We have a wonderful old scholar, Master Bashkar, for our teacher. He is a Devyn who left his clan family to travel beyond the old Outlands to see what he could see.”
“You just like being rich and the stepdaughter of the Dominus who is so all-powerful,” Cam replied irritably.
“Farewell, Cam,” Lara said softly.
“Yes, farewell!” Anoush said and turned away with her mother. The two walked back across the encampment to the tent where they had sheltered during the Gathering. “I think Cam is jealous of Dillon and me,” Anoush said. “And he does not like the fact that he cannot lead me about by the nose any longer,” she noted. “I’m so glad you came to get me, Mama. I was about to leave him when you did.”
Lara smiled, but said nothing. Inside the tent she gathered her family around her. “I will send you home now,” she told them. “Then Dasras and I shall come back together. We will see you shortly. Dillon, tell Jason that Dasras will be coming so he can prepare his stall.” She kissed her husband who let her lips leave his only reluctantly.
“Tonight,” he murmured in her ear.
Lara smiled into his eyes and nodded. Then with a quick wave of her hand and a short spoken spell,
Magnus Hauk, flanked by Anoush and Dillon, Zagiri in his arms, disappeared in a flash of light and a puff of greenish smoke. Lara sighed. She loved the picture they had made waiting for her to work her magic. Leaving the tent she made her way through the encampment where all the clan families were in the midst of departing for their own territories and homes. In the green field beyond the camp, horses grazed. “Dasras!” she called and the great golden stallion separated himself from the herd and galloped over to her. “Time to go home, old friend,” Lara said to him. “I have sent the others on ahead.”
“Climb on my back then, mistress,” Dasras said.
Grasping a handful of his creamy mane Lara pulled herself up onto the horse’s back. Her slender leather-clad legs grasped the beast’s sides. Her fingers wrapped around his mane, making a little fist as Dasras galloped across the green field, his great white wings unfolding slowly as they took to the skies. The horse circled the encampment below while many members of the clan families, looking skyward and recognizing Lara and Dasras, waved at them. Lara waved back. Then her mount turned to the Emerald Mountains and Terah which lay beyond. They would be home even before the midautumn’s early sunset.
The cold air stung her cheeks as they traveled. The winds had begun to come from the north. Lara briefly glanced in that direction as she rode. The Dark Lands beyond did not seem as threatening to her as it once had. She laughed to herself. Even a faerie woman might have her fantasies, she thought, wondering why she had once considered those mountains so ominous. Turning away, she leaned forward, eager to get home. The brief month she had spent away from her husband seemed longer than it normally did. Perhaps next summer she would not, after all, return Dillon and Anoush to the New Outlands to live among their father’s people.
Then she had a somber moment. Perhaps next summer they would be at war. She would need to consult with her mother who knew everything that was happening in Hetar. She would have to speak eventually with her mentor, Kaliq of the Shadows, who was also a font of information. Terah did not want war. She would have to do everything in her power to try and prevent it. But Lara knew that even faerie magic could not solve everything. And while she disliked admitting it, Gaius Prospero was a force with which to be reckoned.
9
“YOU ARE GOING TO MARRY Vilia?” Gaius Prospero looked astounded at the news. “Why? She is certainly past her prime now, Jonah.”
“My lord, I do this for you,” Jonah said. “Despite all your kindness to her and your great generosity of heart, she feels ashamed that you have cast her off to wed the beautiful lady Shifra. And now that you have announced that you plan to make Shifra Hetar’s empress, the lady Vilia’s shame is slowly turning to anger. We must stem that anger, my lord. Quickly!”
“But how does marrying a freed slave help Vilia’s anger?” the emperor wanted to know. “She is a proud woman, born into one of Hetar’s finest and most ancient families.”
“My lord, it is true that I served in my early years as your slave, but did you never once consider my heritage? It is a respectable one. Perhaps not as fine as the lady Vilia’s, but ’tis naught to be ashamed of, I assure you,” Jonah said.
“You know who your parents were?” The emperor was both surprised and curious. “Who were they then?”
“My father was Sir Rupert Bloodaxe of the Crusader Knights. He is long dead, as you know. My mother is the lady Farah, a Pleasure Mistress. Sir Rupert Bloodaxe paid the Pleasure Mistress for the privilege of my mother’s company for a full year.
“After I was born and put to a wet nurse, also paid for by my sire, my mother returned to her duties. As you know, she became a famous Pleasure Woman and eventually was given charge of the house in which she served. You may question her. My mother will not deny me, my lord, and my blood is good.”
“But why were you a slave?” Gaius Prospero wanted to know.
“Sir Rupert died when I was sixteen. Illegitimate children of a Crusader Knight belong to them as much as any piece of property. Usually these men make a provision in their wills freeing any children they may have sired outside of their marriage. Sometimes they don’t even know if they have sired children, but make the provision anyway. Unfortunately, my father simply forgot.
“So I became the property of his estate and Sir Rupert’s wife was a jealous woman. She had borne her husband five daughters but no son. It impeded my father’s advancement and he was not pleased.
“My poor half sisters were no beauties. Our father had paid a fortune in dowries to see them married properly. But worse, Sir Rupert truly loved my mother. I had been sent to an academy of learning by my father. On the day he was buried, a mercenary came and took me from my classes. I was sold in the slave market without delay. My mother was furious, of course, but it was your house, my lord, into which I was sold. I asked her to keep her peace because I wanted to serve a man that I admired,” Jonah said and the emperor bridled with pleasure at the compliment. “And that is what I am attempting to do now, my lord. Serve you as I always have served you.”
“Vilia knows of your connections?” Gaius Prospero asked.
“She does, my lord,” Jonah answered.
“And she will have you as her husband?”
“Her heart will always be yours, my lord,” Jonah lied with facile charm. Vilia didn’t give a damn about Gaius Prospero. She was completely his. “Despite your generosity to her, there have begun to arise some rather unpleasant murmurs regarding your behavior toward the lady,” he continued. “By quickly remarrying, she disproves the rumors. And we certainly cannot have her uniting with someone from an ambitious family who might use her to further himself and threaten your throne, my lord. I cannot permit it! And so I have offered myself to the lady Vilia as a husband. She will not accept me, however, without your personal permission and approval. So I have come to you on bended knee, my lord. Give us the favor of your approbation, my emperor.”
“Shifra and I will give the wedding!” the emperor burst out. “All of Hetar shall see how generous I am toward the mother of my children. But your heritage must be announced for the people to know,” he continued. “I want no one believing that I have insulted Vilia by forcing her into a marriage with a former slave. Perhaps it might even help if the two of you admitted that after her divorce you were attracted to one another. Then you came to me and I gave you my benediction. Yes! Yes! That is what we will do, Jonah. It is perfect and shows the people that my heart is a good one.” He beamed with pleasure at the thought.
“It is brilliant, my lord, and I thank you!” Jonah said, kissing his master’s hand.
Soon the word spread throughout The City. The emperor’s right hand, although he had spent ten years in slavery, was actually the son of Sir Rupert Bloodaxe and the famed Pleasure Mistress, Lady Farah. Sir Rupert’s daughters admitted it was true. Their mother was dead and if the truth were known, their father’s mistress had made him happy in his last years. It was she who had convinced him to increase their dowries, making each of them far more desirable. They had not approved, they declared in a loud and united voice, of their mother selling the poor boy into slavery.
Jonah smiled to hear this. His half sisters hadn’t given a damn about him. But he made public visits to each of
