“Aelle nothing! Tanselm is a power. I was born there, you ignorant bitch. I know very well what we’ve been living without for over a thousand years.”
She sneered, cloaking her body in illusion. The queen’s toxic coloring faded. She now wore an elegant red sheath that showed off her curves. Her pale skin glowed with the purity of Shadow, once again smooth and blemish-free. Blood disappeared from her ruby-red lips, while her hair lay in soft waves of white-gold over her back.
The perfect Aellei in pallor and elegance. The perfect charade.
“I am a queen, the highest of the Aellei. And I would have my people where they deserve to be, at the very top of the multiverse.”
I couldn’t help frowning at all the melodrama. “You think Tanselm is the best so many worlds have to offer? No offense, Aunt Lidra, but I’ve been there. And as beautiful and magical as it is, Tanselm surely pales to other places in existence.”
And if I live long enough, I promise to travel to as many of them as I can with my Storm Lord.
“Heresy,” Lidra hissed. Lifting her arms above her head, she linked her hands together and began to absorb the surrounding Darkness.
I wondered how to get help. Sava would know how to handle Lidra. But I wasn’t so sure.
“Balen wants you. I know he does. But it’s for no more than your power, you stupid slut. I’m the one he desires. I’m the one he drinks from when he hungers.” Lidra licked her lips, and I felt an odd surge of pity for the selfish queen.
“What happened to you?” I asked, my tone gentle. “You were once Lidra the White, Queen of the Aellei. And now you’re reduced to a Dark Lord’s nymph?”
Lidra’s eyes flashed as she directed a large stream of negative energy through me.
Stunned at the brute force of the attack, I froze, trying in vain to rethink my strategy. There was no time to wait for Sava. I had to rid Aelle of Lidra now.
Her raw hatred would endanger anyone she encountered. Unfortunately, I had a bad feeling my aunt was beyond saving.
I took a deep breath and let it out, trying to rid myself of the excess energy that tried to eat at my power.
Studying my aunt, I thought I knew what she really wanted. And what I needed to say. “Why have you always hated me? You’ve always teased me, hazed me, hurt me. Great queen, I love you. What have I done but be your niece above all else?”
Lies, but they sounded suitably pathetic uttered in a capitulating voice.
“Stupid as well,” Lidra muttered, glaring. She blinked, as if confused, and her illusion wavered, showing flashes of her corruption in between the faultlessness of her illusion.
She sneered. “I’m your aunt in that your great-grandmother Nara was my sister. She made the mistake of lying with a Storm Lord. A Light Bringer,” she spat in distaste. “Knowing Father would kill her for such perfidy, she tricked your Aellein great-grandfather into marriage. He cared little for his other progeny, siring a multitude of Aellei with dozens of females more worthy than my sister,” she said as insultingly as possible.
A sudden flash of insight grabbed me. “You were in love with him, weren’t you?”
Lidra shrugged. “Rovu was the most handsome of our kind. Unlike Sava, he knew my worth, and sadly, my wrath. The minute he set eyes on your mother, some odd sense of paternal fondness hit him. It made no sense whatsoever, yet he refused to let her go. He even began doting on you.”
I recalled Pare Rovu, remembered his kind eyes and the sticky taffy he brought whenever he visited between his jaunts abroad.
Lidra’s hatred blazed in her eyes, clear of any illusion of affection. “Because of you and your mother, I had to kill him. Such weakness in a male is not worthy of a queen.”
I froze. My parents and grandfather had been killed together, supposedly caught in the crossfire between warring Djinn and Aellein outcasts.
“Yes, you stupid girl.” Lidra rolled her eyes and sent another blast of Darkness through me, one that did substantial damage this time. “I killed your father, your mother. Hell, I killed my own sister as well. How could I let her live, hanging onto my lover as she did? And Rovu.” Her lip quivered. “Rovu never really loved me. He just wanted Nara because he thought she was prettier than me. Than me!”
Her brilliance flared then faded along with her illusion, showing her twisted desires clearly. “You are the spitting image of my sister. Every day you’ve taken breath, I’ve been waiting for the opportunity to rid myself of your presence.” My aunt’s features twisted with hate, and I wondered how much of it was the Dark and how much was Lidra’s unruly jealousy.
“How fortunate, then, when I openly accused you of allying with the Dark Lords,” I said stiffly, still trying to sort Lidra’s awful truth. Had she really killed my family? Her lover and sister as well?
“Oh, yes.” Lidra shot at me again, but this time I managed to avoid the blast by darting to the side. Pain from my other wounds throbbed until a numbing Darkness gathered.
My aunt continued, “Your accusations did more than open the door to my vengeance. You see…”
As she blathered on about one corruption after another, I continued to dodge her strikes. Shoring the Light within me and borrowing from Shadow as much as I dared, I knew I’d never have a better chance.
“You poor, sad cow of a woman,” I said with false compassion and stepped forward.
