“He’s such a baby,” thought Natalie, but thinking that made her feel lonely and cold so she hugged him even harder. Looking up she saw that Lady Olivia was still standing in the doorway, staring at her. Natalie decided she hated the lady. Why did she just stand there?
“You can go now,” she ordered Lady Olivia in her best bossy voice. But she was glad when the lady didn’t say anything else, just left and shut the door.
Natalie snuggled into her brother and kissed his hair like Mummy did. As she closed her eyes she imagined sleeping in a big bed with Prince Rainere and Aaron. That would be so warm and cozy. No way would Lady Olivia stare at her from the doorway then.
Natalie didn’t know how she knew, but she was sure that the Prince didn’t like Lady Olivia either. He hadn’t looked at her once today even though she was wearing a dress that showed her big boobs off.
Aaron kicked her gently and Natalie shifted a bit to let him move. She kissed his hair again and he settled.
All I have to do is get Mummy to marry Prince Rainere, she thought. When I wake up, I’m going to tell her that Prince Rainere should be my new Daddy. She was glad that she had already told Prince Rainere of her plan, so he could talk to her Mummy about it, too.
Natalie felt for the necklace at her throat and, still smiling, drifted off to sleep.
Chapter Forty-One
“One Fine Morning”
Charlie had woken up when Blondie brought the Princess back to bed. From his partially-hidden couch, tucked away in the corner, he couldn’t see much of the Lady, which was a shame, as she was showing off plenty of rack in a low-cut dress today.
He heard the door close and shut his eyes, feeling comfortable. The reason he had chosen this room was because the Royal kiddlings were sleeping in it, and he had figured it was probably the safest room in the palace. Charlie had no trouble admitting he was terrified of getting caught alone by the Black Prince. He also had the little problem of the Prince or the Queen realizing that there had been a terrible mix-up and that he didn’t really work for either of them. But he was hoping that they were too busy with each other to bother about him.
It was cozy curled up on his couch, with a heavy blanket for warmth and a pillow under his head. Charlie heard the little Princess sigh and found the noise comforting.
He let himself fall into a dreamless slumber.
Chapter Forty-Two
“A Devil Came Creeping”
Adele opened her eyes and squinted in the morning light. She hadn’t slept, of course, but had managed to close her eyes and rest a little. She checked the limp baby in her arms, but Stella was sleeping soundly, her breathing steady and her forehead cool.
Relief swamped Adele and she lay back down on her pillow with a happy sigh. Though she had known from experience that it had just been a normal virus that Stella was suffering from, she had felt the natural terror every mother has when a child is ill. The fact that she hadn’t had her usual arsenal of child medications had given her a flutter of panic, as well. But good old-fashioned cold water and cuddles with Mummy had fixed everything.
Adele heard a noise and saw Siobahn and Lady Olivia were quietly moving about the room, laying out the wardrobe for the day for the family. Lady Olivia noticed Adele was up and tip-toed over to her. She nodded at Stella with an inquiring frown.
“She’s fine,” whispered Adele, giving Lady Olivia a smile that the lady returned with a little silent cheer.
“We are just organizing your things, Your Majesty,” Lady Olivia whispered. “We must leave before lunchtime to make it back in time for the Steeplechase today.”
“Where are the other children?” asked Adele quietly as she extricated herself from Stella’s damp little body.”
“Still sleeping, Your Majesty,” whispered Lady Olivia. “They were busy little angels last night and are all tuckered out.”
Adele climbed out of bed and stretched out the cricks and kinks in her back after having lain with Stella in her arms for hours.
“I’m going to take a shower and get dressed,” said Adele on the way to the bathroom. “Don’t bother waking the children. We’ll have breakfast late today.”
“With the Prince, Your Majesty?” asked Lady Olivia, but when Adele looked at her, the Lady wore a perfectly innocent expression. It was only a natural question after all.
“I’m not sure what our host is doing today,” she replied even as her heart thudded hard in her chest. “Perhaps you can check with Mr. Grotto for me?”
Adele made it to the bathroom just as the tears filled her eyes. She leaned against the back of the door and silently let them fall. A horrible cloud of premonition enveloped her and she covered her mouth with her hand and stifled a sob. Though they had ended last night with passionate sex in the hallway, Adele was suddenly very afraid that it might be the last time that Rainere let her close to him. She felt sick at what her decision not to marry Rainere might mean now. She couldn’t be with him, but neither could she live without him.
Adele turned on the shower and, dropping her nightgown to the floor, she stepped into the hot spray and let it fall on her face, washing away the tears. The bite on her neck stung as the water touched it.
I have screwed this up so badly, she thought. First, she had declared her undying love to Rainere, then she had marked him with her initials—how incredibly humiliating for him—then she had refused to marry him, despite him asking her for the third time. How much more was her poor Prince supposed to take!
Adele turned and lathered her hair with soap.
It was so incredibly complicated and anyway she looked at it she had been right to say no. General Ohrig had just confirmed what she knew in her gut… no one would want Rainere in the Golden Palace and they would kill him before they let him sit on the Throne.
Adele rinsed her hair and picked up the little razor from its shelf and soaped her legs for shaving.
Adele hated to admit it, but she supposed that Rainere was just as prejudiced against the Court of the Golden Palace as much as they were against him. That must be why he kept warning her against the danger of trusting the Wizards. This Prophecy that underlay it all was just as dangerous and Adele cursed herself for her distraction with Rainere that she still hadn’t asked him about it.
Adele held her back under the water and let the pounding of it block her ears and thoughts. She wasn’t going to be getting out in a hurry this morning. The longer they could stay at the Grey Palace the better. Who knew when they would be back again?
Chapter Forty-Three
“And Creeping Around the Corner”
The door in the paneled wardrobe creaked open and a figure studied the room in the grey light of the new morning. A long, white hand slid around the edge of the door and pushed it wider, allowing the hollow-eyed man to get out and pad quietly across the floor to the big bed.
Prince Rainere looked down on the two tiny bodies wrapped so tightly together. He could not remember what it felt like to cry, but right now, it was as if his eyes were swimming in acid.
He leaned down over the children and gently took Natalie’s hand. “Princess,” he whispered, though his voice was more of a croak.
Natalie’s dark eyes fluttered open and, sleepily, she smiled up at the Prince. “I knew you’d come,” she said enigmatically.
Rainere almost gasped when his heart squeezed painfully. “Princess, I have a present for you.”
Rainere knelt by the bed and pulled the bracelet from his pocket.
“It matches my necklace,” grinned Natalie, already bright and awake. She sat up in bed and swung her legs over the side.
“Let me put it on you,” whispered Rainere, as he took her tiny hand in his and slid the silver chain over her wrist.
Natalie began to shimmer and change before his very eyes. Her limbs grew longer, her body taller, and her face matured into a woman’s. Within moments, the transformation was complete.
“There, now. You look just perfect,” said the Prince and ran a t
ender hand over the cheek of the Natalie-as-Adelena.
“Thank you! Oh, thank you, Prince Rainere,” sighed Natalie happily, as she admired her new pretty thing. “I’m just sorry I don’t have any presents for you.”
Rainere winced and paled even more. “All I need is your happiness, Princess Natalie,” he whispered, but Natalie didn’t know why he looked so sad. “Your happiness… and a… kiss.”
Natalie grinned. Kisses were easy to give.
The Prince always smelled so nice, like the wind when you played outside on a winter’s day. She leant over and pursed her lips to kiss his smooth cheek, but at the last moment, the Prince turned his head and she kissed his lips instead. They were cool and soft.
“Oh!” giggled Natalie. “I kissed your mouth. Only mummies and daddies… can… can do… that…”
Rainere caught the little girl as she fell forward into his arms. He cradled her gently and checked the pulse at her throat. Sleeping Curses were tricky things to engineer, but far less dangerous than an opiate or poison on one so young. To his relief, her pulse was strong and her breathing steady.
“And only true love’s kiss shall wake you, Princess,” he murmured, and her eyelids fluttered, as if she dreamed of pleasant things. “Your Mother will be with you soon.”
With the back of his hand, Rainere wiped off the rest of Adelena’s blood that he had painted on his lips. He looked down at the sleeping face of the Princess-Queen in his arms. The Illusion Curse wasn’t perfect, but it was the best he could do with the strands of hair he’d taken from Natalie and coated with Adelena’s blood, before wrapping them around the links of the bracelet.
He carried Natalie-as-Adelena over to the cupboard and stepped through. The door creaked quietly shut again.
* * *
Only when he was sure that the Prince had left did Charlie let out his breath again.
Charlie uncurled himself from his frozen position and sat up. Watching the Prince perform his evil Magic on the little Princess had turned his bowels to water. He was trembling from head to toe and could barely organize his scrambled thoughts. His instincts screamed at him to leave immediately and to run as far from the Grey Palace as he possibly could. This was not his mess to get mixed up in.
Queens and Marchant Princes, dark Magic, and kidnapping! Charlie was already in enough trouble with The Boss without letting himself be dragged into the middle of a regicide.
But if he didn’t tell the Queen what had happened to her daughter, then who would? It’s not my problem, his sensible side told him.
Marchant blood ran in his veins, what if this St. Lucidis Queen thought he was working with the Prince on this, too? As she very easily could if I don’t get the hell out of here.
What would stop the Prince from killing him if he tried to help the Queen, anyway? He had wanted to before, hadn’t he?
But a fierce chivalry, the likes of which Charlie had never known before, raised up its head inside of him and drowning out the other voices in his head, it suggested that he should do something very, very stupid.
Chapter Forty-Four
“But Even Devils Can Be Sorry”
Rainere felt his heart pounding uncomfortably hard in his chest as he made his way down the dark tunnel into the Spiders Nest. Though the bundle in his arms was very light, the burden he carried was heavy.
Rainere had never doubted his Magic before, but as he looked down at the Natalie-as-Adelena he could see so many faults in his Illusion Spell. Natalie looked younger than Adelena did in real life, perhaps no more than a teenager of eighteen or nineteen, flat-chested, and too thin. It was how she would look in the future, he supposed, and his heart cracked under the pressure of the guilt that weighed on it. She didn’t deserve this.
Rainere could feel the sweat dripping down his neck and under his collar. He prayed to the Goddess Serena that the Sleeping Curse would hold for as long as it needed to. He had been inspired by Natalie’s story of Sleeping Beauty. What could be more perfect than putting the Princess to sleep while this whole terrifying ceremony took place? Once he had taken Natalie-as-Adelena down to the Empress and shown her the wedding band she wore on her wrist, then the Empress would release him from his Oath and he could finally be free of her power to control his Will. The necklace would repel the Spider Empress from biting Natalie, with it’s hopefully undetectable Magic, and they would both be free to leave the Nest. Adelena would kiss her daughter awake and he could explain why it had to be Natalie in place of Adelena. But, more importantly, Adelena would not have to endure the horror of meeting the Empress and she would never have to know of his humiliating Oath of Fealty to the monstrous Empress beneath the ground.
Rainere, normally so sure-footed, tripped on a tree root sticking out of the ground. He cursed softly, but savagely.
“Master, please reconsider what you are about to do,” whispered Grotto, who walked close behind him on his heels. “There is still time before noon to convince the Queen to come herself.”
“Silence,” snapped Rainere. He had heard enough of Grotto’s opinions, since he had told the old man his plan to present Natalie in place of Adelena. He understood Grotto’s fear. If any of the three over-lapping spells should fail, and the Empress discovered the deception, they would all be eaten on the spot. Or worse.
Rainere swallowed on his dry throat, as the cloying humidity in the tunnels made him want to gasp.
There was no room for error.
As he neared the cavern at the center of the Nest, Rainere could hear the noisy clicking and rasping of a large crowd gathered there. He flinched as he felt the flow of hundreds of spiders pass over the walls of the tunnel, all heading into the cavern and the Court of their Empress.
Unconsciously, he slowed his pace and felt Grotto bump into him.
“Master, please,” begged Grotto one last time.
Rainere felt a moment of rare empathy for his loyal manservant. If Grotto had ever felt for him the love Rainere now felt for Adelena’s children, then he could understand why Grotto would not give up trying to change his mind while accompanying him into certain death. But this new knowledge would not stop him tonight.
Rainere stepped into the cavern and noticed that a large stone table had been moved into the center of the space. The sides were rough-hewn rock, but the top was intricately carved and polished. A small lip had been carved at each corner and deep glass bowls sat under the runnels.
Rainere didn’t react when Grotto hissed behind him, but he felt the anxiety of the old man intensify immediately. What was the table for?
The Empress was watching the entrance and pulled herself to stand upon her eight mighty legs when she saw the Prince enter.
“The new bride and groom have arrived,” she screeched in the language of Men. She bowed to Rainere by lowering her first two legs, but she didn’t take her eyes off him or the limp woman in his arms. “Shall I call you ‘King’, my Marchant Prince?” she cackled gleefully, and her face contorted itself into a hideous semblance of a grin.
“In all but name, Empress.” Rainere bowed stiffly and pulled Natalie tighter to his chest.
The movement wasn’t lost on the Spider Empress. She waved a foreleg at Rainere, beckoning him closer to her. The Empress had painted herself in lurid colors for the occasion and her pincers were shiny with viscous poison. “Let me see your new wife, Prince Rainere.”
Rainere was loathe to take another step but he straightened his spine and approached the dais where the Empress had settled down, her legs splayed to each side and her thorax molded into the pile of filthy silk cushions.
The Empress looked more closely at the woman in Rainere’s arms. “Why does she sleep? Didn’t she want to meet me?”
Rainere tried to control his breathing, keeping it at a natural pace. Though he may doubt the strength of the Illusion Spell, he was almost positive the Empress wouldn’t be able to judge the age or true appearance of a Human woman. The Empress hadn’t been above ground in almost a thousand years a
nd her knowledge of Humans was, therefore safely limited.
“As I have mentioned before, Empress, the Queen is a fragile woman, plagued by many fears. A fear of dark, enclosed spaces and spiders being chief among them,” Rainere bowed as low as he could. “I felt it prudent to render her unconscious for this meeting, so as not to offend you with her screaming.”
“But I like the sound of their screaming,” cackled the Empress, who was answered by a rippling wheeze of laughter from the crowd of Spiders in the cavern.
Rainere bowed again but remained silent. Sweat trickled down his temple. The Empress was leaning over as far as she could to get closer to the Queen.
“She doesn’t look like she would be strong enough to kill a warrior like my son, Oki. Perhaps she is more formidable than you would have me believe, my Prince of Marchant?” The Empress’s tone was thoughtful and she regarded Rainere with her canny gaze, an animal intelligence lighting the many eyes that studied him. “Perhaps you wish to join your power to this child of Prophecy and claim her strength for yourself?”
The pit of dread in Rainere’s stomach started to curdle and turn. What was the Empress talking about, joining powers? With a belated clarity, Rainere finally saw beyond his own fear and noticed that every one of the Empress’s guards had surrounded the cavern, standing in front of each exit, with their knives drawn. The crowd of Spiders had pushed back out of the way and sat hunched on the walls and ceiling. This was highly unusual. Were they expecting him to cause trouble?
“Empress,” said Rainere, forcing his voice to remain firm. “This Queen is but a Human female, as you can see. At your order, I forced her to marry me and give me the Throne of Unisia, which she did last night. When the full moon rises tonight, I will make her sign, in blood, the decree releasing you from your status as monsters and your people will once again be free to walk the Above Lands. The light of the Goddess Lune will shine down upon you and the Golden Palace shall be yours. As King, I will allow you to reign as you will over the land of Unisia.”
The Queen Revealed Page 28
