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As if by mutual consent, the three of us broke the embrace and made a little space between us.
“Can I just stay away from him until the uh, coronation ceremony?” I asked. “I mean, is there going to be a ceremony?”
“Oh, most definitely,” Krynn assured me. “Tomorrow night in the Hallowed Clearing. The same one you found us in, when you were drawn to us,” he added.
“Okay. Well, I’ll just stay in here in the Cavern of Lolth with you two until then,” I said.
Seldarin shook his head.
“You can’t. Tonight will be the Banquet of Investment—the time when the ascending Princess is feasted and celebrated and proved to be the rightful next Queen of the Midnight Court. You can’t fucking skip that.”
“Sel is right—people would say you were trying to hide something,” Krynn added.
“How am I supposed to ‘prove’ myself?” I asked apprehensively.
Sel made a dismissive gesture.
“In your case, you don’t need to worry. You’ve got the Mark of Lolth, you wear the Jewel of Lolth, and you have the Royal Purple eyes. There’s no way Mordren can object to you becoming the next Queen.”
“If I know the Lord Regent, he’ll find some way to object,” Krynn said grimly. “He’s been plotting to sit on the throne himself for years.” He shook his head. “It’s a great pity the Throne of the Midnight Court isn’t invested with magical powers and sentience as the Throne of the Seelie Court is. It’s said that the Throne of Shadows, as it was called before the Summer and Winter Court merged, would kill anyone who was unworthy to rule who sat on it.”
“Wow—that sounds scary!” I remarked.
“It kept the Unseelie Kingdom out of the hands of traitors for centuries,” Krynn said. “But the Silver Throne, as we call our own seat of power, has no such properties. Any with the strength to hold it may sit on it and wear the Midnight Crown.”
“Well, we’re going to fucking make sure it’s Princess Lilliana sitting on the throne and wearing the crown,” Sel growled. “And fuck Mordren if he doesn’t like it!”
“I’m sure someone is going to get fucked,” Krynn said dryly. “The question is, who?”
37
Seldarin
I went and got a tray from the Palace kitchen and the three of us ate and talked strategy for the rest of the morning and much of the afternoon. I was curious to see how strong Princess Lilliana’s powers were and I wanted to test her.
The true power of Blood Magic lies in its wielder’s ability to draw Power from others when she drinks their blood. I say “she” because only females who are true descendants of Lolth can wield Blood Magic. Males have tried in the past—tried and failed. Some say it has to do with the fact that women deal with blood so much more than men. They have their monthly courses for years and they bleed in childbearing—it puts them closer to the power of the life-force that flows through all our veins.
The Princess seemed to be doing well, though she was still in the early stages of a new magic user. She couldn’t quite manage to recreate the shock she’d given me when she’d woken up and had seen me whipping Krynn, but she could feel both our emotions when she touched us and I speculated that she’d be able to feel the emotions of others too, in time.
Krynn went out for a while and came back with a ceramic pot filled with dirt and several different kinds of seeds. He wanted to see if she’d absorbed his Growing Power along with his Sin Eater abilities when she’d healed his back and tasted his blood.
To Princess Lilliana’s delight, she was able to cause several of the seeds to germinate and to shoot up thin, thread-like sprouts. It was nothing to what Krynn could do—I had seen him grow a whole tree in a matter of minutes before. But I was certain that she would get stronger and her magic would become more powerful as she matured.
“But I am mature!” she exclaimed, sounding exasperated when I told her this. “I’m telling you, I’ve been mature for over thirty years now! You two are acting like I’m a teenager again.”
“In Fae years, you are,” Krynn told her gently. “Be patient, my Lady. I know you feel grown and mature because you’ve already lived most of one human lifetime. But the life of a Fae spans centuries, not mere decades. You must give yourself time to grow into your magic and to increase your power.”
“How long is it going to take, though?” she asked, frowning. “And will I only be able to draw Power from people I, uh, drink from?”
She was still a bit uncomfortable with her new Thirst, I thought—it showed in her lovely Royal Purple eyes.
“Unfortunately, yes,” I told her. “There are some limits to the Blood Magic—though it can be extremely powerful if you feed your Thirst strategically and drink from the right people.”
“Actually, there was one Queen who didn’t need to drink from people to use their powers,” Krynn said, looking thoughtful. “I came across the story in an ancient text in the Royal Records once. It was Queen Yolanth—the daughter of Lolth,” he went on. “It was said that she was able to draw power from people just by touching them—she didn’t even have to drink their blood.”
“That would be nice,” Princess Lilliana remarked.
“Yes, it would but unfortunately we can’t count on anything like that,” I pointed out. “You’re going to have to be extremely careful until you ascend to the Throne—and twice as careful afterwards. Mordren’s greed for power won’t get any less. The only thing you can do is to stay safe as your own magic grows until you can strike him down if you have to.”
