“How long can I remain in a different shape?” Lara asked her.

“As long as you choose,” Ilona said. “But allow few to know you are capable of this magic, Lara. And only those you completely trust.”

“Just Kaliq for now,” Lara replied.

Ilona laughed. “I will not ask why,” she said, “but your secret is safe with the prince.”

That same night a faerie man appeared suddenly in Prince Kaliq’s hall as they dined.

“Thanos!” Ilona was immediately on her feet.

The faerie man, tall and handsome with golden hair and bright blue eyes, bowed to her, and then knelt. “Greetings, Queen Ilona,” he said. “I have come to bring you home, for Queen Maeve is near gone and will not last the night. You must be there to claim your heritage as all queens and kings before you have been.” His gaze went to Lara, and his lips twitched in a small smile.

Ilona nodded. Then she turned, embracing her daughter. “I must go now, Lara. The Celestial Actuary keep you safe in your journey. When you need me, you have but to ask Ethne. She will find me.”

“Mother, I beg one final boon of you,” Lara said. “Let me be there when you take Thanos for your consort.”

Ilona shook her head. “Nay, your grandmother is right. We must keep you safe from the Foresters. You cannot come into the woodlands again while they seek you.”

“Seek me? They are seeking me?” Lara was astounded. Almost a year had passed since her escape. “Why would they bother after all this time?”

“Because they still believe a faerie’s child can help them break Maeve’s curse on them, and they have not found another to take your place,” Ilona told Lara. “You must soon leave Shunnar, my daughter.”

Lara turned to Kaliq. “You knew?”

“Only recently,” he replied. “I will explain later, my love.”

Thanos had now risen to his feet. He put a proprietary arm about Ilona. “We must go,” he said in a low, urgent voice.

Ilona pushed his arm away, giving him a sharp look. Then she embraced her daughter a final time. “I will give Thanos a son,” she whispered to Lara. “I want no other daughter, for you are everything I could ever have desired in a female child. I ask your forgiveness for the years we have been apart.”

“You have it, Mother!” Lara said generously, and kissed Ilona’s cheek.

The faerie woman reached out and touched the girl’s face in a tender gesture. Then she was gone in a puff of deep purple smoke, and the faerie man, a surprised look upon his handsome face, quickly followed her in a deep lavender essence of his own.

Lara laughed softly. “She will be a grand queen,” she remarked.

“And he her king?” Kaliq asked curious.

“She will not make him king, but merely her consort,” Lara answered.

“The women of your family seem to be independent creatures,” Kaliq said. “Do you desire to be an independent woman also, my love?”

“I must be,” Lara told him, “for if I am not I shall be conquered by those who seek to break my spirit. I shall never allow that to happen, Kaliq. And you would not want it either, my lord, would you?”

“Nay, I would not,” he said. Then he led her back to the dining couch, and they returned to their meal. “You have become a stronger woman in your months here at Shunnar, Lara, but you will soon have to leave me. Your fate lies beyond our Desert kingdom, but the skills we have taught you, and those your mother has taught you, will serve you well, and help you to survive.”

“I must ask Og if he will travel with me,” Lara said.

“You may take Noss as well. She would be heartbroken if you left her behind,” Kaliq told her.

“I will give her the choice, my lord, for Noss is yet a fearful creature. Here at Shunnar she would be safe and cared for, but with me, who knows the adventures I will encounter? Og is of more value to me.”

“Noss has gained confidence with her abilities as an archer,” the prince noted. “She could be a valuable traveling companion.” He reached out, and ran a finger from her shoulder down her arm.

She smiled seductively at him. “The meal is not yet over, my lord.”

“It will be soon, and you are the sweet I desire above all. The nights when you have remained closeted with your mother have been difficult for me,” he told her. “And soon you will be gone from me, Lara. Few women have I truly cared for in my long lifetime, but when you leave me, my love, my heart will be most sore.” He leaned forward and brushed her lips with his.

“Ah, Kaliq, my prince,” she replied, “were it not for you, I should not know how sweet the loving between a man and a woman can be. For that I shall always be grateful.”

And she kissed him back gently. “You will always have a part of my heart, and you will remain in my memory until my spirit fades away entirely like my faerie relatives,” Lara told him with a sweet smile. “Let us make love here and now among the others, as we have previously done, my lord.”

Her words seemed to echo throughout the banqueting hall. She was suddenly surrounded by the other princely guests. Kaliq held her out to them, and they drew her gown away from her. Her long lovely gilt hair was unbound, to be admired by them all. The princes caressed her with soft hands, and admiring glances. They covered her body with gentle kisses until she grew weak, and her legs gave way beneath her. But Kaliq held her in a firm grip as their tongues bathed her body, touching her intimately, and mouths suckled upon her breasts. She was enveloped in the most incredible cloud of sensation when they finally lay her back upon the dining couch, and Kaliq covered her body with his own, entering her in a single smooth action. Two of the princes pulled her legs up, and over her shoulders to allow her lover the deepest penetration of her body. They murmured encouragement, and when her eyes began to glaze with her rising passion, the last thing Lara saw clearly was their smiling faces. She had never felt more loved or cherished in all her life. And then she cried out with her fulfillment as Kaliq groaned with satisfaction, and she remembered nothing more except the thundering of her heart and the feeling of total and utter bliss that seemed to go on and on and on.

When she finally awoke she was in her own bed, Kaliq sleeping by her side. She wondered how long they had been there. Turning her head, she saw that it was still night outside, and suddenly she remembered the words that had chilled her bones earlier. Durga and Enda were looking for her. Would she ever be free of them? She would die before she let them take her again! But at least now she was no longer a helpless girl. She could fight them with sword and staff. She could fly away from them as a bird if she had to, or better yet she could take a cat’s form, and claw their eyes out of their big heads. She actually shuddered with the pleasure her thoughts gave her.

“You are awake.” Kaliq’s voice broke into her musings. “Did you enjoy the evening? I know my brothers have said your pleasure in your own passion gave them great joy.”

“What happened after I fainted away?” she asked him.

“You didn’t faint, my love. You simply moved onto another plane of existence. Each of my brothers had his delight of you in one way or another when we had finished. You pleasured them between your legs, with your mouth, with your delicate little hands. They said no woman, human or faerie, had ever given them such enjoyment,” he told her.

“Why can I not remember it?” she wondered aloud.

“You may one day,” he said. “Your senses were very heightened, and I suspect they overwhelmed part of you although you were very vocal in your appreciation of their talents, and they were most flattered,” he chuckled. “You have a great capacity for passion, Lara. As much as any full-blooded faerie woman. I brought you from the banqueting hall and bathed you myself so you would not awaken with the scent of desire fulfilled in your nostrils,” he explained.

“It was as if I were saying goodbye to them all,” she said.

“You were,” he replied. “In your time remaining here at Shunnar you will see only me, and of course you will see Lothair for your lessons. Your mother left you a gift he will present you with today, for he says you are more than ready. Now it is still the middle of the night. Go back to sleep.” He kissed the top of her head.

“No. I want to know how you know that Durga and Enda are still seeking me,” Lara said to him.

“They entered the Desert two days ago, Lara. I received word yesterday. It will take them at least another week to reach Shunnar. They have not the advantage of Og’s magical boots. And creatures of habit that these Foresters are, they did not leave their home to come this way until after their Winterfest. You have now been gone from them for more than the required time the law allows an escaped slave. You are free. Now go to sleep.”

“Then why do they insist on pursuing me?” she demanded.

“Your mother told you the answer to that question,” he replied.

“I must remain to face them,” Lara said. “I cannot continue to have them racing behind me like hunting dogs on the scent of the prey. And this is the best and safest place for me to face them down, my lord.”

“It is,” he agreed. “Now go to sleep, Lara. You may not recall all of your vigorous activity this evening, but you body does, and it needs to rest if you are to be strong, and face your enemies.”

“Aye, my lord,” she agreed with a small chuckle, and she snuggled against his shoulder. “You have taken good care of me, Kaliq, my prince. I am grateful.”

“You should be,” he teased her. “Who else could have opened your world for you, and taught you how to love so well, you deliciously naughty creature?”

“Only you, my lord prince. Only you,” Lara replied, and she kissed his lips.

“To sleep, you bold wench!”