“You sent for me?” asked the strong and athletic Lord Knight Healer Liam, kneeling before Lady Abbess Cara in front of the low altitude shuttle prepared for her. At his right thigh hung his Ten-Arian schlager sword, a one-handed civilian sword with a civilized edge carefully weighted to balance perfectly in the palm of its knight. Curly black hair rippled down the knight’s head, a circlet of Beinarian silver with a single Beinarian star sapphire at its center sparkled regally. A Ten-Arian crimson heraldic cloak draped over Liam’s body as naturally as it did twenty yen-ars ago when Liam took his vows elevating him to knighthood.
Pleased by the sight, Lady Cara raised his chin, compelling him to meet her eyes, “Thank you for honoring my request, lord knight.”
“I am at your service if you will have me.”
“Will you swear to serve me, Lord Knight Liam as my knight-protector?”
“All that I have, all that I am, is yours to command.”
“And if I should command you to my bed against the vows to the king he compels me to take?”
“A vow under compulsion is no vow, Your Excellency. The law may call you his wife, Your Excellency – but if your heart should fall on another of any house or even me, I vow to enforce the choice of your heart – not the lechery of this tyrant.”
“I thank you. Rise now, lord knight, and serve me as best you may.”
Lord Liam rose ceremoniously, kissing her hand at first, but then kissing her lips, “With this kiss I vow myself to you – from this beinor until death.”
At the kiss, Cara found her breath taken away for a xiao-shir before returning the kiss, “I receive your service – from this beinor until death let our fates be bound together.”
The Lost Tales Page 9
