Bertrice Small - The Shadow Queen

Now it was Cam who wore a surprised look upon his handsome face. “But last summer you fell in love with me,” he said.

Anoush laughed. “Nay, Cam, I have never been in love, and I could certainly never fall in love with the man whose parents were responsible for my father’s death,” she said. “Are you mad, then, to think such a thing?”

Cam turned briefly from Anoush. His blue eyes fastened upon Lara. “You have made her forget me!” he shouted.

“Nay, nephew, I did not,” Lara replied. She rose now from her place at the High Board, and came to stand by her daughter’s side. “For your aid in pushing back the darkness I promised you land and cattle.”

“You promised me Anoush, too!” he cried angrily.

“I said you could ask my daughter to wed with you, and if it pleased her I would agree,” Lara responded.

“You have tricked me!” Cam said furiously. “Well, Aunt, if I cannot have Anoush no other man shall have her!” And he drew his dagger from its place on his waist, leaping forward, his arm raised for the attack.

Lara quickly pushed Anoush behind her even as she drew Andraste from the scabbard on her back, taking a defensive position, her sword before her. “Leave this hall, Cam!” she ordered him. “Leave it, and all will be well.” She jumped back as he leaped forward, his dagger lashing out at her, tearing her shirtsleeve, scratching her arm.

Andraste began to sing in her deep voice. I am Andraste, and I will drink your blood, oh son of Adon the slayer!

Cam was not deterred. “Kill me if you can, faerie woman,” he shouted. “If I do not kill you first!”

Lara felt a wave of dizziness sweep over her as a stinging pain began to burn her arm where he had cut it. The knife was tainted, she realized. “He has poisoned me, Kaliq!” And then with a burst of faerie strength she raised her sword, and with a single swift stroke sliced Cam in two from his head to his groin. The twin halves fell apart even as Lara crumbled to the floor.

The Shadow Prince jumped forward, gathering the unconscious Lara into his arms. He disappeared before Anoush’s wide, terrified eyes, reappearing in Shunnar shouting for his fellow princes to come at once. “Poison!” he cried to them.

At once the one called Nasim stepped forward. He lifted Lara’s arms, sniffed and then quickly tied the arm at either end of the wound with silk cords he drew from the air. Then he began to press firmly upon the wound. Dark matter spewed forth, followed by a bilious green, and finally a clear fluid that preceeded her pale lavender-red faerie blood. Nasim sighed with relief, as did the other Shadow Princes surrounding them. Then he dressed the wound. “She will live, Kaliq, but she will be weak for some days to come. It was the right arm, praise the Creator! Had it been the left the poison would have reached her heart before I could stop it.”

“What happened?” Prince Eskil asked anxiously.

Kaliq told them. “She and Andraste killed her attacker,” Kaliq said.

“I trained her well,” Prince Lothair, who had once been Lara’s sword master said proudly.

“Take Lara to her chamber,” Kaliq said to no one in particular. “I must return and reassure Anoush her mother is all right. And there is the matter of a body to dispose of, as well, I fear.” He immediately disappeared, reappearing in Anoush’s little hall.

The girl still stood in shocked silence. She turned, wide-eyed, to the prince.

“Your mother will live,” Kaliq said.

Anoush relaxed visibly. Then she said, “What on earth ever made Cam think I would marry him, my lord? As a child we were friends briefly, but it was nothing more than that for me.”

“Your mother promised him land, cattle and a house in return for his aid. He gave it to us, and performed well,” Prince Kaliq said. “And he did indeed ask her in my presence if he might have you to wife. Your mother told him such a decision was yours alone to make, but if he asked, and you agreed, she would not stand in the way. I realize now he didn’t fully understand what she meant.”

Anoush nodded. Then she said, looking down, “I wonder if we shall ever be able to get the blood out of the stone, my lord.” Her head came up again. “Give my mother my love, my lord. I will come to see her soon.”

“She is in Shunnar,” he said, and then disappeared from her sight.

He had transported himself directly to Lara’s chamber in his palace. Drawing up a chair, he sat by her bedside for the next few hours. She was paler than usual, but her breathing was even and steady, to his relief. And then to his great joy her dark eyelashes fluttered, and she opened her green eyes to meet his ardent gaze. Kaliq caught her small hand in his two big ones, and, bringing it to his lips, kissed it fervently. “Nasim says you will be all right. He got the poison out in time,” he told her. “It will take you several weeks to recover, however, and you are going to remain here in Shunnar. I will send word to Terah so the young Dominus will not worry. You can trust Corrado to guide him in your absense, my love.” He kissed her hand again.

“Where is Andraste?” Lara said weakly.

“She didn’t leave your hand until I got you here,” he said. “She is with Lothair for the interim. She needs honing, for slicing Cam through dulled her. Lara, you cannot leave Shunnar right now. You are weak. You need to be taken care of until you are strong again. You cannot go!” Kaliq told her.

Lara’s eyes grew misty. He was crushing her hand, but she would say nothing, for the concern on his handsome face, the desperate love in his eyes told her all she would ever need to know about him. He did indeed love her. She would never doubt it again. “Oh, my dear lord,” Lara said. “You will not so easily get rid of me this time, Kaliq. Not this time!”

Not ever! the Shadow Prince told her in their silent magic language. But then he spoke the words aloud as if to reiterate them. “Not ever, Lara, my love. Not ever!”