Consort's Revenge
an excerpt

“Did he know?”

L’indratha stared coldly at Ilyndriana, but at first the woman did not reply.

“Did he know?!?”

“I don’t know.” Ilyndriana managed to choke out between sobs. “He knew that I was pregnant, but he was told that you had died in childbirth. It was the only way to protect you, both of you. I don’t know if he ever figured it out, or if Achtar told him. I had to be rushed away from the city right after you were born or they would have killed me. I never saw Aldranar again before he died.”

Ilyndriana had barely finished that last utterance before L’indratha was gone, her eyes suddenly open again in her apartments in Achtar’s home.

Instantly her had flew to her dagger and she held it ready as she crossed the hallway to Achtar’s apartments. Taking her usual precautions, she entered silently and unseen.

When Achtar awoke it was to the weight of her legs straddling his shoulders, pinning his arms in place, and her dagger bearing down on his throat.

“My dear, I must say, I’ve never been so aroused in my entire life.”

“I’m afraid I’m not here to play coy, Achtar.”

“And, I’m afraid that makes it even more arousing. Do go on…”

Not taking time to be impressed by how unflappable the drow was, she instantly explained her presence in the form of a question.

“Did Aldranar know that he was my father?” She pressed the dagger a little closer to his throat to press home the point that she was serious.

“Ah, so you have been speaking with Ilyndriana. I had wondered…”

“Answer the question!” She pressed the knife more firmly to his neck, drawing the smallest drop of blood.

“My Lady, unless you wish me to take you here and now and have my way with you, I suggest that you remove your person from mine, and remove this knife from my throat. I’m finding it rather difficult to think with you so tantalizingly close to me.”

L’indratha leapt off of the bed and threw the dagger directly into the head of a bust of Lolth that Achtar kept around for appearances sake.

“Damn it all, Achtar. Answer me!”

Achtar eyed her severely, with only a brief look of longing before composing his face into its usual mask.

“Forgive me for not jumping to answer your call, my lady, but I am not used to being awoken by an assassin in the my bed with a knife to my throat.”
“I would never have harmed you.”

“Then why bother with dagger at all? L’indratha, you must learn to control yourself. You cannot fly off the handle like this every time –”

“Every time what? Every time that I find out that my father was the one being in this entire world who showed me any compassion? That he was a man that I knew, even though I was not aware of it at the time, and that he was killed before I could ever truly get to know him? Because I don’t foresee this happening a lot in the future!”

Achtar eyed her coolly.

“Point taken. Are you done?”

L’indratha tore the dagger from Lolth’s head, stepped back a few paces, and thre it once more into the bust, this time, right between the drow goddess’s eyes.

“Now I am.”

Achtar motioned for her to sit down on his bed and moved so that he was seated next to her.

“For most of the time that he knew you, he did not know that he was your father. Although, once he witnessed you hide from dark vision I believe he began to suspect. He was quite intelligent, of course, and virtually no one in drow society is capable of pulling on magic from a source that is not external. But, the only indication that he truly knew who you were came right at the very end. When he gave you that dagger. He must have known it was you, for I never told him to do that, and he that dagger was meant for one person alone in this world and that is the daughter of Aldranar and Ilyndriana.”

“Why didn’t he tell me? Or at least hint?”

“Don’t be daft, Lady. It was dangerous enough that he knew who you were. It would have been suicide to tell you of your heritage. You know that.”