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Authors: Bertrice Small

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And then Lara felt another Shadow Prince straddling the couch behind her, and reaching around to cup her breasts in his hands. Leaning her head back, she saw Prince Nasim's smiling face, and she smiled back. His hands skillfully played with her nipples sending shivers of pure lust through her. Kaliq's mouth was on her jewel, licking gently at first, then sucking and sucking on her until between the two men her desire was beginning to blaze high.

Kaliq pulled himself up, his lover's rod visible to her half-closed eyes. He was hard, and the lust on his face was potent. Two other princes were suddenly there, each taking one of her legs to draw them back over her shoulders so Kaliq might delve deeply. Memories of the first time they had shared pleasures at a banquet assailed her as he drove himself deep into her sheath.

"Oh yes!"
Lara breathed aloud.
"Yes!"
she encouraged him.

He rode her long, and hard, and when he had filled her with his juices, Kaliq withdrew, seating himself on the carpet next to the head of the couch. Lothair quickly took his place, filling Lara full of himself, groaning as the muscles within her sheath tightened about him, drawing his juices from him as they both screamed with their satisfaction at the encounter.

I want more!
Lara said as, kissing her, he reluctantly arose.

Lothair laughed.
And we shall give you all you desire this night, Lara. Let me but rest and I will return to give you more of myself.

She was awash in the most exquisite sensations. There was not a part of her that was not indulged by the passions of the Shadow Princes. They sucked on her fingers, her toes, her nipples and her throbbing jewel. They tenderly filled every open orifice on her body taking her singly, two at a time, and at one point she accepted three manhoods at once. And all three of the Princes released their juices in a single moment, causing Lara to swoon.

The rest of the evening was as these evenings always were, a dream of intense pleasures and sweet tenderness that left Lara gasping with her delight. The Shadow Princes generously gave her their passions, and those passions renewed her spirit, making her stronger than she had been in decades. Finally Kaliq was in her arms again, and it was just the two of them upon the wide dining couch. She caressed his face and kissed him gently.
I love you,
she told him simply as he entered her body joining them once again.
Only you, my lord Kaliq. Only you!
She saw the tears he quickly forced back just briefly fill his bright blue eyes.
Only you,
she repeated, and then let him sweep her away.

When the sun rose in the morning, the naked couples awoke slowly, pair by pair, and then arose to go off to their own private places. Lara and Kaliq sought the baths, and then he joined her in her bed to sleep. There was no sign of Cadi until they awoke in the early afternoon, and she came to say a meal was set up in the gardens for them.

"Did you enjoy the banquet?" Kaliq asked the faerie as he stepped naked from the bed. He donned the white cotton caftan with the deep blue embroidery that she handed him. "We do not have such affairs often, but your mistress needed to regain certain powers that only my brothers and I can give her."

"It was wonderful, my lord! I thank you for allowing me to come. Queen Ilona has spoken many times of your banquets. I never thought to experience one," Cadi said.

"I think you have intrigued my brother Lothair," Kaliq said mischievously.

"The sword master? I cannot deny he wields his personal weapon well," Cadi replied pithily. "I hope we will meet again."

Kaliq laughed. "I suspect your wish will be granted, Cadi," he told her. Then, turning back to the bed, he caught Lara's shoulder shaking her gently. "Wake up, sleepyhead. It's time to eat. Even a faerie woman needs more than one strength."

Lara rolled over looking up at him. "Feed me then," she responded.

"If I do you will never get up, and we need to talk, Lara, my love," he told her.

The green eyes grew wary.
"Today?"
she said.

He nodded.

"Do I not get a few days of respite, my lord?" Lara demanded to know.

"After we talk," he promised.

With a sigh Lara arose, taking the white cotton caftan with the blue embroidery from Cadi, donning it and then sitting down upon a small bench so Cadi could brush out her long tangled hair. When Cadi had braided the golden hair into a single plait, Lara joined her prince in the garden where a meal of roasted capon, saffron rice, mixed lettuces, yogurt, fruit, bread and cheese was awaiting them. Cadi filled their carved silver cups with sweet apricot-flavored frine and then disappeared from their sight.

"Eat first," Kaliq said to Lara. He took up the capon and tore it in half, taking one of the two large pieces for himself and slicing from the other what he knew Lara enjoyed. Lara filled their plates with the rest of the foods, and they ate quietly at first. Finally she could not wait any longer to learn what he had to say to her. Sensing it, he said, "Your son and his evil have begun to stir once again, my love."

Lara sighed. "Has Kolgrim rebuilt his armies then? Is he planning to reach for Hetar and Terah once again?"

"Rebuilding an army proved an impossible task," Kaliq said.

"Why? Certainly there are enough dark creatures in our world eager enough to profit from Kolgrim's greed for power and lands that they would pledge themselves to him," Lara replied. "Of course there is always the possibility of being killed in one of those little ventures the Twilight Lords so enjoy."

"The Dark Lands cannot provide Kolgrim with the armies he needs to overcome Hetar and Terah. They do not have enough women to breed soldiers upon. But when those two lands he covets combine their forces with the magic world, he has no chance at all of succeeding. Still there have been whispers of a more disturbing nature that indicate Kolgrim is planning something nefarious, Lara."

"Can he not raise up warriors full grown to battle us?" she wanted to know.

"He has tried over the last century to do just that. But he has failed, and now he considers something different. But what we do not know. That is why it was so important for you to leave Terah and return to Shunnar. Whatever it is Kolgrim seeks to do will be dangerous, for although Alfrigg has kept him in check until now, the old dwarf is probably nearing his end. Without him Kolgrim's reckless nature will erupt, I fear," Kaliq told Lara.

"Has Alfrigg not trained a replacement for himself? He very much wanted to escape the burdens he carried for Kol these last few centuries. I pushed back the years from his aged body so he might guide Kolgrim long enough to find a successor and teach him what he needed to know. It was my reward to him for his aid," Lara said, concerned.

"Kolgrim will not let him go, nor will he even hear of someone taking Alfrigg's place as his chancellor," Kaliq replied. "Prince Coilen has been visiting the Dark Lands, watching and listening. If Alfrigg dies we will have serious difficulties with Kolgrim."

"Perhaps if I pay this dark son of mine a visit I can learn what he is thinking," Lara said slowly. "He is untrustworthy, of course, but he has always liked me."

Kaliq chuckled. "I know," he said. "He is quite fascinated by you, which fascinates me. Until a century ago he did not even know who you were, but from the first moment he laid eyes upon you he felt a bond with you."

Lara sniffed derisively. "He seeks to beat me at the game we of the magic world seem to play with each other and the mortals. If he ever had a triumph over me, he would no longer be interested in me, Kaliq. He is amusing, and clever, but his heart, if indeed he has a heart, is icy cold. He is like his father. He is filled with greed for everything, and with lust for everything. But if you sense that he is about to reach out again, we must learn to what purpose," Lara remarked. "I must go into the darkness to learn what I can."

Kaliq knew better than to forbid her, so he said, "If you go then I go with you."

"Are you that fearful for my safety, my lord?" He surprised her.

"If Kolgrim is attempting some mischief, my love, then having you in his power would give him an advantage and but speed his wickedness," Kaliq said. "And he is capable of holding you captive, Lara. He will never harm you for you gave him life, and he holds fast to the family law of the Twilight Lords, which forbids the shedding of familial blood. But keeping a golden bird in a golden cage does it no harm. Remember how he tricked his twin brother, Kolbein, imprisoning him with Kol."

"I can't forget it," Lara admitted. "I am ashamed to admit that I thought it extremely clever of him."

Kaliq laughed. "It was," he said. "But it is evidence of how dangerous Kolgrim really is. If we cannot stop him, he will envelop the world of Hetar in a deep and terrible darkness from which they may never escape."

"Then we have to stop him, Kaliq," Lara said. "However we must first learn what wickedness he plans before we may take measures to prevent it."

"Let us first see what Coilen can learn," Kaliq suggested.

"Very well," Lara agreed. "But if he can learn no more than he already has, I must go into the Dark Lands myself to see what I can see."

They decided they would give the Shadow Prince known as Coilen a moonspan in which to ferret out any information that he could. But when the month had passed Coilen came to tell Kaliq and Lara that he could learn nothing. Whatever Kolgrim was planning he kept it to himself. Possibly the old chancellor, Alfrigg, knew, but he was not a man to gossip.

"There is nothing of any interest to report," Coilen said, "unless you are interested in hearing that it is said Kolgrim may take a mate. But that rumor comes up now and again. It means naught."

A chill ran down Lara's spine. "No!" she said sharply. "How long has it been since that rumor was last heard and bandied about?"

Prince Coilen thought for several long moments. "I don't think I have heard it," he said slowly, "in decades. It was spoken in the mating season after he disposed of Ciarda, and possibly a season or two afterward. But nay! I have not heard it in decades, Lara. Can it mean something?"

"Possibly," Lara answered him. "Has anyone new, anyone dark, been brought to the Twilight Lord's House of Women lately?"

Coilen shook his head. "Actually he has but few women. Many Darklanders hid their daughters after what happened in the wake of Ciarda's death."

"What exactly did happen?" Lara wanted to know.

"Kolgrim had his daughters, their mothers and any of his many women who might be with child, or were known to be with child, murdered. Then he put a spell on the remaining women closing their wombs to his seed and keeping them young. He slakes his lust with those few, but there have been no more children. It is reported he said he wanted no siblings challenging his son's right to inheritance one day."

Lara smiled grimly. "Ciarda's legacy," she said. "Had his half sister not attempted to usurp her brothers' place this would not have happened at all. Kolgrim is truly Kol's rightful heir that he could have been so heartless as to slaughter all those innocents to protect a son not even conceived by a bride not even known."

"That is the past," Kaliq said. "We must consider the present and the future."

"We will need to know if Kolgrim is truly planning a marriage for himself. Has the Book of Rule directed him to find a bride? Or has it told him the bride to seek? These are the questions we must answer before we can proceed, or even decide how to proceed," Lara told him. She felt stronger today. Stronger than she had felt in years. The Shadow Princes, in generously sharing their passions, had passed on to her a measure of their power. They did not, Lara knew, do this lightly. "I thought once," she said to Kaliq, "that my destiny was to unite Hetar's civilizations. Now I know it is to save them. But am I strong enough?"

"Only time will tell us that, my love," the Shadow Prince answered her.

4

"I AM BORED," MARZINA, THE YOUNGEST DAUGHTER of Lara, announced with a sigh. She was a very beautiful young faerie woman with long straight black hair and violet eyes. Seated by a small pool she combed her silky tresses with a mother-of-pearl comb.

"How can you be bored?" Ilona, Queen of the Forest Faeries, her grandmother, wanted to know. "There is so much to do in the forest. What happened to your lover?" Ilona was seated upon a delicately woven rug that had been laid upon the forest floor. "He was rather nicely made for a mortal. You have such a good eye, child."

"I sent him away," Marzina answered. "He was becoming as boring as my life now is, Grandmother. Perhaps I shall go home to Terah and visit my mother. I do enjoy seeing how it upsets the Dominus to have both of us in the midst of his court. I know his thoughts. He refuses to accept magic, and thinks we should both be long dead. It makes it very difficult to deny the existence of something when it is standing there in front of you." And she laughed mischievously.

Ilona laughed, too, but then she said, "Your mother has finally left Terah, and no sooner had she departed than the Dominus, her great-grandson Cadarn, began dismantling the southwest tower of the castle where she lived. I suppose he thinks if he destroys her home she cannot come back. But he will never get that tower down for each night after his workmen have left it I use my magic to rebuild the tower." Ilona chuckled. "The Terahns are beginning to be frightened, and Cadarn is quite frustrated. He even attempted to blow up the tower. Eventually he will simply give up. He may put Lara from his thoughts, but he will not destroy the evidence of her existence in Terah."

"I suppose Mother has gone to Shunnar," Marzina said casually. "She always runs to Kaliq when she weakens."

"Your mother has done great things for Hetar and Terah," Ilona said quietly. "Do not be angry at Lara because Kaliq loves her. He did from the moment he first laid eyes on her, Marzina. Your mother and Kaliq are life mates. They always were, but your mother had a path to follow, and she did."

"Mother has never been kind to me since Kaliq tried to seduce me. She blamed me, Grandmother," the young faerie said. Though she had lived over a hundred years, she looked no older than a girl of sixteen.

"Marzina, Marzina," Ilona chided her. "Kaliq did not try to seduce you. You made a very blatant attempt to seduce him. An attempt to which he did not succumb, I might add. And when your mother learned of it she was rightly and justly angry. It was a very naughty thing to do." But Ilona could not hide her smile. Still it disturbed her that Marzina could twist the truth to suit herself.

"You and Kaliq were lovers once," Marzina said.

"Whoever told you such a thing?" Ilona demanded.

"No one told me, Grandmother. But I know it to be true. Kaliq has lived for centuries, and so have you. And you and mother look alike. He could not have you for you were born to succeed Queen Maeve. So he had mother instead," Marzina said.

"My dear child," Ilona said, "I do not know how you wove such a tale, but unweave it, for it is not so. Kaliq and I have always been friends, but never have we been lovers. Oh, I will not deny I have always thought him an attractive creature. But as you have so rightly pointed out, Marzina, I was born to take my mother's throne. Kaliq was born to be Lara's life mate. Her destiny is entwined with his, and it was always meant to be. Your mother loves Kaliq as she has never loved another."

"Even my father?" Marzina demanded.

"She loved Magnus Hauk for the mortal he was even as she loved Vartan, lord of the Fiacre, in the same way. But Kaliq is magic as your mother is magic. Their passion is magic, and far different from any passion magic could feel for a mortal."

"I have never been in love," Marzina said.

"I know," her grandmother replied.

"But why?" Marzina wanted to know.

Ilona laughed softly. "You have not yet met the right one for you," she responded. "Oh, you have enjoyed pleasures with both mortal and faerie, but none was
the one.
When he comes into your life, Marzina, you will know it, I promise."

"Was your husband, Thanos,
the one?
" Marzina inquired boldly.

"Thanos? Gracious no, child. Thanos was the mate I needed to sire my heir. We have little else in common although I will admit he is a fine gentleman faerie, and he gives me no difficulty, nor does he cause scandal."

"Who was
the one
for you, Grandmother?" Marzina persisted.

"I am not certain there was ever a special one for me, child," Ilona said slowly, "but if I had to choose it would be John Swiftsword, who sired your mother on me. He was such a beautiful and exciting boy. And he loved me unconditionally, but his fate lay in Hetar, and mine lay in the Forest Kingdom."

"What if I never find
the one
for me, Grandmother?" Marzina asked her.

Ilona shrugged. "It does not matter if you do or not, child. A companion to take pleasures with is very nice. Love, however, complicates things, Marzina. Each of you must be totally unselfish, must be willing to sacrifice yourself for the other. I don't think I could have ever done it. I am selfish, and make no apologies for it. And I need no male of any species to succeed in life. No female should. Your mother and Kaliq are unique creatures. The love they share will do great things, Marzina. Do not be jealous of it. And better to be happily free than to be unhappily bound in a relationship you don't want or need, my child. You must continue to be an independent creature. Males are for pleasures, or if you want a child. There is no other need for them."

"I don't think I want children," Marzina said. "You have to invest too much of yourself in your offspring. Like you, Grandmother, I am selfish."

Ilona reached out and stroked her granddaughter's silken head. "You are faerie, my darling child. Pure faerie."

Aye, she was pure faerie, but she shouldn't be, Marzina thought. Not with a mortal for a father. But perhaps, as neither her twin brother, Taj, nor her sisters Anoush and Zagiri had magic, it was Marzina alone who had inherited their faerie mother's magic. They were long gone, of course. Sometimes it was as if they had never existed at all, Marzina considered, feeling a prick of sadness. Of course her big brother, Dillon, the king of Belmair, was all magic having had Kaliq for a father. And he lived.

Kaliq
. How she had lusted after him, and if the truth be known, she still did. In her vivid imagination none of her lovers, mortal or faerie, could equal Kaliq. But he had made it very clear he wanted nothing from her, not even a single evening of pleasures. How it had wounded her pride to have him refuse her. He had done it gently at her first approach, but she had persisted, Marzina recalled, flushing angrily at the painful memory, until finally taking her by the hand he had brought her to a group of his brothers, saying, "This bitch is in heat. Cool her unseemly ardor."

What had followed had been a night such as Marzina had never known before or since. The Shadow Princes came by their reputation as magnificent lovers honestly. She experienced pleasures heretofore unknown to her, and her lust had been eased. But having tasted such passions Marzina had never stopped wondering about what pleasures with Kaliq would have been like. She never knew who told her mother of her attempted seduction of Prince Kaliq, but Lara had sought her daughter in the forests of Hetar and excoriated her cruelly for her behavior.

"It is bad enough you would betray me, my daughter, but to embarrass Kaliq, who had been so good to you is unforgivable!"

"'Twas he who approached me," Marzina lied. She was frightened by the way her mother was looking at her.

Liar!
Do you think I do not know Kaliq, Marzina, that I would believe that ridiculous falsehood? Did you learn nothing from me? From your father? Magnus Hauk was the most honorable of mortals. When did I ever behave so disgracefully? You ought be ashamed of yourself, my daughter.
Lara's words spoken in the silent language of magic were far more stinging than if she had voiced them aloud.

But something in Marzina would not let her apologize to her mother. Instead she glared haughtily at Lara and said, "You may think what you will, Mother. I know the truth of what happened." Why could she not admit her fault and ask her mother's forgiveness, Marzina wondered to herself. But she could not.

She could still see the look of anger and disdain in Kaliq's bright blue eyes when he turned her over to those half-dozen Shadow Princes. Not that she hadn't enjoyed herself with them, but it would have been better if he had beaten her and banned her from Shunnar. As it was, she hadn't been back since. And she envied Lara Kaliq's love and devotion. What they had together went beyond mere magic.

"How long has it been since you have seen your mother?" Ilona said, breaking into the girl's thoughts.

Marzina shrugged. "A few years, Grandmother. Taj's Farewell Ceremony. I could hardly believe that old man on the bier was my twin brother. Still he remained a handsome man like our father."

"Go and see your mother, child," Ilona told her granddaughter. "That pride of yours will be your downfall. Tell her you are sorry. Lara's heart is generous, and she will forgive you, Marzina. She loves you."

"Kaliq will never trust me again, I fear," Marzina said. "And I must admit to you, Grandmother, that I still find him attractive, and intriguing."

"Have you accepted the fact that he will never be yours, child?" Ilona asked.

Marzina nodded, and there was no guile in her now. "I know he is Mother's," she admitted with a dramatic sigh of regret.

Ilona laughed. "It is always difficult losing your heart to someone who loves another. But you are young, and you will survive. Now go and see Lara."

"I will think about it," Marzina said. Then she disappeared before her grandmother's faerie green eyes leaving her mother-of-pearl comb behind upon the velvety deep green moss.

Ilona shook her silvery-gold hair impatiently. The breach had to be healed between her daughter and her granddaughter. Something was about to happen, to change. She sensed it. Her faerie subjects felt it. The forest felt it. She had met recently with her counterparts in the faerie world. King Annan of the Water Faeries; King Laszlo of the Mountain Faeries; and Gwener, Empress of the Meadow Faeries. They, too, anticipated something momentous coming. But no one could imagine what it was. "Humph!" Ilona said aloud and, snapping her fingers, appeared before her daughter and Kaliq, who were sitting in Shunnar's main garden in the twilight.

Seeing the purple smoke that always presaged her mother's arrival, Lara quickly arose. "Mother! How nice to see you," she greeted her parent.

"You have to make peace with Marzina," Ilona said bluntly.

"Good evening, Ilona. Please sit and join us," Kaliq said, assisting the faerie queen to a comfortable chair. Taking a cup of berry frine from the air, he handed it to her.

"Kaliq," she purred at him. "You are always so welcoming. Now tell Lara she must heal this breach with Marzina." She sipped from her silver cup.

"Lara makes her own decisions, Ilona, and you well know it. What has Marzina done now that you are insisting she and her mother be reunited," Kaliq asked candidly.

"Marzina has done nothing for once," Ilona said. "It is just that I feel something is about to happen. Something of import. Something that will require us all to be united. Given Marzina's paternity I want her to remain on the side of the light," Ilona told them.

"So you sense it, too," Kaliq said quietly.

"We all sense it, in the meadow, in the mountains, in the water," Ilona told him. "The feeling is palpable, though we know not what it is."

"It is Kolgrim," Lara replied. "He intends to take a bride and sire an heir."

"What!" Ilona was surprised. "I thought he was to do that on the Darkling, his half sister, Ciarda."

"He tried for three mating cycles, but she failed him. He killed her, Mother," Lara said. Then she explained the murders Kolgrim had committed afterward.

Ilona was horrified. "He surpasses his father in evil," she remarked. "But who is this bride he means to take? And when?"

"We know nothing now, Mother. We are seeking to learn what we can. One of the Shadow Princes listened for several months but could learn nothing other than what we already knew," Lara told her parent. "Kaliq and I must go to the Dark Lands ourselves if we are to find out who the unfortunate girl is. We will attempt to prevent the marriage, of course. The longer we can keep Kolgrim from marrying the better."

Ilona nodded. "Of course," she said. "You must prevent your dark son from taking a wife and siring an heir. But first you must take Marzina back into your heart, Lara. She needs you."

"Then let her come and apologize to me for lying. I will let the rest pass for she has always been impulsive in her nature, but I cannot forgive the lie she spoke unless she asks, Mother. You know that you would not forgive it. What if Marzina had attempted to seduce Thanos, and then told you it was the other way around."

"Seduce Thanos?" Ilona's tinkling laugher bubbled up. "I would never believe such a thing, Lara."

"Nor did I believe that Kaliq had attempted to seduce Marzina," Lara countered. "Would not the lie have angered you, Mother?"

Ilona's laughter died away, and she said, "Aye, it would. To disparage Thanos, who has been so good to Marzina, would be quite dreadful, Lara, even as her charge against Kaliq was quite wrong. I understand your anger, but you must forgive your daughter. If the darkness is once again on the move, Lara, then we do not want Marzina tempted into it. And given who her real father was, it could happen. We have done our best to make Marzina strong and good, but she still has a broad streak of recklessness that she needs to learn how to control."

Suddenly Kaliq reached out his arm seemingly into the air. The fingers of his hand closed partly, and with a sharp pull he brought Marzina into their midst. "We have an eavesdropper, it would seem," he said. His look was one of deep concern. "How long have you been listening, Marzina?"

BOOK: Crown of Destiny
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