tapestry.
Lara magicked herself back to her apartments. She could hear Zagiri sobbing bitterly, and crying for her as she entered her dayroom. “What are you howling about, Zagiri?” Lara asked although she already knew. Still, Zagiri could be very dramatic when she chose to be, and that was usually when she was not getting something she wanted or thought she wanted.
“Taj said I was to be Queen of Hetar, and now he says I can’t,” Zagiri cried, flinging herself at her mother.
“Hetar has no queen, my darling,” Lara told her as she disengaged her daughter from her person.
“The Lord High Ruler’s wife isn’t his queen?” Zagiri said, surprised.
“She is his wife. Nothing more,” Lara informed her daughter dryly. “And Jonah has a wife who still lives. It would be considered in very bad taste to announce a betrothal while Lady Vilia yet breathes. Besides, Jonah is much older than you are, Zagiri. He wants an alliance with Terah because he stands in danger of losing his throne at the moment. He thinks if he marries you I will use my magic to help him keep that throne. He had no interest in you at all. I want you to wed a man who will love you, and whom you can love. Taj was foolish to tell you he was planning a match with Hetar’s current ruler. He did not understand the entire situation, I fear. Now he does. We will decline Hetar’s offer for your hand, my golden girl. Even your grandmother was distressed to think you might be sent from us. She has begged me not to do it. A request I find easy to accede to, Zagiri. Now dry your eyes. We have already begun a search for a proper mate for you, my darling.”
“I would have liked to be a queen,” Zagiri said slowly, “but I should prefer to be loved, Mother.” The tears were suddenly gone. “I want a man who will love me as Father loved you. Do you think there is such a man out there for me?”
“We shall look for him, Zagiri, but you will know him when you meet him,” Lara promised her daughter.
“Marzina said I was foolish to weep over not being able to marry a man I had never met,” Zagiri informed her mother. “Sometimes Marzina is wiser than I am.”
“Aye, your little sister has good instincts,” Lara agreed.
“Will you find a husband for her one day, Mother?” Zagiri asked.
“Marzina has magic about her,” Lara said slowly. “It takes a special man to love a woman who is magic. Magical women are not easy.”
“Father thought you were wonderful, perfect,” Zagiri answered.
He hadn’t really, Lara thought to herself, but he had been a patient man, for Magnus Hauk had loved her totally and completely. How can I do all this without you, Magnus? She spoke to him in her head and heart once again. I miss you so much. “I am not perfect, Zagiri, and your father knew it. He just loved me, and that is what I want for you, my golden girl. I don’t want a marriage of convenience for you, or for dynastic purposes. I want you to be loved, and to love. When you find a man who can do that, then you will marry. And marry happily. And unless I give you permission to wed, Zagiri, you cannot. Remember that, my daughter.”
“I will, Mother,” Zagiri promised.
CHAPTER FOUR
“T HEY HAVE REFUSED us!” Jonah, Lord High Ruler of Hetar, was not pleased. Angrily he held out the parchment to Vilia, almost shaking it in her pale face.
She took it from him, and read the contents, frowning. “The boy was eager for the match I am told,” she said slowly. “It is obvious now that he is not as much in charge as I believed. Nor is his council it would appear.”
“Then it is the faerie woman who rules!” Jonah said. “Has she managed to spread her seditious movement to Terah?”
“Terah would never accept a woman ruler,” Vilia replied. “She manipulates the boy from behind his throne. Any mother in her position would do so. Do you think Egon could rule Hetar by himself if you were gone, my love? I would certainly be behind my son’s
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