“And Magnus will, in a sense, be with his son on that day,” Lara remarked. “Thank you, Persis. Thank you! Let me send for your grandson that you may tell him yourself.” And then in her head she heard Kaliq calling to her. She hurried from the chamber, and, seeing a serving woman, sent her to bring the Dominus to his grandmother. Then Lara went to her privy chamber to find the prince awaiting her.

“The situation grows worse in Hetar,” Kaliq said.

“My son’s coronation is in another ten days,” Lara replied. “But I will go tonight when all here are sleeping. It will be morning in Hetar. Tell me now what is happening.”

“There have been riots in the streets,” Kaliq began.

Lara gasped. It was not like Hetarians to riot. Once in the days of the Emperor Gaius Prospero the women of Hetar had gathered before his palace protesting for their individual rights, but it had not been violent.

“The Lord High Ruler was so astounded by what happened he could not make a decision what to do,” Kaliq continued. “A group of magnates hired several large groups of Mercenaries, who attacked the crowds. There were deaths.”

“Why would the people become so violent? Have they not been fed by the Hierarch?” Lara asked.

“It is rumored that the Hierarch is directing chosen minions among the people to help bring the government down. Under normal circumstances I might agree, but not at this time. Not while the Darkling controls Cam.”

“Is my daughter safe?” Lara asked.

“I have instructed Lothair to remove her immediately if this intrudes into the Golden District. He will take her to Shunnar for safety’s sake,” Kaliq said. “Lara, our time is growing short. You must go to Hetar.”

She nodded. “The Dominus and his council know I must leave, but I must be here when Taj is coronated. It would seem extremely odd if I were not here.”

“Aye,” Kaliq agreed. “We cannot allow anyone, particulary Ciarda, to wonder about your absence from this important day.”

“Let me tell Taj I am going. I don’t want to just disappear,” Lara said.

“I will wait for you,” Kaliq replied.

Lara hurried back to her own apartments, where she found her son sitting with his grandmother. She smiled at them both, saying, “Taj, remember that short journey I said I must make in conjunction with your coronation? I think I shall go today.”

“What is this?” Lady Persis wanted to know.

Lara laughed gaily. “Now, Persis, it is a surprise for Taj, and you know how bad you are at keeping secrets from your grandchildren. They can always manage to wheedle them from you. But Taj does need to know that I will be away for a few days.” She smiled at the pair seated together on the pillowed couch.

“Of course, Mother,” the boy said, smiling back at her with a look of complete understanding in his turquoise-blue eyes. “I cannot wait to learn what it is you have done. It will be wonderful, I have not a doubt.” He chuckled.

“Obey your tutors, and do try not to get into too much trouble with Gare and Sinon,” Lara responded indulgently. She turned to her mother-in-law. “You know how boys are, Persis. But since I must go, let me return you to your own hall now. I am so glad that you came, and I know Taj is, too. You did thank your grandmother, didn’t you, my son? It is a wonderful thing she is doing for you.”

Taj stood up, drawing his grandmother up with him. He kissed the old woman on both of her withered cheeks. “You are the best grandmother any boy could have,” he told her. “And I do thank you once again for your thoughtfulness.”

And before Lady Persis could offer to remain with her grandson, or ask more questions that could not be answered, Lara kissed her and, silently invoking the return spell, sent her mother-in-law back to her own home, which was several miles distant from the castle. Then she turned to Taj. “I must go. Kaliq has come, and brings word that the situation in Hetar grows worse by the minute. I will be back in time for your coronation.”

“Bring Zagiri with you, Mother,” Taj said. “I command it of you.”

“Do you, my lord Dominus?” Lara responded. Then she smiled at him. “If it is possible I will bring her,” she heard herself promise. She kissed her son’s cheek, and hurried from her apartments back through the castle halls to her little privy chamber.

“Are you ready?” Kaliq asked.

“But a moment,” Lara said, opening a drawer in a table and drawing out the official invitation to the Terahn coronation. “For the Lord High Ruler and his wife,” she told Kaliq. “Now I am ready.”

He enveloped them in his white cloak, murmuring as he did so, We will be invisible when I uncloak us. I thought it wiser until we see with our own eyes what is happening, my love. He opened his cape now.

Where are we? Lara asked him. Then, looking about more carefully, she said, This was once Gaius Prospero’s privy chamber.

It is now Jonah’s, Kaliq answered her. But wait, someone comes.

The door to the room opened and a man stepped inside. He was tall and slender with a long, scholarly face that was neither young nor old. His close-cropped dark hair was lightly sprinkled with silver. He was not a handsome man, but neither would he be considered homely.

Reveal me to him, Kaliq. You will know when I wish to not be seen again.

The prince touched Lara’s shoulder, and she became visible to the Lord High Ruler of Hetar, who was now seated at his desk.

Jonah blinked once, then again as if trying to clear his sight.

“You are not imagining it, my lord Jonah,” Lara said. “I am here.” She drew the elegant vellum invitation from her robe and handed it to him. “You are invited to the formal coronation of my son Taj, Dominus of Terah, in eight days’ time. You may bring your wife if you choose.”

“You did not come to just deliver an invitation,” Jonah responded. “You know what is happening here. Your kind know everything.”

Lara smiled a wicked smile. “Aye, my lord, we do. Do not think you have gotten an advantage over me, over Terah, by stealing Zagiri and marrying her. You have not. If you wish to save your worthless hide, my lord, you will have to do as we say. And it will pain you greatly, I am certain.”

“You can defeat and destroy the Hierarch?” Jonah leaned across the large table that served him as a desk. “How? He preaches to the people about returning Hetar to its days of glory, but he does not say how he will do it.”

“Nay, he does not,” Lara replied. “Because no kingdom flourishes by returning to the past. You can only flourish by moving forward, my lord Jonah. This man who calls himself the Hierarch is being controlled by a Darkling named Ciarda. Aye! I see from the look upon your face that you know of whom I speak. It was she who aided you in stealing my daughter from Terah. And since then you have had no contact with her, have you?”

Jonah looked abashed.

“Ciarda is a daughter of Kol, the Twilight Lord. She loves her father, and wishes to complete his plans to bring the darkness to our worlds.”

“But we defeated him!” Jonah said.

“Aye, we did, but one defeat cannot keep the darkness from attempting to encompass us again. You are no fool. You know that. This is a never-ending battle,” Lara said. “Your late wife descended from a powerful sorcerer named Usi. Her ancestress, Ulla, was his concubine, and bore him a daughter here in Hetar. His other concubine, Jorunn, bore him a son who became the Twilight Lord, and from whom all subsequent Twilight Lords descend. In each generation of Ulla’s descendants there is but one female able to touch the darkness should it be necessary. The Lady Vilia was the one in her generation, which is why Ciarda could reach out to her.

“It was the Darkling who put your son’s life in danger, and then bargained with Vilia for his life. It was the Darkling who convinced her to choose Zagiri for your next wife. The darkness does not just want Hetar. It wants Terah, too. By attempting to set us against one another she weakens us both.”

“But would Terah not have aided us in our time of troubles?” Jonah asked.

“Terah wishes no congress with Hetar, and never has. I am beginning to realize, however, that perhaps that can no longer be possible. Even if you had not married Zagiri against my will. It seems our worlds are becoming bound together, my lord Jonah.”

His black eyes narrowed a moment, and Lara almost laughed to see him considering the possibilities in her words.

“Whatever is to be, my lord, it cannot be. Our only goal together at this time is to defeat the powers of darkness once again. To this end the magic world will aid you,” Lara told him. “But in exchange for our help you must alter your ways.”

“What do you want of us?” he asked her.

“Hetar does need to return to its traditions, but not in the same way as this Hierarch suggests. He would have you go back to the past. Your traditions need to be made more modern to suit the time in which you live. Hetar always gave those who worked hard the opportunity to improve themselves. Yet today your people have no such opportunities. You have become a society of the wealthy magnates and the poor. Everything has stood still in Hetar. This must change,” Lara told him.

“The Hierarch wants women to take a more traditional and subservient position in society again,” Jonah said. “He wants them off the High Council.”

“Ah, of course. He would tempt the magnates with the offer of more wealth, he would present the women as a scapegoat for those who seek someone to blame, but you cannot allow that to happen, my lord. You have always been a man of action, Jonah of Hetar, yet suddenly you demur to make decisions for fear of offending one voting block or another, of losing your position,” Lara said. “You must show Hetar that you are a strong leader again if you are to prevail.”

“He has the masses in the palm of his hand, Domina,” Jonah said.

“And many of those people are female,” Lara pointed out. “Refuse to disenfranchise the women. Say Hetar needs their aid to return to its greatness. Be they wives or Pleasure Women, Hetar needs their best efforts, and if females are considered unequal then why would they give their best? Say Hetarian women are entitled to help fashion the future of Hetar every bit as much as the men are. Men have ruled Hetar for centuries, and look where it has gotten you. There are other things you can do that I know will go against your need for profit, but for now profit must be sacrificed if you are to save Hetar. You must see laws passed preventing profiteering from all this misery. You must fix prices of staples such as wheat, rice, bread. You must keep your promise to repair the hovels in The Quarter. Put your Mercenaries to work doing that, and to rebuilding the roads and bridges leading to the other provinces. In exchange for their services see that their hovels are given to them, to their families to own. And it is past time the Crusader Knights rebuilt their own Garden District. Zagiri wrote her sister that it is very shabby. And announce that in a year’s time they will again hold a tournament to pick new candidates for their ranks. Retire the eldest of them and send them to good homes in the Outlands. Hetar needs hope. It has become stagnant.”

“And the magic kingdoms will stand behind me in these efforts?” Jonah asked her. “What you are suggesting will cost a small fortune.”

“You and the magnates have the coin to spare. And what of the taxes you have collected? I will assume the government has its monies in a safe place. As for the magic world, my lord Jonah, you cannot say we are behind you lest you alert the Darkling and her minions,” Lara told him. “She must not know that you are fighting her efforts.”

“Do you know who the Hierarch is, Domina?” Jonah asked her.

“We know,” she said, “but until the Darkling is defeated no one would believe you if you told them. We will marshall our efforts against the darkness. You must gird your loins, and fight for Hetar’s survival. If you do not, prepare to die, and my daughter with you, Jonah of Hetar.”

“You must keep Zagiri safe!” he said, and Lara suddenly saw the fear in his face for his young wife.

Her tone toward him softened. “I had heard it said that you love her.”

Jonah’s normally cold black eyes were suddenly warm. He said nothing, but he nodded.

“Then do what you must to prevent the darkness from spreading, my lord,” she told him. “My daughter linked her fate with yours, and so it shall be to the end.” And then she disappeared before his very eyes.

“Domina!” he cried after whirling about as if he might see her in another part of the room, but Lara was gone from his sight.