She pulled Rainere back around the corner so they were in the dark again. Rainere looked at her quizzically and pressed in close so she would only have to whisper. Adele slipped her hands under his untucked shirt, enjoying the smoothness of his tightly-packed muscle under her hot hands, but she forced herself to focus on something else for a minute.
“Rainere, tomorrow you are going to meet my children,” she murmured. “They might be a bit… if they don’t like you, you must be gentle with them, okay?”
Adele bit her bottom lip and hoped that Rainere would take her advice in the way that she intended it. If he really wanted them to be together, then he would have to work hard to earn her children’s trust.
“I will be a perfect gentleman, I assure you, Adelena.” He lifted her chin with his finger. “Cara mia, I know how important this is to you, and to us.”
He kissed her in farewell and his tongue flicked lightly in her mouth. Stifling a moan, Adele reached up to pull Rainere closer and felt him stiffening against her in response. She pressed into the kiss and reached between his legs.
“Cara mia, no.” He broke away as he pulled her hands off his body and gave them back to her. “We cannot.”
“It’s not my fault. You started it!” whispered Adele, unable to keep the embarrassed pique out of her voice. “If you didn’t smell so good…”
Adele could almost feel the smugness radiating off Rainere at her compliment and lack of self-control. She resolved not to kiss him again before she walked away as a petty punishment for his ability to resist her right now.
“Good night, Your Highness,” Adele said loudly and stepped out from their dark corner, away from Rainere, and into the light of the hallway. “Thank you for a lovely evening.”
“Good night, Your Majesty,” replied Rainere formally. “I shall look forward to seeing you and the Royal Family tomorrow for lunch.”
“Very well,” answered Adele haughtily, and didn’t glance back over her shoulder, even though she was dying to. “I shall see if I have the time for it.”
She almost giggled at his answering growl, and blew him a quick kiss before she opened the apartment door and fell onto Captain Lucky.
“Oh, Your Majesty!” said her handsome Captain with his customary smile. “We thought maybe the Prince had eaten you, you’ve been gone for so long!”
“No, no, I’m quite alright,” replied Adele quickly, stepping into the room and shoving Lucky out of the way. She cursed her bad luck, Dammit! Why couldn’t it have been Bear who opened the door? He wouldn’t have said two words to me.
“Our sympathies have been with you all evening, Your Majesty,” said QG Pepper, standing up as Adele entered the room, and stifling a yawn. “When Mr. Grotto came to tell us that His Highness had taken you up to view the Observatory, we knew you would be doing your duty for the Crown all night.”
Adele forced a laugh at her young guard’s comment. “The Prince certainly can talk! As soon as we got onto the topic of what the Marchant Family is owed by the Crown, he wouldn’t shut up,” she blathered before shutting herself up.
“Shall I wake Caitlin for you, Your Majesty?” asked QG Pepper, a little too eagerly. Adele caught Captain Lucky rolling his eyes and hid a grin. Perhaps there was more romance than just hers going on in the Royal party.
“No, I can do it. I’m sure she’s in with the children by now,” she explained, but felt mean when she saw Pepper’s face fall. With a quick ‘goodnight’, she hurried away to her room before her friendly façade could crack.
Fortunately, Caitlin was too sleepy to notice anything wrong with Adele’s dress or hair. She only yelped when she broke a nail on the too-tight lacings that Rainere had done up for her with Magic.
“I’m sure I didn’t tie them this tightly, Your Majesty,” Caitlin grumbled, but said nothing else. Adele kissed her three children in their sleep and lay down in the enormous bed amongst them all, finally resting after an exhausting day.
As she lay there, Adele stared through the holes in the ragged curtains at the dark night. The stars seemed so much lower in the sky here in Evendaar than at home on Earth. The wind howled and rattled at the French doors, making Adele shiver at the memory of its biting chill in the blizzard today.
How fortunate the storm had hit right at the moment they had turned into the forest and that their wrong turn had led them right to Rainere’s home. Adele thought of Ripenzo Shale’s warning about a storm in his letter this morning.
Well, if that was the worst of it, we should be alright now, thought Adele. It was a terrible storm, but Rainere saved us from freezing to death.
Aaron made a little squeak in his sleep and nestled closer to his mother. Adele gently stroked the hair off his forehead and pulled the covers up to his chin before turning back to the window.
Adele wondered how she could be so lucky to have the love of such an incredible man like Rainere. She smiled when she recalled his earlier jealousy of Captain Lucky. But he didn’t scare her at all with his glares and dark frowns. His anger had just made her feel more cherished. No one had ever wanted her with the intensity that Rainere wanted her. No man had ever made her feel this special. Adele closed her eyes and re-lived the memories of the night while she waited for sleep to come.
Chapter Ten
“To Curse the Lover of the Beloved”
Down deep in the bowels of the Grey Palace, Schiss stared up at the ceiling of the dusty little office room where Grottonski had taken him. He knew the Queen was somewhere in the Grey Palace tonight, but to his sadness, he had yet to see her. He directed his attention back to Grottonski, hoping to dissuade him from his current action.
“But Mr. Grottonski, sir, should you sign it in the Prince’s own hand? Won’t he know what you have done?” asked Schiss as he watched over the old man’s shoulder as Grotto scratched out a letter, replicating the handwriting of Prince Rainere perfectly. Though Schiss wished he could read the Human language better, he could tell the letter was about the Queen and her children.
Schiss quailed under the sharp glare that Grotto sent him, but he was feeling uncomfortable for more than one reason. Grottonski was writing to the Spider Empress and Schiss had no desire to act as a delivery boy tonight.
His mother, the Empress, was probably furious with him for leaving the Nest to follow the Queen on her trip to Sandar. It is true that the Prince had not given Schiss much choice in acting as his personal spy, but the Empress would not care about that. She was as unreasonable as she was insane. He could only hope she would still be too preoccupied with grieving the death of Oki, her favored son, to be too concerned with Schiss right now.
Still, any journey into the Nest would be dangerous. His brothers and sisters continued to battle over the position of power on the Nest Council that Oki’s death had opened up. Any conversation with the Empress could be seen as an attempt to ingratiate himself with her and would earn the wrath of his larger and stronger siblings.
But Schiss knew that any effort to appeal to Grottonski’s kindness would fall on deaf ears, so he instead tried to reason with him.
“I cannot guarantee that I can even get this letter to the Empress tonight, you know,” said Schiss, his reedy voice plaintive. “There is a war in the Nest and it is still bloody. Someone might steal that letter from me and let it drop in the mud. Perhaps…”
“You will take a talisman,” snapped Grotto and his tone brooked no debate. Schiss paled as he caught the small object that Grotto tossed at him.
It was a long stick, a finger bone by the looks of it, with a black crow feather tied to the end, bound by a string of gut. Schiss sniffed at it and recoiled quickly. It smelled of death and dark Magic. Schiss gave it a cautionary wave and a shot of green sparks flew out the end of the finger bone:
“Beware the carrier of this talisman,” boomed a disembodied voice. “Death visits here!”
Schiss shrieked and dropped the bone. It fell to the floor, clattering on the tiles, but didn’t break, though the vo
ice and the green sparks disappeared.
“It’s a little dramatic,” remarked Grotto drily. “But it should get you to the center of the Nest for an audience with your mother unmolested. Just don’t wave it about too much or it could explode. It’s very old.”
Nodding, Schiss cautiously bent to pick up the bone and placed it in his pocket, his expression showing his distaste. “What should I expect from the Empress when I give her the letter?” he asked. “Should I wait for one in return or do I have your permission to return to the Grey Palace?” Schiss sent Grottonski what he hoped was a winning smile, but the manservant was shuffling through piles of papers at the desk, and his effort was wasted.
“It should be here,” muttered Grotto, searching a pile of small cards in a little wooden box. “I had the name of the priest right here… ah-ha, here he is!”
Grotto looked up at Schiss and the little man-Spider almost flinched from the malevolence in Grotto’s smile. “You should hurry back to me, Schiss, because I will have another letter for you to deliver as soon as you can.”
Schiss didn’t like the creaking sounds coming out of Grotto as the old manservant attempted a chuckle. “Priests are dangerous Humans, Mr. Grottonski. He’s not going to hurt the Queen, is he?” he asked as a feeling of foreboding swamped him.
“Hurt her? Why, no, little Spider, but even that Abomination will need a priest at her wedding, won’t she?” Grotto cackled, but quickly choked it off to turn back to his work.
A wedding! The beautiful Queen Adelena will marry the Marchant Prince? Well, he is a lucky man, though he couldn’t deserve a lady such as her. Perhaps, Schiss thought hopefully, I might even be invited.
He would so love to see the Queen again, and he would love for her to see him in his Human form, so he could thank her properly for saving his life in Sandar. If she hadn’t released him from that little box, he would have died horribly from the Magic that was singeing his fur and eating away at his innards. That day the Queen had arrived like a vision of the Goddess herself and had shaken him so gently to the ground, right next to a portal, and had blessed him with a promise never to kill him. Obviously she had found him special above all others. Obviously she had seen something in him that she hadn’t in Oki, because he had died by her hand, whereas Schiss had been preserved. They had a bond, he and the Queen. Schiss could feel it right down to his bones. Maybe it had something to do with this Prophecy that was so important to the Empress and Grottonski?
Schiss had always liked Humans and he liked living aboveground. He liked the sun and though he knew it wasn’t healthy, he felt most alive when he was sitting in a tree, casting his web between its swaying branches. It was how Prince Rainere had first found him. Schiss had been napping in his web when he felt the cold sides of the glass box enclose him. It had been the old man, Grottonski, who had convinced the Prince to let Schiss out of the box and transform into his Human-form to plead his case for life. Ever quick, the Prince had recognized a fellow outcast in Schiss and had taken pity on the little man-Spider, but it was Grotto again who had negotiated Schiss’s freedom in exchange for a steady stream of information from the Nest.
But Schiss wanted out of the Nest so badly. He wanted to live free of the politics of the Nest Council controlled by his most bloodthirsty siblings, and he wanted to be free of his mother, the Empress. Her insanity had grown with the years and had been passed on to the new Hatchlings. Now there was a bloodbath every other week. Schiss hated the sound of the screams of the dying babies as they were pulled apart and eaten by their stronger siblings. The Empress should have stopped the violence, but she only responded with rewards for the victors.
When the Days of Darkness finally came, only the strong would rise from the Nest to reclaim the Above Lands. The strong and the crazy.
Seeing that Grottonski was occupied with his next letter, Schiss took the chance to slip away. He tucked the folded letter next to the nasty talisman in his threadbare jacket, and made his way back up the dark corridors and stairways to the ground floor of the palace where he could find an open window. Schiss morphed back into his spider form with a squelchy pop and crept up the wall to the window ledge. He had to be cautious here, though there were many portal entrances floating about the palace, there were also sharp-eyed ravens watching for small creatures to eat.
A wispy portal, transparent and fragile, drifted over to the window, as if blown by a breeze and Schiss braced himself to leap into its tiny opening. The portal was a gateway to the ancient paths that the Spider People had been travelling for millennia in Evendaar, well before the Humans came and found the Magic to create their own Human-size ones. He would be at the Nest in a matter of minutes.
Schiss sent a prayer to the Goddess Lune that he could deliver this letter and be back at the Palace by dawn break.
Despite his grim mission, Schiss’s heart lifted. He would be with the Queen soon.
Chapter Eleven
“The Next Adventure in Love”
The night had passed so quickly. Again.
Adele opened her eyes and watched as the grey wash of dawn lightened the room. She was positive she hadn’t slept at all. Adele felt Aaron settle himself at her shoulder and start playing with her hair. “Are you awake, Monkey?” she whispered and pulled him into her arms for a cuddle. He allowed her to squeeze him for a moment before he shifted away and sat up, staring down at her.
“Your eyes are different, Mummy, aren’t they?” he whispered. “You have shiny rings in them, and diamonds, too, I think.”
Adele smiled. “I have diamonds in my eyes? Are they pretty?”
Aaron frowned. “You are beautiful, but I don’t like you being different. You should make your eyes the same as before.”
Adele reached up to stroke the hair off her son’s face and tried to smooth the little worry lines that creased his brow with her thumb.
“We are all a bit different on this world, my darling,” she said. “I’ve got glitter in my eyes because of the Magic that is inside of me now, but I am still your Mummy and nothing will ever change that. I love you, my sweet boy.”
“I had a dream last night, didn’t I Mummy?” said Aaron. “The man came and held my hand. He said that I was his family, that I had a light in me. Is that like Magic, too?”
“What man?” asked Adele more sharply than she meant to and pushed herself up on an elbow. “Did he wake you up?”
“He wasn’t really a man,” replied Aaron and pursed his little lips, thinking hard. “He was floating on the air, and I could see the window through his body. But I wasn’t scared, was I Mummy? I knew he was a nice ghost,” Aaron finished proudly.
“Mum-mee?” Stella was awake now. “Hung-gee.”
“Yeah, me, too!” said Aaron and his shout woke a grumpy Natalie.
Adele refrained from asking Aaron any more about his dream, as the nannies woke up with the chatter of the children and the puppies roused themselves from under the bed. Adele threw a robe over her nightdress and followed the children out to the dining room. A plain, but generous, buffet had been laid out for them: boiled eggs, platters of sliced ham, fresh rolls, and bowls of soft, creamy cheese, jugs of syrup, and piles of sweet, tart apples.
Once again, QG Bear was stuck with puppy duty, as he took the dogs out on the terrace for some exercise and morning poops. Despite his sour expression, Adele got the feeling that her guard actually enjoyed the chore and watched as he played with the pups, throwing sticks and chasing them about. Adele told herself to remember that Bear must have a softer side if he could be so gentle with the puppies. She just rarely got to see it behind his narrow-eyed glares and muttered cursing.
As soon as the children were finished with their breakfast, they wanted to be out playing in the snow too. Seraphina and Caitlin took the children out and left Adele to drink her cup of tea in peace.
As she poured another cup, General Ohrig made his way over to join her at the table, standing stiffly to await permission to sit down. Adele smiled and wave
d for him to relax. “General, please. We don’t need to be so formal when it’s just us.”
General Ohrig nodded as he sat down, but said nothing. The General was freshly showered and dressed in a clean white shirt under his pressed jacket. Adele noticed a touch of shaving cream by his ear and resisted the urge to wipe it off. General Ohrig would not appreciate the contact. He, like all the men of her Queen’s Guard, treated Adele with a formal chivalry that she had never experienced before. It was polite, but made her feel lonely, too, and never failed to remind her that she was the Queen and, therefore, different to them.
“Sleep well, General?” asked Adele as she buttered another warm roll and attempted to lighten the dark mood the General had brought to the table with him.
General Ohrig gave Adele a sharp look, his pale blue eyes watching her intently. “Well enough, Your Majesty.” His answer was clipped, almost brusque, a sure sign he was unhappy about something. “As I understand it, you had a rather long night with His Highness, the Prince?”
Adele shoved the roll in her mouth and nodded, hoping Ohrig didn’t notice her blushing cheeks, as he continued to stare at her, his eyebrows beetled low down over his eyes.
“Your Majesty, though it is not my place to ask what was discussed with the Prince, you did mention to Captain Lucky that the Prince raised the issue of reparations for the Marchant Family, or that the Crown owed the Marchant Family in some financial way. Is that right?”
Adele nodded again. Yes, she had told Lucky that lie.
The General stiffened in his chair, his hands unconsciously clenching and unclenching into fists on the table. Adele could tell that Ohrig was trying to be diplomatic in this conversation and for such a straight-talking man, this was almost painful for him. She took a sip of her tea and braced herself.
“Spit it out, General. What do you want to say?”
“Frankly, Your Majesty?”
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