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 have no stake in this, boy. You don't remember what I lost."
"I don't, but I do know that the Goddess is wise, and she sees further into our hearts and minds than we do. If this is what you do with only part of your power back, how arrogant would you be with all of it back?"
Barinthus took a step toward him. "You have no right to judge me."
"He is father to my children as much as Doyle," I said. "He is a king to my queen as much as Doyle."
"He was not crowned by faerie and the gods themselves."
There was a knock on the door. It made me jump. Doyle called out, "Not now."
But the door opened, and it was Sholto, Lord of Shadows and That Which Passes Between, King of the Sluagh. He came in with his unbound hair, in a white-blond cloak over a black-and-silver tunic and boots.
He wasted a smile on me, and I got the full impact of his tricolored eyes: metallic gold around the pupil, then amber, then yellow like aspen leaves in the fall. His smile faded as he turned to the other men and said, "I heard you yelling, Sea Lord, and I have been crowned by faerie and the gods themselves. Does that make this fight more mine?"
Chapter Twenty-six
"I do not fear you, Sluagh Lord," Barinthus said, and again there was that angry sound from the sea outside.
Sholto's smile vanished completely, leaving his handsome face arrogant, starkly beautiful, and totally unfriendly. "You will," he said, and his voice held an edge of anger. There was a sparkle of gold as his eyes began to shine.
The sea outside slapped against the glass again, harder, angrier. It wasn't just that it was a bad idea for the men to duel; it was dangerous for all of us here by the sea. I couldn't believe that Barinthus, of all people, was behaving so badly. He'd been the voice of reason for centuries at the Unseelie Court, and now ... I'd missed some change in him, or maybe without Queen Andais, the Queen of Air and Darkness, to keep him in check, I was seeing the real him after all. That was a sad thought for me.
"Enough of this," Doyle said, "both of you."
Barinthus turned on Doyle, and said, "It is you who I'm angry at, Darkness. If you prefer to fight me yourself that will be fine."
"I thought you were mad at me, Barinthus," Galen said. That caught me off guard; I'd thought he would know better than to attract the big man's anger a second time.
Barinthus turned and looked at Galen, who was still in the bathroom doorway. The sea slapped against the windows behind him hard enough to shake them. "You didn't betray everything by refusing the crown, but if you want a piece of this fight, you may have it."
Galen gave a small smile, and moved away from the doorway. "If the Goddess had given me a choice between the throne and Frost's life, I would have chosen his life, just as Doyle did."
My stomach tightened at his words. Then I realized that Galen was baiting Barinthus, and the anxiety went away. I felt suddenly calmer, almost happy. It was such an abrupt change of mood I knew it wasn't me. I looked at Galen walking slowly toward Barinthus, his hand out almost as if he was offering to shake hands. Oh, my Goddess, he was doing magic on us all, and he was one of the few who could have because much of his magic showed no outward sign. He didn't glow, or shimmer, or be anything but pleasant, and you just felt like being pleasant back.
Barinthus didn't threaten again as Galen moved slowly, carefully, smiling, hand out toward the other man.
"Then you are a fool, too," Barinthus said, but the rage in his voice was less, and the next slap of ocean against the windows was also less. It didn't rattle the windows this time.
"We all love Merry," Galen said, still moving gently forward, "don't we?"
Barinthus frowned, clearly puzzled. "Of course I love Meredith."
"Then we're all on the same side, aren't we?"
Barinthus frowned harder, but finally gave a small nod. "Yes." That one word was low, but clear.
Galen was almost to him, his hand almost touching his arm, and I knew that if his glamour was working this well from a distance, that one touch would calm the whole situation. There'd be no fight if that hand once touched that arm. Even knowing what was happening didn't completely nullify the effects of Galen's charm, and I was just getting the backwash of it. Most of it was concentrated on Barinthus. Galen was willing him to calm down. He was willing him to be friends.
A scream sounded from outside the room, but it was inside the house. The scream was high pitched and terror filled. Galen's glamour was like most; it shattered with the scream and the adrenaline rush as everyone went for weapons. I owned guns, but hadn't packed one for the beach. It wouldn't have mattered, because Doyle pushed me to the floor on the far side of the bed, and ordered Galen to stay with me. He, of course, would go for the scream.