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“My Lady…are you crying?” Krynn asked, his voice gentle.
I hastily swiped at my eyes with the back of my arm.
“No—of course not. I was just…thinking of how things were before my husband left me. Or kicked me out, I guess is a more accurate term,” I added dryly.
“A human man treated you that way? He dared to turn you out of your home with no place to go?” Seldarin’s bronze eyes flashed dangerously. “He should be killed for such an act!”
“Well, that’s how I felt too,” I admitted. “At first, anyway. And still some, I guess. But mostly I’m just tired and hungry and I feel like I could really use a bath.” I looked into the deep tub with longing. Its broad marble lip was hard against my backside—I needed to get on with my task, I reminded myself.
“Still—a Mortal cannot treat the rightful Queen of the Midnight Court in such a shameful fucking way,” Seldarin growled—clearly he wasn’t over the slight to my honor yet. “Tell me where he lives, Princess and I’ll go run him through. Your vengeance shall be my quest.” He fingered the jeweled dagger hanging on his belt menacingly.
For a minute, I was seriously tempted. Christopher had used me to raise his children and then thrown me out on the street like a dirty tissue. If he didn’t deserve to die, I didn’t know who did.
Then I remembered the kids. My ex hadn’t always been the best father—he was too busy working for that. But they would both still be heartbroken if their dad was found dead in an alley somewhere.
“No thanks,” I told Seldarin. “Let’s just get your arm taken care of and leave the vengeance for later, okay?”
The big Fae muttered something that sounded murderous under his breath and I considered that maybe I could just have him scare Christopher a little. He might be motivated to give me some kind of alimony if a seven-foot-tall Fae warrior had him at knife-point.
But I was too tired to seriously consider it. I concentrated on cleaning Seldarin’s wound and put my plans for revenge on the back burner.
The big Fae sat stoically as I washed the blood away and I noted that it was dark blue rather than red.
“Do all Fae have blue blood?” I asked, still washing.
He shook his head.
“No, Royals and true descendants of Lolth have purple.”
“Well that settles it then, my blood is red,” I told him as I finished washing the wound. “I can’t be this ‘Lost Princess’ you two keep talking about.”
“If you’re not the Lost Princess, then why is my wound already healing, just from your touch?” Seldarin asked, looking down at his arm.
I frowned when I saw he was right—the dagger slice in his arm had been deep—a nasty wound I was sure would need stitches. But even as I watched, it seemed to be knitting itself together—healing right before my eyes.
“Wow, that’s amazing!” I murmured. “But I’m not doing it—I can’t do things like that.”
“Not in the human world, you couldn’t,” Krynn remarked, coming over to examine the rapidly healing wound. “But here in the Cavern of Lolth where the power of your ancestress lingers, your body will begin to relearn its true powers…and its true form.”
“Its true form? What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, feeling suddenly frightened. “Are you saying this place is going to do something to me? To change me?”
“It won’t do anything but reveal who you truly are,” Krynn assured me. “We wouldn’t bring you anyplace that would hurt you, my Lady. We are sworn to protect and defend you at all costs. Do you not see these?”
He knelt in front of me and pointed to the spider web tattoos on either side of his throat. The golden markings were glowing even more brightly than before—as were the silver markings on the sides of Seldarin’s neck.
“What are they and what do they mean?” I asked, frowning.
“They are the Markings of Lolth,” Seldarin answered for him. He reached up to touch his own markings and winced. “Fuck—they’re burning!”
“It’s because of our proximity to the Princess in the place where Lolth’s power is so strong,” Krynn told him. “Kneel with me—we will ask for her touch to soothe the pain.”
Seldarin frowned, but left the edge of the tub, where he had been sitting beside me, and knelt by Krynn. Though I was sitting and they were kneeling, they were still taller because of their immense height.
“Er…what exactly are you two doing?” I asked, looking up at both of them uncertainly. I had never expected to find myself in this position, with two gorgeous Dark Fae kneeling at my feet.
“Imploring your touch and pledging our loyalty, my Lady,” Krynn said. He held out a hand to me. “Will you touch our Markings to ease the burning?”
“I don’t see how me touching you can help,” I protested. I could see that the spider web tattoos on both their necks were glowing very brightly now, but I was sure they were mistaken about who I was and what I could do for them.
