Lara’s dread mounted the closer she and Sha’ul drew to her father’s house. Telling Ariana of her departure would be almost as painful as leaving Sha’ul. She pressed her body closer against his for warmth and comfort, squeezing his arm as they made their way up the craggy rise to Karan-Ver longhouse. Ariana loved Lara almost as if she had given birth to her. And Lara, in turn, had come to love her stepmother with her whole heart. She would never forget the first moment in the haram quarters of the palace when Ariana, disguised as a Sinayan bed-slave, burst into her cubicle and saved her from being ravaged by a fellow slave. Ariana had risked her own life to help Lara escape so that the young woman would never know the pain and suffering of bed-slavery. For that rescue, she would do anything
