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)
“What is it, Leeza?” she asked.
“The Princess says everyone needs to hold hands!” Leeza nodded at me and her mother’s eyes widened as she saw how close I was.
“Oh, Princess! Forgive me for not noticing you before!” She sank into a curtsy and then straightened up.
“Hello Teela,” I said, smiling. Mordren was coming towards me with a glittering crown studded with Royal Purple gems. I knew my time was growing short. “Leeza is right—I need everyone to hold hands,” I told her quickly. “Please—can you pass the word along?”
“Hold hands!” Leeza exclaimed again. “Hold hands, Mama!”
“Oh yes—of course!” Her mother took the hand of the woman to her left and I heard her murmuring what I had asked. The Lesser Fae woman looked at me, curtseyed, and took the hand of the person next to her. And then she held hands with the next person and so on and so on, down the line.
All this time, I was still holding Lady Nolana’s hand, our fingers tightly entwined. I wasn’t sure if she was visible to everyone again, since Leeza could clearly see her, so I stepped in front of her, putting myself between her and Mordren and twisting so the hand she was holding was behind my back.
“Well, well, Princess,” he remarked sarcastically. “I suppose it’s time for your coronation now. Do you remember who you’re supposed to name as your King Consort?”
“You—I’ll name you the King,” I said, keeping my face blank.
“Very good! All right then, let us proceed. People of the Midnight Court, I give you…the Crown of Midnight!” he shouted, raising the glimmering silver crown high above his head. “It is my honor to place it on the head of our Princess and declare that she is a Princess no longer—she is instead the Rightful Queen of the Midnight Court!”
As he spoke, he set the crown carefully on my head. It was heavy and I felt it tighten magically and mold itself to my temples. But that wasn’t the only magic I was feeling.
As the Lesser Fae that made up the first half of the crowd all clasped hands, I felt a kind of electrical current coming from them. It was flowing down the line of linked hands and into me, making me feel tingly all over.
But it wasn’t until the last Lesser Fae—one of the servants I think—linked hands with the first of the Higher Fae that the power began to feel like something I could really do something with. And as each High Fae Lady and Lord linked hands, the Power grew and grew.
The Nobles of the Court had the greatest magic—I could feel it flowing into me like a river rushing into a reservoir. There was more and more of it until I wondered if I could take much more. But still I had to hold still and keep my face calm—at least for now.
“And now,” Mordren went on, clearly oblivious to what was happening. “The new Queen will name her Consort—who shall rule and sit beside her on the Silver Throne!” He looked at me. “Queen Lilliana, whom do you choose? What lucky male will be your King?”
I opened my mouth, but instead of answering his question, I called on the seeds in the soil beneath his feet.
“Grow!” I commanded them, using the magic I had gotten from Krynn and the power pouring into me from the Court.
Suddenly thick green vines erupted from the ground and began twining around Mordren’s legs.
“What?” he gasped, clearly too startled to move at first. By the time his paralysis broke, it was too late—the vines were already wrapping around his arms and chest, holding him in place.
Lady Elgiana, who had been standing beside him, gloating, went wide-eyed for a moment and then started to run.
“Grow!” I shouted and a thick bush with long thorns on every branch burst out of the ground under her feet. It grew up around her, trapping her in the middle of its long, thorny branches. She shrieked and struggled, but she couldn’t get free.
The Power was pulsing inside me and though the people were staring in surprise at what had happened to the Lord Chancellor and Lady Elgiana, they were still holding hands and their magic was still flowing into me.
“People of the Dark Fae—citizens of the Midnight Court!” I said and my voice rolled through the Hallowed Clearing as though I was using a megaphone. “I am honored to be your Queen, but I will not allow my reign to begin with treachery!” I pointed at Mordren and Elgiana who were both still struggling futilely. “The Lord Regent and the Lady Elgiana have conspired to take the Silver Throne,” I said. “They wanted me to name them King and Queen, though neither has the blood of Lolth in their veins. Tell me—do you wish to be ruled by them?”