Crown of Destiny Read Free

by Hetar or the Twilight Lord. But from the moment Magnus had died the Terahns had subtly worked their influence on Lara's son. Perhaps had she been with him more it would not have happened, but there were so many problems that needed to be solved in those days. And it was the magic inhabitants of the world of Hetar who fought to save it.
    So Taj had grown up, and married a suitable Terahn wife. Vineeta was pretty enough to keep her son interested long enough to sire the required children. Amhar had been born ten months after the marriage. He was followed by his two sisters, Elvyne and Casperia. Amren, the younger son, had been the fourth, born eight years later, and was followed the next year by Taj's youngest daughter, Mauhault.
    But while offering her mother-in-law outward respect, the young Domina Vineeta found it disquieting that her husband's mother looked as though she could be one of her own companions. The daughter of a wealthy widower, she had been chosen by Taj's aunts Anselma and Narda to be Taj's wife. Motherless, she looked to them for advice. As neither of Magnus Hauk's two older sisters had liked Lara, their opinions drove Vineeta's attitude toward her mother-in-law. Taj's youngest aunt, the Lady Sirvat, Lara's best friend, had attempted to heal the growing breach, but the damage was done.
    Anselma and Narda whispered a stream of ignorance and prejudice into Vineeta's small ear. Vineeta had believed it all. She kept her children from their grandmother, clutching them to her dramatically when Lara entered the nursery. The children sensed that something was wrong, and grew to fear the beautiful golden-haired woman who came to see them. Eventually they became so hysterical at the mere sight of Lara that after complaining to her son, Lara had stayed away.
    "Children are like that, Mother," the Dominus Taj told her. "They have their shy moments even with their parents."
    "I have birthed enough children to know what they are like," Lara had replied sharply. "Those two harpies who are your father's older sisters have taught Vineeta to fear me, and she in turn teaches my grandchildren. Amhar actually hissed at me and made a sign with his hands, which I imagine he has been told is something to ward off evil. I'm afraid I laughed at him, which sent him into a flood of tears and shrieking as he ran from me."
    "It is a phase," Taj defended his oldest son.
    "It is prejudice," Lara said quietly. "You have no magic in you, Taj, but you are still the son of a faerie woman. Be glad you are an ordinary mortal for if you were not you would face what I now face. It was never so in your father's time. Or perhaps it was, and your father protected me for he loved me. I am your mother, my lord Dominus, and that alone should command respect. But if your wife and aunts are allowed to treat me so shabbily, then your children will, too. Once you stood by my side against those who would mistreat me. You no longer do. It saddens me, but I will always love you even if I no longer like you," Lara told her son, and by the shocked look upon his face she knew she had made her point.
    But she could not, would not stand between Taj and Vineeta. She would not demand that he make a choice between his mother and his wife. That was a mortal way; it was not the faerie way. And so her grandchildren had become virtual strangers to Lara. But when Taj's younger son was to be sent to Hetar as Terah's ambassador, he came to Lara for more knowledge than anyone else could give him.
    "Tell me about Hetar," he said.
    "Why do you need to know?" Lara asked him.
    "I am to represent Terah," Amren said proudly. "You are Hetarian. You know what I need to know."
    "I am faerie," Lara told him. "I was born in the forests of Hetar, daughter of Ilona, who is Queen of the Forest Faeries, and a Hetarian named John Swiftsword. Swiftsword was your great-grandfather. His memory is much respected in Hetar, and especially among the Crusader Knights."
    "What are they?" Amren