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married to Nicky.
Green nodded ruefully. "So do I," he replied. Then: "Can I tell you how proud
I am, about how you handled that?
I looked away, embarrassed. "We have to take care of our own," I mumbled. "You
wouldn't let him pine away and die I couldn't. Anyway," I added, "it's the
least I could do after all the other ways I screwed up.
He kissed my forehead. "And what ways would those be? he asked.
"I got sick. I almost killed everybody I loved." I gave a half laugh. "I just
flunked out of school!
Green's eyes grew hard. "No you didn't, he said flatly.
"Aren't I supposed to be taking finals right now?" I asked in surprise.
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"You took your finals. You passed, he said, his face implacable.
"Green& " I protested, and for the first time ever, I saw that he was angry,
really angry, with me.
"You passed your finals, he said fiercely. "You won't take those classes over
again. You won't ever take that many classes again. And we won't talk about
this again.
"Green&  I said again, but this time I was hurt. He had never been angry with
me before.
"You were punishing yourself, he said, still angry. "You were punishing
yourself with work, with leaving, and I didn't see it." His eyes, every shade
of green, turned towards me, and, in spite of his great age, and his
agelessness, he looked very young. "You were worn down before Nicky attacked
you. You were exhausted. You were weak everything that happened afterward
happened because you've forgotten what it's like to live, and live happily.
That won't happen again." He looked away for a moment, and I lay quietly, in
his arms, as he tightened his muscles as though to get up.
"I didn't earn my grades," I insisted, still hurt, but unwilling to be afraid
of his anger. He loved me. I knew this. What was fear?
Green swore, rudely, succinctly, with heat. "Tell me, Cory," He said after,
"I've seen your courses a business computer course and six poly sci or
European History classes what exactly you are training yourself to be?
I flushed, even laying next to him, neither of us in the mood for anything
resembling love making, and then I mumbled an answer.
"What was that?" He demanded, grasping my chin and making me look him in the
eyes.
"Your Queen, I said, not feeling this hostile since I wore 20 earrings and a
black-Goth hair cut. "I'm training to be your Queen.
He nodded, still looking bad tempered. "Well, Corinne Carol Anne, you've just
fought to save the memory of my people, fought ferociously to save an ally's
entire court, and agreed to bed a young man that you are not in love with
simply because he's one of ours and you will not let him die. I'd say you aced
your goddamned final, wouldn't you?
I flushed even more, feeling foolish. "So what're Nicky and Renny studying
for?" I asked acerbically, not willing to concede just yet. But I'd lost Green
knew it, and he replied with the kind laughter crinkles in the corners of his
eyes.
"They're studying to be your subjects, luvie I'd say they passed with flying
colors, yes?
"Fair enough," I begrudged, only, I told myself, because I wanted to see that
smile lurking in his eyes blossom. Goddess, did I need the healing of that
smile.
I was denied. "No, not fair, he said quietly. "Nothing about your first year
with us has been fair.
I had no answer for him, and one agenda. Smile at me, Green, please smile at
me. "Did I really make a hotel?" I asked, out of the blue.
And that did it. "It's a five star masterpiece, he said, beaming wearily at
me.
"We'll have to stay there some day," I told him. "After the sprites fix up the
honeymoon suite.
"We'll make it a priority," he agreed, then, still chuckling.
"Thank you, I murmured.
"For what?
"Smiling at me.
He nodded. "It was the least I could do." He waited a beat. "I have to leave
for a couple of days. Will you be okay?
No. No, I would not be okay. I needed him. "What happened?" I asked instead.
Green sat up in bed and sighed, leaving me, still weak and struggling, prone
and helpless. "Attacks at home, he said bluntly, and I was so surprised I
struggled to sit up. He put a firm hand on my chest and waggled a finger at
me. "No one's been hurt on our side at least," he told me, and I relaxed
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against the piled pillows.
"Their side?
"We've captured five, with one casualty. The mate of one of the captured
Avians. Arturo is afraid they will die in captivity, and he doesn't know what
to do with them.
The unsaid hit me that Arturo would have killed them immediately, but he knew
Green wouldn't agree to that at all. Green was needed. Green knew how to make
people want to live. "You have to go, I said unwillingly. I'd been training
to be a Queen, right? Well, Guinevere had been unable to let Arthur go. I had
to be able to do better than that.
"I'll leave Launcelot here to champion you, Green said wryly, and I told him
to stay out of my head he only laughed. Then I told him to take Nicky, and he
agreed.
"And Officer Max will drive us up his vacation is up at the end of this week,
anyway he needs to go back to work.
"He needs to change his job, I said thoughtfully. The reason Max and I had
never been an item is because he'd been more cop than hero. I'd guess that his
steadfastness in the last few days now made him more hero than cop.
"Very probably," Green agreed. "And I've let him know that if he does, we have
a place for him. But for now& 
"For now, he'd probably like to get out of the place where the pigeons
shitting on your car really do have it in for you," I finished dryly.
"Indeed," Green murmured, sitting back down on the bed again. I could feel it
coming on nappy time. I felt like such a loser, having to fall asleep every
fifteen minutes. I realized that I had lost track of the day again.
"Wednesday morning, Green said gently when I asked. "I should be back by
Friday evening, Saturday morning at the latest.
"So Grace stays here?" I asked. Poor Grace I'm sure she missed Arturo.
"And Renny." Green nodded. "And to baby sit the lot of you, Andres will be
here in the evenings.
To my absolute horror, I blushed, and Green laughed at me outright. "It's not
funny," I groused, mortified. "He's seen me helpless he held me as I slept,
and all I know about him is he's got a very sexy accent and good manners I
couldn't even pick him out of a line-up!
"You're right, of course," he answered gently, "But that's not why I'm
laughing." He took one of my fretful hands, as it twisted my grandmother's
quilt someone must have mailed it here for me, because, as I remembered, I'd
left it at Green's. "I'm laughing, because you're thinking that you'll
probably have to sleep with him too and you want to say no but you don't know
how.
This wasn't helping the blush, and I said so.
"Look, luv," He told me kindly, "I'm not denying that the man would like to be
your lover, but he very much understands that you're spoken for.
"Boy howdy, am I," I retorted, and Green laughed again. And because I'd made
him my other college course for the last seven months, I saw the sadness
behind the laugh, and I finally realized that for all of what he believed,
about monogamy and love and the Goddess, that it had not been easy on him to
decide that we would live like this. Without another word I took the hand that
held mine and kissed it gently.
"Ou'e'hm, I said, hoping that was right.
For once, it was Green who looked raw and vulnerable and distraught, and it
was all I could do not to take it back, when I had said it for comfort.
"Thank you, he said after a moment. A single tear rolled from his cheek to my [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]