Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 109099 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109099 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
If you’re wondering how I could see all this in what should have been a dark cave underground, it was because of the trees. Scattered around the living area were weeping willow type trees, all between four and seven feet tall. They had silver bark and their long, trailing branches had glowing leaves in all different colors…soft pink…pale blue…lilac purple. It gave the whole place a magical feeling…as though I had just stepped into an enchanted grotto where a fairy princess under a spell lay sleeping.
“Oh, this is amazing,” I breathed as I turned in a circle, taking in the beautiful room.
“You don’t think it’s, er, overwhelming at all?” Seldarin was frowning at me anxiously.
“Overwhelming?” I shook my head. “In what way? I mean, it’s not like anything I’ve ever seen before and it’s really beautiful, but I don’t feel any different than I did before I came in here.”
“You see?” Krynn shot Seldarin a look over my head. “I told you she wouldn’t be bothered.”
“Bothered by what?” I demanded, frowning.
Krynn hesitated, as though trying to think how to put it.
“The…atmosphere in the Cavern is somewhat rarified, my Lady. Those without Royal blood in their veins feel the pressure of the power of Lolth, which still lingers in this space.”
“It’s like having a heavy fucking bolder on your back,” Seldarin growled, rolling his broad shoulders. He looked down at his hurt arm, the one that the dagger had landed in. “Fuck…I’m bleeding all over the fucking place!”
“Let me see,” I said at once. You don’t raise two kids without learning how to deal with cuts and bruises. Also, he had taken that dagger to the arm for me—if he hadn’t been holding and protecting me, it might have gone right through my throat!
“I really don’t think it’s proper for a Princess to tend wounds,” Krynn objected. But I was already towing Seldarin to the back of the cave, where there was an enormous round tub which was made of white marble.
“Here—sit,” I commanded.
With a bemused look on his face, the big Fae did as I said. The taps of the round tub were shaped like a golden swan. I lifted one of its wings and cold water began to flow from the swan’s beak. I lifted the other and the water became warmer. I fiddled for a minute before I got it right, then I reached for a white cloth which sat on top of a folded pile of towels to one side of the tub.
“Here, now this might sting,” I told Seldarin as I wet the cloth and began cleaning his arm.
“I don’t mind how much it hurts, but you really shouldn’t be tending my wounds, Princess,” he objected. “It’s far below your rightful station.”
I gave a bitter little laugh.
“Considering that I’ve been living in my minivan for the past few weeks, I doubt cleaning up your arm is ‘beneath my station.’” At this point, dumpster diving wouldn’t have been beneath my station—and believe me, I had seriously considered it.
“The blood—does it…affect you?” Krynn asked, stepping forward to watch the process, a look of concern on his gorgeous face.
“Affect me?” I raised my eyebrows. “If you’re asking if the sight of blood makes me sick then, no—not hardly. I raised two kids and the oldest one was accident prone. Chris Junior was always in the ER for stitches and broken bones. He—”
I stopped talking abruptly because remembering how things had been when the kids were little made me sad. I missed the sweet way they used to come to me for comfort and hugs and tickles. The way we’d all been such a happy family before they grew up and moved out and Christopher lost interest in me and kicked me to the curb…
“My Lady…are you crying?” Krynn asked, his voice gentle.
I hastily swiped at my eyes with the back of my arm.
“No—of course not. I was just…thinking of how things were before my husband left me. Or kicked me out, I guess is a more accurate term,” I added dryly.
“A human man treated you that way? He dared to turn you out of your home with no place to go?” Seldarin’s bronze eyes flashed dangerously. “He should be killed for such an act!”
“Well, that’s how I felt too,” I admitted. “At first, anyway. And still some, I guess. But mostly I’m just tired and hungry and I feel like I could really use a bath.” I looked into the deep tub with longing. Its broad marble lip was hard against my backside—I needed to get on with my task, I reminded myself.
“Still—a Mortal cannot treat the rightful Queen of the Midnight Court in such a shameful fucking way,” Seldarin growled—clearly he wasn’t over the slight to my honor yet. “Tell me where he lives, Princess and I’ll go run him through. Your vengeance shall be my quest.” He fingered the jeweled dagger hanging on his belt menacingly.