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)
“Why did you show me that? What are you saying?” I was beginning to feel panicky now. “Did that really happen, what you showed me? Are you saying I’m going to lose Sel and Krynn? Lose my guys?”
“I am saying that the power you need is all around you,” Alira told me. Her image was beginning to fade. “You only have to reach out your hand and take it. And now, it is time for you to wake…wake…wake…”
Her voice echoed in my head even as my eyelids fluttered open. I sat up in bed and looked around me. I was all alone in the Cavern—Krynn and Sel were gone.
My nightmare was a reality.
48
Lily
The dream of Alira was still fresh in my mind. I wanted to believe it was only that—just a bad dream. But my guys were gone and I knew they wouldn’t have left me alone without telling me where they were going. They felt much too possessive and protective of me to just abandon me.
I stood up and felt wobbly at first. Had we really been drugged at dinner? I remembered drinking some wine and several glasses of water—Krynn and Sel had drunk some too, when Mordren had proposed a toast to Lolth at one point and insisted that everyone join in. Maybe it was some kind of magic drug that was activated when Elgiana played her evil-looking flute?
I didn’t know—I only knew that I had to find Krynn and Sel. Tonight was the Autumn Equinox—my coronation day. I needed their support to make it through and actually take the Throne of the Midnight Court. I didn’t feel like I would be able to do that without them.
I threw on a gown and a pair of slippers. I wished that I still had my jeans—they were more comfortable and made me feel more like myself. But all of my human clothes were long gone, so a purple silk gown it was.
I hurried to the end of the long, dark tunnel, wondering which exit to take. In my dream, Krynn and Seldarin had taken one I hadn’t seen before—and had ended up in some secret room beneath the Palace. Should I try to find it? But what if I ran right into Mordren or Elgiana? No matter what Alira had told me in the dream, I knew I didn’t have enough magic to fight either of them. So how could I possibly get my guys back? How could I—
“Princess? Princess Lilliana? Are you in here?”
The voice was familiar and it echoed along the dark tunnels to find me. I stood still, wondering who was calling me. I was certain I’d heard the voice before but the echoing tunnels distorted everything. It was a female voice but it wasn’t Elgiana. So who—
“Princess, it’s me—Lady Nolana,” the voice called again. “Please, I’ve come to help you, if I can! Are you in here?”
Immediately, I felt a sense of relief. Lady Nolana had been kind to me from the very beginning.
“I’m here,” I called, making my way towards her voice. I felt lucky all over again that my new Fae eyes allowed me to see in the dark—otherwise I never would have found her.
“Oh, there you are! Thank Lolth!” She grasped my hands in hers when we finally met up. “I was hoping I could find the Cavern of Lolth, but it hides itself from everyone but those of Royal blood and the ones closest to them. So I just started calling, hoping you might hear and come out to meet me.”
“I was already out of the Cavern—I’m looking for my two guys. For Captain Seldarin and for the Royal Historian—Krynn,” I added.
“Yes, my dear—I know how attached you are to them.” She squeezed my hands. “But I have reason to fear that they have fallen into the hands of the Lord Regent.”
I felt my blood run cold—despite the dream with Alira I’d been hoping against hope that my guys were safe. But Lady Nolana’s words confirmed my worst fears.
“He hasn’t…hasn’t killed them, has he?” I asked, my voice coming out tight with anxiety.
“Oh, I don’t think he means to kill them,” Lady Nolana said. “I believe he’s holding them captive so they can’t help you ascend to the Throne this evening—and it’s almost time for the Coronation Ceremony.”
“What? But I just woke up!” I protested.
Then I remembered my dream again and how Elgiana had talked about drugging everyone. Maybe the sleep magic had worked on me, even though the evil flute hadn’t. I must have slept all night and then slept the day away—which meant that Mordren had had Krynn and Sel in his power for hours and hours!
“Please, Lady Nolana,” I begged her. “Take me to where you think they might be. I have to find them!”
“If I had to guess, I would bet that Mordren is keeping them near him,” she said. “But you must get dressed for your coronation before you do anything else.”