Chapter 15 begins with Merry wanting to be left along to take a nap. Except, she’s not allowed to be alone in her bedroom because of Taranis and Andais. Just like a chapter or two ago, it was mentioned that Andais can call the mirror whenever she wants, because she demanded it, so Merry would usually sleep in other bedrooms than the master. So now she’s not able to nap alone in another bedroom?

Continuity!

So anyway, it’s decided that she’ll take a nap between Rhys and Frost. And of course, since no one can actually just sleep in this series, they’re gonna all have sex first. And what comes before sex?

Whining about sex!

It was Rhys who finally said, “I want sex with you before the goblins tonight, but I’ve seen that look on Frost’s face before.”
“What look?” Frost asked, but I didn’t ask because I could see it, and I’d seen it before. Frost’s needs and uncertainty were plain in his eyes, n the lines of his mouth.
“I want sex,” Rhys said, “but you need reassurance, and that takes longer to get.”

Bughhhhhhh.

This is all made worse by the fact that the very next paragraph has Merry saying “I was so tired, so overwhelmed with all of the day’s events, that it didn’t seem to matter who slept next to me, as long as someone did.” Why can’t they just let Merry sleep? Do they never go to sleep without first fucking?

Rhys keeps just, you know, throwin’ it out there that Merry at some point promised him sex. You know, typically I like Rhys in this series, but this is really turning my opinion of him. He’s just so whiny.

“You promised me sex, and I am going to hold you to it,” Rhys said.
Frost hesitated by the bed. “We have never shared the princess.”
“And we aren’t going to now,” Rhys said. “I’ll share sometimes with the newer men because Merry likes me better than she likes them.” He smiled, and I returned the smile. This his face sobered, and there was something far too serious in his face. “But I could not bear to share her with you and see how she feels about you. I know she loves you more, you and Doyle, but I do not wish the fact rubbed into my body like salt into a wound.”

Rhys eventually leaves the room after causing this whole scene, so now Merry and Frost can get down to business. Because as much as LKH wants to make Merry’s relationships with her men seem natural and organic, all she really is is an available vagina. She’s a business transaction. Not a single one of these men (save Galen) would ever have even considered Merry as a partner without the whole “get Merry pregnant” part of the plot.

Frost starts undressing, and several paragraphs are spent describing how as Frost is undressing, he’s hanging his dirty clothes up on hangers. This is a thing people do? You don’t just ball up your dirty clothes into a laundry basket to eventually move to a washing machine?

There were times when watching him hang up his clothes drove me nearly mad and had me making small eager noises before he was ready to come to bed. Today would not be one of those days. The view was lovely as always, but I was tired, and did not feel completely well. Part of it was grief and shock, but also the nagging knowledge that I was coming down with a cold or a virus.

So not only is Merry super bone tired, but she’s coming down with a cold, and her men are still forcing her to have sex? God I hate this series so much.

I felt the bed move, and knew he was on the bed with me. “Merry, what is wrong? I thought you enjoyed watching me?”
“I do,” I said, still not looking at him. How did I explain that I was having one of those rare moments when my mortality seemed too real and his immortality too large a reminder. 
“Am I not enough to please you without Doyle by my side?”

Ughhhhhhhhh. I am literally groaning out loud while writing this out.

It continues!

“Frost, I love you.”
His gray eyes rose once, then went back to staring at his big hands where they lay in his lap. “Do you love me alone without Doyle’s body beside me?”
My hand tightened on his arm while I tried to think what to say. This was certainly a conversation I Hadn’t expected to be having. I did love Frost, but I did not always love his moods. “I find you as desirable now as I did that first night.”
He rewarded me with a small smile. “That was a very good night, but you avoided answering my question.” He gave me the full force of his eyes then. “Which is answer enough.”

This is ALL BECAUSE MERRY DIDN’T WATCH HIM UNDRESS.

The fact that Merry seems to be coming down with a cold is making her realize that she’s still mortal and human. She’s worried about growing old around her beautiful men who will always stay handsome. Eventually she finds out that Frost has already lost someone to old age. Back before he was a sidhe, he met a woman who he fell in love with, but he wasn’t enough to help protect her. So he asked the Goddess for help and when he woke, he was sidhe. He was able to protect her and lived with her until her death.

So anyway, Frost telling Merry this story helps to calm her down some, and the chapter ends with Frost declaring his love to Merry, no matter how mortal she may be.