The Shadow Queen (42 page)

“What did she want?” Ciarda demanded.

“Perhaps I shall tell you, and perhaps I shall not,” Cam said. “Now come to me, my Darkling. My lover’s rod needs to sheath itself in your heat.” He quickly pushed her against a wall of the chamber, and before she might refuse or protest, Cam had his way with her, driving deep and making her cry out with surprise as he took her pleasures from her. And all the while he used her Cam kept thinking,
She is not Anoush.
She is not Anoush.
But he would eventually have Anoush. The Darkling would give her to him because she needed him, and Anoush would make him happy. If his aunt’s magic was as strong as all said it was she surely would not have come to him for help. No, the Darkling had the power, and he had the Darkling.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

A
LFRIGG
, C
HANCELLOR
OF
the Dark Lands, was beside himself with frustration. He could get nothing accomplished, for his young masters quarreled constantly over everything. Women in particular. This was what the powers of light had wanted, of course, and they had certainly succeeded in causing confusion and disorder in the kingdom. If Kolgrim said aye, Kolbein said nay. The chancellor despaired, and when their half sister appeared to stir the pot, he found himself for the first time in his very long life close to committing violence. He always knew when she was about to appear, for the heavy scent of night-blooming lilies filled the air just prior to the cloud of scarlet mist in which Ciarda transported herself into his privy chamber.

“Alfrigg, dearest friend and Chancellor of the Dark Lands,” she greeted him, smiling her beautiful, wicked smile. “Where are my brothers? I have need of them.”

The old dwarf drew himself up, ignoring the pain in his back and shoulders. The heavy black and gold brocade robe he wore chafed at his bare legs above his old leather boots. His seal of office with its weighty chain felt heavy upon his chest. He glared at the Darkling as if she had interrupted something momentous. “Is it so important that I must disturb the Twilight Lords?” he asked her haughtily.

Ciarda shuddered. “How can you bear the plural on your tongue, my Chancellor?”

“I bear it because it is the reality,” he replied irritably.

“If there were but one,” she murmured. “Kolbein, perhaps?”

“If there were but one I would hope for Kolgrim,” he told her bluntly. “Your lover is too hot-tempered and ignorant, Darkling. Think not that I do not know what you are about, for I do. Remember, it is forbidden by the Book of Rule that any citizen of this kingdom raise their hand in violence against a member of the royal family. Do you suggest disposing of one of your half brothers, Ciarda? And to what purpose? So you might rule through the other? Foolish female! Put such nonsense from your head.”

“I can succeed where my father failed,” Ciarda said heatedly.

Alfrigg laughed scornfully. “Lord Kol was the greatest of the Twilight Lords, and you are a mere Darkling girl. Do not dare to be so presumptuous in your boasting.”

“You will see what I can do, old one. It is why I allow you to live, so that one day you will kneel at my feet to praise my accomplishments and beg my forgiveness,” Ciarda said half-angrily. “If the tone of your apology is sincere I may permit you to live an even longer life than you already have. If it is not I will kill you myself. Now send for my half brothers, and have them meet me in the throne room.” Whirling about, she stalked from his privy chamber.

If only she had been a male, the old chancellor thought to himself. She had strength and determination, and though she was only female, she was intelligent, he was forced to admit. If he could convince her to mate with Kolgrim, who was equally strong and intelligent, they would produce a son unlike any born into the lineage of the Twilight Lords. There had been matings between half siblings in the family before. But if Kolbein gave her a son it could be disastrous. The chancellor called a servant to him, and said, “Go and find both of the Twilight Lords. Tell them I request they join their half sister in the throne room where she awaits them.”

The servant bowed and hurried off. Chancellor Alfrigg pressed a panel in the wall of his privy chamber. Stepping into the narrow corridor he made his way to the throne room, where he exited directly behind the throne. Ciarda was only now entering the chamber. He watched her as she paced back and forth waiting for her siblings. When they entered, Kolbein attempting to push ahead of Kolgrim, and failing, she went forward to greet them.

“Brothers!” She smiled at them.

“What do you need
him
for?” Kolbein demanded, glaring at Kolgrim.

“Half sister, you are as lovely as ever,” Kolgrim greeted Ciarda. “Forgive my brother’s wretched manners. He had the misfortune to be raised by Wolfyn.”

“You think your traitorous giants better?” Kolbein demanded. “Given the opportunity they bolted for Terah.”

“But not until after they had done their duty by our father,” Kolgrim said.

“Brothers,” the Darkling said, “I need your help.”

“I can do whatever you want done,” Kolbein insisted. “Send him away!”

“How may we be of service to you, half sister?” Kolgrim asked.

“I need a place to hide the faerie woman’s daughter. This castle is perfect, for it is unlikely she will consider the girl is here,” Ciarda said.

“I thought that Lara’s daughter was put into a deep sleep, and surrounded by a protection spell fashioned by the Shadow Prince. There is no way we could overcome that,” Kolgrim said sensibly.

“The protection spell is no longer there,” Ciarda said excitedly.

“How would you know that?” Kolgrim asked. He was fascinated by her.

“I have gone each night to stand by the girl’s bedside. To see what I could do to unravel Prince Kaliq’s spell. But I could not decipher it. I do not like to admit defeat and so I kept returning to that little chamber where the girl lay sleeping. And then today I went, and the spell was gone! It had vanished. I reached out to touch the girl, and my hand met with the fabric of her garment.”

“If the spell is gone then why do you need us?” Kolgrim asked Ciarda.

“I would take this girl, and hide her here. She is the leverage I need against the Hierarch. If he knows I have her he will obey me again without question. But I need the power of our blood, and the power of three to make a spell strong enough to transport this girl from her chamber in that Fiacre village.”

“We are only learning the magic that is ours,” Kolbein said. “We can’t help you.”

“Aye, you can,” Ciarda insisted. “I will weave the spell, brothers. The power lying dormant in you will, when we join hands, make the spell work.”

“You are certain of that?” Kolgrim asked her.

“I am,” Ciarda assured him.

“Your lover will not be pleased,” Kolgrim said softly. “And he may not believe you, half sister.”

“I will bring him here to prove to him that I hold his beloved as my captive,” the Darkling replied.

“
Our
captive, half sister,” Kolgrim said, and he smiled a toothy smile at her.

Ciarda nodded in agreement.

“When shall we do this thing?” Kolgrim asked her.

“Now! I do not know why that protection spell is gone, but if anyone else learns of it, rest assured the girl will be protected again, and quickly,” the Darkling replied. “Where will you put her?”

Kolgrim laughed. “I think the chamber in which her mother resided once will serve.”

“Which chamber is that?” Kolbein wanted to know.

“Why, the one in which we were conceived and born,” Kolgrim said, and the trio laughed together. It was a sound that sent a chill down the chancellor’s spine as he watched and listened from his hiding place behind the throne of the Twilight Lord.

* * *

I
N
THE
K
INGDOM
of the Forest Faeries Ilona was at a loss, for her granddaughter had been hiding from her. “What is the matter with the girl?” the queen asked her consort.

“She is either being naughty and willful, a most faerielike trait,” Thanos said wisely, “or she has done something she doesn’t want us to know about.”

“It is more than likely the latter,” Ilona replied. “I cannot handle her, my lord. She is very intelligent, and very impatient to learn all there is to know about our kingdom, our ways, our magic. Whatever I teach her, or try to teach her, is never enough for Marzina. She wants more, and she wants it now. But my instincts tell me that we must find her sooner than later, and learn what it is she has done.”

“Call our son, Cirillo, for she adores him. He will be able to lure her out of hiding if anyone can,” Thanos advised his wife.

Cirillo was called from Belmair, where he now spent much of his time with his dragon lover, Nidhug. Knowing his parents were now resigned to his choice of a mate, he assumed it was some emergency that forced them to ask him to return to the Forest Kingdom. Ilona explained the difficulty of the missing Marzina, and Cirillo agreed to find his talented niece and learn what was troubling her.

Encasing himself in an invisibility spell, he began to search the forest. It took him several days, but then, deep within the woodlands by a small, still pool, he found Marzina. She was weeping bitterly. Uncloaking himself, he knelt and gathered the distraught girl into his arms. “Little one, little one, what is it that troubles you so greatly? Your grandparents are very worried over your absence.”

Marzina looked up at him. Her eyes were red with much weeping. “Oh, Uncle! I have done a terrible thing. I will never be forgiven!
Never!
”

Cirillo struggled not to laugh. She was fourteen. She lived with her grandparents. What could she have done that was so awful? “Tell me,” he said, not knowing what to expect, but assuming whatever trifle she confessed to could be quickly corrected.

“I have undone someone else’s spell!” Marzina cried.

Cirillo was surprised. This was perhaps a bit more serious than he had anticipated. His faerie green eyes were curious. “Whose spell did you undo, Niece?”

“Prince Kaliq’s!” Marzina wailed, and burst into fresh tears.

Cirillo was astounded. “You undid a spell that Kaliq fashioned, Marzina? Are you quite certain? You put it back, of course.”

“I couldn’t!” Marzina howled louder. “I tried and I tried, but I just couldn’t reweave his spell, Uncle! And now Anoush is gone, and it is all my fault!”

“What do you mean Anoush is gone?”
Cirillo had been on Belmair for months and did not know the situation unfolding in Hetar.

Marzina explained the situation to him between sobs and gulps, concluding, “It was a protection spell, Uncle. By removing it I left my sister vulnerable to the forces of darkness, and now she is gone. Mother will never forgive me. I can’t forgive me!”

“We must return to the castle at once,” Cirillo said. He took the girl by the hand, and she tried to pull away. “Marzina!” His tone was sharp. “Aye, you have done a dreadful thing, Niece, but it cannot be corrected if we do not call your mother and Prince Kaliq to us at once. Perhaps it is not as bad as you think. They may have found the spell gone, and removed Anoush to a safer place. Come! Quickly! Unfold your wings, and let us hurry, for I suspect time is of the essence in this matter.”

Wings Marzina had never known she possessed until she entered her grandmother’s kingdom unfolded from her shoulder blades. They were lacy in texture, and gilt in color. Her uncle’s were identical. Together the two quickly made their way through the summer green trees to reach the castle of the queen and her consort. Ilona hugged her granddaughter to her breast, relieved the girl was all right. But when she learned of what Marzina had done she was at first astounded, and then furious.

“You dared to meddle with another’s spell?” Ilona demanded in a hard voice such as Marzina had never heard her use. It was the queen’s voice.

“I just wanted to see how it was made, and if I could do it, too,” Marzina muttered.

“What in the name of all the faerie worlds made you think you could replicate a spell fashioned by a Shadow Prince? You are a child, Marzina! A mere child, and you have shown me a great lack of courtesy by sneaking off to that Fiacre village and tampering with Prince Kaliq’s spell. But worse, you say your sister is now gone? If she has been taken into the darkness you will have endangered her very life!”

Marzina began to weep again.

“My dear,” Thanos said, but Ilona cut him off.

“Nay, my lord, there is no softening this misadventure. We must call Lara and the prince to us immediately!” And she did.

Prince Kaliq appeared first, followed by Lara.

Seeing the look on her mother’s face, and noting that her youngest child was verging on hysteria, Lara demanded to know, “What has happened, Mother?”

“Your overly precocious daughter may have put Anoush’s life in danger,” Ilona said. And she glared angrily at Marzina.

“She did not mean to, my dear,” Thanos said quickly, “but the damage is done, I fear, and now you two must correct it.”

“What has happened?” Prince Kaliq asked.

“The brat undid your protection spell,” Ilona said. “And, of course, she could not reweave it back. When she went back to try to correct the damage she had done Anoush was gone. So what did this child do? She hid from us in the forest. I had to call Cirillo from Belmair to find her. Only then did she confess her misdeeds.”

“Marzina!”
Lara gasped, shocked.

The Shadow Prince’s eyebrow had cocked with surprise when he learned what the young girl had done. “You undid my spell?” he said to the tearful Marzina.

She nodded. “I thought it easy until I tried to put it back together again, my lord,” the girl confessed, shamefaced.

Kaliq laughed aloud. “Aye, it is complex in its fashioning, Marzina.”

“I cannot have her with me any longer,” Ilona said. “You must take her back to Terah, Lara. I am unable to control her. The wickedness is in her blood, I fear.”

“Nonsense,” the Shadow Prince quickly said. “She is no more naughty than Lara was at that age.”

“At that age,” Ilona began, and then she closed her mouth at a look from Lara.

“Of course I will take Marzina home, Mother. As much as she desires to study faerie magic she is obviously not mature enough yet to do so,” Lara said quietly. “We will find Anoush and bring her home safely. I suspect whoever has her will not harm her. But, of course, it is imperative that we find her quickly.”

“We will go to Shunnar,” Kaliq said. “She should not go back to Terah quite yet, my love. Under the circumstances she is safer with us there.”

“Thank you, Mother, for all you have done. And you as well, my lord Thanos,” Lara said quietly. “Cirillo, come and see me soon.” Then, taking her daughter’s hand, she stepped beneath the Shadow Prince’s cloak, and when he threw it back with a flourish they were in his desert palace.