LITMIR.BIZ

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Anoush asked.

       Lara shook her head. “Nay, but I feel no animosity toward her. I feel pity.”

       Then Lara reached out and took her daughter’s little hand. “Have you understood all I have told you? Is there more you would ask me or tell me?”

       “I understand, I think,” Anoush replied. “My faerie grandmother frightens me, Mother. When she comes to visit she is more interested in Dillon than she is in me, and she shoos me away. Dillon says it is her way and I must not be offended.”

       “How typical of Ilona,” Lara murmured, almost to herself. Then she said, “Faeries can have cold hearts, my daughter. She means you no ill, but Dillon’s talents intrigue her. Did you know that I did not know her until I was grown? But that is a story for another time, I think. You will be relieved to know that your stepfather is all mortal. He will love you because he loves me, Anoush. Be kind to him, please.”

       “What will I do at the castle?” Anoush was clearly fascinated now.

       “You will have lessons as you do here. You will ride your own horse by the sea, and I will teach you to care for your very own garden. At night I will tell you stories before you sleep and then I will kiss you so you may have sweet dreams,” Lara said.

       “I am still angry at you, and I have many more questions,” Anoush said frankly.

       “I do not expect to win your heart back in an afternoon,” Lara told her child. “Just know that I love you and that all I have done is for you and Dillon and for your safety.”

       Anoush nodded. “May I go back to Grandmother’s now?” she said.

       “Nay,” Lara told her daughter. “I will not allow you to ever enter Bera’s house again, Anoush. You must be freed from her poisonous ravings.”

       Anoush’s eyes grew dark with her annoyance, but then she said, “What am I to do if I must remain here?”

       “Perhaps you might go to Noss, and give her your apologies for being so unkind to her these past weeks. She really does love you and she has taken such great care of you and your brother when I could not,” Lara said.

       “Will I get to play with Cam again?” she asked.

       “I don’t think so,” Lara responded. “He is not a good influence on you, Anoush. He has embroidered on his grandmother’s fantasies, I suspect, which was very cruel. Do you understand what they were doing? Bera and Cam were trying to lure you from those who love you. Why would they do that?”

       Anoush swung her legs back and forth as she thought. “I don’t know,” she finally said.

       “Nor do I,” Lara replied. “But it was wicked nonetheless, Anoush.” Of course she knew, Lara thought. While Adon had killed his brother and somewhere deep in her mind Bera knew it, she could nevertheless forgive him. But she could never forgive Lara for slaying her surviving son. Elin had meant naught to her, but Adon had been her baby and Lara had killed him. Deep within, Bera sought to have her revenge—what better way than to destroy Lara’s daughter who was young and impressionable? Dillon was safe from his grandmother for Bera could not reach into his heart and soul and twist them as she had twisted Anoush’s trusting little heart. If she knew the power I have gained these past years, the old woman would be truly afraid, Lara thought.

       “May I go now and tell Noss that I am sorry, Mother?” Anoush said.

       “Give me a kiss first, my daughter,” Lara said, wrapping her arms about the child and hugging her. “I will try not to leave you again, Anoush, but know wherever I am that I love you with all of my heart.” She kissed her daughter’s cheek as Anoush rose from her seat and then, giving her a little push, sent her off to find Noss.

       Dillon appeared from out of the afternoon shadows and came to sit at Lara’s feet.

       “How much did you hear?” Lara asked her son.

       “Only the end,” he said. “Do not be lulled by her acquiescence, Mother. Anoush is a very willful girl. It is not Grandmother you need worry about—it is Cam. He will not like it that she is no longer available to him. When I found them today, they were in the grass and my cousin had his hand on my sister’s in a most proprietary manner.”

       “I think Cam must be sent to our Sholeh in New Rivalen,” Lara answered her son calmly. “He is old enough to work in the fields until it is time for the Gathering. I had intended to remain in the New Outlands until after it concluded, but I think now I must take you both home sooner. Bera may protest the loss of Cam at first but then she will be silent. I shall ask this of Liam when he comes home today. You will tell him what you saw and he will do this for me. Where is Zagiri?”

       “She fell asleep and so Noss laid her down for a nap,” the boy answered.

       “Have you released Dasras into the meadows?”

       “Aye, and he immediately found Sakiri and their latest foal,” Dillon said.

       “After he has sated himself with her company he will fly off to the Aghy,” Lara chuckled. “He is of a mind to visit Roan’s new young mares.”

       “His offspring have increased the stamina and beauty of the Horse Lord’s herds,” Dillon remarked. “Will I like Terah, Mother?”

       “It will be different for you,” Lara said, “but aye, I believe you will like it. And there is so much that you can learn. You will need to know everything that you can absorb, Dillon, before you go to Prince Kaliq to study the magical arts. I am frankly surprised by your talents, my son, for you are but a quarter faerie.”

       “I don’t know if what I possess is so much magic as it is intuitiveness. I see things that others do not, Mother. And I sense things, too—like I knew you were coming today. You had sent no faerie post, but I knew.”

       “This is a great gift, Dillon,” his mother said. “And Kaliq will help you to refine your gift and use it for the good.”

       “Anoush has a gift, too, Mother,” Dillon told her.

       “Does she?” Lara was surprised. “And what is it, my son?”

       “She is clever with plants and herbs. It is not magic of course, but I believe if her interest continues she might become an excellent healer,” the boy said.

       “I offered her a garden,” Lara replied thoughtfully. “She seemed pleased by the notion she might have one of her own. Thank you, Dillon. This will be the means by which I win her back and bind her to the light.”

       “I am so glad that you have come, Mother,” he told her.

       Liam, lord of the Fiacre, came now from the kitchen. “Welcome, Domina,” he greeted her with a smile. He was holding a pitcher in one hand and refilled her cup with frine as he sat down to join her, sipping from his own cup. “Noss tells me you would take your children with you when you return home. We will miss them.”

       “I will return them to the Fiacre each summer, and if they choose they may remain through the Gathering time,” Lara responded. “But it is now time for them to be with Magnus and me. They both know their parentage and their history.”

       He nodded in understanding. “The children of Vartan will always be welcome here among their Fiacre kinsmen and women.”

       Reaching down, Lara drew her son to his feet. “Go and stay with your sisters, for I must speak with Liam privately,” she told him and Dillon immediately left them.

       “What is it?” Liam asked her. “Is there trouble coming of some sort?”

       Lara laughed. “Nay, not any of which I am aware. I need a favor from you, lord of the Fiacre. I want to send Cam away while I am here with my children. Both he and Bera have been filling Anoush’s little head with all manner of lies. Had I not come when I did today they might very well have stolen my daughter and dragged her into their dark world. Once the children are in Terah, neither Bera nor Cam can harm them.

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