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As he spoke, he set the crown carefully on my head. It was heavy and I felt it tighten magically and mold itself to my temples. But that wasn’t the only magic I was feeling.
As the Lesser Fae that made up the first half of the crowd all clasped hands, I felt a kind of electrical current coming from them. It was flowing down the line of linked hands and into me, making me feel tingly all over.
But it wasn’t until the last Lesser Fae—one of the servants I think—linked hands with the first of the Higher Fae that the power began to feel like something I could really do something with. And as each High Fae Lady and Lord linked hands, the Power grew and grew.
The Nobles of the Court had the greatest magic—I could feel it flowing into me like a river rushing into a reservoir. There was more and more of it until I wondered if I could take much more. But still I had to hold still and keep my face calm—at least for now.
“And now,” Mordren went on, clearly oblivious to what was happening. “The new Queen will name her Consort—who shall rule and sit beside her on the Silver Throne!” He looked at me. “Queen Lilliana, whom do you choose? What lucky male will be your King?”
I opened my mouth, but instead of answering his question, I called on the seeds in the soil beneath his feet.
“Grow!” I commanded them, using the magic I had gotten from Krynn and the power pouring into me from the Court.
Suddenly thick green vines erupted from the ground and began twining around Mordren’s legs.
“What?” he gasped, clearly too startled to move at first. By the time his paralysis broke, it was too late—the vines were already wrapping around his arms and chest, holding him in place.
Lady Elgiana, who had been standing beside him, gloating, went wide-eyed for a moment and then started to run.
“Grow!” I shouted and a thick bush with long thorns on every branch burst out of the ground under her feet. It grew up around her, trapping her in the middle of its long, thorny branches. She shrieked and struggled, but she couldn’t get free.
The Power was pulsing inside me and though the people were staring in surprise at what had happened to the Lord Chancellor and Lady Elgiana, they were still holding hands and their magic was still flowing into me.
“People of the Dark Fae—citizens of the Midnight Court!” I said and my voice rolled through the Hallowed Clearing as though I was using a megaphone. “I am honored to be your Queen, but I will not allow my reign to begin with treachery!” I pointed at Mordren and Elgiana who were both still struggling futilely. “The Lord Regent and the Lady Elgiana have conspired to take the Silver Throne,” I said. “They wanted me to name them King and Queen, though neither has the blood of Lolth in their veins. Tell me—do you wish to be ruled by them?”
“NO!” The roar from the crowd was almost deafening, drowning out Mordren and Elgiana’s protests.
“Lies! All Lies!” Mordren called, still fighting the thick green vines wrapped around him from ankles to neck. “She’s lying!”
“Am I lying?” I demanded. “Or are you? What do the people think?”
“It doesn’t matter what they think!” Mordren practically shrieked. “I should be the rightful ruler of the Dark Fae and the Midnight Court! I’ve worked hard all these years! I’ve sacrificed so much! I’ve?—”
“You killed my mother,” I interrupted him.
A hush fell over the crowd and I saw the glowing eyes of every Fae in the clearing grow wide with shock.
“Do you dare to deny it?” I asked, glaring at Mordren.
“No, he doesn’t!” Lady Nolana exclaimed, stepping up to my side. Our hands were still firmly clasped and I felt her determination flowing into me along with the Power she was channeling from the Court. “I was in the room when it happened!” she said, raising her voice. “I heard Lord Mordren plot with Lady Elgiana to poison the Queen! They wanted to poison the Princess as well—which was why I had to hide her away in the Mortal Realm. Otherwise, they would have killed her as they killed her mother!”
There were more gasps, but honestly nobody looked very surprised. I was pretty sure a lot of people hated Mordren—especially the Lesser Fae—and of course, Lady Elgiana already had a reputation as a sadistic, poisonous bitch.
Speaking of Lady Elgiana, she was struggling even harder and the long thorns of the branches that were caging her in were cutting her Royal Purple dress (yes she was wearing my color again) to ribbons.
“It’s not my fault!” she shrieked, clawing at the branches. “Mordren told me to do it! He told me to poison the Queen—I never would have done it if he hadn’t told me to!”
Mordren’s face went dark with fury.
“You stupid bitch!” he snarled. “What’s wrong with you? Shut up! Shut up!”
But the damage was already done. I could see comprehension dawning on the faces of everyone in the crowd—both the Lesser Fae and the High Fae were murmuring to each other and shooting hard looks at Mordren and Elgiana.
“Well done, my Queen,” Lady Nolana murmured to me. “The old Queen was well loved and sadly missed after she died. You did well to expose Mordren and Elgiana’s treachery.”
“But what do I do now?” I asked. “Punish them somehow? Put them in prison?”
“Listen to the people,” Lady Nolana said, nodding at the crowd. “Let their will guide you.”
