“What is it?” he asked.

“She is the guardian given to me by my mother, Queen Ilona, when she left me with my mortal father,” Lara explained. “We speak a silent language, she and I. I will ask her how I must go about lifting the curse placed upon you. I have never before lifted a curse, but I believe I can do it.” She looked down at the crystal between her two fingers. Ethne, I would help the men of Terah. Can I break this curse?

You must know the words of the curse before you can confound it, and make it yield to you, Ethne said. Will they be remembered after all these many years?

“Magnus,” Lara said to him, “how long ago was this curse laid upon Terah? And did anyone record the words of the malediction?”

“It was over five hundred years ago,” he answered her. “As for the words of the curse, if they are anywhere, they are recorded in the Book of Terah, which is kept in the Temple of the Great Creator.”

“Then let us go there and find out,” Lara said. “I am becoming very bored in the Women’s Quarters. There is nothing to do. I am not used to being an ornament for mere pleasure, my lord Dominus.”

His turquoise eyes twinkled. “Is that what you are? A pleasure ornament?” Grinning, he reached out for her, but Lara quickly jumped back.

“Oh no,” she said laughing, and wagging a warning finger at him. “First we must settle this matter, and then we will discuss entertaining your wicked lust once more.”

“I agree. We will leave tomorrow,” he said. “We found the most beautiful golden stallion outside of the gates this morning. He reminds me of you. He is yours if you think you can ride him. Now come here, my faerie love.”

“A golden stallion? With a cream-colored mane and tail?” Lara said excitedly.

“Aye,” the Dominus replied.

She jumped up from the pillows where they had been lounging. “Take me to him, Magnus!” She seemed suddenly galvanized by this knowledge.

“Very well,” he said arising. “But afterwards…”

“Aye, afterwards,” she promised. “How can I resist a man who is so vigorous?”

Taking Lara’s hand the Dominus led her to the stables.

The head groom came forward to greet them.

“Where is the beast found this morning?” the Dominus asked.

“We have groomed him, fed and watered him, my lord. He was very thirsty,” the groom said, bringing them into the stone building. “I felt the beast needed some quiet to restore his strength,” the head groom finished. “Ah, here he is, my lord.”

The stallion looked up at his visitors, making eye contact with Lara immediately.

“Dasras!” Lara cried. “How did you get here? I left you with the Fiacre for your safety.” She opened the door of the stall, and stepping in, put her arms about the horse’s thick neck. “I have missed you!”

“And I, you, Mistress,” the stallion replied. “Your mother, Queen Ilona, thought you might have need of me, and so she gave me wings with which to cross the Sea of Sagitta to find you. She said you would be here.”

Both the Dominus and the head groom had jumped back at the sound of the horse’s voice. Now they stood very surprised looking at Lara and the animal.

“This is serious magic,” Magnus Hauk said.

“Dasras, this is the Dominus of the Terahn Dominion,” Lara introduced her horse to her lover. “Magnus, this is Dasras, my horse.”

The stallion extended a leg before him and nodded his head. “Greetings, my lord Dominus,” he said. “I am Dasras, sired by Hudak, born of Ronalda, from the herd of Kaliq of the Shadow Princes.”

The head groom collapsed on the stable floor in a dead faint.

But the Dominus was made of sterner stuff. “And you flew across the sea from Hetar to reach your mistress, if I overheard you correctly.”

“Actually, my lord Dominus,” Dasras said, “it was the Outlands. When I told Liam, Lord of the Fiacre that I must go, he personally escorted me to Rendor of the Felan, whose lands border the sea and that of the Coastal Kings. I did not bother to enter Hetar. I departed from Rendor’s sands.”

“And you flew?” Magnus Hauk said.

The horse nodded. “I did. A most exhilarating experience, I must say.”

“Where are your wings now?” the Dominus asked.

“I don’t need them now,” Dasras said.

“But where are they?” the Dominus persisted.

“I have absolutely no idea,” Dasras answered him. “Queen Ilona told me when I need to fly to just think of my wings and they would be there. So I did, and they were. When I didn’t need them, they wouldn’t be there. It seems quite simple to me.”

The Dominus looked slightly befuddled, and at his feet the head groom began to moan as he regained consciousness.

“This kind of magic is often startling to those who are not familiar with it,” Lara said quietly. “Should we not help him up, Magnus?”

The Dominus bent, and pulled the groggy man to his feet. “It is all right, Peter,” he said. “The horse does indeed talk, but his magic is good magic. Treat him well.”

“Y-yes, my l-lord Dominus,” the head groom quavered.

“Ho, Peter!” Dasras called to the man. “The young lad who took care of me when I was brought into the stable, I should like him to be assigned to my well-being. A lovely boy, and he knows well how to use the currying brushes. What is his name?”

“Jason,” Peter said, surprised to find himself having a conversation with a horse. “He is my son. I taught him how to use the brushes.”

“He has a lovely touch,” Dasras replied.

“I shall see he has your care,” the head stableman said. Then he hurried off to calm his frazzled nerves.

“Never fear, he will soon be used to me,” Dasras said.

“How long will you need to recover from your trip?” Lara asked him.

“I will be fine by morning,” Dasras assured her. “Where are we going?”

“To the Temple of the Great Creator, and you will have to ask the Dominus for I have absolutely no idea where that would be. But tell me, how are my children? What is happening in the Outlands? I know you have heard the gossip, Dasras.”

“Dillon learned to ride me, but I did suggest to the lord that for now a smaller horse might be better. Anoush grows prettier each day, and toddles everywhere after Noss. Hetar has not yet invaded, although the rumors are rife,” Dasras reported.

Lara nodded.

“This seems a vast land, Mistress,” the horse noted.

“I would not know, for I have not yet explored it,” Lara responded. “There is a curse on these people I must attempt to break, Dasras. The men cannot hear the voices of their women, and for centuries have believed the women don’t talk, but they do. The men simply cannot hear them.” Then she went on to explain.

“What are we looking for?” Dasras wanted to know.

“The words to the curse, for I cannot begin to untangle this web until I know them,” Lara told him.

“He is a fine figure of a man, Mistress,” the horse noted with a toss of his head towards the Dominus.

“Dasras!” Lara blushed.

The great beast snorted humorously, his dark eyes alight with mischief. Then he said, “Let me rest so come the morning I will be ready to carry you once again upon my back, Mistress. It will be good to go adventuring together again.” He turned his head to Magnus Hauk. “As long as she gives you her fealty, you will have mine as well, my lord Dominus. But remember that my first loyalty is to Lara, widow of Vartan, daughter of Swiftsword of the Crusader Knights, and Ilona, queen of the Forest Faeries.”

“You are an honorable beast,” the Dominus said. “I understand, Dasras. Sleep well, for we have a long ride tomorrow.” He gave the horse a friendly nod of his head, and then said to Lara, “Are you ready to come now?”

Lara hugged her animal again, kissing his muzzle. “Rest,” she said. “I will see you on the morrow.” Then she took Magnus Hauk’s hand, and they departed the stables. “It is almost time for afterwards,” she murmured, and he chuckled.

They returned to his private garden. It was a beautiful green place and walled with a small pool and waterfall. The hour had grown late, and above them the sky was blue and pink and gold with fragments of narrow clouds trailing lazily across the firmament. In the stone wall facing out there were several round openings through which one could look down into the fjord below. Across it the mountains climbed gently. And outside the castle, there was no sign of life that she could see.

He stood behind her, and now his big hands clasped her two breasts. “You did not tell me you had two children,” he murmured in her ear. His hands fondled her. “Even I know faerie women give children only to those they love. Who was he?”

“Vartan of the Fiacre, my husband,” Lara said. “I told you I was his widow, and Dasras greeted me as such. My husband desired children of me. He loved me deeply, and I cared for him in return. I gave him a son and a daughter, even though we both knew that one day I would leave them. What I did not expect was that he would not be there to care for our children.”

“You do not say you loved him,” Magnus Hauk said.

“I cared enough for him to let him seed me and bear him children,” Lara replied.

“You will love me without reservation when you bear me a son,” the Dominus said in a suddenly hard voice. “I will accept nothing less of you.”

“I cannot promise you I am capable of loving a man,” Lara told him.

“You will love me!” he repeated. “If you cannot, you are no better than my Pleasure Women.”

“Find husbands for Uma and the others, and dower them generously. Nay, very generously,” Lara told him. “It is unkind to keep them when you do not love them, my lord Dominus.”

“How do you know I do not love them?” he demanded of her, his hands kneading her breasts, his fingers toying with her nipples beneath the fabric of her gown. His lips were nuzzling the back of her neck, and she could feel his heat.

“Do you have children hidden somewhere in your castle, my lord Dominus?” she murmured. “I have seen none in the Women’s Quarters. I am certain if you desired children of these women you would have had them already.”

“None of the women I take for my pleasure remain long,” he admitted. “I do not want children with them and so they are given an elixir each day under the watchful eye of my sister, Sirvat, which they take to prevent any mishaps,” the Dominus explained.

“Since I have come you have not lain with any of the three,” Lara noted.

“Will you give me a child if I send them away?” he asked her, nipping the nape of her slender soft neck. Her fragrance taunted him.

“I will not give you a child if you do not send them away,” Lara replied. “But first, my lord Dominus, we have other issues to solve. I must try to lift the sorcerer’s curse from the men of Terah. I cannot do that if I am distracted by jealous women, or a child in my belly. The choice is yours to make.”

“I will consider your suggestions,” he told her, releasing her breasts, turning her about and then pressing her back against the stone wall. He began to kiss her face while his hands yanked up the skirt of her gown. He loosened his own garment and then, cupping her buttocks, raised her up to impale her upon his manroot. He smiled, satisfied at her gasp as he entered her. The walls of her love sheath closed about him tightly, hot and wet and eager for him. “I told you the first day I saw you, Lara, that you belonged to me,” he growled in her ear as her arms encircled his neck, and she kissed his mouth.

“And I told you that you would belong to me,” Lara said, her legs wrapping about his torso. “But you will never have that which you desire most from me while there are other women for you to share pleasures with in this house.” Then she kissed him again, fiercely, her tongue doing battle with his as he opened the doors to paradise for them.

“I love your tightness,” he groaned against her mouth. Her strength excited him.

“I love your bigness,” she admitted. Her head was spinning with pleasure.

They rocked back and forth until the sweetness between them crested and drained away, leaving them both weak and satisfied. Her legs fell away from his body, but she clung to him tightly as her gown fell back to cover her.

“I will have Sirvat arrange it while we are away,” Magnus Hauk said to Lara. “Will that please you, my faerie lover?”

“I want only what is best for you, my lord Dominus,” Lara murmured with false meekness.

He chuckled. “You are the most delicious witch. Were you not, I should throw you over this wall into the fjord below as soon as look at you.”

“But like Dasras I might sprout wings and fly away from you,” she teased him. “Would you not miss me, my lord Dominus?” Lara purred. His robe was open, and she bent her head to lick at his nipples. “You taste salty,” she said. “I like salt!”