I woke up in the morning unable to move my legs. It also felt like someone had squeezed me into a tight tube. Next to me, I could detect the scent of tangerines, and I had the flavor of lipstick on my tongue. I licked my lips and realized that someone had painted them while I was dying of poisoning. Okay.

I opened my eyes to discover that a tiny person was sitting on the pillow beside me, eating a tinier purple lollipop. A half-eaten tangerine sat next to her. She had yellow hair like mine, a sharp little face, and slanted eyes that were a solid, shiny mint green frosted by the snow. Intricate designs of loops and curls were drawn all over her exquisite face. Her body was whiter than a sheet of paper, and the tiny hand that held the lollipop had curved claws. Her elbows were thorny, as were her shoulders. She smiled at me to reveal two rows of jagged teeth. With an excited gibbering, she flew away. Her wings looked like those of a luna moth.

"Wait—" I protested weakly. I'd wanted to study her some more.

"Oh goodness, Princess. The little scamp dolled you up while we were all out. You resemble one of the lunantisidhe, and it's a marvelous look on you." Ciaran's voice was full of familiar ardor and a tingle traveled down my spin in response. What was it doing so close to my ear?

I turned my head and found that I was nose to nose with him. His opal eyes were spinning and shifting, which gave me an idea of all the inappropriate thoughts he was having. Since he was so close, he stole a kiss.

"Why are you in bed with me, Ciaran?" I worried about my complete lack of shock from his kiss. If I wasn't trying to bean him with a lamp, that meant that I was getting far too used to this space invader.

"Shh, Matt, go back to sleep," Dominic said behind me. He laid a heavy arm over me and pulled me against his chest to cuddle me. I blinked, then I put my hand on his arm, intending to pinch him, but then another clipped voice paused my fingers.

"No, the worst has passed; we should all get up and get going." Luke's head popped up from behind Ciaran. His hair was mussed everywhere in a most magnificent state of bedhead. It erased the cautious air of civility he carried. Rumpled, he looked more dangerous, and it tempted me to poke at the hornet's nest.

What was I thinking??

I sat up too quickly, and the room spun. I saw I was on a humongous bed covered in pelts, and my entire court was in the room with me. Ciaran and Luke were sleeping on my left, Dominic and Adrian were on my right. The banmuinen, Erick, and Brin were camped out on mattresses on the floor.

And the reason I couldn't move my legs?

Luis.

He had sprawled across them in dog form, and he was heavy.

Jeanne leapfrogged over him and knocked me back down as she kissed me all over my face. Luis growled as she kicked him off of me in her zeal, and he sat with injured dignity on the floor.

"Oh! My Lady! We were all so worried!" she cried, as she planted more kisses on my face.

"Okay! I'm fine, I think!" I said. I pushed at her shoulders so she'd stop smothering me.

I looked behind Jeanne at Luis and pressed my lips together. It relieved me to see him, but I was angry at the same time.

"What is everyone doing here?" I asked aloud. "What are you doing here, Luis?" I added silently.

He refused to say. I was expecting to hear him say, "Because you are my prey" like he always did.

"Well, when the poison got to the critical point, you started to pull all of our life forces into yourself, the six of us especially, but your banmuinen and Brin were caught. You created new links to them. It was quite terrifying, even for an immortal like myself," Ciaran answered.

"Sorry. Is everyone alright?"

"Some fared worse than others, but I think everyone pulled through. Brin took a large hit, and so did Beth and Adrian. They might sleep for a bit more. The lunantisidhe were busy creating healing spells to help replenish their life forces. Because of your delightful powers, you actually needed less healing than the rest of the court. Well, except for my lovely immortal self." He preened.

With panic, I looked to see if I was attached to my banmuinen and Brin. I was, but the roots were fainter than the primary seven. I laid back down with a groan. What did it mean?

"I'm a freaking leech. They are all linked to me now." My powers had selfishly made sure that I was preserved, even if it meant that my friends paid for it.

Ciaran chuckled, "Yes, but you're a beautiful leech, so it's okay."

I snorted. "So if I were an ugly leech, that would make a difference?"

"Yes, but I'm terribly shallow, Princess," Ciaran said with a grin.

I scraped Jeanne off of me and pushed at Ciaran and Luke until they let me out of bed. Upon standing, the ground became wobbly, and I stumbled. Luke put his arm out for me to hold on to.

"I'm overjoyed to be linked to you, My Lady!" Jeanne said. "I consider you a gift, not a leech!"

Choosing to ignore that statement for now, I asked, "Where are we?" Then I pushed my heavy hair off my shoulders. Someone had released it from the tight bun I was wearing. When it brushed against the ground like a bridal train, I realized it was longer.

Huh.

"You're in the Straif's castle." Ciaran said.

"I'm in my father's house!" The news left me with mixed emotions. I guessed we must have made a detour from the Emperor of Tears' palace. Did that mean I lost?

It was then that I caught my reflection in the dresser mirror that faced the bed. They had twisted my bangs into seven braided rosettes, and more braids hung like twisting vines from the blooms. The hair that wasn't braided had been defrizzed and curled into shining masses of ringlets. I was wearing a deep purple gown with a cinched waist and heavy boning along my ribs. That explained why I felt like I was in a tube. The sleeves were long, with ruffles at the bottom that were gathered together with gold ribbons. It had a long gauzy skirt of many layers that hinted at my legs below. The bust of the dress had pushed my less than bountiful ladies into a resemblance of cleavage. Someone had pierced my ears, and my mother's earrings winked from my lobes. I touched them, worried about who had touched the earrings. No one should have been able to. Anyone who had tried got a terrible shock.

I let go of Luke and stumbled closer to the dresser. Drawn all over my face were floral designs. On my forehead, starting from my hairline, roses of navy, aquamarine, plum, and scarlet draped their petals downward. Vines curled from them, punctuated by violet blooms. My eyes had been heavily kohled in plum, with the ends curling into the vines as well. They painted my lips a shiny, deep red.

I spun around and clutched the dresser to help keep me up. "What the heck?? Who did all this?"

"I think it was that little faerie and her friends. They were all over you like flies while you were out. Kept carrying you out of the room and back into it. It sounded like someone was playing a video backward at high speed in here." Dominic said. He was staring at me like it was the first time he really saw me. His expression made me feel shy, and I looked at Luke, who stared as though I was a mirage, and he was dying of thirst.

I cleared my throat and fluffed my hair. "Why's it so long?"

"The lunantisidhe felt that your hair was in woeful disrepair, so they fixed it. They are Fae that can grow things, among other many talents." Ciaran said, as he approached me to stroke one lock.

I cleared my throat again, glad that they'd stopped at the hair. I noticed that they'd also taken liberties with everyone's hair. The ladies' hair was all loose and braided and quite long. Jeanne's was braided back in a fishbone style of braid. Beth's hair had two buns cleverly designed to resemble lion's ears. Spirals of curls spread around her still sleeping form. Part of Elsie's hair was braided to look like a little hat. The rest of her hair fell to her knees in a straight, shining, black sheet as she stood.

They were all wearing dresses that highlighted their beauty. Jeanne was wearing a soft yellow, frilly dress with tiers of lacy ruffles on the skirt from waist to hem. It was strapless and cinched, like mine. A capelet of white with a high neck was fastened to cover her shoulders and arms. Elsie was wearing a pale rose dress. It was plain save for a bloom of roses on her right shoulder and it was sleeveless, with a long, full skirt. The dress appeared to have been made of heavy silk. Beth's dress was a light blue, with a long attached train at her shoulders. It also looked somewhat plain, from what I could see. Long, like the rest of us, and sleeveless. A belt of silver wrapped around her waist.

All of them had their faces painted with floral designs and highly done makeup. They looked both enchanting and feral.

"Why do you think they dressed us all up?" All the men looked like they had been spit-shined. Brin had both his hair and his tail braided with many braids. Erick looked like Legolas. He seemed in a poor humor about it as well, the elves being disliked by the Sidhe. The lunantisidhe must have really liked him with long hair.

"The Straif prefers to see only beauty around him. We're all shallow like that, us Edentrees." Ciaran said, as he continued to stroke my hair. "I'd prefer seeing you like this all day... well... maybe not all day." He leered at me.

I smacked his hand away. "This is inconvenient to travel in."

"Hmm... sadly, yes. Pity." His eyes roved over me. "All of you ladies, and Erick, look like angels."

"With all respect, shut up." Erick spat.

"Tch... so rude. You know that I'm a god of a sort, right, Erick? People worship me... sometimes."

"If you want to be considered as a god, you should be more godly," Luke retorted with a wry voice.

"Let's go see my father. I'm worried about this race. Oh!" I searched around the room. "What happened to Mike?"

Dominic shook his head. "He disappeared while we were traveling. I guess he tricked us again."

"I don't think he was there to kill me - he wanted my necklace. He'd helped me when I got stabbed, after all. Someone wanted me dead, though. Do you think it was Emerlee?"

"Not her style. She would have been direct." Luke said.

"True. She wouldn't have used the hiisi; I don't think. At the party, she went straight for me." She probably would have won, too if not for that meddling Dominic. I smiled at the memory and my Scooby do reference, then met his eyes. He blew me a kiss.

That just blew about Mike. I'd tried to trust him again, and he'd double-crossed me. Again. I touched my earrings in my ear. He'd wanted them. Was desperate for them. But why? "Who put these in my ears?" I asked, not giving a voice to my real questions.

"The lunantisidhe. They were pretty excited about seeing them."

"I guess they figured out a way to get it off of me and onto my ears."

"Didn't seem to bother them at all. The only thing that happened was a minor squabble over who got to put them in your ears." Dominic said. "Why? Were they not supposed to do that?"

I shrugged, "No, but I think all the protections my mother had on me dispelled when Mike laid that whammy on me with the box." It figured if he had wanted the earrings.

"What box?" Ciaran asked.

"A little Chinese box he said he had stored one last wish in for my birthday."

"Ah... one last wish for him, that is. I wonder why he didn't just wish the necklace to him?" Ciaran asked.

"It's kind of like your apples, Ciaran. You can't take the necklace; it can only be given. No one's been able to take it from me, though some have tried. They usually get a really nasty shock. Wait. I think I know why the lunantisidhe could do that. Maybe they didn't have the intent to take it away from me, only to transfer it somewhere else on my body. "

"Makes sense." Dominic said.

"And less worrisome since that means it is still protected." Luke added.

"Agreed. Let's visit dear old dad, why don't we? Hmm?" Ciaran said.

"In just a minute. I want to speak to Luis... alone."

"Very well, Princess. Let's go, shall we, ladies and gents?" Ciaran swept his hand towards the door.

Elsie came forward and brushed my gown. "Don't take too long, please, My Lady. I worry about leaving you too long from my sight."

I blinked at her new attitude. She was far less formal than before and I worried about what the link had done to her.

"I won't be that long."

Brin woke up finally, and before he left, he trotted forward and put his hands on my cheek. "I feel so blessed to have been chosen by a goddess..." he breathed.

I took his hands and pulled them gently away from me. "We'll talk about it later, Brin."

He nodded. Then Luke piled the other two unconscious forms on top of Brin before they left.