I am the Queen of Elfhame.Even though I am the queen in exile, I am still the queen.And that means Madoc isn't just trying to take Cardon's throne.He's trying to take mine.

It is at that unfortunate moment that one of the knights stops me. "You. Mortal girl in the mask," he says. "You smell like blood." I turn. Frustrated and desperate as I am, I blurt out the first thing that comes to me. "Well, I am mortal. And a girl, sir. We bleed every month, just like moon swells.

The whole place looks straight out of a fairy tale, the kind where love is a simple thing, never the cause of pain.

Let her alone,' said the enkanto, 'or I will curse you blind, lame, and worse.'The old man laughed. 'I'm a curse breaker, fool.'The elf grabbed one of the Jim Beam bottles from the table and slammed it down, so that he was holding a jagged glass neck. The elf smiled a very thin smile. 'Then I won't bother with magic.

I rub a hand over my face. By the fire, a spindly, insectile faerie stirs a big pot. "You want soup, mortal? "I shake my head. "You want to be soup? " It asks hopefully.

Before, I never knew how far I would go. Now I believe I have the answer. I will go as far as there is to go. I will go way too far.

I spent much of my life guarding my heart. I guarded it so well that I could behave as though I didn't have one at all. Even now, it is a shabby, worm-eaten, and scabrous thing. But it is yours

When I met Eldred, he rode up on a milk-white steed, and all the imaginings of my life were as dust and ashes.