like that, Meredith. You seem determined to take insult.”

“And you seem determined to give it.”

We stood there looking at each other, almost glaring at each other. I was tired of Maeve’s attitude issues. She hadn’t been like this before she went to Europe to make the last movie. I didn’t know if something had happened on the trip, or if it was something that had happened here, but something had changed, and not for the better.