From Half Faerie ...
“Did you hear Plantine? The stronghold’s throne is not enough for her. She wants the one at the Cathedral Palace, too.” Tatou whispered, although Plantine was so engrossed with Flora’s grief, she wouldn’t have heard the pixie if she yelled. “She wants to be the Queen of the Realm of Faerie.”
“She’ll be a tyrant,” Melia said.
“Tuck may be the only one who can reach her.”
“She’ll never agree to see him.”
“We have to convince her that seeing him is the right thing for her and everyone else.”
“May I enter?” Chloe stood in the doorframe.
Plantine ignored her. She helped Flora into her enormous bed.
“She’s not feeling well,” Melia said.
Chloe nodded. “Yrrick has announced a dinner party. Lord Goring would like to welcome his bride’s sister and her friends to the stronghold.”
Dread echoed in the hollow of Melia’s chest.
Plantine rushed from Flora’s side. “You brought more friends?”
“A priest from Idonne, a m—” Melia caught herself. They’d left Sinjiin in the Welcoming Hall in his tiger form. If he wanted Chloe—or anyone else at the Calashai—to know he was a mage, he could tell them himself. “—his pet tiger, and a tree elf.”
Plantine’s eyes glinted with dark temper. “A tree elf?”
“Yes,” Melia said.
Plantine turned away from the servant. She pressed her palms together and closed her eyes. “Thank you, Chloe. You may leave us now.”
The muannaye curtseyed and departed.
“I told you not to bring him here,” Plantine said.
Tatou darted towards her.
“If you throw anymore of that pixie dust on me, I’ll have you locked up,” Plantine warned.
The pixie hovered in front of Plantine’s face with her hand in her pocket. Melia held her breath. It was the last dark moon night in the moon cycle, and it looked like it was going to be a long one.
This week when you listen to the awesome Amy Lee singing Going Under, think of Plantine going under Umbra's influence—Umbra is the mortal ash accumulating in the Void that wants to use her as a vessel of incarnation.
