23. Seldarin

We spent the next half hour getting the Princess ready to go out and meet the people of the Midnight Court. Well, Krynn did, anyway. His days of service to Lady Elgiana were far in the past but his skills from that time had not deserted him.

He got Princess Lilliana into a gown with skirts of finely woven spider silk and a bodice made of glass leaves—so named because they were semi-transparent and easily showed the flesh they covered. The bodice was dyed Royal Purple—a shade that no one without Royal blood is allowed to wear. The seamstress who made the dress must have attended the old Queen, I thought. There was no other way she would have access to the restricted color.

As for the bodice, the glass leaves molded beautifully to the Princess's large breasts and showed off her ripe, pale purple nipples perfectly. But for some reason, this seemed to bother her.

"I can't go out in public dressed like this!" she protested, looking down at herself in obvious horror.

"Why not?" Krynn frowned as he looked her up and down. "The dress fits perfectly."

"And it shows off your curves and your assets," I added.

"It shows off more than that!" She pointed at her breasts. "I can't go around in a dress that shows my nipples! Especially now that they've turned purple."

"You can and you must," Krynn said sternly. "It's the color of your nipples that we want the people of the Court to see—along with the color of your eyes and hair and the Mark of Lolth on your forehead. All these things speak to the Royal Purple blood that runs in your veins and your true status as the rightful Queen of the Midnight Court."

"Really? They need to see my nipples to believe I'm who you say I am?" She had an agonized look on her face and it occurred to me that she was extremely modest. Only the deep sexual need she'd been feeling earlier had allowed her to be naked between me and Krynn without shame.

Just thinking of that—remembering how soft she'd felt in my arms and the way she'd bucked her hips and moaned when she was coming—made my shaft hard all over again. I thought of entering her with my fingers and remembered how hot and wet her sweet little pussy had been. I wondered if I would be feeling that tight, wet heat wrapped around my cock later when they strapped me to the Quenching chair…

If you do, it might be the last thing you ever feel, whispered a little voice in my head. Which was fucking true. Quenching the Princess's Thirst for the first time was going to be dangerous—especially since Krynn and I were the only ones allowed to do it.

The thought snapped me out of the lustful trance I'd fallen into and I watched as Krynn deftly dressed our Princess's hair in the latest Court fashion. He had the top pulled up to show the Mark of Lolth on her forehead while the back hung in loose silver, white, and purple waves that swirled around her full hips becomingly.

"Beautiful," I breathed, as he finished with her. Now she looked ready to go to Court…though I wished we could all go straight back to bed instead. The experience of holding her between us with Krynn on one side and me on the other wouldn't leave my mind.

Krynn was my oldest friend and though I had helped him with his Needing before, we had never shared a female sexually. I would have been happy to share the Princess with him—if she wished to be shared. But I knew the truth—the two of us were only a stepping stone to her, which was as it should be. She was meant for someone better than myself and Krynn.

After all, no one could expect a beautiful Princess of Royal blood to keep two half-breeds as her consorts. Soon enough she would meet a High Fae male and no doubt fall in love with him. And then she would name him as her Royal Consort—possibly her King Consort, though I hoped not.

Lilliana was the rightful Queen and she deserved to rule by herself. If she allowed a High Fae male to take the title of "King" she would be eclipsed, her authority diluted. That had been the case with her mother, Queen Lorelin. Once she married Valerin and named him her King Consort, he had taken over the ruling of the Midnight Court and much of her power had become his.

Some said that was why she had died in childbirth—which shouldn't happen to any reasonably healthy Fae female who has magic in her veins. But people said that King Valerin had absorbed so much of his wife's power that she didn't have enough even to keep herself alive at the moment of crisis.

It had been a great loss and the Midnight Court wasn't the same without a ruler with Royal blood—one who was a direct descendant of Lolth, the Spider Queen. Our power and prestige had diminished in the years since Queen Lorelin had died.

But soon we would be well and whole again, I reminded myself. When Princess Lilliana took the throne of the Midnight Court, her beauty and power would shine through the whole Court, making all of us stronger. Having a descendant of the Spider Queen on the Throne for the Dark Fae is much like a colony of bees having a good and powerful Queen bee who is constantly replenishing the hive. We thrive under such circumstances.

I just hoped that Krynn and I could install the Princess safely on the Throne, but we would have to watch her carefully because Mordren wasn't going to give up the power he sought easily.