“In a most public place,” she murmured. “What if someone had come upon us? Comes upon us?” She looked anxiously for her kaftan.

He laughed softly. “They will not,” he told her. “My servants know me well, and knew what watching my stallion with the mares in the company of a beautiful girl would lead to this afternoon. No one will disturb us.”

“I should get back to the village,” Lara said.

“Stay with me,” he said to her.

“I am not ready to give you that much of myself quite yet,” Lara told him honestly. “I am only beginning to get used to the idea that I am a free woman. Og says that the Foresters can not reclaim me here, or ever again if I can manage to keep out of their sight for a full year. Is that true?”

“Yes,” he replied. “Remain with me for a year, and I will protect you from them, Lara. You will never give them what they want, but I think they would not believe you even if you told them so. They are brutish men with little intellect.”

“Swear you will not fall in love with me,” she said to him.

“Why?” he demanded, smiling at her, his hand caressing her face.

“I have told you. I do not believe in love. But you do, and you are a kind man. I would not hurt you, my lord Kaliq,” Lara said quietly.

“The decision is mine to make,” he told her, “and who knows? I may teach you to love. But whether I can or not, say you will remain at least a year with me that you may be truly free, Lara. I can teach you many things other than love.”

“You would share your magic with me?” she asked him.

“You should have magic at your disposal, Lara, for you are half faerie,” he said.

“I think Ethne would approve,” Lara replied. She held up the thin gold chain, and dangled the star crystal before his eyes. “Do you see the flame within it? That is Ethne, my guardian. My mother put this chain about my neck, my father once told me.”

“Ask Ethne then if Maeve is your grandmother,” the prince advised her. “If it is so you should meet her before she fades away entirely.”

“She has other grandchildren, I am sure,” Lara said almost bitterly.

“But no child of Ilona’s,” he told her. “If that Ilona is indeed your mother she never bore another child for human or faerie man.”

“I will ask Ethne,” Lara responded. Then she arose from the mattress, and picked up her kaftan from the floor of the wide corridor. “If I do not return Og will worry,” she said. “Where are my clothes?”

“You are not to wear those ugly garments again,” he told her.

“I do not want the villagers seeing me as I truly am, nor do I wish to be the cause of undue notice,” Lara told him. “You know that gossip travels on the wind, and the north wind will enter the Forest now that winter is there. If I am seen, word might reach Enda and Durga. Despite their misgivings they will come into the Desert seeking me. And if they find me, Hetarian law or no, they will take me back with them. I must remain covered and veiled at all times.”

“Then remain with me, and be safe,” he said.

“What of Og? I cannot leave him, for without him I would have never escaped the Forest,” Lara replied. “He is my friend. I will not desert him.”

“He may come into the palace and be with you,” the prince suggested. “He is not the largest giant I have ever seen. I suppose it comes from his mother’s time in hiding, and a lack of food in his early years.”

“He is six cubits tall,” Lara defended Og. “And he has his own magic. His boots can go a league with each step he takes!”

“Nonetheless he is a small giant,” Kaliq said, and standing, he drew on his own kaftan. “My palace ceilings will be high enough to sustain him. I will send a servant to the village to fetch him.”

“What of my sewing?” Lara said. “The villagers have come to depend upon me.”

“Yes, you have made yourself quite useful to them,” the prince noted. “The women will have to do their own mending again, I fear. There are other things you must learn, Lara. You are intelligent, and have a certain wisdom. You need to know more about Hetar and its peoples if you are to eventually continue on your journey.”

“What do you know of my journey?” Lara asked him, curious about his words.

“I know nothing of it but that you will remain with me no longer than a year,” he told her. “Once you can be assured of your safety you will go. I see it when I look at you.” He caressed her cheek again. “Do not look sad, Lara. I am but a stop on your journey. We will not waste our time together, however. There is much I can teach you. You asked me how old I was before, and I said I was older than you. I am much older. I have been here since the beginning of time, as have all my kind. You see no society of women and children among us, for there are none. There never have been. Our kind came from the purple shadows, and one day we will return into those shadows. We share our pleasure with the women to whom we are attracted, and who find us congenial. We raise and sell our horses, keeping to ourselves as much as we can. Hetar is changing more each day. Soon the time will come when the people have to choose between the light and the darkness. It will not be an easy choice to make, but make it they must.”

“What has this all to do with me?” Lara queried him.

“I do not know, but it does,” he told her. Then he clapped his hands together, and at once a servant appeared. “Send servants into the village to escort the giant, Og, to the palace. See they pack up all his and the lady Lara’s possessions.”

“At once, my lord,” the servant said, bowing, and he hurried off.

“How do you know?” she demanded.

He laughed. “I just do. Now come, I will show you where you will live.” He brought her to a suite of beautiful rooms that all opened out into a cool, green garden. “My apartment is across the garden,” he told her. “We will always be near one another, Lara. How many servants would you like?”

“I am capable of taking care of myself,” she told him.

“You are my chosen,” he replied. “You must be served.”

“Og will serve me,” Lara said.

“No. I want Og to work with my horses. Forest giants are extraordinarily good with animals. You must have a serving girl, and I think I have someone who would do well. I bought her off the last Taubyl Trader who came through several months back. She is young, and was very frightened, but she has learned well, my head serving man tells me. She will be as much a companion to you as a servant. Her name is Noss.”

“Noss!” Lara cried. “That is the girl the Foresters would not have! Yes, she will suit me admirably, my lord Kaliq.”

“Then I will send her to you,” he said. “For now, explore your quarters. They were conceived with you in mind.” He turned, and was quickly gone in a swirl of his white robes.

Alone, Lara reached down and raised the crystal to her gaze. Am I safe with him?

The flame flickered. That is a question to which you already know the answer, Ethne said. Ask what it is that you really desire to know from me.

Is Maeve, queen of the Forest Faeries, my grandmother?

Yes.

And her daughter, Ilona, the faerie woman who bore me?

Yes.

Why did you not tell me before, Lara demanded?

You did not ask, and it was not time for you to know until you did, Ethne replied.

Why?

Ethne gave a watery chuckle. Because it is, she responded.

Do not be smug, Lara said, irritated. It ill becomes you. I do not know if I like all this mystery and magic that seems to surround me these days. Why did my life have to become so damned complicated? I liked living in the City. I liked being nothing more than my father’s daughter. Now I am not certain what or who I am.

Be patient, Lara, Ethne’s gentle voice soothed. You have a destiny, and it must be played out. But for now you are safe with the Shadow Prince. He is one of the wisest of them, and will impart much knowledge to you. Learn from him.

“Lara!”

She turned, and then held out her arms to Noss. “Noss! How glad I am that you are now safe. Rolf Fairplay kept his promise to me.” She hugged the young girl.

“I am to be your servant and companion, the prince has told me,” Noss said. “How did you get here, Lara? I cried so hard when I saw you being taken away by the Forest Lords. My eyes got all swollen with the salt of my tears.”

“I escaped the Forest at Winterfest,” Lara said, and then she explained all to Noss. “Og will be here shortly. You will like him. I could have never done it without him. He is the kindest and gentlest fellow I have ever known. Now, tell me how you have fared since we were last together.”

“There is little to tell,” Noss replied. “We crossed the Desert for several days, and when we reached this palace the trader brought forth all manner of goods. The headman here told Rolf Fairplay that he need a young serving woman. Rolf explained he had but one slave, very young, and inexperienced. The headman said he wished to see me, and when he had he asked me if I could be content as a servant to his prince. He said I would be taught what I needed to know-that the prince did not beat his servants, and I should not be a slave, but free. Rolf protested that I was a slave, but the headman smiled, and said while he would buy a slave, he would free the slave once it became the prince’s property. It was their custom. Shunnar is a pleasant place, Lara. I have been treated well. But until today I have done little. When I have spoken to the headman he has simply said that my time had not arrived. Now I know why. It is as if they were waiting for you to come here,” Noss finished.

“Perhaps they were,” Lara agreed.

“Are you the prince’s lover?” Noss asked ingenuously.