She turned away at Drizdan's pout, trying once more to dig in her heels even as she was pulled into the new carriage. Drizdan settled in beside her, toying with the chain and occasionally whipping her with it just to see her jump.
Izziah and the nameless guard sat across from them, pointedly ignoring his cruelty.
She didn't know what to expect from the drow city, but their passing through a small opening in the side of a sheer mountain face was not one of them.
The pathway they followed was precarious and narrow, the carriage passing through at a speed that made her very nervous. Her companions seemed unconcerned by their speed, staring out the windows as they descended deeper underground until the passage opened into an enormous cavern. The city was huge and every building had a sharp, knifelike angle to it, spires and towers all ending in a sharp point.
It was dark, but large green balls lit the place well enough.
They entered the gates of the palace and with Izziah and the guard getting out, Drizdan took a moment, his hand high on her thigh through the dress.
"You know, if you want a baby, we can get rid of the lich's and I can put one in you. Might take me a few hundred tries though."
She knew he was just trying to scare her, knew he just wanted to torment her but still she shivered. Grinning, he pulled her from the carriage and onto the rough stone of the cavern floor.
She couldn't help but wonder if everything there hadn't been carved out of the mountain itself. It looked too perfect, without any hint of joins in the stone.
Approaching the palace, she looked around herself in wonder, not having a clue on what she was going to do.
No one knew where she was, except maybe Epharis, and he was locked up for a very long time, unable to get to her. She might be angry at him for drugging her and forcing her to marry him, but he would be able to save her.
At the top of the stairs sat an enormous statue of a woman, except her bottom half was that of a huge spider. She looked beautiful and terrible, a spear in one hand and a ball of something in the other.
Pulling her past the statue even as she resisted going anywhere near the thing, they headed inside.
***
The inside of the palace was exotic, all dark lines softened with greens and reds in the manner of strips of fabric that fluttered gently.
Women were everywhere, most of them naked or wearing only metallic skirts.
There was no denying the drow women were uncommonly beautiful, their dark skin almost shining in the green light.
The woman who sat upon the throne had deep violet skin and long black hair that trailed past her backside. She wore nothing but a silver coloured belt that hung a single strip of black fabric at her front and back, her chest uncovered and her eyes were an odd silver that stood out from all the rest for its strange, almost flat colour.
Glancing at Izziah, she realised he was the only one who also had silver eyes.
She had thought they were only lords, but she had to believe they were the sons of the queen.
"Bring her closer," the queen said and Drizdan pulled her forward.
All eyes were on her as she moved forward, the rumpled, dirty, strange looking creature in their midst.
The queen picked something up from her throne and slid on a device over her fingers. It turned her fingers into sharp talons of metal.
Stepping down from the top tier of the dais, she moved sensually forward while a younger woman stepped forward with a small silver tray. On it rested a little glass bottle with a green liquid in it.
Using the device she had slipped over her fingers to cut the crook of Etani's inner arm, a single drop of blood hung from the point of the talon.
Lifting the bottle, the drop of blood fell in and the crowd gasped as the green liquid turned to a blinding white light that filled the room.
She was sure she had seen a light like that before, Aelen had a light just like that.
"Welcome to The Underneath, princess," the queen smiled coldly, even as the crowd began to cheer.
***
The apartment she was given had three rooms, and she knew with abject terror, that she and the two drow that had captured her would be in those rooms. But there were guards stationed outside their individual rooms, as well as another at the main door to the apartment.
The presence of the guards made her feel slightly safer, which was odd considering her situation.
The chain was not removed, but rather her hands were allowed more freedom to be able to do the normal things a person needed to do, like eat and bathe.
The days turned quickly into weeks and then eventually a month, all with no news of Epharis, Alaric, or anything to get her hopes up, and she was rapidly losing weight.
The tiny ball of light inside her was siphoning off all her energy faster than any wound, and she found she had looked gaunt before the first month was up.
Finally she was forced to venture out of her rooms and Izziah looked up from his book, his eyes wide at the sight of her. She looked fine, clean and neat but incredibly thin.
"I'll send someone with food," he said quickly and hurried from the room.
Turning, she saw Drizdan leaning in the hallway to his room with a vicious smirk on his face.
"A bit thin for my tastes, but weak means easy."
A guard coughed to remind him of their presence and he frowned, turning to leave the room after his brother.
Turning to look at the guard, he gave her a blank stare back, but his eyes did trail down to where her stomach was beginning to show, mostly due to her lack of body fat.
Flushing, she turned away from him and set herself down on the couch.
Wondering where the books had come from, given their mad flee from Weorene, she realised she had forgotten that the two men had been born there and the books had probably still been there for them if they returned.
Picking one of them up, she sighed to realise they were in yet another language.
"Botany, Princess," the guard said, making her jump. Her senses were dulled and she hadn't heard him creeping up on her. He took a quick step back, frowning. "Apologies, I didn't mean to startle you."
"It's fine," she replied weakly, lowering her eyes to the book and opening it to examine some of the names.
She recognised a small number of the flowers as ones that had grown in the compound in Ayathian, but the names were gibberish to her.
"One of the few things I didn't inherit from my father," she sighed, placing the book down.
"What's that, princess?" he asked curiously, and she looked up at him.
"The inherent ability to understand all languages known to any species in this world or any other."
He blinked in surprise.
"I didn't know Fae had that ability."
"Yes, most of them do. My sister did, but not me. I get brute strength and speed, she gets languages and shape shifting." She had never gotten over her twin's luck and the voice in her head began to giggle.
"Sister?" he asked, not seeming to press her for more information but simply to give her someone to talk to.
"Mm, my twin. She died a few months ago," she broke off, the last sentence coming out strangled.
Tears welled in her eyes and she was surprised to see a little square of white fabric offered to her.
She accepted it and used it to dab at her eyes before her tears could escape.
"Sorry, I might have stained it," she said as she handed it back but his eyes were wide with wonder as he accepted it back, the little spots of watery black tucked safely away in his pocket.
A smell hit her like a slug to the stomach and she whipped around to see Izziah returning with no less than three bearded men wearing nothing but ankle cuffs and loin cloths.