Is she not beautiful, Kaliq? Lara said. When I look at her I can see Vartan, although her hair is more the shade of mahogany while his was black as the night. Such is the nature of evil that it would reach out to take the fairest. Lara sighed sadly. Then she said, “The natural world you now forsake. Sleep until I bid you wake. No dream or call will break your rest. Though some will put it to the test. Your mother’s love protects you well. None can break your mother’s spell. Sleep, Anoush. Sleep sound and deep. Your spirit now I shall well keep.” Bending, she kissed her child upon her cheek. And as she spoke in the silent language of the magical worlds Lara’s hands, raised just slightly above her daughter’s body, moved from Anoush’s dark head to the very tips of her toes and back again. When she had finished she looked to the Shadow Prince.

Kaliq put his two hands together, and then, slowly opening them, he ran them from the head of Anoush’s bed to its foot. She is now sealed effectively in a protective spell, he told Lara. No one will be able to touch her or disturb her.

Seal the room, as well, Lara said.

Nay. If no one can enter it becomes too obvious what has happened, and suspicion will fall upon you. It will be said you did this to prevent a marriage between Anoush and Cam. The Fiacre like the idea of a union between Vartan’s daughter and Adon’s son. They see it as an end to the terrible memories. What I will do, however, is seal the windows against evil, but even if it comes through the door nothing will awaken Anoush, or be able to touch her. Not even you, Lara. Not until this is settled, and this new evil, whatever it may be, is found out and defeated.

I bow to your wisdom, my lord, Lara answered him.

He chuckled, and gave her a wry grin. We should go, and decide what our next move is to be.

A moment, she said. Lara looked down at her oldest daughter. Anoush looked so peaceful as she slept. How long would she have to remain like this? My beautiful, gentle child, Lara thought sadly. I am ready, she told Kaliq.

The prince threw his cloak over her, his arm about her shoulders, and a moment later they were back in his garden in Shunnar.

Lara felt the heat of the late-morning sun warming her shoulders, and it felt good after the chill of Anoush’s bedchamber. “Today,” she said, “I shall go to Camdene to speak with Liam and Noss. I shall be told of Anoush’s condition, and proclaim no knowledge of what has happened to her. But I will reassure them that she appears fine otherwise. Cam shall be told of Anoush’s condition. I shall ask him if he has had anything to do with her condition. Of course he will deny it.”

“He will believe his jealous lover, the Darkling, is involved,” Kaliq remarked. “And she will deny it, of course.”

“I will see he does not believe her, for I will assure him Anoush’s condition is certainly magic.” Lara chuckled. “It may very well spoil whatever alliance the Darkling has with Cam.”

“Nay,” Kaliq said. “It will sour it, but Cam is an ambitious man or he would not be treating with the Darkling at all. He will continue on with their plans. Anoush, I believe, was somehow involved with those plans, but the enchantment about her will not deter the Darkling or Cam. We need to know exactly what mischief they are up to, Lara.”

“Have any of the princes been able to get closer to her?” she asked him.

“Nay. Her powers of instinct seem to have grown stronger. It is as if she is tapping into some source of power. Another mystery about Ciarda we must unravel,” Kaliq told his companion.

Lara sat down upon the marble bench by the pool. “I love it here,” she said, watching the fat goldfish darting among the pale yellow water lilies and lavender water hyacinths. “Don’t ever forbid me from this place, Kaliq.”

“Never!” he exclaimed, sitting next to her. His fingers tipped her face up to his, and he kissed her slowly, deeply. Her lips were like rose petals beneath his mouth. Her sigh of delight at the kiss gave him simple pleasure. Wherever their paths in life would take them, he realized, they would always belong together.

“I must go,” Lara said, reluctantly breaking off their embrace.

“To Camdene?” he asked.

“Nay, back to my castle to get a little bit of sleep before I must be on my way again. Thank goodness Gare and Sinon are with Taj now. He does not resent my absences so much. This past year has been a hard one for him. A few months ago he had two parents and three sisters living with him. Then suddenly he was alone except when I was there. He is much like Magnus, and did not like it at all. Now with his two friends by his side he is content. His whole world is Terah, Kaliq. He understands little beyond it, but in time he will. For now, however, he is still a boy. I am grateful Terah is a simple land with few problems, unlike the complexities of Hetar.”

“Go, then,” Kaliq told her as they stood up.

With a quick smile at him she was gone in a puff of green mist.

The night was half-gone as she appeared in her own bedchamber. Lara did not bother to undress. She lay down upon her bed and fell asleep. Mila found her there when she came to awaken her mistress as she did each morning. The serving woman never knew if she would find Lara in her bed or not these days. But seeing her this morning, she went to give orders to the bath mistress to be ready. Mila saw that Lara had fallen asleep in her gown, and knew she would bathe upon waking.

The young Dominus came to his mother’s apartments. “Is she back?” he asked.

“Aye, my lord,” Mila said, “but still sleeping.”

Lara heard her son’s voice, and called sleepily, “Taj, come and see me.”

He entered his mother’s bedchamber, and at her invitation sat on the edge of the bed. “Good morning,” he greeted her. “I see you returned late.” And he grinned mischievously. “Where were you?”

“Hiding in Shunnar,” she told him. “But you must not tell anyone that, Taj.”

“I will keep your secret, Mother. I suppose you do not wish to face the problem of my oldest sister and her suitor,” he remarked.

“I do not,” Lara admitted. “But today I must. I cannot run away forever.”

“What have you decided?” Taj wanted to know.

“I haven’t. Yet,” she said to him. Taj would not know what she and Kaliq had done. It was better that way. Her son, like his father, was not a good liar. “I suppose I will say I want them to know each other a little better before I give my permission.”

“Clever,” he noted. “You do not say yes, but neither do you forbid them. There is so much I can learn from you, Mother. I wish you were here more.”

For his own safety she had to say something. “Taj,” Lara began, “it has come to the attention of the Shadow Princes that some evil has again begun to rear its head. When this happens the magical beings of the light must band together to stop the darkness, and sooner rather than later. That is why I have been away of late. But this is another something you must keep to yourself. Discretion is an important part of ruling, my son.”

“If there is danger should not you be here protecting Terah?” he asked candidly.

Lara sighed. “There is no danger to Terah right now, and if we can stop this thing before too much longer there will be no danger. Rest assured that if I am needed to watch over Terah that I will be here, Andraste in my hand. You must learn to trust me as your father learned to trust me, Taj.”

“Do you love Prince Kaliq?” Taj surprised her by asking.

Lara answered honestly. “I do. I have always loved Kaliq.”

“But you loved my father,” Taj replied, puzzled.

“I did, Taj. I do. And before Magnus Hauk I loved Vartan of the Fiacre. The heart, my son, knows no boundaries. I may love another mortal man in my day, and his time to die will come eventually. But like me Kaliq is magic. He will never leave me. The mortals I have loved do leave me. They have no choice in the matter. And the most difficult part of being who I am is that while you and your siblings will age, grow old and die, I will remain as I am for many centuries. I will die perhaps a bit earlier than most of my faerie kin for I do have that drop of mortal blood in my veins. However, it is likely that I will see my grandchildren, my great-grandchild and so on into the next several generations, my son. I shall not leave you, Taj. It is you who will leave me one day. So do not be jealous of Kaliq, or of the time I am gone from you.” She leaned over and kissed his cheek. “One day when you are a man grown you will fall in love. You may fall in and out of love a dozen times before the girl you will wed comes into your life. You will understand a little better then,” Lara assured him with a smile.

“You always explain things so that I can understand them,” Taj said. “Well, if you must go today then you must go.”

“Not right away. Tell me if you are enjoying having Gare and Sinon with you?”

“Aye, Mother, I am! Thank you for bringing them with us. Like me they enjoy their studies. They are not like Zagiri, who was always looking to escape our schoolroom, or Marzina, who wanted knowledge of naught but magic. We are studying the history of the Middle Centuries of Terah, but our tutor has asked Gare and Sinor to tell him of those same years in the Outlands. We are learning so much about each other!”

“That is very good,” Lara praised her son. “The more you know of other times, other peoples, other cultures, the better for Terah. I am pleased Master Vadin is so open-minded. Master Bashkar chose him carefully when he needed help.”

“Master Bashkar is very old now, Mother. He sleeps in our classroom while Master Vadin teaches,” Taj told her.

“Master Bashkar has earned his rest,” Lara said. “Perhaps we shall let him go home to Shunnar. He always loved the heat of the desert. Now, my darling, run along. I must bathe and dress, and magick myself to Camdene before their evening begins.”

Taj jumped up from his place on her bed. Giving her a kiss upon her cheek, he dashed off. He had taken her little lecture on life span rather well, Lara thought. He had certainly surprised her by asking if she loved Kaliq. And she had surprised herself with her answer. She did love the Shadow Prince, and she had since girlhood. But he had been so insistent that it was naught but a fancy. Of course now she knew he had said it so that she would move on to experience life, to learn from it, to become what she must to meet her destiny. But wasn’t all of her life her destiny? The men she had loved. The problems she had faced and solved. Her children. And the unknown. It was all her destiny. And now once again she was being called upon to thwart the darkness.

With a small sigh of resignation, Lara transported herself into the hall of Liam, Lord of the Fiacre clan families. Beyond the open door she could see the leafless limbs of the trees black against the red-orange sky. The servants were quietly going about their evening duties, laying the tables, bringing in pitchers of Frine and beer. Noss was seated at her loom showing her daughter, Mildri, how to do a particular stitch.

Seeing Lara’s arrival, she jumped up and ran to her. “Oh, Lara, thank the Celestial Actuary that you are here. I wanted to call you earlier, but Liam would not let me.”

Lara immediately took her friend’s hands in hers. “What has happened, Noss? What has distressed you so greatly?”

“It’s Anoush!” Noss said, and she began to sob.

“Anoush? Noss! What has happened to my daughter? You must tell me!” She squeezed the two hands in hers hard, and felt guilt for deceiving Noss, but the truth was Anoush was safer as long as no one knew the truth.

“She cannot be awakened. This morning Gadara went to wake her, but she could not. And, odder still, she was unable to touch Anoush. It was as if there were some invisible barrier surrounding her. What can be the matter? What can have happened?”

“I must go to my child!” Lara said. “Who can have done this to her?” She hurried from Liam’s hall and through the village of Camdene until she reached her daughter’s fine stone house. Gadara saw her coming and opened the door, following Lara upstairs into Anoush’s bedchamber where Lara stood at the girl’s bedside looking down on her daughter. Anoush lay quietly, not moving at all.

Lara looked to Gadara. “Tell me how this has happened.”

“Domina, I do not know,” Gadara wept. “I came, bringing her her cup of dandelion tea. She likes to sip a cup each morning before arising. I saw her sleeping, which is unusual, for my mistress generally awakens with the dawn. Reaching out, I tried to shake her, but I was prevented from touching her.”