Despite the rising anger of the crowd, Goldie managed to make her way back to the palace without being crushed or even seriously threatened.

Very few people who hadn't been close to the site of the King's fall seemed to recognize that a massive spider had been involved in his death at all.

I can't believe it… this is my fault! she thought as she finally made it far enough away to think. What will I say…?

It felt impossible to tell the family about what had happened.

But I have to. They have to hear it from me. I have to take responsibility. It was my fault. I'll tell the Queen… right after I get my children out of the palace.

She steadied herself and climbed up the palace wall, then down into the courtyard. No one noticed her. The guards were beginning to pay attention to the hubbub spreading through the rest of the city, but no clear understanding had arisen as of yet about what precisely the commotion meant.

And no one was looking out for a big spider.

Goldie scurried around the perimeter of the courtyard until she was near the entrance the King had left through. Then she crawled up the wall, found a window that was open just a crack, and she delicately pried it open a little wider with her forelimbs. Once her head fit inside, it was easy to flatten the rest of her body to get through.

Compared with the wild and frightening maze of Wayn, the palace was small and homey. Goldie had been a bit intimidated by it when she first arrived, but as days turned into months, she had learned her way around key sections.

She managed to navigate through much of the place on autopilot, sticking to the walls and ceilings to be out of the way of the people who occasionally rushed past. Goldie barely noticed them. She was rehearsing in her mind what she would say when she ran into the Queen again.

When he died, he was not afraid. He was very dignified, steady. But his heart had been strained by his long struggle against the Empire's poison. I'm afraid the venom I injected to stimulate his body proved to be too much…

There was no avoiding the fact that she was to blame.

Goldie waited for a door to open, then darted through as the distracted knight who had opened it walked past, muttering something about the walls.

She found herself, finally, in the Royal Family's residential section of the palace, where she and her children also lived—or had lived for the last couple of months, at least.

Have to get out of the habit of thinking of this place as home now, Goldie thought. It was something she had resisted at first, that Adon had gradually gotten her to change her mentality around to some degree.

But the capital was about to become unsafe, very quickly.

Goldie had been planning to leave Wayn anyway. The departure had simply turned much more urgent.

She squeezed herself as hard as she could to get under the door and into the room where her children made their shared web.

Thank goodness you're all here, she thought as she got a good look at everyone present in the room.

There were all her little ones, including Samson. And Frederick sat on the bed, waiting, as well. He looked as if he had been in mid-conversation with Samson, but both stopped and turned to look at Goldie as she entered the room.

There was a gloomy silence for a few seconds as Frederick and Samson both processed what Goldie's presence meant.

Frederick was the first to speak.

"So, it went poorly?" he asked in a grim tone.

Yes, I'm afraid so, Goldie sent. The King is no more.

"Long live Queen Rosslyn," Frederick muttered, brow furrowing. "Assuming she survives the dungeon we left her in…"

Does that mean you're no longer going back to get her and Adon? Samson asked.

"I very much doubt that we will still do something that now sounds so foolhardy, and I intend to counsel my brother against it if he is determined to return to the dungeon," Frederick replied in a careful tone, looking at Goldie for any sign of disapproval.

The spider could not say she truly disagreed. Adon would make his way out of the dungeon whether Rosslyn lived or died, and even though it grated on Goldie that the brothers had left them behind, the damage was already done. The Dessians were unlikely to make any difference to the outcome by going back now.

She stepped forward into the room, approaching her younger children, even as Frederick conversed with Samson.

"We have already involved ourselves in this country's affairs too much," Frederick continued. "Even given that the late King was a close friend of our father, we would be directly opposing the interests of the Demon Empire, within a territory that—" he frowned and looked slightly uncomfortable—"is probably about to be folded into that very nation. Frankly, our entire diplomatic approach may need a fresh look, given the fall of one of the most stalwart opponents of the Empire on the continent. Perhaps there are other allies we may look to, but I simply do not know. We may have to play nice with the Empire going forward, uncomfortable though that may be…"

Other allies? Samson pressed.

"We always have the other Holy Kingdoms that have historically united against the Empire," Frederick said. "The alliance has not been as formidable of late, and the loss of Claustria is a major blow to it. But there have been rumors for years that somewhere on the other side of the Empire, there is another power that sometimes makes war with it. Scraps of centuries-old information from explorers, disrupted invasions into the continent at moments that made little sense from a military point of view—significant chunks of Imperial foreign policy could be explained if there are other frontiers on which they fight besides those where we are present. We of Dessia, Claustria—we of this continent, broadly speaking—simply do not know enough about the world." He shook his head in slight frustration.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"We have the misfortune that we do not live in an era of great explorers right now. My father would happily commission someone to go and find out who lives beyond the Empire, if there truly is a nation that could coordinate with the continental powers to fight a two-front war. Admittedly, it feels like a suicide mission when I think about it. Right now, we do not know if there actually is any such power. Let alone whether it is inhabited by humans, demons, or some other yet unknown race of life forms." He shuddered. "Imagine a rival to the Demon Empire, itself composed of demons. Choosing sides in that fight would truly be picking the lesser of two evils…"

The conversation between Samson and Frederick continued, with Frederick expounding upon some of the legends he had mentioned about this other hypothetical power and Samson asking questions about this vague, possibly nonexistent place.

At the same time, Goldie looked to her young.

The hatchlings had been filling themselves up with food in her absence, having successfully hunted many tiny creatures during Goldie's sojourn in the dungeon.

I've missed their childhoods, she could not help but think.

The children jabbered on about how the days while she was in the dungeon had gone, however, and soon, Goldie felt caught up enough to move on to the question she truly needed answered.

Have you all taken the Ballooning Skill?

That was one of the last things Goldie had imparted to them before she left.

Young spiders in dangerous places should prioritize having a means of escape from those places above other Adaptations and Skills. The young Goldie had not done it, because she had never had the luxury of extra points to devote to something risky. She had invested heavily into silk instead, and it had served her well for a long time, drawing in many prey.

Now it was frankly too late for her to bother with Ballooning, because her body had grown to such a large size that a silk balloon was a terrible method of escaping from anything.

Plus, Goldie had other plans for herself. She thought that her spiderlings were unlikely to be targets of the Demon Empire if they simply acted like ordinary spiders for the moment. That opened up this possibility for them.

Yes, mama, came the chorus of little spider voices.

Good, little ones, she replied. I want you to go out the window there that leads into the garden. It's time… time to put your Ballooning into practice. Her inner voice became slightly choked up during her final sentence. In the most benign, harmless way she possibly could, she had just said goodbye to almost all of her children—told them to leave her side and go off on their own.

It wasn't the end of her caring for them, of course. The little ones would live on in her heart and her memories and hopefully out in the world beyond her immediate reach.

Goldie had achieved heights as a spider that she never would have imagined existed before she met Adon. She hoped her little ones would surpass her.

But this command directed at them felt like an ending. They would be leaving and starting their own lives, and she would never know what had become of them. All that would be left of her union with Red would be memories—and Samson, of course, but Goldie did not know what Samson's fate was to be yet.

Yes, mama! the little chorus trilled again.

Goodbye, mama, added one little female voice.

We'll miss you, sent a male.

We love you, sent a third.

It went on like this for thirty seconds before the little spiders began moving. They didn't come over and hug Goldie—spiders weren't cuddly creatures like that as a general rule—but they expressed themselves telepathically before and during their final walk across the room's wall and over to the window.

Life has to move on, Goldie told herself. You have been living in a little rut since Red died. If the little ones stayed, you would only hover over them, trying to give them instruction when they were well past the age when you cared for yourself. Who would that help?

She watched them as they climbed onto the windowsill. The window was open, and the wind outside was picking up, she could feel from her place within the room, The spiderlings lined up in order of seniority, oldest to youngest.

Each one began spinning its own silken web, preparing one last beautiful creation before they left the palace for good. Goldie forced herself to sit there and watch as they each crafted their transportation for the world outside. She resisted the impulse to offer any last-minute advice or corrections on the silken parachutes.

These would be the memories she and the little ones were left with, and she would not sully them.

Goldie only dimly took notice of how the conversation between Frederick and Samson had grown silent. She didn't fully realize it until the two came to stand beside her.

"So, they are going, then," Frederick said quietly.

Only he and Samson fully appreciated the significance of this decision for Goldie. She hadn't told Adon much about it, because he already seemed to be carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. He only knew that the spiderlings were to go out into the world.

They're going, Goldie affirmed.

"And… you will be coming with me? Um, with us?"

Yes, Frederick, Goldie sent quietly, to him alone, a slight note of amusement in her voice. I think I have told you yes a few times before. I will go with you, and hopefully your family will like me and I will like them.

If all went well, the mystic beast and the young lord would be married in time.

Forgive me for seeming to have any doubts, Frederick thought in a slightly subdued voice. There was a real part of me that thought nothing romantically would ever work out for me in this life. My peculiarities of character made that a difficult bridge to cross with anyone.

I know, Goldie sent. She wanted to transform, to reach out and touch Frederick. Spiders were not cuddly, but she knew that she would be spending a lot more time in human form in the future. Humans were definitely cuddlers by comparison with most invertebrates, and Frederick was a surprisingly sensitive young man.

The first silk balloon filled with air suddenly in the corner of her vision, and Goldie turned her full attention to the window.

Goodbye! sent her second oldest offspring. Goodbye, mama! Goodbye, Samson!

Goodbye, Samson replied.

Goldie almost stayed silent. It was Frederick who nudged her gently with one finger, and with that prompting, as the parachute had blown almost out of view, Goldie shouted back.

Goodbye! Be well, my child. You will make me very proud!

All of them would.

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