“What did you say to her?” Sirvat wanted to know when Lara rejoined her friend in the day room of their quarters.

“I quite surprised myself,” Lara admitted. “It was as if my mother was speaking. I was faerie cold, and faerie cruel. But come the morrow Uma will give you her decision one way or another. She will either choose a husband or elect to remain in the castle, ignored by all. I hope her choice is a wise one that will give her happiness, but she is a stubborn creature, and foolish to boot. I did tell her there would be no second chance for her if she chose unwisely.”

“I think it might help if Magnus were here when she makes that decision,” Sirvat said. “With a proprietary arm about you. Let us make it clear to Uma that she has no place here within my brother’s household.”

Lara smiled at her friend. “I see you can be cruel, too, Sirvat,” she said.

“All women have a streak of cruelty in them,” she laughed. “I will send word to my brother now.” Sirvat arose and took a small writing box from a cabinet. “This is how I have always communicated important matters to Magnus and the other men in our household,” she explained.

“Your parents are dead?” Lara inquired.

“Our father, aye, but our mother lives with our oldest sister’s family. She says the castle depressed her after our father died. Magnus was the first born of my siblings, and then our mother, who is called Persis, produced three daughters in a row. The eldest is Narda, and she is married to Tostig. They live two fjords to the west, and Tostig’s family control great fields of silk worms. Aselma is our middle sister. She is wed to Armen, and his family are famed weavers in Terah. They live but one fjord to the west.”

“You did not go with your mother?”

“She did not ask me to accompany her, nor did Narda invite me into her house. I was ten when my mother departed, and I was not unhappy to see her go,” came the startling admission. “She was very disappointed when I was found to be a girl. She had wanted another son, so her interest in me waned quickly. Had it not been for my brother and my old nurse, I do not know what would have happened to me.”

“And you have not seen your mother since she left the castle?” Lara was fascinated by this information. Magnus’s mother did not sound like a warm woman.

“No,” Sirvat said. “She wrote my brother that she was happily settled in Narda’s home, and thanked him for letting her go there. Narda wrote to Magnus that she was happy to have the companionship of our mother once again. They are much alike, as I recall. I was six when Narda was wed, and eight when Aselma married. Our father died the year after, and then our mother went away. At first I was lonely, and not just a little afraid. So much had changed for me in two short years. But then Magnus said as he had no wife, it was my responsibility to manage his household.” She laughed. “I told him I was just a little girl, and he replied that I was the sister of the Dominus, and must accept my responsibilities. So I did. Did you have siblings?”

“Two half brothers,” Lara replied. “Mikhail, my father’s son by his wife Susanna. He was scarcely a year when I left the City. And my mother’s son by her consort, Thanos. He is a little boy, too. Mikhail is all mortal, and Cirilo is all faerie. And I stand between them.”

“So like me, you have the most fragile relationship with your siblings,” Sirvat noted. “As you will one day be Magnus’s wife, I am glad we are to be friends.”

“Who told you I would be your brother’s wife?”

“He is falling in love with you,” Sirvat said. “He has never loved any woman before, but I see the difference in the way he treats you.”

“What can you know of love, youngling?” Lara asked her, smiling.

“I love Corrado,” Sirvat said quietly. “And from the look in his eyes when he gazes upon me I know he loves me, too. My brother now has that same appearance.”

“How old are you?” Lara wanted to know.

“Almost seventeen,” Sirvat answered. “And you?”

“Twenty-one.”

“It is a good age,” Sirvat replied. “When I wed Corrado I will continue to live here, for my brother’s Captain of Captains, Corrado, had his home here in the castle. So we may continue to be friends, and we will be sisters one day.”

“But does not Corrado live in male quarters?” Lara wanted to know.

“Oh yes, for now. But when we are wed I have already chosen where we will reside,” Sirvat replied. “I will show you tomorrow when we begin to seek out the sorcerer’s chamber,” she promised.

“Tomorrow is almost here,” Lara told her friend with a smile. “Look outside. The moons are all rising. Did you know that in Hetar they are each a different color, and only in the Outlands can you see all four of them at once? Finish your message to Magnus, and then go to bed.” She arose, and stretched. “Good night, Sirvat.”

“Good night, Lara,” the younger woman called after her. Then she bent her head to her letter.

Lara reached her bedchamber to find Verica awake in his corner and irritable.

“What is the matter?” she asked the staff.

“That girl with the red hair entered your chamber and woke me,” he grumbled. “Andraste frightened her away when she began to sing.”

Lara turned to her sword. “You sang to her?” She was surprised. She had only known Andraste to sing in battle.

“I am Andraste, and I will drink the blood of Lara’s enemy,” Andraste replied.

“Did she take anything?” Lara wanted to know. “Or leave something?”

“She was scarce through the door when we caught her,” Verica said. “She ran. There was nothing taken, and nothing left, Mistress.”

“Thank you both for recognizing the danger,” Lara told her two companions.

“The wench is your enemy,” Verica said.

“I know,” Lara admitted, “but with luck by tomorrow her departure will be in the making. She has a choice to make come morning.”

“Humph,” grumbled Verica. “Waking an old man up is not good manners.”

“Go back to sleep, dear friend,” Lara advised him. “We will not be disturbed again tonight,” she promised, and stroked the staff as he closed his eyes. Then Lara prepared herself for sleep.

She was awakened in the dawn by the Dominus kissing her. “You are a wicked man,” she told him as his hands strayed beneath the bedclothes.

“My sister said I should be here to learn Uma’s decision this morning,” he defended himself, fondling her breasts as he spoke. “Besides, I seem to recall you like being awakened by my kisses.” Pushing her back he began first to kiss her breasts, and then he suckled upon a pert nipple. “I will have you, my beautiful faerie woman,” he said low. Then he began to scatter kisses down her torso until his dark golden head was pushing between her thighs and his tongue sought out her most vulnerable spot.

“Ohh!” Lara cried softly. “Oh, Magnus!” she cried louder. “Oh! Oh!”

His teeth delicately scored the tiny nub of her sex, and she shuddered. Then he moved back up her body again until his mouth was touching hers. “Witch!” he murmured against her lips. “You want her to hear us, don’t you?”

“Yes!” she hissed at him. “Yes!”

He laughed, and then entering her slender lush body began to use her fiercely. Soon they were both caught up in the passionate delights they enjoyed with each other. Lara began to moan, and her moans turned into screams of intense pleasure such as she had never know. Her fingernails raked down his long back. She bit into his shoulder and tasted blood. The Dominus was roaring with his enjoyment as they at last reached an intense crisis. “Faerie witch! Faerie witch! How I adore you!” he howled loudly. What had begun as a cruel game to taunt Uma had turned into an ecstasy of amorousness. They rolled away from each other, spent. “Faerie woman, you have unmanned me,” Magnus groaned low.

Lara could not speak for several long moments. She had flown into the stars in his arms. While she had known pleasure with several men, she had never achieved such fulfillment as she did with Magnus. That, however, she would keep to herself. He was far too arrogant yet – and might always be. She could never allow him to believe that he had the upper hand over her. “You are a fine lover,” she finally complimented him. Then she sighed gustily. “I suspect all in the Women’s Quarters will have heard our efforts,” she said with a weak chuckle.

“I hope so. I hold no ill will toward Uma. There was a day when she gave me pleasures. But now I want no woman in my bed but you, Lara, so Uma and her companions must seek new lives,” the Dominus said.

“Felda and Alcippe have already chosen,” Lara told him. “It is only Uma who stubbornly remains determined not to go. I spoke most frankly, even cruelly to her last night. Now you have given proof of my words, Magnus. I pray to my Celestial Actuary, and to your Great Creator – one and the same, I suspect – that Uma will now choose to follow the wise example of the other two.”

“I will eat the first meal with you and my sister,” he said as he arose from the bed.

“Let me bathe you before you redress,” she said, seeking out the basin and the pitcher in the coals of her small hearth.

When they entered the day room they found Sirvat and the other women awaiting them. The Dominus sat at the head of the table, and Lara rushed to serve him. Setting the plate before him she poured wine into his goblet.

“Sit,” Magnus Hauk commanded the other women. Then he began to eat.

They sat, wordlessly passing the bowls and platters among themselves. Looking about, Sirvat restrained her amusement. Lara kept her eyes down the entire meal. The other three looked pale, Uma in particular. When the Dominus finished his meal, he pushed back his chair and stood, signaling Lara to stand by his side. Putting an arm about her, he bent and kissed the top of her golden head. Then he said to Sirvat, “Have the women chosen husbands, Sister?”

Sirvat turned to Lara. “Tell my brother that they have indeed chosen. Alcippe will marry with the scholar, Jencir. He was her choice, and both he and his family are well pleased with the match. Felda has chosen Noval, a wealthy farmer from her own village in the east fjord. It seems her family had been considering him before you took her for yourself, Brother. Noval loves Felda, and is very happy to have her returned to him as a wife.”

Lara smiled at this, and told the Dominus. Magnus Hauk nodded and smiled at Felda. “I am glad you will be returning to a place familiar and happy for you, Felda. I thank you for your loyalty and sweetness. The pleasures you gave me were good ones.”

Felda blushed, and said to Lara, “Please tell the Dominus I am grateful to have served him in my own small and humble way.”

Lara spoke Felda’s words to the Dominus and he nodded, pleased. Now all eyes turned to Uma. She was pale, but she stood proudly before them all. That she had slept little was obvious.

“Have you made your decision, Uma?” Sirvat asked.

For a long minute Uma hesitated. Then she said, “Yes. I will chose Lord Dodek who is of my caste. I know he seeks a wife to bear him sons, and I am my father’s only daughter in a family of eight brothers. I believe I can please him, and he me.”

“A most wise decision, Uma, and Lord Dodek’s reputation is a good one,” Sirvat said. “I am happy you have finally made your choice.”

“There was no choice!” Uma burst out. “Could I stay here after what I heard this morning? Even I am not that foolish. No! Do not turn away! You all heard it! He rutted with her like a raging bull. Never did he make love to any of us like that. She has bewitched him. Even I heard him call her ‘faerie witch.’ Look how he keeps his arm about her now in a public display of the banked fires of his desire.” Uma began to weep. “I cannot leave this place soon enough,” she cried to them, and then she ran from the chamber sobbing bitterly.

Magnus Hauk looked to Lara, confused.

“She has chosen Lord Dodek,” Lara said calmly. “The rest was nothing more than her anger at having been forced into making her decision at last.”

“Good!” he replied. “Tell my sister I want a banquet prepared for tomorrow, and the bridegrooms and their families here to partake of it. At its end these three will be united in marriage with their chosen ones, and they will depart the castle. Have their dowers delivered to their new homes before the ceremony.”

“Yes, my lord Dominus,” Lara replied with a servile bow.

He laughed. “You are my faerie witch,” he told her.

“Do not presume to take ownership quite yet, Magnus,” Lara warned him. “Remember my destiny must first be met.”

“I am part of that destiny,” he told her in an assured tone. “And together we will do great things, Lara. But first you have a task to perform for the men of Terah.” Magnus Hauk then turned and left the women’s quarters.