26. Lily

"What is this slop?" Mordren stared at his bowl in obvious disgust. You would have thought that the Lesser Fae servant had put a plate of steaming hot dog shit down in front of him instead of perfectly good potato leak soup, which was what it was.

"This," I said, "Is what I ordered for dinner tonight. I stopped by the kitchens during my tour of the Palace and spoke to the chef. I hope you don't mind."

We were sitting across from each other at the "High Table" which was raised on a kind of dais in the middle of the vast Grand Banquet Hall. Like the Throne Room, this huge space also had mirrored walls which made me think that whoever had built the Palace was either really vain, or wanted to be sure they could keep an eye on everybody all the time. Which was certainly possible, since everyone in the room was reflected over and over multiple times.

The effect was like eating dinner in a hall of mirrors at an amusement park. I didn't much like it and would much rather have had a quiet dinner in the Cavern with my guys, but it appeared I had no say in the matter. Apparently the whole Court—or at least, all the High Fae—gathered almost every night for a grand banquet where they feasted and gossiped and congratulated each other on being the best of the best of the Dark Fae.

What it mostly reminded me of was the old Christmas parties I used to have to attend with Christopher for his firm. Everyone was all decked out and looking to one-up everyone else in the room. I had always hated those parties—I got dressed up but never felt like I fit in. It was a feeling I was experiencing times ten tonight, considering that I was literally up on a pedestal and everyone was watching me.

The company didn't help much either. Mordren was right across from me, as I said and to his right was Lady Elgiana, looking coolly elegant in a gown of deep blue that was almost Royal Purple—the color only one with Royal blood was supposed to wear. I couldn't tell if it was a subtle insult…or a not-so subtle one. She hadn't said a word to me yet—she'd simply raked her sharp yellow eyes over my Royal Purple evening gown and curled her upper lip.

Krynn and Seldarin were standing behind me. Apparently though they were "officers of the Court" they weren't allowed to sit at the High Table, due to their half-breed status. I didn't like that at all and had wanted to protest but Krynn had murmured,

"Please my Lady, don't make a fuss. Sel and I are used to standing in attendance during the dinner feast. We must choose our battles carefully."

Reluctantly, I had allowed them to remain on guard behind my chair. And though I couldn't stand the people sitting across from me, at least I had someone I liked beside me. To my right was seated Lady Nolana, the older Fae who had told me she was in the room with my mother when the old Queen gave birth to me. (Which was still a really weird thought—was I actually accepting my status as the Lost Dark Fae Princess? I wasn't quite sure.)

Anyway, Lady Nolana and I had been having a nice conversation about the Palace grounds and how far they extended and how the Dark Fae magic kept them from being visible or accessible to humans. As we talked, the Lesser Fae servants, dressed in black and gold livery, had been bringing out course after course of delicious food.

There were exotic fairy fruits, some kind of golden-brown paté and tiny buttery toasts to spread it on, a crisp salad of delicious wild greens dressed in a tangy vinaigrette, and an enormous fish with the head still on that had tender, flaky white flesh seasoned with lemon and herbs that practically melted in my mouth. And between all the courses there were little dishes of tart sorbet or edible flowers which melted on the tongue to "cleanse the palate."

It was the fanciest dinner I'd ever been to, but everyone around me seemed to take it as a matter of course. There was a huge crystal chandelier which shed a warm glow over the gleaming cutlery and plates—all of which seemed to be made of solid gold. The setting was gorgeous, the food was delicious, and Lady Nolana seemed like she might be a good candidate for a true friend. I would have been enjoying myself thoroughly except for three things.

First, I didn't like being the center of attention and I was well aware that everyone in the room was staring at me as I sat at the High Table on the raised dais. Second, Mordren and Lady Elgiana kept whispering together and looking at me and laughing rudely—making it obvious they were talking about me. I could shrug that off, but it was irritating—like being back in high school eating lunch in the school cafeteria across from the mean girls.

Third, (and most worryingly) I was having a hard time enjoying my delicious dinner because I was so horribly thirsty. I swear I needed a drink between every single bite I took. After I had drained my first goblet of wine, Krynn had begun discretely refilling my glass with cold water. Which was a good thing, since at the rate I was drinking, I would have been extremely drunk by the time the main course—which was the potato and leak soup—arrived.

As it was, I was only tipsy, because of the single glass of wine, which made me feel perfectly comfortable talking back to Mordren when he complained about the soup.

"You ordered this slop?" he demanded, glaring at me from across the table as he gestured to the golden bowl in front of him.

"I most certainly did." I took a bite myself and made a pleased humming sound in the back of my throat. "Mmm—delicious!"

"This is ridiculous!" Mordren raised his voice. "Servant! Where is the haunch of venison I ordered for the main course tonight? Has the chef burned it? How dare he send us this disgusting stuff instead?"

"You can stop shouting," I said. "The venison is being eaten by the Lesser Fae, who are having their own banquet tonight. You see, I heard that my mother, the old Queen, used to give them parties and banquets on a regular basis, and now that I'm here and about to take the throne, I wanted to bring that tradition back."

"You what?" Mordren demanded, his bluish-purple eyes going wide. "How dare you make such a decision without consulting me? I am the Lord Regent!"

"And I am the Princess and the rightful ruler of the Dark Fae," I shot back. I was glad now for the strong wine I'd had—it was giving me courage. "I don't need your advice on how to plan a dinner for my people. And since they're getting a taste of prime venison, which you have every night, I thought it might be good for you to have a taste of what they eat every night. Which is something like this potato soup, since you decided they don't get to eat meat anymore."

"What?" Mordren's eyebrows rose in apparent surprise. "How dare you give my fine venison to that rabble?" he demanded.

"That ‘rabble' are the people who run this Palace!" I exclaimed. "They work hard and wait on you hand and foot. And instead of treating them with respect, you do everything you can to make their lives miserable and keep them ignorant!"

"Ignorant? Pray, Princess, whatever are you speaking of?" Lady Elgiana raised one elegant silver-white eyebrow at me, her expression coolly skeptical.

"I'm talking about the fact that Mordren has decided that the female children of the Lesser Fae no longer need to go to school," I snapped. "He thinks it's a waste of time since they're only going to be ‘cleaning and mending and cooking for the rest of their lives.'" I looked directly at Mordren. "Those are your words. Do you deny you said them?"

"I most certainly do not," he snarled. "Nor do I retract my words. Females—at least, Lesser Fae females—are too stupid for school. It's a waste of resources to educate them."

"How dare you make such a unilateral decision for a whole group of people you don't even know?" I demanded. "Women are not second-class citizens and they are just as intelligent as men. A vagina and a brain are not mutually exclusive, you know!"

For a moment the whole High Table just sat there gaping at me. I guessed they weren't used to feminist rants during dinner. Though honestly, people have the wrong idea about feminists. It's not that we believe women are better than men—it's that we believe we are equal to men and ought to have the same rights and opportunities in life. If that gets your britches in a knot, maybe you should stop and consider your world view.

As for why I was giving my opinion so loudly now, well—maybe I was trying to make up for lost time. It wasn't lost on me that if I'd stood up for myself more in my marriage, it might not have ended the way it did. I had let Christopher walk all over me but I was damned if I would repeat my mistakes.

I thought that Mordren was going to shout at me some more and I could feel Sel and Krynn at my back, poised for action. They hadn't gotten involved yet, but I knew they were waiting to jump in if things got ugly.

But to my surprise, the Lord Regent didn't shout again. Instead, he took a deep breath and pasted an oily, obsequious smile on his face. Leaning across the table, he looked me directly in the eyes.

"My dear Princess, there's no need for such histrionics," he drawled. "You and I should be friends."

When he said the word "friends" I heard a peculiar resonance in his tone that seemed to leave a lingering buzzing sound in my ears. And when I looked into his eyes, determined not to lose the staring contest I suddenly found myself in, I could have sworn that the bluish-purple depths were swirling around and around…

"My dear, don't look too long into Lord Mordren's eyes," a soft voice said in my ear. It was Lady Nolana, murmuring discretely from the corner of her mouth.

At the same time, I felt a heavy hand fall on my shoulder—it was Seldarin, I realized. The big Fae gave my shoulder a warning squeeze.

Sel's hand on my shoulder and Lady Nolana's warning whisper seemed to break the strange trance I had started to fall into. I looked away from Mordren's swirling eyes and lifted my chin.

"I don't think so," I said. "I don't—" But my words ended in a coughing fit, because once again my throat was so dry.

"You poor thing!" Before I could stop her, Lady Elgiana reached for my goblet and filled it from a bottle of wine sitting right beside her. She pushed it back across the table to me with a look of melting sympathy. "Your fangs have come in but you've yet to have your first Quenching. You must be so thirsty."

I started to take a gulp of the wine without thinking of it—anything to stop the coughing—but Krynn was suddenly leaning over my shoulder, his hand over the top of the goblet to keep me from taking a sip.

"No, my Lady!" His soft tenor voice was urgent. "You must not drink or eat anything that Lady Elgiana gives to you," he murmured and handed me a new glass of water instead.

I gulped the water thirstily, glad to finally get my cough under control. But though I was now so full of liquids I was practically sloshing, my throat still felt terribly dry.

Rather than offending her, Krynn's actions seemed to have amused Lady Elgiana. She threw back her head and laughed, her silver white hair swirling elegantly around her shoulders.

"What's wrong, Krynn my pet?" she asked, giving him a knowing smile over my shoulder. "Are you afraid I'll make your Lady's desires worse? Don't worry about that—I doubt anything could worsen the Thirst or the craving she no doubt feels for your blood." She smirked at him. "And speaking of craving, how is your Needing lately? You haven't visited me in such a long time and you know I miss you."

"What I fear is that you'll poison her," Krynn said sternly, ignoring her other words. "I know your ways, Lady Elgiana."

"Me, poison the Princess?" Her eyes widened in apparent shock. "How dare you say such a thing? Princess Lilliana is to be our ruler! The next Queen of the Midnight Court. How could you think I would ever hurt her?"

"Because I know well enough that you and Mordren want the power of the Midnight Throne for yourselves," Krynn shot back.

"And you'll do any fucking thing you can to get it," Sel growled. "Including using your magic to try and bend her to your will," he added, clearly speaking to Mordren.

"That's enough of your filthy accusations—both of you!" Mordren snapped, glaring up at him and Krynn. Clearly he was irritated at being called out. "And enough of this dinner too—if you can call it that," he added, curling his lip in disgust at the perfectly good bowl of soup in front of him. He rose abruptly from the table.

I frowned. Was the banquet over then? Just like that?

"Where do you think you're going, Mordren?" Sel asked, a growl in his voice.

Mordren took a moment to wipe the corners of his mouth with elaborate gentility, using a corner of his pure white linen napkin. Then he dropped it deliberately in the soup and smirked at the two Fae standing behind me.

"It's clear to me that the Princess cannot wait any longer—we must adjourn early. It's time that we visited The Quenching Parlor."