Chapter 7 begins with Doyle bursting into the bedroom at a run, his gun in his hand. Rhys quickly follows him in and is also brandishing his gun. Then Nicca runs into the room and nearly crashes into Rhys. What the hell are they running for? Apparently they all felt the magic that Maeve/Merry created and felt it “go bad”.
Dudes, the magic “went bad” like ten minutes ago, where the fuck were you?
They all instantly calm when they realize that nothing is going on. Doyle moves over by the bed, and Merry realizes he’s wet from the waist down. She thinks that he must have been wading in the pool IN HIS CLOTHES, but then when she realizes that he doesn’t smell of chlorine, she remembers that he was helping Kitto clean up after the goblin-slaying. I love this. I love that our super intelligent main character immediately thinks the DUMBEST THING EVER before realizing what had happened.
So Merry asks how Kitto is, and Doyle tells her that he’s doing okay, and then asks how she’s doing. Merry’s unsure, so Doyle goes out to talk to Maeve about what happened. Galen goes to sit with Merry, and he still won’t touch her, so she asks him why he’s avoiding her touch.
He smiled down at me, but his hands were clasped in his lap. “Believe me, it’s hard not to, but you touched Maeve and this major goddess energy came down, then Frost grabbed you to stop Maeve from using you, and it happened again, with him.”
“Maeve using me?”
“We thought she’d called out her major-goddess-seductive powers on you. It wasn’t until Frost used his power to break what we thought was her hold on you that we realized something else was happening.” He started to reach out to touch my arm, then put his hands back in his lap. “I can feel how badly you need comforting, and Consort knows I want to hold you right now, but I’m afraid that if I touch you, it’ll happen again.”
“Maeve using me?”
“We thought she’d called out her major-goddess-seductive powers on you. It wasn’t until Frost used his power to break what we thought was her hold on you that we realized something else was happening.” He started to reach out to touch my arm, then put his hands back in his lap. “I can feel how badly you need comforting, and Consort knows I want to hold you right now, but I’m afraid that if I touch you, it’ll happen again.”
Galen, you’re one of the youngest and also weakest of the sidhe, I doubt you’re in any danger of bringing on Merry’s goddess-powers.
Merry doesn’t buy it. Both Maeve, who WAS ONCE A GODDAMN GODDESS HERSELF, and Frost have told Merry what has happened, and Merry is like “nope, can’t be true!” She thinks that because she’s a mere mortal, she couldn’t possibly have brought anyone into their godhead, that the logic doesn’t work out. Because everything about Faerie and this series has followed logic, right? After a page or so of what Nicca is wearing, he finally asks Merry how she’s doing, because we didn’t JUST HAVE ANOTHER CHARACTER ASKING HER THIS PAGES AGO. LKH’s character interactions are just so illogical it’s hilarious.
Doyle eventually calls Galen over to him so that Galen can tell him his side of what happened, so now Nicca comes over to keep Merry so silly. Anyway, before we get pages and pages of redundant conversation between Nicca and Merry, Doyle breaks up the party and has apparently solved the great mystery of what exactly happened.
Or not really, he’s more like “I think I know what happened, but I need to test it out to be sure.” Cool.
“Maeve believes that you have reawakened the true magic within her – her godhead, for lack of a better term. She was once a goddess in truth, so you have only returned what was lost. But Frost was not a deity, and to him you have given powers that never flowed within his body.” He managed to look grim without ever having changed expression.
“She told me the theory. She even mentioned a goddess name to go along with it, but Doyle, I am not Danu. I am so not a deity. How could it possibly be true?”
“When we fought the Nameless and it spilled wild magic on all of us, I believed there were powers that needed a goddess-shaped vessel to hold them. Maeve had been taken to safety by the time the fight ended. You were the only goddess-shaped vessel, Meredith. You were the closest the power could find to what it needed.”
“She told me the theory. She even mentioned a goddess name to go along with it, but Doyle, I am not Danu. I am so not a deity. How could it possibly be true?”
“When we fought the Nameless and it spilled wild magic on all of us, I believed there were powers that needed a goddess-shaped vessel to hold them. Maeve had been taken to safety by the time the fight ended. You were the only goddess-shaped vessel, Meredith. You were the closest the power could find to what it needed.”
Ahh, so Merry only gained extra powers because she was the only literal vagina on site. Instead of all the figurative vaginas that are her guard. Got it.
So Merry decides she wants to sit up (she had been laying on her back this entire time for some reason?), and Nicca instinctively goes to help her up. He touches her and there’s no big release of power, so they all assume everything is fine now. Doyle orders Maeve to go touch Merry, and again nothing happens. They all, then, touch Merry and it’s fine. Doyle then asks Rhys if he thinks he’ll be able to fuck Merry tonight (it’s his turn on the sex calendar, after all!) and have it not be a thing of power, and Rhys BALLS HIS HAND UP IN A FIST LIKE HE’S GOING TO PUNCH DOYLE. Hahaha. But then he calms down and tells Doyle that, no, he doesn’t think he’ll be able to have sex with Merry without power involved.
“None of us can be with her without it being a thing of power, Rhys. We must know now, while there are more of us to help, if our magic will bring this on again. Whatever it is.”
“I have told you what it is, Doyle,” Maeve said. “Why will none of you believe me?”
“I do not doubt you, Maeve, but godhead was always given as a gift, something earned. It was not accidental. Meredith did not bring this upon you and Frost deliberately.” He looked at me, and raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t, did you?”
“It would never have occurred to me to try,” I said.
He turned back to Maeve, as if that satisfied him. “We must understand what brought this on, because we cannot afford to lose Meredith, even if it made the rest of us gods on high.”
“Well then, you’re going about it wrong,” Maeve said.
“I have told you what it is, Doyle,” Maeve said. “Why will none of you believe me?”
“I do not doubt you, Maeve, but godhead was always given as a gift, something earned. It was not accidental. Meredith did not bring this upon you and Frost deliberately.” He looked at me, and raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t, did you?”
“It would never have occurred to me to try,” I said.
He turned back to Maeve, as if that satisfied him. “We must understand what brought this on, because we cannot afford to lose Meredith, even if it made the rest of us gods on high.”
“Well then, you’re going about it wrong,” Maeve said.
Doyle then glares at Maeve like “bitch, watch what you say to me” and Maeve just brushes it off because she’s, again, a goddamn goddess. Maeve continues to explain that Danu’s power didn’t come through Merry until they kissed, and Merry tells them to stop using Danu’s name. It apparently creeps her out that Danu used her as a vessel of her power, especially since the power almost killed her.
Maeve’s face looked suddenly solemn. “Yes, and it would have been my fault.”
“No,” I said.
“I played you with my magic, Merry. I tried to seduce you because all the men keep turning me down for you.” She kissed the top of my head. “I thought, If you can’t beat them, join them.” She hugged me tight enough that I couldn’t see her face when she said, “I want sidhe flesh, Merry. I want a glow to match my own to throw shadows on the walls in the dark.” Her voice was fierce.
“Will you settle for a kiss?” I offered, my voice muffled against her shoulder.
She leaned back enough to show me a smile. “If it comes with magic, yes.”
“No,” I said.
“I played you with my magic, Merry. I tried to seduce you because all the men keep turning me down for you.” She kissed the top of my head. “I thought, If you can’t beat them, join them.” She hugged me tight enough that I couldn’t see her face when she said, “I want sidhe flesh, Merry. I want a glow to match my own to throw shadows on the walls in the dark.” Her voice was fierce.
“Will you settle for a kiss?” I offered, my voice muffled against her shoulder.
She leaned back enough to show me a smile. “If it comes with magic, yes.”
Doyle then realizes that Frost’s god-power must have manifested with a kiss from Merry, and so he sends Galen and Nicca to go find Frost. Rhys jokes that Doyle must not want Frost to “miss the show”, meaning Maeve and Merry kissing, and Merry gets all emotional about how ugly she is compared to Maeve because she’s so human.
“Why do you think our men have been stealing human women away for centuries? Because they’re ugly?” She shook her head, and there was a soft chiding in her face. “Merry, Merry, know your worth.” That gold light began to pulse inside her skin, as if someone had lit a candle deep within her and the light was growing closer, flowing through her body, until she glowed like the sun stretched inside her skin. The power shivered over me, sped my pulse, brought my own pale light gloaming through my skin so that I rose moon to her sun.
Her hair began to move in the wind, that warm wind. Her eyes filled with light, and again it was like staring into the heart of a spring storm, flashing with lightning, ripping the heavens apart, but instead of rain, it was her power that fell upon me. I turned my face up to that power as if it truly would rain down upon me.
Her hands curved over my bare skin, as if the bathing suit wasn’t there. She held me in her arms, and I went willingly, my own hands sliding up the warm skin of her bare arms. It seemed wrong that she wore so many clothes. We needed to touch more skin than this. I realized that I was sensing Maeve’s skin-hunger. Her need for sidhe flesh to cover her own. I remembered the hunger all too well, and it had only been satisfied for me four months back. So long, so lonely. I couldn’t tell if it was my feelings or hers, and I knew that that was part of her magic. To project her needs and make them my own.
Her hair began to move in the wind, that warm wind. Her eyes filled with light, and again it was like staring into the heart of a spring storm, flashing with lightning, ripping the heavens apart, but instead of rain, it was her power that fell upon me. I turned my face up to that power as if it truly would rain down upon me.
Her hands curved over my bare skin, as if the bathing suit wasn’t there. She held me in her arms, and I went willingly, my own hands sliding up the warm skin of her bare arms. It seemed wrong that she wore so many clothes. We needed to touch more skin than this. I realized that I was sensing Maeve’s skin-hunger. Her need for sidhe flesh to cover her own. I remembered the hunger all too well, and it had only been satisfied for me four months back. So long, so lonely. I couldn’t tell if it was my feelings or hers, and I knew that that was part of her magic. To project her needs and make them my own.
AND WE FINALLY HAVE A TIME-FRAME. Book one happened in October-ish. Book two happened in December. It is fucking JANUARY or so, and Maeve’s fucking movie studio was pissed that she couldn’t film nude scenes because SHE’D BE SHOWING? SHE’S BEEN PREGNANT A MONTH. ARGH.
Anyway, Merry then starts ripping Maeve’s clothes off and they start caressing one another, their skin starts glowing, and other stupid sidhe sex crap. LKH almost NEVER has any same-sex sex scenes in her books. As gay-friendly as she projects herself as, she doesn’t portray it at all in her books. In the Anita Blake series, it wasn’t until only recently that she started adding a little bit of same-sex stuff. She picked up a female lion lover, or whatever, and she FINALLY let her two main vampire lovers, Jean Claude and Asher, who had been lovers for CENTURIES in the past, fuck. And you better believe that there were CHAPTERS OF FUCKING DISCUSSING THE GAY SEX BEFORE IT HAPPENED.
They finally start making out.
She lowered her head, and I waited, waited until our mouths touched, then I caressed my hands upward over the mounds of her breasts. She pressed her mouth harder against mine, and the kiss became something deep and urgent, then my hands slid to the hardness of her nipples, and it was as if the world exploded. Power rocked us backward onto the bed so that she fell on top of me and my hands were locked on her breasts, as if I’d put my hands on a live wire and now couldn’t get free.
Part of me didn’t want free Part of me wanted to sink into the golden glow of her, and be lost. She rose above me, quivering, shrieking, jerking against my hands where they seemed melded to her flesh. She ground her hips against mine, and if I’d been male, shed have hurt me. But I wasn’t male, and some part of my magic kept her amazing orgasm from jumping to me. The power pulsed wave after wave through my body while Maeve danced above me, but that ultimate pleasure was hers and hers alone. Somehow it seemed right. She’d waited so long.
Part of me didn’t want free Part of me wanted to sink into the golden glow of her, and be lost. She rose above me, quivering, shrieking, jerking against my hands where they seemed melded to her flesh. She ground her hips against mine, and if I’d been male, shed have hurt me. But I wasn’t male, and some part of my magic kept her amazing orgasm from jumping to me. The power pulsed wave after wave through my body while Maeve danced above me, but that ultimate pleasure was hers and hers alone. Somehow it seemed right. She’d waited so long.
It’s this book where the descriptions of Merry during sex start getting pretty ridiculous, as seen with Maeve here. “quivering, shrieking, jerking, dancing” – all these descriptors just have me imaging Merry or Maeve are just continuously shaking around like a goddamn Parkinson’s patient on top of or under whoever is fucking them. My favorite term LKH uses, and uses constantly, is “bucking”. Like Merry is a goddamn work horse.
So as Maeve is orgasming, she manages to shove her hand down Merry’s bathing suit bottom and up her super wet and tight vaj, which obviously immediately brings Merry to orgasm, and LKH manages to write one of my favorite analogies ever:
The moment that throbbing, pulsing power thrilled along my flesh, the orgasm burst from my body in waves, as if her touch were a stone thrown into a deep lake, and each ripple was another ring of pleasure, and where the stone slid downward pleasure followed.
I just imagine someone just chucking this huge stone into a lake, hahaha. Also, that’s one sentence. One amazing sentence. OH AND, did you happen to catch the amazing description of Maeve’s orgasm? Her amazing orgasm? Obviously given by Merry’s amazing fucking.
I hate these books.
Anyway, they’re done and Rhys got to watch the entire show, so he’s all excited. Meanwhile Galen and Co come to the door and are all sad they missed it all. Maeve finally tells Merry that she was amazing, and Galen remarks that an apple tree burst through the ground in the hallway by the pool area on the lower floor, and even managed to burst through the second floor with the top of its branches.
Doyle walks over to Merry and picks her up and then asks Merry FOR THE FOURTH TIME THIS CHAPTER how she is feeling. Hahaha. The chapter finally ends with Doyle carrying Merry down the hall past the apple tree blossoms (MORE BLOSSOMS) and Merry musing over whether or not gods get any sleep.
Trailer Park of Emotion 
Hahaha y’know, “bucking” is typically written as a BAD thing—like that awful old joke about saying another girls name or whatever when you’re effing a girl from behind so they’re trying to “buck you off.” It’s kind of rapey. I’m sure LKH never writes it that way.
Also, I’m shocked that she finally added in female lovers for Anita! I’d forgotten she fuckin BANNED JC and Asher from resuming their desired coupling (god she is awful—she can fuck whomever she wants, but expects complete fidelity from her multiple partners…what. The. Fuck!) I expected that to be a thing, as they BOTH want to and I legitimately forgot Anita was THAT AWFUL (and hypocritical). But a female lover?!? Is it just kissing and whatever, or does she actually have legit love scenes with a woman?
I’m very surprised. For as “gay-friendly” as she tries to pretend to be, she OBVIOUSLY has some severe homophobic issues. Ugh. She is just the worst.
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