“I just have one request of you,” I said.
“Name it, and perhaps I will grant it.”
“I want all of my party to be housed in one chamber. If you cannot grant this request, then, respectfully, we will camp outside the city walls tonight while we await your council’s decision.”
“It is not too unreasonable a request, so I will grant it. We have a large enough chamber in the palace to house all of you comfortably. I will have servants move some furniture around so taht it will be perfectly fitted out for your comfort. Is there anything else you would ask of me, Lord Chauzec?”
I did want to see her naked, but even with the eyes she was making at me, I couldn’t make such a request—not while we were in public, at least.
“Just one more thing, Webmaven,” I said. “Your name, if you will.”
Her smile broadened, and the gleam in her eyes grew brighter and more inviting.“I am Layna,” she said, curtseying again.
I drew out the silence as I held eye contact, displaying my confidence. “It pleases me to make your acquaintance, Layna.”
After a few more short words, Layna took us into the palace, leading us through a spectacular entrance of mighty yet ornate pillars into a hall of more gleaming marble filled with lifelike statues. I was gazing up at the massive, detailed paintings as I walked along behind Layna (between firing hungry glances at her pert ass) when I saw something that almost made me trip over my own feet: Isu’s unmistakable likeness worked into a painting. I darted a wide-eyed glance at her, but she merely pulled her hood into place over her face. I did a double take, staring intently at the painting to make sure it wasn’t some trick of the light. She didn’t have horns in the picture, and she looked completely human—but it was her. She was likely tired of confessions after our morning talk, but I wasn’t letting her go to sleep tonight without a lot more explaining, that was for sure.
Layna led us up some stairs and down a high-ceilinged passage lined with marble busts of what I assumed were former Webmavens. All were female, and all were beautiful.
“Here, Lord Chauzec.” Webmaven Layna opened a set of ornate wooden doors for me and stood to the side. “You and your party will stay here tonight. Feel free to rest now. If you do not mind, though, I would like to speak with you alone later.”
“Of course, Webmaven Layna.”
“I will send for you,” she said with a bewitching smile. “In the meantime, relax and enjoy our Arachne hospitality. If you or any of your party need anything, simply command the servants, and they will fetch you whatever it is you need.”
In the huge, luxurious chamber were a number of Arachne servants wearing purple silk uniforms, moving beds around and replacing amphoras. They were all young and good-looking, in their own Arachne way. They bowed for us when we entered, but I sensed an air of snootiness radiating from them. Serving outsiders clearly pained them.
Layna left us alone in the chamber, which was more than big enough for each of us to have some private space, created by silk sheet partitions hung up by the servants for the occasion. Though my party was eager to rest, I had questions for Isu.
She meekly followed me out of the chamber when I beckoned her, and we walked down the corridor until we were out of earshot of the rest of the party and the Arachne servants.
“You have a lot you need to explain to me,” I said, turning to her. “The way you’re hiding your face, and how there’s a painting of you in the palace entrance. You told me everything about your role in the Purge; now it’s time to confess about your relationship to this place.”
She let out a long sigh but kept the hood in place, even though there was nobody around.
“This is where I come from,” she murmured. “Aith is where I was born. A very long time ago.”
For a second or two, I couldn’t speak. I had suspected something completely insane, of course, but this was something else.
“Are you lying already?” I said sternly. “You’re not an Arachne.”
“The residents of Aith were not always Arachne, Vance,” she said. “Once, long ago, they were just people. My people. It was a curse. A curse I visited upon them.”
If Isu and I had been sparring, this would have been the uppercut that slipped underneath my defenses.
“You… you did this to them?” I said. “Why?!”
Isu smiled eerily. “This is the place where I became the Goddess of Death. But before I was a goddess, I was a queen, the Queen of Aith. This city was one of the greatest in the known world. I grew that power even more. I brought the majestic art, culture, and learning of this people to new, starry heights. It was a golden age for Aith. Then, that useless, vain fool Lucielle visited.”
“The Charm Goddess, or another Lucielle?”
“I said ‘vain fool,’ did I not?” she said. “There is no mistaking that narcissistic tart for anyone else.”
“You had a bit of a spat then? Did she get jealous when you became a goddess too?”
“Well, she was the one who helped me become a goddess.”
“This story of yours has more twists and turns in it than a crippled snake,” I muttered.
“Lucielle had been expelled from her own lands,” Isu continued, “for reasons she never did disclose to me. When I was Queen of Aith, I’d never met a living god or goddess. So I welcomed the Charm Goddess with open arms when she came knocking at our city gates. She and I quickly
