Crown of Destiny Read Free Page B

putting his interests, and those of Terah, first. Taj now knew by virtue of his years that only his magical faerie-woman mother could have been that bighearted. He realized now that she had saved Terah far more than once, and he was ashamed of his behavior. Looking at her, he said, "I have not the words."
    "You do, and I hear them with my heart," Lara replied softly. Then she turned to look at Amren. "He is an intelligent young man, and will serve Terah well, my son."
    Domina Vineeta sat nervously nearby with the Ladies Narda and Anselma, watching her husband and his mother.
    "Which vessel is to conduct our Amren to Hetar?" Narda asked Vineeta.
    "No vessel," was the reply. "He will be accompanied by a Shadow Prince."
    Narda and Anselma both hissed their strong disapproval.
    "It is practical, and swift," Vineeta dared to say. "And he has been given two personal faerie post creatures to carry his messages back and forth."
    "And you allowed the faerie woman to corrupt your son, Vineeta?" Anselma said.
    "I am astounded that after all these years of protecting your children from her you would do such a thing. Amren's wardrobe indicates that she has already begun to corrupt him. It is obvious she ensorcelled the tailor into doing her bidding, and not following our most careful instructions. Your younger son looks Hetarian now, not Terahn."
    Lara had heard them. It had been years since she had spoken to either of her sisters-in-law, and she was surprised to find they still irritated her. "Amren is most handsome in his new garments. The richness of them gives him more value with the Hetarians with whom he must deal than if he had dressed himself in plain clothing. With Hetar it is always the first impression that is the lasting one. After all these years have you no concept of what Hetar is like?"
    They had had no answer for her. Recalling it now, Lara remembered that day as if it were yesterday. Narda and Anselma were long gone of course. Magnus's youngest sister, the Lady Sirvat, Lara's dearest friend, was dead, too. And since her passing Lara had had no friend among the Terahns. Her mother had, some fifty years ago, sent her a serving woman, Cadi, as Lara's longtime serving woman, Mila, had grown old, too.
    Cadi was the daughter of a casual encounter between a faerie man and the strong spirit that inhabited an Aspen tree in the domain of the Hetarian Forest Lords. She had been found cradled in the aboveground roots of the tree one May morning by her father, who had been summoned by his former lover. The Aspen told the faerie man that the child was his, and he must take it as she could not raise it. He agreed, bringing the infant to his queen and begging for her aid.
    Though he was a faerie of the lower castes, Ilona agreed to raise his daughter, educate her and one day put her in service with Lara. The queen of the Forest Faeries knew her daughter would need one of their own kind by her side eventually. Mortals died off much too soon. And their bodies became infirm, as well. So Cadi had come to serve her mistress when she reached the age of fourteen.
    She was a delicate and slender creature with faerie green eyes that she had inherited from her father. But it was her hair that was her most interesting feature. It appeared leaf like. In summer Cadi's head was a bright green that seemed to quiver and quake when the winds blew. In autumn her hair turned bright red and gold. By winter her head seemed nothing more than short brownish twigs that, once the spring came, began to sprout green buds that grew again into odd flat round pointed shapes that so resembled the leaves of the Aspen tree.
    Ilona had trained the girl well. Sweet-natured, but intelligent, she served her mistress with loving kindness. And Lara was relieved to have a serving woman who understood her mistress and her magical ways, someone who could be trusted to keep Lara's secrets. Cadi had traveled with Lara to the New Outlands to bid the friend of her youth a final