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“The little slut!” Elgiana’s lip curled. “I hope you’re going to deal with her appropriately! I don’t like the way she took over my servant.” And she stepped up to Krynn and ran her long, sharp fingernails down his bare arm.
Though the lighter Fae’s face was still blank, I saw him shiver at her touch. Remembering the horrible things she’d done to him in the past, I wanted to rush at the evil Fae and slap her or claw her eyes out.
“Leave him alone!” I shouted. “Leave both of them alone!” But the words that came from my mouth made no sound. And apparently I was invisible, because neither Mordren nor Elgiana seemed to be able to see me as I hovered above them.
“I’ll deal with her, all right.” Mordren’s voice was grim. “I wanted to kill her, but the Court is quite taken with her now.”
“Well, that’s your fault isn’t it, for forcing her to do a Public Quenching,” Elgiana remarked.
He scowled.
“How was I to know she’d be able to generate that kind of Royal energy? I know her magic isn’t much to speak of—it can’t be—she’s lived in the Mortal Realm her entire life.”
Elgiana shrugged elegantly.
“You gambled and lost. You must be certain you don’t lose again, Lord Regent.”
“Never fear, I won’t,” Mordren promised. “By tonight you’ll be calling me by a different title…the entire Court will.”
I started to protest and try to shout at them again, but I heard Alira’s voice in my ear.
“I’m sorry, Lily, but that’s all the warning I can give you,” she murmured. And then, somehow I was rushing backwards through the dark tunnels and back to the Cavern of Lolth. When I reached it, Alira reappeared in front of me.
“I hope that was helpful,” she said and I thought she looked tired. “I am sorry but my magic is stretched thin—it isn’t easy working in the Dream World.”
“Why did you show me that? What are you saying?” I was beginning to feel panicky now. “Did that really happen, what you showed me? Are you saying I’m going to lose Sel and Krynn? Lose my guys?”
“I am saying that the power you need is all around you,” Alira told me. Her image was beginning to fade. “You only have to reach out your hand and take it. And now, it is time for you to wake…wake…wake…”
Her voice echoed in my head even as my eyelids fluttered open. I sat up in bed and looked around me. I was all alone in the Cavern—Krynn and Sel were gone.
My nightmare was a reality.
48
Lily
The dream of Alira was still fresh in my mind. I wanted to believe it was only that—just a bad dream. But my guys were gone and I knew they wouldn’t have left me alone without telling me where they were going. They felt much too possessive and protective of me to just abandon me.
I stood up and felt wobbly at first. Had we really been drugged at dinner? I remembered drinking some wine and several glasses of water—Krynn and Sel had drunk some too, when Mordren had proposed a toast to Lolth at one point and insisted that everyone join in. Maybe it was some kind of magic drug that was activated when Elgiana played her evil-looking flute?
I didn’t know—I only knew that I had to find Krynn and Sel. Tonight was the Autumn Equinox—my coronation day. I needed their support to make it through and actually take the Throne of the Midnight Court. I didn’t feel like I would be able to do that without them.
I threw on a gown and a pair of slippers. I wished that I still had my jeans—they were more comfortable and made me feel more like myself. But all of my human clothes were long gone, so a purple silk gown it was.
I hurried to the end of the long, dark tunnel, wondering which exit to take. In my dream, Krynn and Seldarin had taken one I hadn’t seen before—and had ended up in some secret room beneath the Palace. Should I try to find it? But what if I ran right into Mordren or Elgiana? No matter what Alira had told me in the dream, I knew I didn’t have enough magic to fight either of them. So how could I possibly get my guys back? How could I?—
“Princess? Princess Lilliana? Are you in here?”
The voice was familiar and it echoed along the dark tunnels to find me. I stood still, wondering who was calling me. I was certain I’d heard the voice before but the echoing tunnels distorted everything. It was a female voice but it wasn’t Elgiana. So who?—
“Princess, it’s me—Lady Nolana,” the voice called again. “Please, I’ve come to help you, if I can! Are you in here?”
Immediately, I felt a sense of relief. Lady Nolana had been kind to me from the very beginning.
“I’m here,” I called, making my way towards her voice. I felt lucky all over again that my new Fae eyes allowed me to see in the dark—otherwise I never would have found her.
“Oh, there you are! Thank Lolth!” She grasped my hands in hers when we finally met up. “I was hoping I could find the Cavern of Lolth, but it hides itself from everyone but those of Royal blood and the ones closest to them. So I just started calling, hoping you might hear and come out to meet me.”
