52. Lily

Istepped into the Hallowed Clearing again, before the crowd of Dark Fae—the Lesser and the High—and knew they were all my people. I might not have been raised to be a Queen, but now that I was, I was going to do the best I could for them every day.

"People of the Midnight Court!" Lady Nolana called. Now that Mordren had been reduced to a small pile of ashes and Elgiana had been extracted from the thorn bush and dragged away by the guards, she had sort of taken over the MC role—which was fine with me. "I present to you your new ruler—Queen Lilliana of the Royal Line of Lolth!" she shouted.

A wave of cheering broke out and I felt the love coming from every direction.

"Thank you!" I called, spreading my arms wide. "Thank you for lending me your Power tonight—for helping me defeat those who wished to hurt us all."

They cheered and then someone shouted,

"But who is to be the Consort?"

I opened my mouth, but suddenly Sel was right by my side.

"Don't do it, Princess," he muttered in my ear. "They may love you now but nobody in the Court is ready to have two half-breeds named as your Consorts."

I closed my mouth unwillingly and frowned at him.

"I'm the Queen now—I can choose who I want by my side!"

"The Captain is right," Lady Nolana murmured. "Better to hold off on such an announcement, my Queen."

Reluctantly, I nodded.

"Well…all right. Tell them I'll announce later then. Can we do that?"

"We can." She nodded gravely. Then she raised her voice again. "Due to all the excitement here tonight, our new Queen is tired and must rest. She promises to announce her Consort later, when she has had time to consider who might best fill the role. But for now, she will sit upon the Silver Throne and you may all approach her and greet her."

Sel and Krynn each took one of my arms and helped me up on the Silver Throne, which was huge and big enough for several people to sit on at once. They stood on either side of me and watched as the crowd began filing past.

"My Queen," each of the Fae murmured as they bowed and reached up to touch my hand. I could still feel the energy pulsing inside me—it seemed to magnify all their feelings. I felt their love and awe and admiration. But I also couldn't help noticing when someone was in pain.

"Wait!" I said, to one of the Lesser Fae as she touched my fingertips. "Your hand—it's hurt."

Her eyes grew wide.

"I mangled it in the bread maker, Your Majesty."

"All right—let me see it," I told her. She gave me the hand, which was twisted and scarred. I held it in mine and closed my eyes—then I pushed the Healing Magic into her until she gave a little gasp.

"Oh! It's healed!"

"Good." I smiled at her and released her hand. "I'm glad it feels better."

The woman walked off in a daze, examining her hand and the next time I felt someone with a pain I did the same thing…and again and again and again.

The Fae are a long lived people and they don't seem to get diseases like diabetes or cancer, so most of the hurts I healed were from injuries that had scarred or healed badly. And many of the ones I healed were the Lesser Fae, though there were some High Fae who came to me as well.

But no matter how many I healed, the Healing Magic inside me never seemed to grow less. It was almost as though the Power my people had given me was circling in a loop between us—the more I pushed it out to them, the more they fed it back to me, and around and around it went.

In a way, it reminded me of the pleasure loop I'd had with Krynn during the Public Quenching—the way the pleasure he and I had been feeling had spilled out into the audience, giving them pleasure as well.

It took a long time but finally every one of my new people had greeted me—and I had healed many of them. I felt absolutely exhausted and yet still strangely exhilarated. I knew it was time to go, but I wasn't quite ready yet.

"My Lady, you must be so tired," Krynn murmured in my ear. "Are you ready to end the Coronation now?"

"No—not yet." I motioned for Lady Nolana and she came to my side.

"Yes, my Queen?"

"I know you said I shouldn't do this, but I can't help it," I told her. "I have to be honest with my new people—I have to go with my heart."

She gave me a knowing look.

"You wish to name one of your servants as Consort, don't you?"

"Not just one of them—both of them," I said firmly. "And if the Court doesn't like it, well—that's just too bad."

A smile spread over her face.

"My Queen, after the number of them that you have healed and all the good will you've built tonight, I think you could name a Bridge Troll as your Consort and they would support you."

I felt a rush of relief. I didn't need anyone's permission for what I was about to do, but it was good to know that Lady Nolana agreed with me. She had been in the Midnight Court much longer than I had and I sensed that she had good instincts on how the people would react to my announcement.

"People of the Midnight Court—Fae both Lesser and High!" she called, stepping out into the clearing again. "I call on you all to listen—the Queen has decided that she will name her Consort tonight after all!"

A cheer went up and the crowd, which had been milling around, grew quiet as they waited.

I rose from the Silver Throne, very aware of the filigree crown on my head.

"My people," I said and again, my voice seemed to magically amplify.

I wondered distantly if it was some kind of magic that came with having the Royal blood. Or maybe it was a function of the crown—I didn't know, but it was useful.

"Since the moment I came back to you, two Fae have been always by my side. They have protected me and cared for me. They shielded me from assassination attempts and healed me when I was ill," I said. "I have come to love and care for them very much and that is why I am choosing them both as my Royal Consorts. Their names are…"

I waited a beat and there was a tense pause—I could feel the whole clearing holding its breath. In that moment, I reached for my guys' hands. With Sel on my left and Krynn on my right, I entwined my fingers with theirs and squeezed.

"Seldarin, the Captain of the Palace Guard and Krynn, the Royal Records Keeper and Historian," I finished. "I love them both and they love me—they will stand by my side as I govern you and help me to rule the Dark Fae fairly and with compassion."

As I spoke, I pushed my emotions outwards. All the love and desire and devotion between myself and Krynn and Sel…I willed the Power inside me to amplify it, the same way the magic somehow amplified my voice. I wanted the Dark Fae to feel what I felt—to understand in their bones that this was unequivocally the right choice both for me and for the kingdom.

There was another moment of silence…and then a roar went up. To my relief, the crowd wasn't just accepting my announcement—they seemed excited about it!

"I can't believe it," Sel muttered beside me, his eyes wide with shock. "They're not angry."

"I can't believe it either!" Krynn shook his head and looked at me. "You did well to name us Royal Consorts and not King Consorts, my Lady," he said to me. "The people are happy that you're keeping your power."

"No, they're happy because we love each other and they can feel it," I said, smiling at both of them. "They're happy because they know this is right."

The cheering went on for some time and then Lady Nolana raised her hands and thanked everyone and said it was time to get back to the Palace.

"I think that went rather well," she said to me, as they filed away from the clearing. "Certainly better than it would have if you hadn't healed so many of your new subjects before you made your announcement."

"It went a hell of a lot better than I would have expected." Sel still looked stunned. "I can't believe they're not upset about having not one but two half-breeds as Royal Consorts!"

"No Queen has ever had more than one Royal Consort before," Krynn agreed. "Except Lolth herself, of course."

"You can thank the Queen's special magic for the people's acceptance." Lady Nolana gave me a wink. "I felt the love and desire you were pushing towards them, my Lady. I have no doubt that every one of the Dark Fae—both Lesser and High—is going to be enjoying the pleasures of the bed tonight."

I could feel myself blushing because I had to admit, I wouldn't mind enjoying "the pleasures of the bed" myself. I should be tired, but I felt myself wanting to reconnect with my guys. I had come so close to losing them tonight—I needed to be with them intimately, to assure myself that they were really okay.

But first I wanted to get back to the Palace and clean up.

"Are you ready to go, my Lady?" Krynn asked.

"Yes—more than ready," I agreed with a sigh. I took a step away from the Throne and nearly stumbled—apparently I was more tired than I'd thought.

"Whoa, Princess!" Sel caught me and swooped me up into his arms.

"She's the Queen now," Krynn pointed out as Sel cuddled me close to his broad chest. "You ought to call her by her proper title."

"I will—in public," Sel rumbled, grinning at me. "But in private, she's still my Princess."

I sighed happily and snuggled into his arms.

"I'll be your Princess and Krynn's Lady as long as you'll take me back to the Cavern of Lolth so we can all relax."

"As you wish, my Queen. As your Royal Consort, I'm at your disposal," Sel said formally. Then he gave me a grin and set off towards the Palace still carrying me in his arms with Krynn beside us. The lighter Fae still seemed exhilarated. He flapped his wings and took off, flying above the treetops for a time.

I smiled as I watched him soar, loving that he wasn't afraid to show his wings now. I saw some of the High Fae pointing at him, but no one seemed to be judging him and I didn't hear a single person say "half-breed"—they were simply mesmerized by his beauty and grace the way I was myself.

This new feeling of kindness and understanding between people was the first of many changes I intended to make, I promised myself. I wanted the Midnight Court to be a more loving and tolerant place and I was going to use the power inside me to make it exactly that.

But first I wanted to spend some time alone with my guys. It seemed to me that the three of us had a new relationship to celebrate…and to consummate tonight.