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“What? But I don’t even really know him! And besides, I’m not going to drink anyone’s blood,” I exclaimed. “I don’t need any magic necklace to keep me from going around biting people!”
“My Lady, I know you think that now, but as a true daughter of Lolth, you will eventually have to bend to the Thirst,” Krynn said quietly. “But we need not speak of it now. Soon it will be time for dinner in the Great Hall. We should have just enough time to meet with the High Fae in their towers before we have to get you ready.”
I sighed inwardly. I doubted I would enjoy meeting with the High Fae very much. They struck me as the rich, entitled type. A bunch of Fae Karens. Still, some of them had looked honestly happy to meet me that morning in the Throne Room.
I thought of the nice older Fae woman, who’d had tears in her eyes when she took my hands in hers. Lady Nolana—that was her name. She’d said she was in the room when my mother gave birth to me. I wouldn’t mind talking more to her.
But just thinking about that—about the dead Queen being my real mother—made me feel weird. This whole situation still felt unreal to me. My whole body changing and somehow de-aging…finding out I was a Princess and promising to rule my new people fairly. It just couldn’t be real, could it?
I didn’t know but the longer I went without waking up and finding out it was all a dream, the more I questioned my new reality.
26
Lily
“What is this slop?” Mordren stared at his bowl in obvious disgust. You would have thought that the Lesser Fae servant had put a plate of steaming hot dog shit down in front of him instead of perfectly good potato leak soup, which was what it was.
“This,” I said, “Is what I ordered for dinner tonight. I stopped by the kitchens during my tour of the Palace and spoke to the chef. I hope you don’t mind.”
We were sitting across from each other at the “High Table” which was raised on a kind of dais in the middle of the vast Grand Banquet Hall. Like the Throne Room, this huge space also had mirrored walls which made me think that whoever had built the Palace was either really vain, or wanted to be sure they could keep an eye on everybody all the time. Which was certainly possible, since everyone in the room was reflected over and over multiple times.
The effect was like eating dinner in a hall of mirrors at an amusement park. I didn’t much like it and would much rather have had a quiet dinner in the Cavern with my guys, but it appeared I had no say in the matter. Apparently the whole Court—or at least, all the High Fae—gathered almost every night for a grand banquet where they feasted and gossiped and congratulated each other on being the best of the best of the Dark Fae.
What it mostly reminded me of was the old Christmas parties I used to have to attend with Christopher for his firm. Everyone was all decked out and looking to one-up everyone else in the room. I had always hated those parties—I got dressed up but never felt like I fit in. It was a feeling I was experiencing times ten tonight, considering that I was literally up on a pedestal and everyone was watching me.
The company didn’t help much either. Mordren was right across from me, as I said and to his right was Lady Elgiana, looking coolly elegant in a gown of deep blue that was almost Royal Purple—the color only one with Royal blood was supposed to wear. I couldn’t tell if it was a subtle insult…or a not-so subtle one. She hadn’t said a word to me yet—she’d simply raked her sharp yellow eyes over my Royal Purple evening gown and curled her upper lip.
Krynn and Seldarin were standing behind me. Apparently though they were “officers of the Court” they weren’t allowed to sit at the High Table, due to their half-breed status. I didn’t like that at all and had wanted to protest but Krynn had murmured,
“Please my Lady, don’t make a fuss. Sel and I are used to standing in attendance during the dinner feast. We must choose our battles carefully.”
Reluctantly, I had allowed them to remain on guard behind my chair. And though I couldn’t stand the people sitting across from me, at least I had someone I liked beside me. To my right was seated Lady Nolana, the older Fae who had told me she was in the room with my mother when the old Queen gave birth to me. (Which was still a really weird thought—was I actually accepting my status as the Lost Dark Fae Princess? I wasn’t quite sure.)
Anyway, Lady Nolana and I had been having a nice conversation about the Palace grounds and how far they extended and how the Dark Fae magic kept them from being visible or accessible to humans. As we talked, the Lesser Fae servants, dressed in black and gold livery, had been bringing out course after course of delicious food.
There were exotic fairy fruits, some kind of golden-brown pâté and tiny buttery toasts to spread it on, a crisp salad of delicious wild greens dressed in a tangy vinaigrette, and an enormous fish with the head still on that had tender, flaky white flesh seasoned with lemon and herbs that practically melted in my mouth. And between all the courses there were little dishes of tart sorbet or edible flowers which melted on the tongue to “cleanse the palate.”
It was the fanciest dinner I’d ever been to, but everyone around me seemed to take it as a matter of course. There was a huge crystal chandelier which shed a warm glow over the gleaming cutlery and plates—all of which seemed to be made of solid gold. The setting was gorgeous, the food was delicious, and Lady Nolana seemed like she might be a good candidate for a true friend. I would have been enjoying myself thoroughly except for three things.
First, I didn’t like being the center of attention and I was well aware that everyone in the room was staring at me as I sat at the High Table on the raised dais. Second, Mordren and Lady Elgiana kept whispering together and looking at me and laughing rudely—making it obvious they were talking about me. I could shrug that off, but it was irritating—like being back in high school eating lunch in the school cafeteria across from the mean girls.
Third, (and most worryingly) I was having a hard time enjoying my delicious dinner because I was so horribly thirsty. I swear I needed a drink between every single bite I took. After I had drained my first goblet of wine, Krynn had begun discretely refilling my glass with cold water. Which was a good thing, since at the rate I was drinking, I would have been extremely drunk by the time the main course—which was the potato and leak soup—arrived.
As it was, I was only tipsy, because of the single glass of wine, which made me feel perfectly comfortable talking back to Mordren when he complained about the soup.
“You ordered this slop?” he demanded, glaring at me from across the table as he gestured to the golden bowl in front of him.
“I most certainly did.” I took a bite myself and made a pleased humming sound in the back of my throat. “Mmm—delicious!”
“This is ridiculous!” Mordren raised his voice. “Servant! Where is the haunch of venison I ordered for the main course tonight? Has the chef burned it? How dare he send us this disgusting stuff instead?”
“You can stop shouting,” I said. “The venison is being eaten by the Lesser Fae, who are having their own banquet tonight. You see, I heard that my mother, the old Queen, used to give them parties and banquets on a regular basis, and now that I’m here and about to take the throne, I wanted to bring that tradition back.”
“You what?” Mordren demanded, his bluish-purple eyes going wide. “How dare you make such a decision without consulting me? I am the Lord Regent!”
“And I am the Princess and the rightful ruler of the Dark Fae,” I shot back. I was glad now for the strong wine I’d had—it was giving me courage. “I don’t need your advice on how to plan a dinner for my people. And since they’re getting a taste of prime venison, which you have every night, I thought it might be good for you to have a taste of what they eat every night. Which is something like this potato soup, since you decided they don’t get to eat meat anymore.”
“What?” Mordren’s eyebrows rose in apparent surprise. “How dare you give my fine venison to that rabble?” he demanded.
