Queen of the Darkness (31 page)

”Wilhelmina wasn’t a bargaining chip,” she said again lamely.

Saetan snorted softly. ”Think what you choose.”

That casual dismissal, as if it no longer mattered, disturbed her. ”What happened to Osvald? Were his wounds at least treated?”

Something queer filled Saetan’s eyes. ”He was executed. So were the three men who had been waiting for him.”

Alexandra stared at him. ”What right do you have—”

”He tried to abduct one member of the court and killed another. Did you really expect us to just sit back and swallow that?”

”He wasn’t abducting her!” Alexandra shouted. ”He was helping her leave this place. That animal attacked him. He had to defend himself.”

”He was taking her against her will. That’s abduction.”

”He was carrying out the wishes of her family.”

”She’s a grown woman,” Saetan snarled. ”You have no right to make decisions on her behalf.”

”She’s mentally fragile. She doesn’t have the ability to make—”

”Is that how you deal with anyone who doesn’t agree with you?” Saetan’s voice rose to a roar. ”You declare them mentally incompetent so you can justify locking them away in a place that revels in violating and torturing them?”

”How dare you?”

”Knowing what I know about Briarwood, I dare a great deal.”

The air whooshed out of her lungs. His eyes were filled with the hatred he no longer bothered to mask.

With effort, she gathered her strength and sat up straight to face him. ”I am a Queen—”

”You’re a naive, snotty little bitch,” Saetan replied in a singsong croon that made the words feel like a violent— and violating—caress. ”Live a long life, Alexandra. Live a long life and burn yourself out at the end of it so that you return straight to the Darkness. If you don’t, if you end up making the transition to demon-dead, I’ll be waiting for you.”

It took her a moment to understand him
. TheHigh Lord of Hell.

”Robert Benedict made the transition,” Saetan crooned, ”and he paid his part of the debt that is owed to me for what was done to the daughter of my soul.”

”I owe you nothing.” Alexandra tried to sound firm, but she couldn’t stop her voice from shaking.

Saetan smiled a gentle, terrible smile.

She had to get out of there, had to get away from him. ”Since this is supposed to be a court, I think it’s time I talked to this mysterious Queen of yours. The
real Queen.
In fact, I demand to talk to her.”

He went absolutely still. ”It seems she wants to talk to you, too,” he said in an odd voice. ”You’ve been summoned to Ebon Askavi to stand before the Dark Throne.”

3 / Kaeleer

With her heart pounding in her throat, Alexandra followed the High Lord down the dark stone stairs.

The huge double doors at the bottom of the stairs swung open silently, revealing intense darkness.

She had protested when she had learned that Leland, Philip, and the rest of her entourage had also been summoned to the Keep. Not that it had made any difference. No one had made the slightest indication that they had even heard her protests, let alone might comply with them.

She had also protested when Daemon and Lucivar had joined the High Lord as ”escorts.” Now she felt pathetically grateful for the male strength that was guarding her. She had found the Hall frightening, but compared to the Keep, the Hall was just a pleasant manor house.

As Saetan walked forward, torches began to light until only the back of the room was still too dark to see at all.

Another torch lit. She stared at the huge dragon head coming out of the back wall. Its silver-gold scales gleamed. Its eyes were as dark as midnight. On a dais beside the head was a simple blackwood chair.

The woman who sat in it was still too much in shadow for Alexandra to make out more than the shape.

So this was the Queen of Ebon Askavi.

The light in the room shifted somehow, softly illuminating the unicorn’s horn that was part of the scepter the woman held in her hands.

As Alexandra stared at the rings on those hands, a shiver of fear ran down her spine. At first glance, she would have said the rings held pieces of a Black Jewel, but the Jewels in those rings felt darker than the Black. Which was impossible—wasn’t it?

The light continued to grow, and as it grew, the power in the room swelled. The woman’s face was still in shadow, but now Alexandra could make out the black gown and another Black-but-not-Black Jewel that was set in a necklace that looked like a spiderweb of gold and silver threads.

The light grew. Alexandra looked up and found herself staring into Jaenelle’s frozen sapphire eyes.

Long seconds passed before those eyes shifted to look at Leland and Philip, Vania and Nyselle, and the Consorts and escorts who had come with them.

Released from that frozen stare, Alexandra pressed a hand to her stomach, desperately trying not to double over. In this formal setting, she finally understood what Jaenelle had said at their first meeting at the Hall.
The difference is that when the dream appeared, he recognized it.

The dark power that flowed from Jaenelle could have kept Chaillot free of Dorothea’s influence. But how could she have been expected to recognize
this
in a difficult, eccentric
child!

... he recognized it.

She dared a quick glance at Daemon. He had recognized it, too. Had recognized it and...

But wasn’t that what Dorothea had said? The Sadist and the High Lord had recognized the potential of all that dark power and had set out to seduce and shape it. It was clear now why Dorothea had wanted control of Jaenelle, but that didn’t alter the possible truth of what she had said about Daemon and the High Lord.

The thoughts kept spinning, twisting—until those sapphire eyes pinned her again.

”You conspired with Dorothea SaDiablo and Hekatah SaDiablo, who are known enemies, with the intent of handing over to them a member of my court, my sister.” The voice, while quiet, filled the immense room. ”In attempting to carry out that plan, you killed another member of my court, a young Warlord Prince.”

Leland stirred, shrugging off Philip’s attempt to restrain her. ”It was just an animal.”

Something vicious and terrible filled Jaenelle’s face. ”He was Blood... and he was a Brother. His life was worth as much as yours.”

”I didn’t kill him,” Alexandra said, her voice muted.

Underneath the ice in those sapphire eyes was deadly rage bordering on madness. ”You didn’t strike the killing blow,” Jaenelle agreed. ”Because of that, I have decided not to execute you.”

Alexandra would have fallen if Philip hadn’t reached out to steady her.
Execute her?

”However,” Jaenelle continued, ”everything has a price, and a price will be paid for Dejaal’s life.”

Desperation began to well up in Alexandra. ”There is no law against murder.”

”No, there isn’t,” Jaenelle replied too softly. ”But a Queen can demand a price for the life that was lost.”

Vania or Nyselle whimpered. She wasn’t sure which one.

”You are no longer welcome in Kaeleer. You will never again be welcome in Kaeleer. If any of you return for any reason, you will be executed. There will be no reprieve.”

”Can she do that?” Nyselle whispered.

Jaenelle’s eyes flicked to the Province Queens before returning to Alexandra. ”I am the Queen. My will is the law.”

And no one, Alexandra realized,
no one
would defy that will.

”You will be taken to Cassandra’s Altar and sent back through that Gate to Terreille,” Jaenelle said.

”High Lord, you will see to the arrangements.”

”It will be my pleasure, Lady,” Saetan replied solemnly.

”You’re dismissed.” The scepter swung until the unicorn’s horn pointed right at Alexandra’s breast.

”Except you.”

Leland made a wordless protest, but didn’t argue when Philip, looking pale and sick, took her arm and led her from the room. The other members of the entourage hurried after them, followed more slowly by Saetan, Daemon, and Lucivar.

When the double doors had closed and they were the only people left in the room, Jaenelle lowered the scepter. ”You should have gone when I first told you to. Now...”

It took Alexandra a minute to speak. ”And now?”

Jaenelle didn’t answer.

Alexandra swayed, then took a half step to catch her balance as the room began to spiral and everything went dark.

What in the name of Hell just happened?Alexandra wondered as she caught her balance. Then she looked around.

She stood alone in the center of a large stone circle. The floor was perfectly smooth. Surrounding the circle was a solid wall of sharp, jagged rock that soared high above her head. Beyond that wall ...

She felt the enormous pressure pushing against those walls, as if something was trying to break in and crush this space.

Where... ?

We’re deep in the abyss,said a midnight voice.

Alexandra turned toward Jaenelle’s voice—and stared at the creature who now stood a few feet away.

Stared at the slender, naked human body; at the human legs that ended in delicate hooves; at the human hands that had unsheathed claws instead of fingernails; at the delicately pointed ears; at the gold mane that wasn’t quite hair and wasn’t quite fur; at the tiny spiral horn in the middle of its forehead; at the frozen sapphire eyes.

What are you?Alexandra whispered.

I am dreams made flesh,the other answered.
I am Witch.

Jaenelle’s voice. Jaenelle’s strange eyes. But...

Alexandra backed away. No.
No. *You’re
what’s inside ... *

She couldn’t say it. Revulsion choked her. This is what her daughter Leland had birthed?
This?

What did you do with my granddaughter?Alexandra demanded.

I did nothing to her.

You must have! What did you do? Devour the spirit in order to use the flesh?

If you mean the husk you call Jaenelle, that flesh was always mine. I was born within that skin.

Never!
Never!
You couldn’t have come from Leland.

Why?Witch asked.

Because you’re monstrous.

Apainful silence. Then Witch said coldly,
I am what I am.

And whatever that is, it didn’t come from my daughter. It didn’t come from me.

Your dreams—

NO! THERE IS NO PART OF ME IN YOU!

Another long silence. Beyond the wall of rocks, it sounded like a fierce storm was gathering.

Have you anything else to say?Witch asked quietly.

I will never have anything to say to
you,
Alexandra replied.

Very well.

The rock walls vanished. The power in the abyss rushed in to fill the empty space—and tried to fill the vessel inside that space.

Alexandra felt that rushing flood of power start to crush her, then felt another source of dark power balance and control that flood, to keep her mind from shattering. Something inside her snapped and, for a fleeting second, she felt intense pain and agonizing grief.

And then she felt nothing at all.

Alexandra woke slowly. She was lying in a bed, covered up and comfortably warm, but it only took a moment for her to realize something was wrong. Her head had an odd stuffed-with-wool feeling, and her body ached as if she had a fever.

She opened her eyes, saw Saetan sitting in a chair near the bed, and said hoarsely, ”I don’t want you.”

”I don’t want you either,” he replied dryly as he reached for a mug sitting on the bedside table. ”Here.

This will help clear your head.”

With a grunt, she propped herself up on one elbow—and saw her Opal Jewels, the pendant and ring, lying on the table. They were empty, completely drained of the reservoir of stored power.

Instinctively, desperately, she turned inward, reaching for the depth of her Opal strength. She couldn’t even reach the depth of the White. She was sealed off from the abyss, and her mind felt as if it had been encased in stone.

”You still have basic Craft,” Saetan said quietly.

Alexandra stared at him in horror. ”Basic Craft?”

”Yes.”

She continued to stare as she remembered that crushing flood of power and the fleeting moment of pain.

”She broke me,” Alexandra whispered. ”That bitch
broke me.”

”Take care what you say about my Queen,” Saetan snarled.

”What are you going to do?” she snapped. ”Rip my tongue out?”

He didn’t have to answer. She saw it in his eyes.

”Drink this,” he said too quietly as he handed her the mug.

Not daring to do otherwise, she drank the brew and handed the mug back to him.

”I’m not even a witch anymore,” she said as tears filled her eyes.

”A witch is still a witch, even if she’s broken and can no longer wear the Jewels. A Queen is still a Queen.”

Alexandra laughed bitterly. ”Oh, that’s so easy to say, isn’t it? What kind of Queen can I be? Do you really think I can hold a court around me?”

”Other Queens have. Psychic strength is only one factor that attracts strong males and entices them to serve. You don’t need that kind of strength if you have the use of theirs.”

”And do you think I can hold on to a strong-enough court to remain the Queen of Chaillot?”

”No,” Saetan replied quietly after a long pause. ”But that has nothing to do with your ability to wear Jewels.”

She choked on the insult, not daring to do anything else. ”Do you realize what’s going to happen to Chaillot now?”

”Your people will, in all probability, choose another Queen.”

”There
isn’t
another Queen strong enough to be accepted as the Territory Queen. That’s why—” —
I
still rule.
No, she couldn’t say that to him.

She pushed herself into a sitting position, then waited for her head to clear. That odd, muffled feeling would go away eventually, but the sense of loss
never
would. The bitch who had masqueraded as her granddaughter had done this to her. ”She’s monstrous,” she muttered.

”She is the living myth, dreams made flesh,” Saetan said coldly.

”Well, she wasn’t
my
dream,” Alexandra snapped. ”How that repulsive, distorted creature could be
anyone’s
dream—”