The Twilight Lord Read Free

mother. She was our father’s wife. She is a great lady and she has a destiny to follow. She did not choose to have a destiny. She would have been content to remain our father’s widow and our mother, but such is not her fate, Anoush. Our mother knows she has no choice but to follow until she meets and claims her destiny. She saw to our comfort and our safety before she left us. She saved the clan families from Hetar when she and the Shadow Princes transported us from the Outlands here to the New Outlands. You will speak of her with respect, Sister.” Then, taking Anoush’s hand again, Dillon half dragged her to the lord’s hall where their mother was awaiting them.
    Noss saw them first. “Anoush, come! We have a visitor,” she said.
    Seeing Lara, Anoush stopped. Then she said, “Good morrow, Mother. ”
    Noss paled.
    “Good morrow, Anoush,” Lara replied quietly.
    Tread carefully. She heard Ethne murmur silently.
    “You grow prettier each time I see you,” Lara said.
    “And how often is that, Mother? ” Anoush asked sarcastically.
    Lara was surprised, although she did not show it, at the bitterness in the little girl’s question. Noss was right. Someone—Bera? Cam?—was working hard to separate Anoush from her family and her heritage. And it was going to stop as of today, she decided. “I have not seen you often enough in the past few years,” Lara answered, “but that is all going to change now, my daughter.”
    “What?” Anoush responded. “Has your latest lover thrown you out, and you are returning to the Outlands once again to cause trouble?”
    “Anoush!” Noss gasped, almost faint with shock at the girl’s words.
    But Lara remained calm with the child. “Did your grandmother tell you that? Or was it your cousin, Cam?” she asked pleasantly. “No matter. Nothing they have told you is true, I suspect. And Anoush, you are no longer in the Outlands. These are the New Outlands. The clan families were brought here several years ago.”
    “That is a lie!” Anoush said. “Grandmother says you told us that to confuse us and make us vulnerable to Hetar’s conquest. Nothing has changed. Nothing!”
    “Oh, dear,” Lara sighed patiently. “I can see there is much you must learn and unlearn before I take you and your brother home with me.” She smiled at Anoush and then said, “Come and greet your baby sister, Zagiri.”
    “Your bastard, you mean,” Anoush answered her mother.
    Noss clutched at the table’s edge, her fingers digging into the wood.
    “Zagiri is a princess of Terah as you are a noblewoman of the Fiacre Clan, although I must say your language is more that of a peasant child than the daughter of Vartan,” Lara remarked. “Come here to me, Anoush.”
    Reluctantly Anoush moved to stand before Lara. “What?” she said.
    “Noss, would you take Zagiri and Dillon? I think I must speak with Anoush alone.”
    “I think I should stay,” Dillon said.
    “Thank you, my son, but no. Anoush and I must speak alone. If she becomes too difficult I shall simply turn her into a warty toad until she learns reason.” Lara could not conceal the twinkle in her eye for she saw Anoush’s eyes dart about nervously at her words.
    Dillon grinned at his mother, picked up Zagiri and followed after Noss.
    “Sit down, Anoush,” Lara said.
    “I wish to stand,” Anoush replied.
    “But I prefer that you sit,” Lara answered quietly, pointing a finger at the little girl who suddenly sat down, a surprised look on her face. “There,” Lara said, “that’s much better, isn’t it? Now, you will ask your questions and I will answer them. What is it you wish to know of me, Anoush?”
    Anoush looked defiantly at her mother and then burst out, “Why did you kill our father? Grandmother says you wanted his power and that you killed Cam’s father and mother when they came to my father’s defense.”
    The shock on Lara’s face was evident. Then drawing a long deep breath she said, “I did not kill