“You say you are leaving Terah? Why? And where will you go?” the Dominus Cadarn asked her. “I know that you and I have no close relationship, but you are my blood. For the sake of Magnus Hauk I need to know you are safe and cared for, my lady.” Turquoise-blue eyes, so like her late husband’s, looked directly at her.

“I am going to Shunnar, the palace of the Shadow Prince Kaliq. I should have departed Terah years ago, but I could not seem to make myself go despite all the changes that I despised happening about me. Kaliq is my life mate, and I have always had a home at Shunnar. I will be more than safe in my own magical world, Cadarn. But I am touched that you would consider my welfare.”

“I have heard you speak of this Shadow Prince before, my lady, but Shadow Princes are but legend. They do not exist now, indeed if they ever did,” Cadarn said.

Lara shook her head in amazement. “Cadarn, look about you. Your court stands frozen. I have stopped time. You stand in the presence of magic, and yet you do not believe. Do your eyes not see, my most mortal descendant? How do you explain to yourself the great-grandmother who looks like a young woman? How do you justify any of this? Do you think you dream, Dominus of Terah?”

He had the grace to look briefly confused, but then he said, “I do not have to account for any of this, my lady. Perhaps I do dream. And if you truly mean to go, it will make it easier, for then there shall be no one whispering about your unseemly appearance, or the superstitious murmuring about something that is not like magic. No one here really knows you. The wife of Magnus Hauk is more legend than truth.”

Lara shook her head. “You are a fool, Cadarn. Your great-grandfather was unique in that his mind was more open than any Terahn before him, and since him. While Magnus Hauk ruled, Terah existed in a golden age. But those who could not, would not, tolerate change have destroyed all he and I worked for, Cadarn. There is nothing left of our world, and I weep. Once Terah was a shining light. Now you have allowed Hetar to bring world-weariness and corruption into it. You believe in nothing. I pity you.”

“Lady,” he said, “I think you are ill. Return to your apartments, and I will send the physician to care for you.”

Lara laughed. “Nay.” She turned toward the court, and with a small motion of her hand, restored all as it had been. “Lords and ladies of Terah,” she said to them, and curious, they looked at her. The men admired her beauty. The women her rich garb. “Your Dominus does not believe the witness of his own eyes. He claims there is no magic in your world, that there are no Shadow Princes. He is wrong. Now behold the truth! Prince Kaliq, heed my call, and come to me from out yon wall!”

The great Shadow Prince stepped forth from the chamber’s wall and walked to where Lara stood. “Is it time, my love?” he asked her.

It is time. Let me depart first, and then you will make your exit. These fools will not believe in magic, and so I would leave them with something their own eyes cannot deny, my lord.

The men and women in the chamber were buzzing with astonishment. They stared at the tall dark-haired man with the bright blue eyes who was so richly, yet simply garbed. They had all seen him step from the wall. How had that happened? Was it some Hetarian conjurer’s trick?

Lara turned again to look at her great-grandson. “I will leave you now, my lord Dominus,” she told him. “I will not desert Terah, but you may not see me again, Cadarn Hauk. Explain away the magic you have viewed today. But it does exist.” She looked to Cadarn’s wife. “Faerie blessings upon you, Domina Paulina,” Lara said in a gentle and kind voice. “Now farewell!” There was a clap of thunder. A thick puff of lavender smoke rose about her. When it cleared, Lara was gone from the castle’s Throne Room.

The Terahns gasped aloud collectively, looking about for her.

“Farewell, Dominus,” Kaliq said. Then with a dramatic swirl of his cloak, he, too, was gone.

Cadarn Hauk called out to the servants in the chamber, “Open the windows at once! We have been poisoned by some bad air, and seen that which does not exist.” He turned to his wife. “Are you all right, Paulina?” he inquired solicitously.

The Domina nodded silently. Her husband might deny what they had just seen, but she could not. Being a proper Terahn wife, she kept her thoughts to herself.

WATCHING WITH KALIQ from the ether, Lara heard the Domina’s thoughts and smiled to herself. Then they reappeared in Shunnar together.

“Welcome home, my love,” he said to her as he gathered her into his arms and kissed her tenderly. “My brothers have planned a banquet tonight to welcome you.”

“Will it be like the first banquet I attended here,” she teased him mischievously.

“If it would please you, aye,” he said.

“I am world-weary, Kaliq. I need to regain that level of trust I once had,” Lara told him. “Mortals are most tiresome, and yet I still have hope for them.”

“You are younger than I, my love, but it is good you can still have faith,” he said. “I promise not to be jealous tonight as long as you end the evening in my arms.”

“I swear it!” Lara told him. “Now I must go and rest, Kaliq.” She left him, walking across the enclosed garden that separated his apartments from hers. The day was warm, and the fragrance of flowers perfumed the air. Cadi was awaiting her.

“You look tired,” the serving woman said.

“I am. I shall rest in the heat of the afternoon, then bathe. The Shadow Princes have planned a banquet tonight to welcome me back. We shall all take pleasures after the meal. Come and join in with us. They are incredible lovers.”

“I will,” Cadi said. “I have never had a Shadow Prince for a lover. If their reputations are truth then it should be a most enjoyable time, mistress. I have put some iced berry frine by your bedside. What will you wear this evening?”

“Just a simple white silk gown,” Lara said. She poured some frine into the cup next to the decanter and sipped at it. Shedding away her elegant garments and setting the cup aside, she lay down upon her bed, and immediately fell asleep. Awakening several hours later, Lara saw through the open colonnade that evening was falling. Stretching lazily, she called to Cadi, and her faerie serving woman was immediately by her side.

“The bath attendants are awaiting you, mistress,” Cadi told her.

Lara stood up. She was entirely naked, but neither she nor Cadi were embarrassed by her unclothed state. “I have not slept so well since I was last in Shunnar,” she remarked with a smile. “It is the deep silence I think.” Then Lara walked to her private bathing room, greeting the familiar bath attendants. “It is good to be home,” she said.

And to her own surprise she realized that Shunnar was indeed home to her.

The head bath woman came smiling forward. “It is about time you came home, my lady Lara,” she scolded gently. “It is past time, for that matter.” She pinned Lara’s hair atop her head. Then leading her to a shell-like indentation in the marble floor, she picked up her soapy sponge and began to scrub. When Lara was thoroughly soaped she took up her strigil, which was a thin scraper, and scraped the soap and dirt away. “Did they not bathe you properly in Terah?” the head bath woman asked.

“There are no baths in Terah or Hetar like here in Shunnar,” Lara said.

“How they can call themselves civilized I don’t know,” was the pithy reply as the head bath woman turned a gold faucet and sprayed her charge with warm water. Then she soaped Lara once more and plied her scraper again. This time however she seemed satisfied with her results and hummed beneath her breath as the rinse water sluiced down the beautiful woman’s body. Then she led Lara to a warm scented bathing pool to relax.

Lara leaned back against the marble sides of the pool and closed her eyes. From long habit she lifted a hand from the water so that another bath woman might manicure her nails. When the first hand was done she lifted the second to be attended to, sighing with contentment. About her the warm scented water lapped at her breasts and shoulders. Rose petals floated on the slightly oily surface.

A serving woman came with a basin and unbound and gently washed and rinsed her hair as she luxuriated within the pool. When she finally stepped out of the water, she was patted dry with a slightly moistened cloth, then wrapped in a warm towel and led to a chair, where the nails on her feet were carefully pared as her hair was dried with a silken cloth and brushed. Then she was taken to a padded table where her body was massaged with sweet oils. Lara sighed contentedly as the strong fingers worked the flesh of her shoulders, her legs, her breasts and her belly. Lastly the massage woman attended to her mound, her nether lips and her sheath.

“You will be tight for each of your lovers this evening, my lady,” she said, her fingers covered with a special cream as she pushed into Lara’s sheath, massaging it. “You will give each who mounts you great pleasure. Prince Kaliq asked me to especially attend to you for this very reason.”

Lara smiled to herself. Aye, tonight she would regain her trust, her equilibrium, her balance by joining with the Shadow Princes at the end of their banquet as she once had as a very young girl. The experience had left her strong. She wondered what the same intimacy would do tonight. Lara found she was eagerly looking forward to it. That Kaliq wanted her to relive this moment made her love him even more. He understood her as no other did. And he would sublimate his own jealousy to help her regain what she had lost by remaining too long in Terah. He was a truly incredible man.

She thanked the massage woman and, rising from the table, returned to her bedchamber where Cadi was waiting to help her dress. The gown she held out was just what Lara had wanted. White, gossamer sheer, with an iridescent sheen it seemed to float over her head, the delicate silk caressing her as it fell to her ankles. It was sleeveless, the bodice fitted to display her beautiful round breasts, its neckline draped gracefully to expose her collarbone. The skirt was neither fitted nor full, falling in an elegant line. She wore no jewelry but her gold chain with its crystal star, and a narrow circlet of gold with a single emerald in its center restrained her gilt-colored hair.

Lara waved away the gold bejeweled sandals Cadi held out to her. “Nay, I do not need them,” she said. “We are ready.”

“Thank you for inviting me,” Cadi said. The pretty faerie was naked but for a dainty chain of gold that was fastened about her waist, and settled upon her full hips. She had painted the nipples of her breasts with Umbra dye, and tonight she allowed her small, delicate iridescent wings to display themselves. The wings had been a gift from Queen Ilona, for not all faeries were allowed to possess wings.

The two women walked across the garden to the main corridor, which was a colonnaded walkway. Lara could not resist looking over the baluster into the green valley below, where the herds of horses belonging to the Shadow Princes ran free. They were as magnificent as ever, and she immediately picked out Dasras surrounded by a group of admiring young mares. Cadi saw him too, and when their eyes met the two giggled.

Kaliq came to greet his beautiful life mate and her companion. “How lovely you both look,” he said, taking Lara’s hand in his, his bright blue eyes devouring her. “My brothers will be honored by your company this evening.” He smiled at Cadi. “I am pleased you have consented to join us.” His brothers would enjoy sharing pleasures with the lovely faerie, but he would not lay a hand upon her for she was Lara’s companion.

“Thank you, my lord,” Cadi replied, and then as they entered the great banquet hall she was surrounded by several Shadow Princes eager to have her for a supper companion. She would not lack for lovers this evening.

The banquet hall of Kaliq’s palace was filled tonight with his handsome brothers. Some of the Shadow Princes had beautiful companions sharing their broad dining couches with them and Lara recognized many of them. There was her sword master, Lothair. He nodded to her, and from the twinkle in his blue eyes she knew he would take pleasures with her later. She saw Princes Eskil, Nasim, Coilen and Baram among others. She acknowledged them with a polite tip of her head as Kaliq led her to the dais where they would preside over their guests.

As soon as they were seated, all the Shadow Princes arose, saying with a single, strong voice, “Welcome home, Lara! May you dwell among us forever!”

Lara stood as they returned to their seats. “I thank you, my lords,” she replied. And then with a wave of her hand caused a shower of fragrant rose petals and small pearls to fall upon the banqueting chamber. The female companions of the princes squealed with excitement, reaching for the jewels, and not a one touched the floor. Lara sat down and picked up her goblet, sipping delicately from it.