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.She would not give Danifae, or what was left of Danifae, the satisfaction.She lifted her head and looked into Lolth's gray, drow eyesDanifae's eyes."Kill me, then.I will not begfor my life."She almost added the blasphemous, "from you," to the end of her statement, meaning Danifae.ButDanifae was no longer just Danifae, and Quenthel had to come to terms with that.Danifae was part ofLolth, the Spider Queen, the Queen of the Demonweb Pits, Quenthel's goddess, and in a form greaterthan before.Lolth's full lips curved back in a smile to reveal not teeth but a spider's fangs."And that is why you will live," Lolth said.Quenthel was not sure if she felt relief, shame, or both.She said nothing, merely bowed her head."Leave my tabernacle, Mistress of Arach-Tinilith," Lolth said."Return to Menzoberranzan and continueto head my faith in that city.Tell what you have seen here."She stroked Quenthel's hair a second time, less gently, as though controlling an impulse to kill."Now," the goddess said.She indicated Halisstra with a nod and added, "Leave this one with me."Quenthel did not question.She rose, turned, and strode between the abyssal widows until she was out ofthe temple.Halisstra could not move.She had heard the Spider Queen speak to Quenthel, but the words did notregister, simply skipped off of Halisstra's hearing.Danifae was the Yor'thae.Lolth was reborn.After a time, Quenthel turned, gave Halisstra one final looka mixture of hate and respectand exited thetemple.Lolth had promised that only one would leave the temple alive.Quenthel had just leftalive.Halisstra was going to die.The goddess looked upon her.She felt the weight of Lolth's gazes.She awaited the bite of the goddess'smandibles, as she had seen in her vision.It did not come.She dared a look up into Lolth's face and saw Danifae there, but also so much more.She still clutchedSeyll's sword.She released it and shoved it from her."I'm sorry, goddess," she said to Lolth and abased herself fully, "Forgive me."She knew that her apostasy was beyond words.She had danced to Eilistraee on Lolth's plane, erected atemple to the Dark Maiden atop the Spider Queen's tor.She was the worst kind of heretic.All eight of Lolth's aspects regarded her, and the silence stretched.When the goddess at last spoke, hervoice was Danifae's only, but pregnant with power, thick with anger."You have been away from me too long, daughter," Lolth said."I do not forgive."Lolth leaned toward her, over her.The seven other bodies of Lolth encircled her.Halisstra could notmove.Lolth bent.Halisstra's heart pounded.Lolth's sibilant voice, more Danifae's than ever, whispered in her ear, "Good-bye, Mistress Melarn.Whatyou could have been is not what you are."Halisstra screamed when the goddess' fangs sank into her neck, twin rods of agony.The other sevenspiders too lurched forward and sank their fangs into her flesh.The pain was agonizing, exquisite.Thevenom set her skin afire, turned her body red hot.Pain and an inexplicable exaltation caused a spasm tocourse through her body.Her vision went blurry.She opened her mouth to curse Lolth, to thank her, butshe could make no sound.Her life ebbed, ebbed.Briefly, she wondered what would become of her soulin death.She longed for the same annihilation as Seyll.She smiled as the end came for her.But Lolth's venom did not kill her.She lingered between life and death."Not death, wayward daughter," Lolth said in all eight of her voices."Your sins were too great for suchan easy release.For your apostasy, you will give me an eternity of service as my Lady Penitent, my.battle-captive," she said in Danifae's voice, "neither living nor dead.You are charged to shed the blood ofthe heretics who follow my daughter, son, and once-husband.Pain will eat at you ever.Hate will fuelyou.And guilt will plague you but never stay your hand.This is to be your penance.Your eternalpenance."Horrified, Halisstra grasped for death.Futile."There is no escape," Lolth said."Like me, you too will be transformed and resurrected."The eight body of the Spider Queen took Halisstra in her pedipalps and pulled her under her thorax.Halisstra hung limp in the arms of her goddess.From her spinneret, Lolth drew forth silken webs andwith fearsome grace, spun Halisstra into them.She was being cocooned.It started at her legs and crept up her body.She barely felt it.She barely feltanything.The strands covered her eyes, and she saw only darkness.Lolth dropped her to the floor.Within the cocoon, Lolth's venom transformed her.She retreated from the edge of death.The venomsaturated her to her soul, wracking her with pain, pain that she knew would never end.Something in thewebs sank into her skin.Lolth's power probed her heart and found there the hate that Halisstra had never been able to extinguish,found there the forgiveness and love that she had never fully been able to nurture.Lolth's touch broughtthe hate to full bloom, and reduced the weakness of love and forgiveness to little more than a singlespore.Her skin grew as hard as her soul.Her strength and stature increased to match her hate.The pain ofrebirth was agonizing.She opened her mouth and screamed.It came out as a hiss.She ran her tongueover her lips and felt fangs
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