Mistress Deborah shook her head. "We used to hide you in the village, but there is just something about your blood. It calls to our kind, it is a seductress's or an enchantress's song. The guards would go and search you out then bring you back here before the king and the queen. Then His Highness would be forced to return you to the lake, and then we would have to start all over again."
Vienna blinked up at her.
"Then for years the prince had you smuggled into the castle, but the only humans we have here are the blood slaves. Again, the guards could easily smell you, no matter where the prince hid you. So he finally decided bringing you in legitimately was safer," Deborah said.
"But can the guards not smell me now?" Vienna asked.
Mistress Deborah chuckled. "Of course they can, but His
