“Duke Aelric?”
The elf duke nodded. “The same.” Then he smiled and stepped aside to reveal another elf standing behind him.
“And this is Lisella.”
She was nearly as tall as Aelric and her skin as milk-fair. But her hair was black and glossy as a raven’s wing where Aelric’s was snow white and her eyes were green as emeralds rather than icy blue. Her gown was old rose with a subtle embroidery of deeper red. Her figure was slender and elegant.
Wiz gulped and bowed clumsily.
“I discovered you were in the area and thought you might do us the honor of dining with us this evening,” Aelric said. He looked around the rock shelter. “Perhaps you would care to guest the night with me as well.”
“Why, uh, yes,” Wiz said, managing to tear his eyes away from the elf duke’s companion. “Thank you, Lord.”
“Well, then,” Aelric said. “If you would care to accompany us. And your friends, of course.”
The brownies had dived for cover as soon as Aelric appeared. Now they poked their heads out from behind rocks or from the crevices where they had gone to earth.
“Come on,” Wiz said. “He won’t hurt you.”
Reluctantly the brownies came out and gathered tight around Wiz. Lannach wasn’t clinging to his pant leg, but Wiz got the feeling he wanted to.
“Shall we go?”
Aelric and Lisella strode to the back of the shelter and the elf duke made a gesture to the blank stone. Soundlessly the rock dissolved and there was an oak door, magnificently carved and bound with silver. The door swung open and warm golden light flooded out.
Wiz had no idea where he was in the Wild Wood, but he was pretty sure he was a long way from where he and Moira had entered the elf duke’s hold the first time they met.
Time and space run strangely in places the elves make their own, Moira had told him then. He shrugged and followed Aelric and Lisella into the hill with a gaggle of brownies close on his heels.
Once again Wiz sat in Aelric’s great dining hall. The magical globes floating above the table cast the same warm light onto the scene. The food was as superb as it had been before and the soft music in the background was as enchanting.
But there were differences. The last time he and Moira had been fugitives, snatched from the pursuing army of the Dark League by Aelric’s whim. Now Moira was somewhere else and Wiz was . . . what?
And beyond that there was Lisella.
In the warm glow of the magic lights she was even more beautiful than she had been beneath the moon. Her presence reminded Wiz that before he met Moira he had been attracted to tall slender brunettes.
From time to time their eyes met across the table. Lisella looked at Wiz with a kind of intent interest that both stirred him and reminded him uncomfortably of the way a cat regards a baby bird it can’t decide if it wants to play with or eat immediately.
Although Aelric and Lisella were careful to include Wiz in the conversation, he had the distinct feeling that he was missing most of what was actually being said. They were playing some kind of game, he decided, some elaborate elven game with malice at its heart. Whatever these two were they were definitely not lovers.
Throughout dinner Aelric had kept up an easy conversation on inconsequential topics. Wiz had sensed that his host did not want to discuss serious matters, and still in awe of the elf duke, he had likewise avoided them. Finally, as light-footed servants placed bowls of nuts and decanters of wine on the damask-covered table, Lisella rose.
“Alas, My Lords, the hour grows late.” She curtseyed to Aelric. “If you will excuse me?”
Aelric stood up and Wiz followed suit. “Of course, My Lady.” He bowed and kissed her extended hand.
Then she turned to Wiz and fixed her green eyes on his. “Perhaps we shall meet again,” she said softly and with a rustle of her brocaded gown she was gone.
“Remarkable, is she not?” Duke Aelric said. Wiz realized he was gaping and made a determined effort to shut his mouth. Aelric sat down and Wiz followed suit.