Crown of Destiny by Bertrice Small Read Free Book Online Page A

the beast and giving his velvety nose a rub. She then hurried to find Cadi.
    Her serving woman was clearing away the dishes. She looked up, smiling. "Are we ready?" she asked. Cadi waggled her fingers and the dirty dishes disappeared.
    Lara nodded, then she called, "Kaliq, we are going now."
    He was immediately at her side, his arm about her supple waist, drawing her close. "Do not linger long, my love," he said, brushing her lips softly with his own.
    Reaching up, Lara caressed his strong jaw. "I won't," she promised.
    Smiling into her faerie green eyes, the Shadow Prince released her.
    With a wave of her hand Lara opened the Golden tunnel that magic folk often used to transport themselves from one place to another. Then she and Cadi hurried through into the swirl. It closed behind them as they moved along, shutting entirely as they exited into the small windowless room that Lara had always used for her magic. Lara looked about her then turned to Cadi. "Pack this room up and send it to Shunnar. Then join me in my apartments," she instructed her serving woman.
    As she departed the little chamber, she heard Cadi already murmuring the spells that would render the space empty as it had not been in over one hundred and twenty years. She realized that she felt no sadness in this at all and smiled a small smile. Encountering a guardsman on her way to her apartments, she asked him, "Is Prince Amren still in the castle?"
    "He is, my lady."
    "Tell him his grandmother would see him in her apartments," Lara told the man.
    To his credit the man-at-arms bowed politely. "At once, my lady," he replied.
    Lara gave him a smile and moved quickly by him, finally reaching her apartments. They were empty, for only Cadi served Lara now. The faerie woman looked about her. Everything was in order, neat and clean, but the sensation of love, of life, was no longer there. She shook her head. Aye. 'Twas past time she left Terah. The memories here had long ago faded, leaving in their place a melancholy. Why hadn't she noticed it until now?
    Then she sensed an approach and turned quickly, even as the door to her apartments opened, and her grandson Prince Amren entered. "Come in, my lord," she invited him pleasantly. "Sit down. We must speak on matters that concern you." Going to a painted sideboard Lara poured a goblet of dark red wine for her grandson and another for herself. Handing it to him, she sat down opposite Amren.
    "What matters?" he asked her, taking the goblet with a nod of thanks.
    "The Dominus Cadarn plans to dismiss you, and replace you with his brother, Prince Cadoc," Lara said bluntly.
    "How can you know this?" Amren demanded, surprised.
    Lara raised a delicate dark eyebrow. "Really, my lord, how can you even ask such a question of me?" she replied. "Do you think because you have been raised to fear me and ignore what I am that my powers are lessened to any degree? When something concerns me, I make it my business to know what I must."
    "You must be mistaken, Grandmother," he said, but he did not sound very sure. "I have served Terah well since my youth."
    "Aye, Amren, you have. Both your father and your grandfather would be most proud of your devotion to your duty to Terah." He was still a handsome man, Lara thought. How old was he now? Seventy? Aye, seventy.
    Her words pleased him well, she could see, but then he asked her, "And are you proud of me, Grandmother?"
    Lara laughed. "I suppose I am in my own way, Amren," she told him.
    "What do you want then of me?" he asked her candidly.
    Lara laughed again. "How Hetarian you have become," she said, "but of course you are right. A favor for a favor, eh, Amren?"
    And now he chuckled. "'Tis the Hetarian way," he agreed, "and the truth is I have spent most of my life in Hetar. My wife is Hetarian, and our children."
    "Will you remain in Hetar when the Dominus dismisses you?" she wanted to know. "You have a home in The City, and one in the province of the Outlands. I doubt your wife would enjoy