3. Seldarin

The little female stumbling through the forest on Krynn's arm looked about as Mortal as any human I had ever seen. I watched her with narrowed eyes, wondering if I could be wrong.

But no—she had The Mark of Lolth the Spider Queen—she who had given birth to the Dark Fae. Only one who bore her Mark and had her eyes could rule The Midnight Court.

And if I needed further proof, the Markings of Lolth, which I had taken so many years ago when the Princess first went missing, were glowing and tingling like fucking crazy. They were spelled to alert me and all who wore them when the true Princess was near and the reaction couldn't be faked. I'd had them tattooed on either side of my neck as a sign of devotion to the true bloodline of Lolth—the only Royals fit to rule my people. Krynn and a handful of others in the Court had done the same.

The little female's eyes didn't glow—they looked human. Almost all of her seemed to be human, in fact. But that was merely a consequence of living in the Mortal Realm for so long. Hopefully a meal of Fae food and a night spent in the Palace, where the power of Lolth still lingered, would bring back some semblance of her true heritage and identity.

She stumbled, her feet tripping on a hidden root under the dried leaves and Krynn reached down to save her. I couldn't watch her halting progress anymore and besides, the longer we stayed out in the open, the more time Mordren had to organize an "accident."

"Here," I said and reached down to swing her up into my arms.

"Oh!" Her frail body stiffened against mine as I held her and her eyes—a very human shade of brown—stared up at me in panic.

"Don't fear, my Lady," Krynn told her, reaching out to stroke her short brown hair soothingly. "Sel just wants to keep you from tripping again—and to keep you safe."

"Safe from what?" she whispered, her eyes going even wider.

"You don't want to know," I said shortly. "It's best we get you to the Palace quickly. Before that fucker, Mordren, can make trouble."

"Sel! You shouldn't swear around the Princess—it's disrespectful," Krynn chided me gently.

"Fuck that," I muttered, but then added, "Sorry, Princess."

"I'm not a Princess," she protested. "I'm a middle-aged mom whose kids are all grown and whose husband left me for another woman and took everything in the process. That's why I look like this—I've been living in my minivan since the divorce."

"No, you look like you do from years of eating human food," Krynn corrected her. "But we're going to fix that—at least, we'll try," he added.

"Did your Chosen Mate really leave you?" I asked, surprised at her admission. Who would dare to leave the scion of Lolth? The rightful Queen of the Midnight Court?

She might not look like much now, but I could feel the power inside her, trembling to break free. Any male would be a fool to leave her—and a greater fool to disrespect her by cheating on her with another.

But the little female was nodding.

"Yes, I'm afraid so. He…he didn't want anything to do with me once the kids were raised."

"Did you really have children with a Mortal?" Krynn asked, looking worried. I knew what he was thinking—if she'd become human enough to bear a child to a human man, there might be no bringing her back to her true Fae self.

But she shook her head.

"No—we tried for years, but I could never get pregnant. The kids were from Christopher's first marriage."

She made a face as she spoke her ex-mate's name and I could see that he had hurt her deeply.

A fist of anger clenched in my midsection as the Markings of Lolth I had on the sides of my neck burned in sympathy with her distress. I had only just met her but already she was affecting me as no other female ever had.

I glanced at Krynn and saw that he was stroking his own Markings with his fingertips, a thoughtful look on his face. He hadn't been as sure as I was of the little female at first, but I thought he was beginning to feel the way I did—the way I had from the first moment I saw The Mark of Lolth on her forehead.

"Don't you want to put me down and rest for a while?" the little female asked, interrupting my train of thought.

"Hmm?" I looked down at her, frowning. "Put you down? Why?"

"Because you'll hurt your back. I'm not exactly, er, skinny," she added with a grimace. When her cute little nose wrinkled like that, I could see the Fae bloodlines in her. She had delicate features, though they had been somewhat blunted by her years in the Mortal Realm.

"Hurt my back? How?" I asked, honestly mystified. Now that I had stared, I found I couldn't stop looking at her face. She was actually kind of adorable, though I told myself it was wrong to think that about Royalty. Wrong and disrespectful, Krynn would say. But Fuck that—I call things as I see them.

"Look, you don't have to pretend—I know I'm heavy!" she exclaimed.

I frowned.

"Are you questioning my strength and fitness to protect you, Princess?"

"She's not doing anything of the kind," Krynn said quickly, before she could answer. "Humans make their females feel bad for having bountiful curves. Living among them for so long has made her believe it's a bad thing to be full-figured," he added.

Oh—now it made sense. It was just more fucking human stupidity.

"You have curves, but you're not too heavy—or too curvy, Princess," I told her. "Don't worry about that."

But my words didn't seem to reassure her at all.

"My name is Lily, not ‘Princess,'" she snapped.

I frowned.

"No, your name is Princess Lilliana—she who was lost but now is found."

"I told you, I'm not a Princess!" she protested again.

"I know all this must be confusing to you," Krynn said smoothly, before I could answer. "But I promise we'll explain. Just let Sel and I get you to the Palace where it's safe, all right?"

"I just think you're both going to be disappointed," she replied. "I mean, I'm not who you think I am. I don't?—"

At that moment, a dagger came out of the darkness and buried itself in my upper arm.

I roared in pain and nearly dropped the little female. I put her on her feet and shoved her to the ground in one motion as I called my magic.

"Krynn—watch her!" I snarled as I scanned the trees for the would-be assassin. Just as I had feared, Mordren was already on the attack.

I felt my oldest friend pulling magic from the ground as I pulled my own magic from the sky. A river of molten lightning flowed down into my arm and I shot it into the woods, where the dagger had come from.

There's a reason I'm the Captain of the Palace Guard and it's not because I play nicely with others.

I heard a howl of pain and then running footsteps crunching in the leaves. The attacker, whoever he or she was, was clearly in too much of a hurry to be stealthy.

I started to go after them, but then I felt Krynn's touch on my shoulder.

"Wait! It could be what they want—you running off and leaving the Princess undefended," he pointed out.

I growled in frustration but I knew he was right. Krynn would do his best to defend the Princess, but his magic was much more passive than mine. He had grown a barrier of thick vines around her, but they wouldn't hold back a really determined assassin.

"Fine." I drew the dagger from my upper arm and examined it, ignoring the blood that flowed from the wound. As I had expected, it had no markings—no way to help me identify the would-be killer.

Disgusted, I threw it to the ground.

"You'd better let me look at that when we get to the Palace," Krynn remarked. He looked down at the Princess, who was crouching in the center of the thick barrier of vines he had grown for her. "My Lady, it's all right—Sel drove away the attacker. Come, let me carry you this time since he is wounded."

"But he…he called lightning out of the sky!" Her eyes were wide and frightened as Krynn swung her into his arms. "And you made those vines grow in a split second—I've never seen anything like it outside of a freaking Marvel movie!"

"I do not know the Marvels you speak of, but Sel and I were just using our magic," Krynn told her. "You have magic too, you know—it's just buried under the human dross," he added.

"Me? Have magic like that?" She was still staring at me, wide-eyed.

"Even stronger," I told her. "The Queen of Midnight wields the power of Lolth—she who made us."

"I just…I don't understand." She shook her head.

"You will," Krynn assured her. "Look—there's the Palace now. Sel and I will do our best to explain, but we need to get you safely inside first."

I watched her turn her head and her eyes got even wider as she took in the Palace.

"Whoa…" she murmured.

Her wonder made me smile, despite the pain in my arm and my lingering rage that Mordren had already tried to have her assassinated. I couldn't wait to see her reaction when she saw the inside of the vast structure and learned that all of it was rightfully hers.

Our Lost Princess had come home. Now it was my job to be certain she was safe as she came into her own and I swore to myself I would do it—even if it cost me my life.