Dasras unfolded his great white wings and took to the skies above. “Where should we go?” he asked her. “And if he is concerned by your condition I must tell you that I agree with him. A mare in foal should be treated carefully.”

Lara sniffed irritably at him. “Just fly up the fjord,” she instructed him. “No! Take me to the Temple of the Daughters of the Great Creator. I shall visit with Kemina.”

“Perhaps the high priestess can talk some sense into you,” Dasras muttered.

“You are becoming a worse old woman than Magnus,” Lara snapped at him.

The great golden stallion said nothing more. When they were within a few miles of the temple Dasras touched down as was his custom and galloped the remainder of the way, finally trotting into the courtyard where a young priestess came forward to take his bridle as he came to a stop. The bell announcing visitors was already being rung to herald her arrival. Recognizing the horse and its rider, the priestess bowed as Lara slid from Dasras’s back.

“Where is Lady Kemina?” she asked.

“You will find her in the small garden of her house, my lady Domina,” the young priestess said to Lara.

With a nod of thanks Lara hurried off to find the high priestess while Dasras was led off to be fed and watered.

Kemina had heard the visitor’s bell and was already coming from her garden to greet Lara. Her deep blue eyes were welcoming as the two women embraced. Setting Lara back, she looked at her sharply. “You are with child,” she said.

“I am giving Magnus his son,” Lara told her.

“How lovely of you to come and tell me yourself,” Kemina replied. “I suppose the Dominus is behaving like a perfect fool, attempting to keep you encased in cotton wool,” she chuckled. “I know how you dislike it when he treats you like a child.”

Lara laughed. “I had to get away from him or this babe would have been fatherless,” she admitted. “May I remain with you for a few days?”

“Does he know where you are?” Kemina asked softly.

“Nay,” Lara answered. “I simply went to the stables, saddled Dasras myself and came. It is not like this is my first child, Kemina, yet he persists in behaving like I am some fragile creature who will shatter if breathed upon.”

“But it is more than that,” Kemina noted wisely.

“Is it that obvious?” Lara said.

Kemina smiled. “Aye, it is. What else has he done?”

“He thinks because the forces of the Twilight Lord have been beaten back that all is well. He thinks that everything is now back to the way it was, but of course it isn’t! He actually believes that we will never have to be bothered with Hetar again because an ocean separates us. He has said nothing about my slaying the Wolfyn commander, Hrolleif. You would think the battle between us had never happened, Kemina.”

“Come and sit with me in my garden,” Kemina said and she took Lara by the hand to lead her to a comfortable chair. “The lavender and the camomile are very soothing today as their fragrances are being released in the warmth. Soon it will be autumn again. I do love the autumn.” She sat in a chair opposite Lara. “My child, have you considered that this battle you fought with the Wolfyn commander frightened Magnus? He is Terahn in his heart and soul, and until you came into his life neither he nor any male born in Terahn had ever heard the sound of a woman’s voice. Women were thought to be helpless and so in need of protection that few ever even left their own homes. But you lifted Usi’s curse and now women are once again beginning to regain the place they once held in our society. But Terahn women were never warriors. I can but imagine his fear when you took on the Wolfyn, Lara.”

“But I am a warrior without peer,” she said. “The Shadow Princes taught me to fight, Kemina. And with Andraste in my hands I fear no one and certainly not death. The Wolfyn commander was more bluster than skill.”

Kemina laughed. “You are a beautiful creature, and although I know the Dominus understands your power on one level, seeing his delicate wife battling a great vicious creature with a wolf’s head must have frightened him to death. He does not discuss it because he can’t without wanting to shout at you for taking such a chance, especially when you are carrying his son,” Kemina explained. “Please do not be angry with him over it, Lara. He loves you so deeply.”

“He loves the delicate golden creature,” Lara replied. “I am more than that and I cannot be what I am not. I will never be content to sit quietly at my loom while my children play about my feet, Kemina. I yet have a destiny unfulfilled.”

“What more can you do, my child, that you have not already done?” the high priestess wondered. “You have lifted a terrible curse from us, vanquished the shade of an evil sorcerer, saved the people of the Outland nation from annihilation and found them a new home. You have prevented a terrible war from destroying Hetar and kept it from our shores entirely. I am certain the Great Creator is more than satisfied with you, Lara.”

“There is more to do,” Lara told her. “What, I do not yet know. But I know I have not completed all that it is meant that I do.”

Kemina shook her snow-white head in wonderment. “It seems to me that a great deal of responsibility has been loaded upon your shoulders,” she said. “Let me suggest that you forget about your destiny until it calls to you once again, Lara. Just enjoy the good life you have been given. Your husband. Your children. Your home and the child that is to come in a few months. You have done this before. You need not stand guard awaiting your destiny’s next call.”

Lara sighed. “You are right,” she said. “These last months have been so frenzied I have forgotten how to enjoy my life.”

The high priestess took Lara’s slim hand in her own. “I understand how the responsibility that we bear for others can do that, my child.”

Lara laughed now. “Aye, I imagine that you can, Kemina. Now I know I was right in coming to the temple. A few days of prayer and meditation with you and your priestesses will soothe and calm my frantic spirit.”

“We will send a faerie post to Magnus so he knows where you are,” Kemina said.

The Dominus was not happy that his wife had taken Dasras and gone off without telling him. But as he read the high priestess’s message his irritation eased. He remembered his faerie wife’s independent spirit. He could never confine it and he had to remember that she was not a frail creature who needed his protection. She was a strong woman, and while he wasn’t certain that he would ever get used to having such a wife he knew he loved her beyond all else. And so he would learn to be content.

When Lara returned from the temple several days later, her restless spirit seemed to have quieted. When he saw her coming from the stables he held out his arms to her and without any hesitation she walked straight into them. “I missed you, my lord,” she told him.

“I missed you more,” he told her softly, kissing her brow.

“Then perhaps, Magnus,” she murmured low, “we should find a quiet place and there you can show me just how much you missed me.” Her fingers brushed his groin.

“Can we…” he began. But he was already hard for her.

“I would not say it if we couldn’t,” Lara told him as her tongue traced the shape of his ear both inside and out. “I have a great longing for you, my lord. Surely you would not deny the woman who will give you your son.” Her hand slipped beneath his long gown and she cupped him in her warm palm a brief moment before stroking his manhood. Her slender fingers slid the length of him, once, twice, a third time.

The Dominus let a hiss of excitement escape him. “You are a shameless faerie woman,” he told her. His lust for her was boiling. His heart beat rapidly.

“I am joyously shameless with you, my lord,” she whispered hotly in the ear she had been teasing so delicately. “And you are eager for me, I can see. Let us find our bed, for it is past time we indulged our senses in each other.”

In the great bedchamber they now shared they quickly shed their garments and tumbled into the bed. She smelled of flowers and fresh air and horse. He told her so, and laughed when she said she would bathe if it offended him. “Nay, sweeting,” he told her. “I am not going to let you go until I have explored every delicious inch of you.” And he proceeded to do just that. His hands, his tongue, his lips touched and tasted and kissed her until Lara was dizzy with sensation. His mouth closed over one breast, his teeth gently scoring her nipple as he licked and tenderly suckled. Lara screamed softly with the pleasure-pain his lips gave her tender breasts.

She pushed him onto his back and straddled him so she might taste and tease his nipples. She bit them gently and then licked away any pain she might have given him. Her kisses covered his long torso. How many times had she made love to him, and yet she never grew tired of his body. She slid down him, taking his manhood into her hand, and forcing a groan from him. Slowly, slowly she licked up one side of him and slowly, slowly she licked down the other side. The taste of him was unique and she loved it. She licked provocatively at his seed sac, taking it into her mouth, swirling her tongue about it. Then her lips closed over his length and she sucked strongly, drawing it deeply into her mouth.

Magnus Hauk groaned as he felt her tongue swirling about his manhood. He was near to bursting but he forced his hunger down. “Let me go now, my love. The pleasures between us will be greater if I am buried deep within you, feeling the walls of your hot sheath enclosing me.” And when she released him, kissing the tip of his manhood, he pulled her so that she sat upon his trunk. From his own half-seated position he kissed her slowly as his hand pushed between her nether lips so he might push two fingers into her heated wetness. He moved those fingers slowly, withdrawing and thrusting, until she gave a little cry of pleasure. His mouth never left hers as he played between her nether lips, but then he realized that they both needed more. His hands gently fastening about her waist, he lifted her up and set her down upon his manhood.