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27
Lily
“The Quenching Parlor?” I asked blankly, not moving from my seat. “What’s that?”
“Why, it’s the place where you’ll finally get to quench your new Thirst, dear Princess,” Lady Elgiana purred. She folded her white linen napkin neatly and rose from the table as well. “You cannot attain your true powers and ascend to the Throne of the Midnight Court until you drink your fill.”
“I’m not thirsty,” I said, staying stubbornly in my seat even as everyone around me rose.
Apparently dinner was over when Mordren said it was—a fact that irked me to no end. If I ever did become Queen, he was going to get demoted from the High Table. I’d be damned if I had to see his smirking face at dinner every night for the rest of my life—especially if I lived for centuries, like most Dark Fae seemed to.
“Do get up, Princess dear,” Lady Elgiana said coaxingly. “You must come with us now and quench the Thirst.”
“I don’t think so,” I snapped. “I haven’t finished my dinner yet and I’m not thirsty.”
“Princess, we’ve all been sitting here watching you drink the water pitcher dry,” Mordren said, giving me a knowing look. “As the Lord Regent, I’m afraid I must insist that you quench your Thirst—otherwise you will become a danger to those around you. And I can’t have that—I have been charged with the safety and security of our people until you come of age and take the throne.”
I wanted to protest again, but Krynn put a hand on my shoulder.
“I’m sorry, my Lady, but he’s right,” he murmured in my ear. “You must quench the Thirst. Please don’t worry—Sel and I will be with you every step of the way.”
I didn’t want to go—I had a bad feeling about “The Quenching Parlor” and what might happen there. But my throat felt like sandpaper and my fangs were itching. I tried not to look as I left the table, but I caught a glimpse of myself in a mirrored wall and saw that they had grown some more.
My glowing purple eyes widened as I stared at my reflection. I honestly looked like a vampire. With my pale skin and my long, curving white fangs nobody would look at me and think “Fae Princess.” They were more likely to decide I was something out of a nightmare than a fairytale at this point.
The Court murmured and stared as we left the vast Dining Hall. Krynn and Seldarin fell into step on either side of me like an honor guard, which made me feel a little better. Then I remembered that they were the ones I was supposed to bite and drink from, and I felt worried and upset all over again. What if I hurt them? What if I drained them? I didn’t want to do that!
The three of us had become very close in a short amount of time—not just because they guarded and protected me but because with Krynn and Sel I felt seen in a way I never had before. They had held me when I cried, comforted and supported me. Just being near them made me feel safe and strong and confident in a way I had never felt around my ex-husband, even back in the beginning of our relationship.
It seemed unreal that I should feel so much for the two Dark Fae I hardly knew, but I couldn’t seem to help myself. The two of them just seemed to belong to me somehow and I knew I would much rather hurt myself than hurt either of them.
We went down endless corridors, which I did my best to memorize as I was slowly learning the rest of the Palace. It surprised me that I was actually getting the layout of it quite well. Maybe because I truly belonged here, or maybe because I had dreamed of it so often when I was a child, but for whatever reason, I felt fairly confident that I could make my way around. But now we were headed into a new part of the Palace that I had never seen before—not even in my dreams.
We kept walking until at last we came to a large, circular space where the hallway opened out and ended abruptly in a dead end. I got the sense that we might be underground, though probably not as deep underground as the Cavern of Lolth. There were no windows in the circular space we found ourselves in—just elaborate tapestries hung on the walls, all of which seemed to depict a woman with white hair and glowing purple eyes. In the closest one, she was blowing on a large group of people who were kneeling before her.
No, not blowing—sucking, I realized. The long curly lines that I had imagined represented her breath, seemed to be coming from the assembled crowd and feeding directly into her mouth, which was open in apparent hunger.
But what was she sucking out of them? It wasn’t blood—the lines weren’t red and I didn’t see any kind of cuts or bites on the peoples’ necks. I wondered what was going on but my attention was soon drawn elsewhere.
Directly in front of me on the rounded wall I saw a doorway with a golden doorframe. Hovering over it in what appeared to be magical floating letters were the words, “The Quenching Parlor.”
I started to head for it, but Lady Nolana, who had stayed near me when we left the High Table, put a hand on my arm and pulled me back.
“Wait my dear—they need to set everything up for you.”
“And you need to put on a different dress,” Lady Elgiana, who had also unfortunately come along, remarked. “Unless you want to ruin the one you’re wearing by getting blood all over it.”
I wanted to protest that I wasn’t going to bite anyone and drink their blood, but my throat was so dry I could barely speak.
“I…I’m not…” I began, but then my throat locked up out of pure dryness.
“It’s all right, my Lady,” Krynn murmured to me. “Go with Lady Nolana—you can trust her. Sel and I will be ready for you in the Parlor when you are dressed.”
I didn’t like being separated from my guys but they were headed into the Quenching Parlor along with several Fae guards. Mordren was right behind them and I didn’t like the look of self-satisfied glee I saw on his perfect features one bit.
“Come,” Lady Nolana said to me again and led me to a door further down the curving wall. There were no floating letters above this one but when she opened it and we walked inside, I saw it was a kind of dressing room. The walls were a pale purple and the carpet was made of soft fur that had been dyed the deep, rich Royal Purple. It felt like being inside an opulent Faberge egg.
“What’s this?” I managed to croak, nodding at the racks of gowns, all of them shimmering white, which filled the room.
