AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He sighed.
“I’ve grown used to it. Luckily, they lie fairly flat against my back, which makes my deformity easier to hide.”
“I’ve always said we should go to the Seelie Court—the Court of All Seasons,” Seldarin remarked. “They welcome misfits like us there—or they have ever since the Summer and Winter Court joined after King Liath and Queen Alira married and brought them together. But that was only twenty years ago,” he added. “And we were still looking for you.” He nodded at me.
“Now that you’ve finally come home, we wouldn’t even consider abandoning our home Court,” Krynn added, clearly trying to reassure me.
I frowned.
“But…how many Fae courts or kingdoms are there?”
“Many,” Seldarin said. “As many as there are magical planes of existence.”
“Which is to say, nearly infinite,” Krynn added. “None of them exist in the exact same place or time, though they may overlap at certain times and places.” He sighed and flexed his wings once more. “I should fold these away. They get difficult to conceal if I give them too much freedom.”
“I wish you wouldn’t put them away just yet,” I said, bending closer to get a better look. “They’re so beautiful.”
“Well…thank you, my Lady.” Krynn got an odd expression on his face—a mixture of gratitude and uncertainty, I thought—as he turned his head to look over his shoulder and watch me examining his wings.
“But what are those?” I bent even closer, frowning as I did so. There were white marks on his silver skin—they looked almost like… “Are those scars?” I asked, pointing.
Krynn quickly closed his wings, covering the white ridges that marred his otherwise perfect back.
“They are, but they need not concern you, my Lady,” he said quickly. “They are from old wounds, long healed.”
“Krynn has…needs,” Seldarin murmured. “You can thank his old Mistress, Lady Elgiana for that.”
“Who’s Lady Elgiana?” I asked, frowning.
“She was my Mistress. When I first came to Court as a child, it was as her servant,” Krynn explained.
“Alright, but what is Seldarin talking about when he says you have needs?” I asked, not understanding.
“Never mind.” Krynn shook his head. “My needs or wishes don’t enter into it. The fact is, I must fold these away before they become too hard to hide.”
He flexed his muscles and rolled his shoulders again and the big, gorgeous wings began to shrink and shrivel once more until they lay flat against his back, hiding the white scars completely.
I wanted to ask who had hurt him, but he had a closed look on his face. Clearly he wanted to keep the source of his scars private. I wondered if some horrible person had beaten him for being different—the same way Seldarin’s mother had made him wear a mask, just for not looking pretty enough.
It made me glad that I was sure I wasn’t this Lost Princess they were looking for—I didn’t want anything to do with people who could be so cruel to their children just for being different.
I started to go back to my own seat and stumbled.
“Whoa there, Princess!” Seldarin shot out a long arm and caught me from one side just as Krynn was reaching for me from the other. The lighter Fae was somewhat constricted though since he had been in the act of pulling his robe back up.
“Oh…I feel dizzy!” I put a hand to my head as the world started spinning around me. “What’s wrong with me?”
“Yes—what the fuck is wrong with her?” Seldarin growled. Dragging me into his lap, he cradled me against his broad chest and shot a look at Krynn.
“Possibly it’s the Nectar of Lolth working on her,” Krynn said, looking worried. “We knew that feeding her Fae food would help her shed the human dross that’s collected around her true form. We need to get her to bed and let it work on her—it’s apt to be a long night.”
“All right—to bed it is.” And Seldarin rose, lifting me like I weighed no more than a feather pillow—which was absolutely not the case.
“What’s in that stuff, anyway?” I mumbled as the darker Fae carried me to the huge four-poster bed and laid me carefully in the middle of it.
“The distilled essence of the Heart’s Blood berries which were blessed by Lolth herself,” Krynn told me. “The Nectar you drank will help you assume your true form. Don’t worry,” he added. “Sel and I will stay by your side the whole night and be sure you are well.”
“I don’t feel…so well,” I mumbled. I had a passing thought that maybe they had drugged me somehow. And then everything went hazy and I couldn’t think at all anymore.
