for other women. “You still love me,” she said softly.
“I will always love you,” he said quietly. “You do not have to ask me that, for you know it is true, faerie witch.”
“I am not certain I am worthy of such a love,” Lara responded with a sigh.
“The love is mine to give to whom I choose, my darling,” the Shadow Prince told her. “Now sleep. When you awaken I shall be gone. And it is time that you returned to Terah. The young Dominus needs you, Lara. And be warned. Hetar has learned of Magnus Hauk’s death. Even now they consider their options.”
Lara wanted to engage him in conversation regarding this news, but she could not seem to remain awake. She fell into a deep and restful sleep, and when she awoke she was alone once more. From the way the light was falling outside her tent she could see it was late afternoon. They had spent the previous night making love, and she had slept the day away, but she felt wonderful. Arising she went to bathe in the pool with its sandy bottom, stepping beneath the waterfall to rinse her long hair. Then, seating herself on a smooth rock ledge by the pool, she brushed her hair dry in the sunlight, plaiting it into a single thick braid.
Returning to the tent, she opened the ebony trunk, and drew forth a soft cotton chemise, as well as a beautiful high-waisted turquoise-blue silk gown with long, full sleeves, and a deep square neckline. Reaching into the trunk a second time, she pulled out a pair of matching kid slippers, and slipped them on her feet. A small box at the bottom of the chest held the Domina’s ring. Taking it out, she put it on her finger. Other than the chain with the crystal star about her neck she wore no other jewelry.
Lara stepped from the tent to stand beneath its awning. It was almost sunset at the Oasis of Zeroun, which meant it was almost sunrise in Terah. She would be home when her children awoke. These few days away from her responsibilities had given her new strength and a great clarity. Lara spoke a small silent spell. Invisible to all but me, this shelter no one else shall see. Then with a wave of her hand she commanded a golden passage to open that would connect the Oasis of Zeroun with her castle in Terah. Stepping into it she walked a short distance, emerging into a small windowless room in the castle she used for this sort of magic.
“Good morning, Domina,” her servant, Mila, greeted her as Lara entered her apartments. “You appear well-rested. The children are all well.” Mila knew that thought would be foremost in Lara’s mind. “Shall I bring your breakfast?”
“Aye, I am ravenous,” Lara told her. “While you fetch it I will tell the Dominus that I am returned.” She hurried from her chambers to her son’s apartment. Taj was not yet fully awake as she bent to kiss him. “Good morrow, sleepyhead,” she greeted him.
His turquoise-blue eyes flew open. “Mother! You are back!”
“I am, my lord. Did anything happen while I was gone that requires our attention?” she queried him.
“A faerie post arrived late last night from Hetar,” Taj said as he sat up in his bed. “I said I would review it in the morning.”
“To whom was it addressed?” Lara wanted to know.
“To me,” the boy told her.
“Excellent!” his mother approved. “Trust the Lord High Ruler to follow proper protocol. Jonah is taking no chances at offending us, and because he does not know who the regent is he is being careful.” Lara smiled.
“But he knows who my mother is,” Taj replied ingenuously.
Lara laughed lightly. “Aye, he knows,” she responded. Then she gave him another quick kiss, ruffling his dark gold hair. “I must go and have my breakfast, my lord Dominus. Come to me when you have had yours, and we will see what Hetar wants.”
Her energy was high, and Lara could not believe how well she felt. Scarcely more than a week had passed since Magnus Hauk had been killed. While there was an underlying sadness within her, that sorrow no longer absorbed her. She wondered if death affected everyone this way, or was it just her cold faerie heart that allowed her to put the past behind her, and move on? Whatever the answer she was glad, for weighed down with grief over Magnus Hauk, she could not have managed to do what she must do, and her husband had entrusted her with the fate of their son, and of Terah. She would not fail him, but then she never had failed him.
She ate her meal, and shortly afterward her son joined her carrying the message from Hetar. Taj handed the rolled parchment to his mother. “You open it,” he said.
“Nay,” she told him. “You are the Dominus. You will open it, and you will read it first. Then you will hand it to me for my perusal.”
He was still a boy. He knew he was much too young for the responsibility that had been thrust upon him, and he was afraid. But his natural-born Terahn male pride appreciated the fact that his mother would defer to him in this manner. Women in general might be inferior, but not his mother. His father had told him that. Taj knew Lara was seeking to teach him, and so he opened the message from Hetar, his eyes swiftly scanning its contents. Then he handed it to her.
“What does it say?” she asked him without looking at the scroll in her hand.
“The usual diplomatic language of regret on the death of my father,” Taj said.
Lara now looked at the message. It is with great regret we learn of the untimely death of the great Dominus Magnus Hauk, ruler of the Kingdom of Terah, our most valued ally, it began. Please tender our condolences to your mother, the Domina Lara, your siblings and all of Magnus Hauk’s family. If there is any way in which your friends in Hetar may be of help, you have but to send to us. It was signed, Jonah, Lord High Ruler of Hetar. Lara set the parchment aside upon a table.
“It seems a harmless message,” Taj said.
Lara smiled. “It is. Yet there is menace behind it, my son. You will reply, of course. Hetar may be a dangerous world, but they do value manners above all. How one is perceived is most important to Hetarians. Remember that, my son. Now, have you chosen a secretary, Taj?”
“I thought to raise the chief scribe, Ampyx, to that position,” he answered her. “What think you, Mother?”
“I believe him capable, and loyal,” Lara said. “Will you allow me to appoint him to his new post? Ampyx is no fool, and it will tell him without telling him what your father wanted. He is an old-fashioned Terahn, but he is also intelligent and intuitive.”
“Let us go to the throne room,” Taj said. “And you will stand next to my throne.”
They went to the throne room, and Taj sent a servant for Ampyx. The boy sat himself upon the throne of Terah, which was fashioned of gold with a high pointed back, and studded with gemstones. It had a wide seat with a purple silk cushion upon it. He looked so young and vulnerable sitting upon his seat of office. Lara stood half in the shadows to his left. She briefly let her eyes wander to the tall arched windows that looked out over the green cliffs, the fjord and the sea beyond. She had loved this land from the moment she first saw it.
The door to the throne room opened, and the chief scribe entered. Seeing Taj, Ampyx hurried forward and bowed. He did not notice the Domina until she spoke.
“Master Ampyx,” Lara said in a strong and authoritative voice, “my son has expressed a desire that you become his First Secretary. I have approved his wish. You will begin your duties immediately.”
“I am honored
