The Queen Revealed by A. R. Winterstaar Page B

a tree, casting his web between its swaying branches. It was how Prince Rainere had first found him. Schiss had been napping in his web when he felt the cold sides of the glass box enclose him. It had been the old man, Grottonski, who had convinced the Prince to let Schiss out of the box and transform into his Human-form to plead his case for life. Ever quick, the Prince had recognized a fellow outcast in Schiss and had taken pity on the little man-Spider, but it was Grotto again who had negotiated Schiss’s freedom in exchange for a steady stream of information from the Nest.
    But Schiss wanted out of the Nest so badly. He wanted to live free of the politics of the Nest Council controlled by his most bloodthirsty siblings, and he wanted to be free of his mother, the Empress. Her insanity had grown with the years and had been passed on to the new Hatchlings. Now there was a bloodbath every other week. Schiss hated the sound of the screams of the dying babies as they were pulled apart and eaten by their stronger siblings. The Empress should have stopped the violence, but she only responded with rewards for the victors.
    When the Days of Darkness finally came, only the strong would rise from the Nest to reclaim the Above Lands. The strong and the crazy.
    Seeing that Grottonski was occupied with his next letter, Schiss took the chance to slip away. He tucked the folded letter next to the nasty talisman in his threadbare jacket, and made his way back up the dark corridors and stairways to the ground floor of the palace where he could find an open window. Schiss morphed back into his spider form with a squelchy pop and crept up the wall to the window ledge. He had to be cautious here, though there were many portal entrances floating about the palace, there were also sharp-eyed ravens watching for small creatures to eat.
    A wispy portal, transparent and fragile, drifted over to the window, as if blown by a breeze and Schiss braced himself to leap into its tiny opening. The portal was a gateway to the ancient paths that the Spider People had been travelling for millennia in Evendaar, well before the Humans came and found the Magic to create their own Human-size ones. He would be at the Nest in a matter of minutes.
    Schiss sent a prayer to the Goddess Lune that he could deliver this letter and be back at the Palace by dawn break.
    Despite his grim mission, Schiss’s heart lifted. He would be with the Queen soon.

 
    Chapter Eleven
    “The Next Adventure in Love”
    The night had passed so quickly. Again.
    Adele opened her eyes and watched as the grey wash of dawn lightened the room. She was positive she hadn’t slept at all. Adele felt Aaron settle himself at her shoulder and start playing with her hair. “Are you awake, Monkey?” she whispered and pulled him into her arms for a cuddle. He allowed her to squeeze him for a moment before he shifted away and sat up, staring down at her.
    “Your eyes are different, Mummy, aren’t they?” he whispered. “You have shiny rings in them, and diamonds, too, I think.”
    Adele smiled. “I have diamonds in my eyes? Are they pretty?”
    Aaron frowned. “You are beautiful, but I don’t like you being different. You should make your eyes the same as before.”
    Adele reached up to stroke the hair off her son’s face and tried to smooth the little worry lines that creased his brow with her thumb.
    “We are all a bit different on this world, my darling,” she said. “I’ve got glitter in my eyes because of the Magic that is inside of me now, but I am still your Mummy and nothing will ever change that. I love you, my sweet boy.”
    “I had a dream last night, didn’t I Mummy?” said Aaron. “The man came and held my hand. He said that I was his family, that I had a light in me. Is that like Magic, too?”
    “What man?” asked Adele more sharply than she meant to and pushed herself up on an elbow. “Did he wake you up?”
    “He wasn’t really a man,” replied Aaron and pursed