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“I do not know the Marvels you speak of, but Sel and I were just using our magic,” Krynn told her. “You have magic too, you know—it’s just buried under the human dross,” he added.
“Me? Have magic like that?” She was still staring at me, wide-eyed.
“Even stronger,” I told her. “The Queen of Midnight wields the power of Lolth—she who made us.”
“I just…I don’t understand.” She shook her head.
“You will,” Krynn assured her. “Look—there’s the Palace now. Sel and I will do our best to explain, but we need to get you safely inside first.”
I watched her turn her head and her eyes got even wider as she took in the Palace.
“Whoa…” she murmured.
Her wonder made me smile, despite the pain in my arm and my lingering rage that Mordren had already tried to have her assassinated. I couldn’t wait to see her reaction when she saw the inside of the vast structure and learned that all of it was rightfully hers.
Our Lost Princess had come home. Now it was my job to be certain she was safe as she came into her own and I swore to myself I would do it—even if it cost me my life.
4
Krynn
The curvy little Princess in my arms trembled with wonder as she beheld the Palace. I didn’t blame her—I had felt the same way when I first came to Court as a child.
As a Dark Fae of mixed blood, I hadn’t felt very welcome at first. The enormous structure, made out of moonstone which caused it to glow with a silvery, incandescent light, was daunting to say the least. It had so many towers and battlements…so many concealed passageways and hidden rooms…so many secrets to discover that I was certain that an outsider like myself would never learn them all.
But I was determined. It had taken me years to unlock the Palace’s mysteries—I buried myself in the extensive library and devoted myself to the older books—the tomes that told our origins and ways. Because I was of mixed blood, I was all the more interested in the pure bloodline of the Royals—who were direct descendants of Lolth, the Spider Queen.
Lolth took for herself the sign of the spider because her magic demanded that she draw both power and blood from her followers to survive. As did her female descendants.
King Valerin had been old and tired at the time of his death and anyway, males didn’t take blood and power the way the female descendants of Lolth did. Some said he had lost the will to live after Queen Lorelin died in childbirth and the Princess Lilliana was stolen away just a few weeks after she was born.
I wondered if anyone besides myself remembered that the appetites of a young, new ruler of the Line of Lolth were apt to be extreme. Sel was so excited to finally find the Lost Princess, but the reappearance of the curvy little female in my arms was going to pose problems—and not just attacks from the jealous Lord Regent, Mordren, who had hoped to finally claim the throne of the Court of Midnight as his own.
But when I looked down at the wonder in her face, I couldn’t find it in my heart to be fearful of her. Even though she looked human at the moment, I could see the Dark Fae beauty shining through her Mortal exterior. I also liked the way she stood up for herself against Mordren—truly she would make a formidable Queen if Sel and I could protect and guide her long enough for her to ascend to the throne.
My whole body ached when I thought of being commanded by a true Queen—by a Royal of the line of Lolth. It was said that the old Queen’s bite was sweeter than honey blossom wine and sharper than a dagger. I had never experienced it myself, but I had read much of it in the older volumes in the Palace library. And I had always longed to feel it…had always wished to give myself to a Queen who was worthy of my sacrifice.
Was the curvy little female in my arms the one I could offer myself to? I hoped so, though I feared that her half century among the humans had done grave damage. Still, a night in the Palace and a meal of Fae food should help to bring her Royal bloodline to the surface. I just needed to put her someplace safe…someplace even Mordren wouldn’t dare to enter…
“I think we’d better put her in the Cavern,” I said to Sel, as we entered the palace, passing under the silver portcullis which was in the shape of a spider’s web with a spider at its center.
“The Cavern?” His black eyebrows lifted in surprise. Sel is of mixed blood too and his hair and skin color show it. As children, we had bonded over the differences which set us apart from the pure-blooded Dark Fae, though few would believe that a Warrior and a Scholar could be such good friends.
“The Cavern is the deepest and oldest part of the Palace—the place where Lolth’s power is the strongest,” I told him. “It’s also a place where an imposter like Mordren won’t dare to go—for fear that the true power lingering there will expose him for what he is. His eyes didn’t used to be that color, you know,” I added. “They never had even a hint of Royal Purple in them before about fifty years ago. I suspect he’s been taking amethyst tincture to gradually change them.”
“The Cavern of Lolth would overwhelm a Mortal,” he pointed out.
“Not if she’s truly of Royal blood.” I nodded at the little female in my arms, who was still staring around herself in wonder, too caught up in her inspection of the Palace to hear our murmured conversation. “And since the Markings of Lolth I bear are tingling—and I wager yours are too—we know it won’t be too much for her to bear. It will protect her and help her true self to emerge from out of the human shell that’s formed around her Fae core.”
“All right.” He nodded. “The Cavern it is. I’ve only been there once, though—what about you? Do you know a way to get there that won’t be watched?”
“Leave it to me,” I said confidently. “I know every secret passage in the Palace. There’s a hidden way that leads straight to it at the back of the Throne Room.”
“Then let’s hurry. They’ll be bringing the Silver Throne as well as Mordred’s Regent’s Seat back in from the Hallowed Clearing soon,” he said.
I nodded.
“This way.”
