“I would think it was obvious, my love,” he answered her. “They have somehow managed to use magic, but from where they obtained this magic I do not know. But I will, I assure you. You must accept, however, that the Lord High Ruler has probably already taken your daughter for his bride. Vilia’s mourning period would be but a week or so, Lara. The question is, if Zagiri is content to remain with the Lord High Ruler, do you want to bring her back to Terah?”

“You say she has been bewitched,” Lara said slowly. “Then none of it is of her own free will. I will not have her enslaved in Hetar as I was once enslaved!” She was struggling to hold back her tears. Her daughter! Magnus’s daughter! Their beautiful golden girl! Jonah of Hetar would not have her! No! No! No!

Kaliq could see the anger, the fear, the despair as it lit her face. “Lara,” he said gently. “They have taken Zagiri to Hetar by means of magic, it is true. And the portrait of Jonah was enchanted to enchant her. But once she saw him then the magic would be gone. She would regain her free will. If she wants this man then you have no cause to bring her back. She is seventeen, my love. Do you really think a nice Terahn lad will do for Zagiri now? What could such a young man offer a girl who is in love with a powerful man? And who surely by now has been given pleasures beyond her wildest dreams by that man. You know better.”

“Jonah has done this to gain Terah’s allegiance,” Lara replied.

“You are undoubtedly right,” Kaliq agreed.

“Why does he need us?” Lara wondered. “What threatens him that he would go to such lengths to steal a Terahn princess? Why does he need Zagiri?”

“I do not know, but I think we had best find out,” Kaliq told her. “Let me visit our council members, and see what I can learn.” And before she might answer Kaliq was gone, disappearing into the shadows of the chamber. He reappeared in the apartment of the two Shadow Princes currently on the Hetarian High Council. “Lothair, Eskil, good evening to you both.”

“Kaliq! What brings you to Hetar?” Lothair arose to greet his old friend. “You have just caught us. We are shortly to go out.”

“There is magic in Hetar that there should not be,” Kaliq said. “Over a week ago Princess Zagiri of Terah was stolen away. The culprit is, I am certain, the Lord High Ruler himself. He had sought her hand, but been refused not once, but twice. Only magic could have taken this girl from Terah, and as we know, the Hetarians don’t have enough magic of their own to have done this. What have you heard, my brothers?”

“Lara must be furious and devastated by turns,” Lothair said. “She will not be pleased by what I am about to tell you. Listen, Kaliq. Do you hear the music in the streets? Hetar celebrates this night the marriage of the Lord High Ruler. The bride’s identity has not been revealed, however. Eskil and I had intended to later join the wedding party as we were invited. Come with us.”

Kaliq nodded. “I will, but I will remain invisible to all but you and the bride. That way I can bring Lara my own eye-witness account.”

“Then let us be gone,” Lothair said and the three Shadow Princes stepped into the shadows of the chamber to emerge in the midst of the wedding feast.

Seeing them a majordomo hurried to lead the two princes to their table. The hall was lit by the light of a thousand beeswax candles and tapers. The air was heavy with the scent of rose and lily. There were flowers everywhere. There was a High Board, and below it a dozen trestles were set. All the tables were covered in a fine white linen edged in golden lace. Gold candelabra decorated with flowering vines were set at intervals along the tables. The guests ate upon silver plates with silver cutlery. They drank from silver goblets. Liveried servants stood behind each guest. Kaliq, invisible except to his brothers, sat on the very end of a bench. Eskil had spread his robes over it so no one else would attempt to sit there. Light music was being played by musicians in a gallery above the hall where the feast was being held.

There was a flourish of trumpets, and the doors of the hall opened to reveal the Lord High Ruler of Hetar. He was garbed in a black and gold robe, its wide sleeves and hem furred in golden fox fur. Upon his dark head he wore a thin circlet of gold studded with small gemstones. He led by the hand a beautiful young woman in a gold and white silk brocade gown with flowing sleeves, and a low square neckline that revealed her pretty round breasts. Her long flowing hair looked as if it were of spun gold. Upon the third finger of her left hand all could see a heavy red-gold marriage ring.

A gasp arose from those assembled, for they had only been told they were invited to a great feast to celebrate a most special occasion. There had been rumors that Jonah would be quickly taking a new wife so some had thought it would be a bethrothal feast, and they wondered who the woman would be. Others thought perhaps that Jonah was giving a final feast to commemorate the life of the Lady Vilia. Her family had been quite certain of it. Now that they saw the young woman the Lord High Ruler led in so proudly they knew that they were wrong. And the marriage ring on her finger hinted at something else entirely, especially with Lady Farah following the couple and looking most smug.

They mounted the dais, and stood at their places at the High Board. The room grew silent with anticipation. It was at that moment Prince Kaliq chose to walk quietly from the bench where he had been seated and into the line of vision of Zagiri. Her green eyes widened slightly but she quickly realized that no one else could see the prince, and so she held her peace as Jonah began to speak.

“Good friends,” he said. “Several days ago I lost my beloved wife, Vilia, to death. Vilia was a good wife, a model of perfection. And so it was before she died she chose for me my new wife. I introduce to you Princess Zagiri of Terah.” Jonah drew the girl forward. “My bride. She is the daughter of our late friend Magnus Hauk, Dominus of Terah, and his wife, Lara, daughter of our own John Swiftsword. Her brother now rules in Terah, guided by the wisdom of his mother. Good friends, please greet Princess Zagiri, the First Lady of Hetar.”

A great cheer arose from those assembled, and they clapped wildly as Zagiri stood before them. The girl with a proud smile on her lovely face stared out into the crowd of guests, but her eyes focused briefly upon Prince Kaliq, who stood leaning against one of the marble pillars of the hall, an amused smile upon his face. What was he doing here? Why could no one else but her see him? She looked away, not daring to say anything to Jonah. If Kaliq wanted to speak to her he would find an opportunity. Then suddenly everyone in the hall froze before Zagiri’s startled eyes.

“What have you done, you foolish girl?” Kaliq asked her as he came forward.

“I have married a great ruler,” Zagiri said defiantly. “What is so wrong with that, my lord Prince? Jonah is a wonderful man, and I am proud to be his wife.”

“Your mother forbade this alliance, and yet you dared to go against her will,” the prince said sternly. “And just how did you get to Hetar?”

Zagiri laughed. “I was brought across the Dream Plain, my lord Prince. You and my mother aren’t the only ones to have magic.”

Kaliq shook his head at her. “You are such a mortal, Zagiri. You have no real idea what lives in the realm of magic. Or the power that some of us command. You think because you have grown up with a faerie mother, because your grandmother Ilona comes and goes in a puff of smoke that that is all there is of magic. Ask yourself why Jonah wanted you for a wife. Why he was so desperate to bring you to Hetar with all possible haste. Ask him if you dare.”

“Jonah loves me,” Zagiri said. “He calls me his golden girl, and says I will bring peace to Hetar,” the girl declared.

“Where is there discord in Hetar that peace is necessary? Hetar is at peace because the Dark Lands are tamed for the interim, and Terah wants nothing to do with Hetar,” Prince Kaliq said scornfully. “Jonah wants you for his wife because you bring him prestige and honor among his own people. And those people have become restless of late. It is said that the Hierarch’s coming is imminent. Jonah does not want to solve Hetar’s problems. He wants to distract the people so they will forget the problems that beset this land. What better distraction than a beautiful princess for a wife?”

“You are wrong!” Zagiri cried. “Lady Vilia chose me to follow in her footsteps, and Jonah fell in love with me at first sight.”

“Lady Vilia had to die because Jonah could not put such an openly loyal wife aside if he was to take you as a wife,” Prince Kaliq said.

“Lady Vilia died to save her child,” Zagiri told him. “I caught her essence in a bottle, and fed it to her son, Egon, who has for months been sickening. Within two days he was well again, my lord Prince! That good woman died so her child might live. And she picked a wife for Jonah who would follow in her footsteps. No matter what you say I will defend my husband, and stand by his side. I love him! Tell my mother that! Tell her I shall never return to Terah! That I rule a greater land than she does by the side of a husband who loves me!”

And Prince Kaliq was suddenly gone, and the hall noisy with congratulations again. Jonah looked down at his new wife and smiled. Zagiri smiled back at him. She was First Lady of Hetar now. She would not allow anyone to take that or this man away from her. Not all the magic in the world would part them.

LARA WEPT WHEN KALIQ returned and spoke with her. “She is not enchanted,” he said. “She knows exactly what she wants, and she knows what she is doing. What I want to know is who brought her across the Dream Plain, and I mean to find out. There is dark magic at work here, my love.”