The Queen Revealed (29 page)

Chapter Forty-Four

“But Even Devils Can Be Sorry”

Rainere felt his heart pounding uncomfortably hard in his chest as he made his way down the dark tunnel into the Spiders Nest. Though the bundle in his arms was very light, the burden he carried was heavy.

Rainere had never doubted his Magic before, but as he looked down at the Natalie-as-Adelena he could see so many faults in his Illusion Spell. Natalie looked younger than Adelena did in real life, perhaps no more than a teenager of eighteen or nineteen, flat-chested, and too thin. It was how she would look in the future, he supposed, and his heart cracked under the pressure of the guilt that weighed on it. She didn’t deserve this.

Rainere could feel the sweat dripping down his neck and under his collar. He prayed to the Goddess Serena that the Sleeping Curse would hold for as long as it needed to. He had been inspired by Natalie’s story of Sleeping Beauty. What could be more perfect than putting the Princess to sleep while this whole terrifying ceremony took place? Once he had taken Natalie-as-Adelena down to the Empress and shown her the wedding band she wore on her wrist, then the Empress would release him from his Oath and he could finally be free of her power to control his Will. The necklace would repel the Spider Empress from biting Natalie, with it’s hopefully undetectable Magic, and they would both be free to leave the Nest. Adelena would kiss her daughter awake and he could explain why it had to be Natalie in place of Adelena. But, more importantly, Adelena would not have to endure the horror of meeting the Empress and she would never have to know of his humiliating Oath of Fealty to the monstrous Empress beneath the ground.

Rainere, normally so sure-footed, tripped on a tree root sticking out of the ground. He cursed softly, but savagely.

“Master, please reconsider what you are about to do,” whispered Grotto, who walked close behind him on his heels. “There is still time before noon to convince the Queen to come herself.”

“Silence,” snapped Rainere. He had heard enough of Grotto’s opinions, since he had told the old man his plan to present Natalie in place of Adelena. He understood Grotto’s fear. If any of the three over-lapping spells should fail, and the Empress discovered the deception, they would all be eaten on the spot. Or worse.

Rainere swallowed on his dry throat, as the cloying humidity in the tunnels made him want to gasp.

There was no room for error.

As he neared the cavern at the center of the Nest, Rainere could hear the noisy clicking and rasping of a large crowd gathered there. He flinched as he felt the flow of hundreds of spiders pass over the walls of the tunnel, all heading into the cavern and the Court of their Empress.

Unconsciously, he slowed his pace and felt Grotto bump into him.

“Master, please,” begged Grotto one last time.

Rainere felt a moment of rare empathy for his loyal manservant. If Grotto had ever felt for him the love Rainere now felt for Adelena’s children, then he could understand why Grotto would not give up trying to change his mind while accompanying him into certain death. But this new knowledge would not stop him tonight.

Rainere stepped into the cavern and noticed that a large stone table had been moved into the center of the space. The sides were rough-hewn rock, but the top was intricately carved and polished. A small lip had been carved at each corner and deep glass bowls sat under the runnels.

Rainere didn’t react when Grotto hissed behind him, but he felt the anxiety of the old man intensify immediately. What was the table for?

The Empress was watching the entrance and pulled herself to stand upon her eight mighty legs when she saw the Prince enter.

“The new bride and groom have arrived,” she screeched in the language of Men. She bowed to Rainere by lowering her first two legs, but she didn’t take her eyes off him or the limp woman in his arms. “Shall I call you ‘King’, my Marchant Prince?” she cackled gleefully, and her face contorted itself into a hideous semblance of a grin.

“In all but name, Empress.” Rainere bowed stiffly and pulled Natalie tighter to his chest.

The movement wasn’t lost on the Spider Empress. She waved a foreleg at Rainere, beckoning him closer to her. The Empress had painted herself in lurid colors for the occasion and her pincers were shiny with viscous poison. “Let me see your new wife, Prince Rainere.”

Rainere was loathe to take another step but he straightened his spine and approached the dais where the Empress had settled down, her legs splayed to each side and her thorax molded into the pile of filthy silk cushions.

The Empress looked more closely at the woman in Rainere’s arms. “Why does she sleep? Didn’t she want to meet me?”

Rainere tried to control his breathing, keeping it at a natural pace. Though he may doubt the strength of the Illusion Spell, he was almost positive the Empress wouldn’t be able to judge the age or true appearance of a Human woman. The Empress hadn’t been above ground in almost a thousand years and her knowledge of Humans was, therefore safely limited.

“As I have mentioned before, Empress, the Queen is a fragile woman, plagued by many fears. A fear of dark, enclosed spaces and spiders being chief among them,” Rainere bowed as low as he could. “I felt it prudent to render her unconscious for this meeting, so as not to offend you with her screaming.”

“But I like the sound of their screaming,” cackled the Empress, who was answered by a rippling wheeze of laughter from the crowd of Spiders in the cavern.

Rainere bowed again but remained silent. Sweat trickled down his temple. The Empress was leaning over as far as she could to get closer to the Queen.

“She doesn’t look like she would be strong enough to kill a warrior like my son, Oki. Perhaps she is more formidable than you would have me believe, my Prince of Marchant?” The Empress’s tone was thoughtful and she regarded Rainere with her canny gaze, an animal intelligence lighting the many eyes that studied him. “Perhaps you wish to join your power to this child of Prophecy and claim her strength for yourself?”

The pit of dread in Rainere’s stomach started to curdle and turn. What was the Empress talking about, joining powers? With a belated clarity, Rainere finally saw beyond his own fear and noticed that every one of the Empress’s guards had surrounded the cavern, standing in front of each exit, with their knives drawn. The crowd of Spiders had pushed back out of the way and sat hunched on the walls and ceiling. This was highly unusual. Were they expecting him to cause trouble?

“Empress,” said Rainere, forcing his voice to remain firm. “This Queen is but a Human female, as you can see. At your order, I forced her to marry me and give me the Throne of Unisia, which she did last night. When the full moon rises tonight, I will make her sign, in blood, the decree releasing you from your status as monsters and your people will once again be free to walk the Above Lands. The light of the Goddess Lune will shine down upon you and the Golden Palace shall be yours. As King, I will allow you to reign as you will over the land of Unisia.”

Rainere felt his lungs constrict as he finished his speech. Panic was making his mind scramble. The Empress should have been pleased with this night, but instead, she looked irritated.

“You will
allow
me, my King-in-all-but-name?” hissed the Empress, snapping her jaws. “You will
allow
me nothing, boy! I saved
your
life. I gave
you
your freedom in return for a miserable little oath! All I ask in return for my kindnesses is that you marry one of your own and take the throne of Unisia…”

“And I have done so, Empress,” interrupted Rainere, once again scanning the exits. This was not going well.

“Really?” snapped the Empress. “Then show me proof of your loyalty. Give me the Queen.”

Rainere felt the blood drain from his overheated cheeks.

“But, Empress,” he croaked, as he saw the Shamans by the Empress’s side shudder and shake into their Human-forms with a wet, ripping noise. They approached him, arms extended.

Rainere instinctively hugged Natalie tighter.

“Give me the Queen,
Prince
Rainere,” ordered the Empress in a voice full of triumphant spite. She watched Rainere closely. She could smell the fear in him so strongly, that she could almost taste it. Empress Ka-kik was ready to shriek for joy. She had the Marchant Prince right where she wanted him. He would do anything to keep his bride.

Reluctantly, Rainere laid Natalie-as-Adelena in the ropey arms of the nearest Shaman. His brain whirled, but he couldn’t think of a way to escape the cavern with the Empress here and her guards armed and ready. He watched helplessly as Natalie was placed on the stone table, and was arranged with her arms pulled out from her sides and her legs parted. He made on involuntary move toward her and felt Grotto pinch at his sleeve, uttering a warning hiss.

The Empress lumbered off her dais and to the floor, making her way to the stone table. She felt the Prince’s fear for the Queen vibrating the hairs on her legs pleasantly. “Wake her up!” she commanded Rainere, as he stepped in beside her.

“I cannot, Empress,” replied Rainere. “The spell is organic and will wear off on its own naturally.”

“Pity,” sniffed the Empress, sounding petulant. “I would have this evil one look upon the face of the mother whose son she killed. My favored, dearest Oki is dead because of this evil Human woman!”

The Empress emitted a high keen that was echoed by the crowd about her. The sound brought a hot burn to the back of Rainere’s eyes, but it wasn’t the communal grief that had affected him. The Empress had her pincers, shiny with poison, perilously close to Natalie’s fragile skin. One more inch and she would be burned, but the Empress lumbered around to face the Prince and the danger was averted. Rainere almost sighed in relief.

The Shaman nearest the Empress leaned forward and whispered something too low for Rainere to hear, but it caused her to grind her jaws with a horrible clicking noise. “You like to lie to me don’t you, little Prince,” said the Empress suddenly.

Rainere’s relief evaporated and his blood ran cold. He snapped a shallow bow to hide his expression. “Never,” he croaked.

“Oh, I think that you do,” corrected the Empress. “I know that you would like me to think you care nothing for this skinny excuse for a Queen and I know that you believe the Hidden Child will make you her King for love alone, giving you the Throne and raising the Marchant Family from the ashes of history. You will rule over that Kingdom, then, won’t you, little Prince? You will rule with her by your side and the Wizards at your back. I know all of these things, little Prince.”

Her eyes glittered malevolently at Rainere. “Do you know
how
I know these things, my little betrayer?”

In mute horror, Rainere shook his head.

With a flick of her front leg, the Empress gestured one of her Shamans forward. The Shaman shook out something small and black from his hand. In his other, he held out a crumpled piece of paper, covered in a pencil sketch.

“Shift!” ordered the Empress.

The tiny black spider shifted into his Human-form. Schiss, broken and battered, shimmered into view. One of his arms hung limply and his feet were a bloody mess of exposed bone and gouged flesh. He could barely stand, but leaned against the arm of the Shaman.

“I believe you know my son, Schiss,” hissed the Empress, narrowing her thousand eyes. “I believe you ordered him to lie to me. Lie to his own Mother!”

The Empress spat and a gob of poison landed on the ground next to Schiss, splattering him and making him whimper in pain.

“He is dead to me now,” she hissed. “As dead as your plan to take my Lost Child and join with her St. Lucidis family. You will never rule this Kingdom with her. It will be mine! For a thousand years, I have waited while you Marchant Kings and Princes grew too weak to keep your ancient promises. I have been patient, Prince, but I will be patient no more. The Queen is mine and her crown is mine!”

“Empress, no!” shouted Rainere, desperately. “I was never going to tie myself to the Queen’s family. She will abdicate the throne as soon as I can be crowned at the Golden Palace. When the moon rises tonight…”

“
When the moon rises tonight!
” mocked the Empress. “My young Prince, when the moon rises tonight, I will
eat
your nasty Queen whole. She will satiate my hunger and grief, and I will take her St. Lucidis power into my blood.” She grinned hideously, her eyes gleaming with triumph, as she delivered her final blow. “Then with the power of the old St. Lucidis blood flowing in my veins, I will be able to walk in the sun once more. You see, Prince, now I realize that
this
is how the Hidden Child will bring us out of the shadows and into the light!”

She wheezed with laughter and it was echoed around the cavern. The Empress took another step closer to Rainere, until he could feel her foul breath on his face.

“Your oath to me is unfulfilled,” she whispered in a soft rasp. “You will continue to be beholden to me until you learn to do as you–are–told.”

Rainere felt a wave of despair wash over him and nearly staggered on his feet. He had been unutterably stupid to believe that the Spider Empress would ever keep her word. He was chained to her forever and because of his stupidity, Natalie’s life was forfeit.