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Princess Lilliana shook her head.
“Not to hear Christopher tell it. You know, he was nice at first, before we got married. But once he had me trapped and raising his kids, he never seemed to care how I felt after that. And he stopped wanting me sexually a long time ago.”
“How could he not desire you, Princess?” Sel growled softly. He turned her to face him and cupped her cheek. “Look at you—you’re beyond gorgeous.”
She flushed, her cheeks going a soft pink, and dropped her eyes.
“You don’t have to say that. I know I’m too curvy. Even now that I’ve undergone this amazing transformation I’m still fat.”
“Don’t call yourself names that aren’t true,” I told her sternly. “Your full curves will be the envy of every lady at Court! It doesn’t matter what the human standards of beauty are—you need to forget them because you are the Fae standard of beauty now.”
“Krynn’s right,” Sel told her. “Every lady in Court wants to copy the Queen. Her style is the style.”
“But I don’t really have a style,” the Princess protested.
“Don’t worry about that,” I told her. “I have a seamstress I’ve been working with who’s going to help you create the right style for you. The right style to show off your curves and your beauty.”
She shook her head.
“It feels so strange to think of myself as some kind of fashion icon when I’ve been nothing but a plain old overweight stay-at-home mom for so long.”
“Stop talking about yourself like that,” Sel said, frowning. “You’re beautiful—and kind, too. Do you think any other lady of the Court would give an ugly male like me a second look?”
“And who but a sadist like Lady Elgiana would want a half-breed with fairy wings and the Needing like me?” I put in.
“But you’re not ugly!” she protested to Sel. “And your wings are beautiful,” she said to me. “I’m sorry if the people in this place made you think there’s something wrong with the two of you.”
“And we’re sorry your ex-mate made you feel unlovely,” Sel said seriously. “But you should know this, Princess—he fucking lied.”
“You’re lovely both inside and out,” I told her. Now that I’d been close to her and felt her pain, I had formed a deeper emotional connection with her—I could feel her motivations and I knew the kindness in her heart. Truly, she would make an excellent Queen—if Sel and I could just get her safely on the Throne.
“You two are really sweet.” The Princess gave us both a sunny smile. “Thank you so much. You don’t know what an ego boost it is to be wanted by two big, muscular, gorgeous guys like you two.”
“You’re very much wanted, Princess.” Sel’s bronze eyes went heavy-lidded with lust.
I would have gladly joined him in round two of pleasing the Princess, but now that the edge had been taken off her sexual need, I knew there were more important things we needed to be concentrating on.
“Before you two get into it again, we need to dress Princess Lilliana up in proper Court clothes and take her out to meet the denizens of the Palace,” I pointed out. “They need to see her Royal Purple eyes and get a closer look at the Mark of Lolth on her forehead.”
The Princess groaned.
“Do I have to? I’m not really much of an extrovert.”
“Krynn is right,” Sel said, backing me up, though I could tell he wished we could all just stay in bed together. “We need to show you off, Princess.”
She sighed deeply but nodded.
“All right, I’ll do my best. I still don’t feel very royal though.”
“It doesn’t matter if you feel like a Royal as long as you look like one,” I told her. “Come on—let’s get you ready.”
23
Seldarin
We spent the next half hour getting the Princess ready to go out and meet the people of the Midnight Court. Well, Krynn did, anyway. His days of service to Lady Elgiana were far in the past but his skills from that time had not deserted him.
He got Princess Lilliana into a gown with skirts of finely woven spider silk and a bodice made of glass leaves—so named because they were semi-transparent and easily showed the flesh they covered. The bodice was dyed Royal Purple—a shade that no one without Royal blood is allowed to wear. The seamstress who made the dress must have attended the old Queen, I thought. There was no other way she would have access to the restricted color.
