Lady Persis fingered the thick rich fur. She examined the gold work of the closings, and saw it was perfect. There had been no time, she knew, for such a cape to be fashioned by mortal hands, and thus she knew it was faerie work. She smiled, very well pleased, for it was obvious her new daughter-in-law respected her – which was more than her three daughters did. “It is a wonderful cloak,” she said. “Thank you, Lara.”

Lara gave the older woman a gracious nod of her head. “I always keep my promises, madam,” she told Lady Persis. “And now I will bid you a safe journey.” She put her arms about her husband’s mother, and kissed both of her cheeks. Then she stepped over to his two older sisters, and wished them a safe journey as well. Each woman moved on to the Dominus, and then had no choice but to step upon the platform, which would take them to the quay below, and their vessels. Magnus Hauk shut the gate, and called to the giant who operated it. “Take them down now, and gently.” The platform began its descent, and then the trio were gone from their sight.

“Nicely done, wife,” he complimented her. “I could see the words forming upon my mother’s lips as you so neatly dismissed her and my sisters.”

“So could I,” Lara chuckled. “Now can we go back to bed, my lord?”

He laughed, and putting a strong arm about her escorted her back to their private apartments where they remained for the next several days isolated from the world, eating, drinking and making passionate love – but without the aid of the Pleasure Enhancers.

They also discussed the journey they would make to Hetar. It was better that no one knew of their going. They had previously discussed going to the Dominus’s hunting lodge in the foothills of the Emerald Mountains, where they would have perfect privacy. They would take no servants with them for Lara’s magic would be used to take care of them, they told Corrado and Sirvat. They would go before the Snow Month, and return with the spring that immediately followed it.

“What if we need you?” Sirvat asked her brother.

“For what purpose would you need me?” he replied. “You have your husband until the spring, for our trading vessels do not go to sea in the icy season. I wish time alone with my wife, and no interference from others. Other men have this privilege when they are first wed. Why should the Dominus not be allowed the same liberty?”

“I will give you a means of contacting us,” Lara reassured Sirvat, “but be certain you call us only in the instance of an emergency, not because you are bored or lonely. Your new home will be ready for you in early summer. You must continue working with the architect, and you need to speak with the craftsmen about the furnishings. And Corrado will want time to plan for the coming trading season so that the fleet’s time is put to its best use. And your husband needs an heir. You will be much too busy to miss us. It is the perfect time for us to slip away.”

Sirvat sighed. “I suppose you are right,” she said. “And it will be fun having the castle all to ourselves.”

“Just as long as you don’t decide to keep it,” Magnus teased his little sister, and they all laughed.

“I think I prefer being a sea captain to a Dominus,” Corrado said, and he wiped his brow in a gesture of mock relief.

“And for a brief few weeks,” Magnus Hauk replied, “I shall enjoy just being a man in love with his wife, without the responsibilities of a kingdom on his shoulders.”

Lara went to the stables the next morning to converse with Dasras. Speaking in a soft voice that only he could hear, she told him where they would be going, and why. “Will you remain here, or would you prefer to join the Fiacre again? Sakira must surely miss you.”

“It has been some time,” the great stallion agreed, “since I have run with my mate, Sakira. Now that she is just over the mountains, and not across a sea perhaps it would be good to join her again. When will you return?”

“In the spring,” Lara said low. “I will send for you, for I know it is meant we be together, old friend.”

“Take Andraste and Verica,” Dasras advised.

“Magnus and I will travel only as visitors to the City,” Lara answered.

“Take the sword and the staff,” he repeated. “Better you not need them and have them, than you need them and do not have them.”

“Perhaps you are right,” Lara replied thoughtfully. “The City can be treacherous, and from all the Shadow Prince has told me it has become more so in these last few years.”

Dasras shook his great head in agreement.

“Come,” Lara told the big beast, and he followed her from the stable into the courtyard. “Do not tell them where I am,” she whispered to him. “Just say I will visit them in the spring. Tell my son I send him my love, and will be with him soon. Go now!” And Lara watched as Dasras galloped across the courtyard, his great wings unfolding, lifting him up into the bright morning sky as he turned above her and flew toward the mountains. She hurried back into the castle to find Magnus.

Within the confines of their apartments they held hands, and Lara with a simple spell brought them to the safety of the Dominus’s hunting lodge in the foothills of the Emerald Mountains. The little hall was cold, but with a snap of her fingers she caused a fire to ignite in the hearth. He watched as she lit lamps, and put food upon the table by means of her magic. They ate, and then he showed her about the small dwelling, which was much like an Outlander’s house.

As they cuddled together in bed that evening he asked her, “When shall we go?”

“Let us remain here a few days, my dear lord. Knowing Sirvat, she is bound to concoct an emergency just so she may contact us. If we cannot answer her she will be terrified, and raise a cry.”

“By what means can she reach us?” he asked her.

“I gave her a small mirror. All she need do is look into the glass, and call my name,” Lara explained. “I will hear her.”

“Why do you believe she will call you shortly?” he inquired.

“Sirvat is curious. She will want to be certain the mirror works,” Lara replied.

“Of course she will!” Magnus agreed with a chuckle. “Very well. We will remain here until she has experimented with her magic mirror.”

And two days later Sirvat did indeed call Lara’s name, and Lara answered her sister-in-law. “What is it you want, Sirvat?” she responded.

“There is no emergency,” Sirvat admitted honestly. “I just wanted to make certain that your mirror worked, Lara.”

“Of course it works,” Lara said. “I made it myself.”

“Having a sister who can make such magic takes a little bit of getting used to,” Sirvat said. “Are you and my brother enjoying your isolation? The snows will begin in another day or two. They always come at this time of year.”

“We are quite cozy here,” Lara assured Sirvat. “I can light the hearth with just a snap of my fingers, and the wood never burns away.”

“What are you eating?” Sirvat wanted to know.

“We eat faerie bread,” Lara said. “It tastes like whatever you wish it to taste, and the lodge cellar has barrels of good wine stored. It is very beautiful here, Sirvat. We have walked down to the lake, which has just in the last day or two begun to show a skim of ice upon its surface. And it is so peaceful. I have beat Magnus twice playing Traders. My Hetarian vessels always seem able to outrun his Terahn ships to the Safe Harbor,” she laughed. “And he is not the best sport about it either. Did you always let him win?”

“Much of the time, once I learned how to play,” Sirvat admitted smiling.

“Well,” Lara said, “if there is no emergency you must go now, Sirvat. Please, do not call me unless you truly need me. Once we return to the castle we shall not have so peaceful a time. It is a luxury we are very much enjoying. Your brother needs this time to himself. Being Dominus is a great responsibility as you well know.”

She heard Sirvat sigh. “Very well, Lara. I promise not to use the mirror again unless it is a true emergency. Corrado said I was being childish. We will see you in the spring,” she replied.

“We will return home with the flowers,” Lara said with a smile. “Goodbye.”

“Goodbye,” she heard Sirvat call.

“Now can we go?” Magnus Hauk, who had been listening, wanted to know.

“Tomorrow,” Lara said, “or perhaps the next day. I must consider where to first bring us. I can hardly transport us into the middle of a public square. Our advantage is in our discretion. We must appear to be ordinary citizens of Hetar.”

“You do not really wish to do this, do you?” he said to her.

“I will do it for you, but we must proceed cautiously. Hetar is a dangerous place, Magnus. You have never faced the kind of danger that breeds there. The Shadow Princes gave me Andraste because I need her. My mother gave me Verica for the same reason. Here in Terah my need for them has been little, but when I return to Hetar, my need for them will be great. I have no friends in the City. If he caught me Gaius Prospero might attempt to enslave me again. And now that he is emperor he could change the laws as easily as he changes his garments.”

“Would your family not protect you?” the Dominus wanted to know.

Lara laughed. “In Hetar everyone seeks status, and how one gains it does not matter, Magnus. It mattered not that my father’s skills as a soldier were great. He could not join the ranks of the Crusader Knights until he won his place in their tournament. And he could not enter that tournament, which is only held every three years, unless he looked like a man worthy of a place with them. He had to have fine garments, fine weapons, a magnificent warhorse. But he was a poor man, and the only means he had of obtaining these necessities was to sell his beautiful daughter.

“I was proud to help my father. Honored that Gaius Prospero, then Master of the Merchants, would pay such a high price for me. My stepmother and I purchased all the right materials to make my father the garments he needed to impress those enrolling the combatants on the Application Day. Now I know from where those materials came,” Lara said with a small smile. “The monies obtained for me purchased my father the best armor, the best weapons, the best horse and the aid of several elderly Crusader Knights. He won his tournament, and I was proud of him.

“He, my stepmother and my half brother Mikhail were moved from their hovel in the Mercenary Quarter to a fine house in the Garden District where only the Crusader Knights live. My stepmother was given servants, and she was so proud of her new status. She and my father bid me farewell with little sentiment that I could see. They were very eager to begin their new life, Magnus. I would not expect them to endanger themselves for me. They are Hetarian, and that means guarding one’s place in the world of Hetar. There is no thought of going backward for a Hetarian. There is only one way to go, and that is up.

“I will take you to the City. I will show you the world from which I came, but your world, the world in which I now live, is a far better place. You go so that you may understand Hetar, and its people. Know that they would be your enemy if they knew of Terah and its riches. For now I think we may be safe. Gaining the Outlands will solve their problems for the interim, and perhaps even for many years to come. But I will show you more than just the City. We will travel the Midlands. You will enter the faerie kingdom of my mother in the forest so you may see the Forest Lords without them seeing us. We will visit the Shadow Princes. I will show you the Outlands so you may truly understand what has been taken from the clan families. We will see the province of the Coastal Kings before we come home again in the spring. I must restore Archeron to his place before Arcas reveals the secret of Terah. And Magnus, you must trust me without reservation. No matter what happens you must trust me to bring us home in safety. Sometimes it will not be easy, I know. You are a great ruler of a great land, but you are an innocent where the world of Hetar is concerned.”

“You make it sound both terrifying and intriguing,” he said.

“It is both,” she answered with a smile. “And more.”

“And yet I am more eager than ever to go,” he told her.

“I sense that,” she replied. “Give me another day to gather my strength, and we will go. You have not yet promised me,” she reminded him.

“Promised you what?” he asked mischievously.

“That you will trust my judgment in Hetar above your own,” Lara said.

He took her into his arms, and looked down into her beautiful face. “While it goes against my nature as a man,” he told her, “I will do my best to trust to your wisdom and experience while we are in Hetar.” Then he kissed her mouth lightly.