Away from the black palace on the shadowy shore. “Are we finished? I must go… the children… my husband….” The King Under Stone brushed back a stray curl of the queen’s hair. “Ah, but my sons are young, and their dear mothers were all sweet, honorable women, just like yourself and your little daughters! And my princes do long for companions of their own kind.” Each of Under Stone’s sons had been born to a mortal woman, and he wanted their wives to be mortal as well. “My d-daughters are s-sweet, honorable girls,” she stuttered. She had borne seven daughters so far, and once she had borne a dozen, Under Stone had decided that he would find a way to bring the girls below to meet their future husbands.Ī look of horror spread across the queen’s face at his suggestion. There had always been the little problem, as his sons grew older, of where to find them brides.īeautiful brides who could walk in the sun.Īnd then this mortal queen had come to him, begging for aid in bearing children with her fat, foolish husband. And my twelve sons are pining for companionship.” Again the feeling of triumph: the idea of these mortal girls dancing with his sons. “What a pity your daughters do not join you at our little fetes,” he said. The King Under Stone stretched out his long white hand and lifted her chin.

There were dark circles beneath her eyes and gray in her hair though she was a young woman still. “I know.” She bowed her head in weariness. “Our first bargain is not yet fulfilled.” “Let us not forget the years you still owe me,” the king said. “Twelve years will I dance for you here below, and in return Westfalin shall be victorious.” “I do.” The human queen’s voice was steady. “Do you understand our bargain?” The king had a voice like a steel blade breaking on stone. He was experiencing one now, as he faced the mortal woman before him, but it took a moment for him to give it a name. Because he had once been human, the King Under Stone sometimes found himself plagued by human emotions.

Princess of the midnight ball series