The Twilight Lord (20 page)

“We pleased them well. As I left the rotunda with you many of them were already rodding their women. I gave Macia and Anka leave to stay and seek pleasures if they chose. Anka is a very lustful creature and sought immediately for a Wolfyn lord. I think Macia had finally decided upon a giant. Let us hope her lover does not split her in two.” He chuckled. “You were magnificent. You have an innate understanding of how to deal with the lower orders, my precious.” He began to caress her breasts.

“Are you already hot again for pleasures?” she said. “I think it is you who are a most lustful fellow.” Lara entwined her fingers into his dark hair.

“We did what we did for the lords,” he said to her. “Let us now do it for ourselves, my precious. Then I will leave you and join the lords in the hall.”

“May I not go, too?” Lara asked him.

“Will you feel strong enough?” he asked her solicitously.

“Will you?”
she teased him wickedly.

Kol laughed.

“Take pleasures with me like the Wolfyn lord will do with Anka,” she tempted him seductively. Lara rolled over and leaning forward drew herself up on her knees, resting her head upon her folded arms, her pretty bottom pushing up at him. “Are they as fierce as you, my lord?” she taunted.

Kol covered her body with his and growling he leaned forward to bite the nape of her neck sharply. “I am fiercer,” he told her and thrust his dominant rod into her woman’s passage. Then holding her hips in his grasp he began to piston her until Lara was moaning with undisguised pleasure. She had roused his lust to a fever pitch and he could not seem to stop with her. Twice he brought her to a peak only to continue, his great rod delving deeper until she was begging him to stop. But he knew she could be challenged once more and he was not quite ready. His hands moved from her hips to grasp her dangling breasts. He squeezed them hard, pinching the nipples cruelly, making her whimper with the pain. Then he felt her shuddering a third time, his rod quivered, his juices exploded and Lara screamed softly as she collapsed beneath him.

Kol rolled away from her, turning her over to face him. “Am I not fiercer?” he demanded of her.

She laughed weakly as she opened her green eyes to look at him. “I cannot know, for I have never taken pleasures with a Wolfyn,” she told him mischievously.

“Little bitch,” he said to her. “Perhaps I should give you to Hrolleif. He could curb you of your insolence, my precious.”

“But you would not enjoy a mate less spirited than I, my lord Kol,” Lara said softly. “You love my insolence.” Her fingers reached up to caress his saturnine face. “Don’t you?”

He laughed, but he did not answer her.

The Lustlings appeared and did their duty. Then the Twilight Lord and his mate arose, dressed themselves and went to the banquet hall to join the lords. Their entrance was met with cheers. They took their places at the head of the large banqueting table and the feasting and drinking began. The various lords were enchanted by Lara as this night was the only opportunity they had to view her and speak with her. Even Alfrigg seemed pleased, which Lara found amusing, having heard from Kol of his chancellor’s normally sour disposition.

A young Wolfyn lord came to Kol and murmured low into the Twilight Lord’s ear. Kol then leaned over to Lara and said, “He wants to keep Anka. Will you allow it?”

“Where is Anka?” Lara asked. “I would speak with her first.”

The Wolfyn lord went off, then returned dragging Anka with him. She was not happy. Indeed, she looked a bit frightened. Seeing this, Lara said, “No, he may not have her, but I will allow him to amuse himself with her for three days, my lord. I suspect it will cure her of her boldness.”

The Twilight Lord relayed his mate’s message. The Wolfyn lord bowed to Kol, gave a polite nod to Lara and dragged Anka off with him. Macia returned barely able to walk from her adventure with a young giant lord. There was nothing for it but to take to her bed for the next few days as she could not stand for more than five minutes. Anka returned subdued and would not speak of her time with the Wolfyn lord.

Lara knew that Kol prepared to loose his armies on Hetar soon. It was now time for her to leave him and bring further confusion and discord to the Dark Lands. The twins, not even a month old yet, had already made adherents among the Dark-landers seeking to position themselves for the day when Kol would declare one of them his heir. That it was many years hence did not deter them from choosing sides. And Kol encouraged their behavior and their rich gifts to Kolbein and Kolgrim. Each petitioner was permitted to personally present his gift to the twin involved. Lara could have sworn that these infant boys knew exactly what was going on and were marking down their supporters within their memories. She found it disturbing.

Kol came to her each night now, and it was harder and harder for her to keep up the pretense of being his willing mate. She had to leave, yet something about this dark creature called out to her. She was having moments when she wondered if she could go. Finally one night she fought back the unseen forces she sensed about her and cried aloud,
“Kaliq!”
And he appeared before her just as Kol entered her bedchamber, stepping back stunned by the sudden brightness there.

The Twilight Lord’s dark eyes blazed with fury.
“She is mine!”
he roared at the Shadow Prince. “And you, creature of light, have no place in my kingdom! Begone!” His eyes hurt.

“Nor does Lara, daughter of Swiftsword and Ilona of the Forest Faeries have any place in your kingdom,” the Shadow Prince said quietly.

“She is my mate. The mother of my sons,” Kol replied. “She belongs to me! She is now my creature, Shadow Prince. Darkness fills her soul completely.”

“Not completely,” Kaliq replied. “You had the Munin rob her of her memories but for those you wanted her to have. But all of her memories have been returned to her, Twilight Lord. Now she will leave you and return to her world, which needs her more than you do.” He glowed with light.

“She will remain with me, Shadow Prince,”
Kol said in a fierce voice. “Tell him, my precious! Tell him that you love me and will stay.”

“I do love you, Kol,” Lara said quietly, “but I will not remain with you. Did you not hear what Kaliq told you? I have my memories once more. You cannot hold me by the force of your magic any longer. I cannot bear another day in your dark and dreary kingdom. I am faerie. I need the heat of the sun upon me, a warm breeze blowing my hair. I need color, and flowers and most of all I need Magnus Hauk and our children!

“Do you really believe that you could have succeeded in your nefarious scheme had not higher powers than yours permitted it? All my life I have moved toward a destiny that I neither knew nor understood. Now I do. It was my destiny to give twin sons to a Twilight Lord whose predecessors could sire only one son in a lifetime. Your laws will not permit you to kill one of your offspring, Kol. And besides, you cannot be certain which one is the true heir and meant to follow you. Until you can learn that secret the Dark Land will be kept in a turmoil by Kolbein and Kolgrim as they struggle for supremacy. They may even seek to destroy you, for you will learn that in their quest for power they will not be governed by the rule of law.

“You sought to loose the forces of darkness upon our worlds, Kol, but there must always be a balance between the dark and the light. That balance is now restored and will remain so for some time,” Lara told him. “You have great magic, my lord, but so do I and without my magic you will not succeed with your plans to conquer either Hetar or Terah. I suggest you consider what you will tell your lords now as I am certain that they have been planning for the riches these conquests would bring them. You will have to placate them in some fashion if you hope to retain their loyalty.” Lara turned to Kaliq. “I am ready now,” she said and reached for his hand.

“No!” the Twilight Lord said. “I will seek you out again, Lara. You will return to me or I will kill you, for no other shall have you.”

Kaliq shook his head. “Your reflecting bowls are gone, for I have taken them. You will make no others, for that knowledge was lost to your kind centuries ago. My brothers and I have sealed off your kingdom from the rest of the worlds for at least a hundred years. Until then, neither you nor your body servant can leave Kolbyr. You are trapped here where you can do little harm. Farewell!” Kaliq wrapped his golden brocade cloak about Lara and together they disappeared in a shadowy mist, Kol’s shriek of fury echoing in their ears.

As Kaliq removed his cloak from his companion Lara slowly collapsed against him. “The strength has gone out of me,” she said and she began to sob.

The Shadow Prince quickly scooped Lara up in his arms and carried her out to the great open corridor where there was morning sun and warm air. For months she had been penned within Kol’s dark castle in the chill and dank. Such an atmosphere was anathema to her faerie soul and it had slowly begun to shrivel. Back in her own realm, however, she would soon be revived. “Breathe,” he instructed her.

Lara drew a deep breath and the scent of flowers filled her nostrils. “Roses,” she murmured with a sigh and relaxed against him. She sniffed again. “And lilies, and woodbine and yellow primroses, which are the sweetest.” The sunlight seemed to revive her and she said, “Put me down now. I think I can stand. I want to see the horses.”

Kaliq set her gently upon her feet and helped her to the balustrade, but his arm remained about her waist.

Lara looked down into the great green valley where the Shadow Princes’ herds grazed. It never failed to amaze her that in the center of the desert this magical place existed. “Is Og here?” she asked Kaliq. “Does he know what happened?”

“Og is here and so is your son, Dillon,” Kaliq informed her.

“Dillon should not be here yet,” Lara cried, turning to look up into his handsome face. “I said you might have him when he was twelve but not before, my lord.”

“I brought him to Shunnar but a short while back, Lara, and I did because he suddenly knew that you were in the Dark Lands. I needed to distract Dillon before your husband took him too seriously, marshaled his army and marched north. Hetar is threatening Terah. Your old friend Gaius Prospero has disposed of Anora and is divorcing Lady Vilia so he may wed his lover, a creature of our creation. But he will, I fear, be disappointed for all of his plans will come to naught. We will retrieve the lady Shifra when she has served her purpose for us.”

“And what has her purpose been, my lord?” Lara asked him, curious.

“To distract Gaius Prospero from his nefarious plans to invade Terah, which he believes weakened by your absence,” Kaliq told her. “And to break his heart.”

“Will Jonah take Vilia to wife?” Lara wondered aloud.

“Aye, he will and while it will greatly discomfit the emperor to learn of the marriage, he will believe Jonah’s explanation. That he has wed the lady only to prevent her from falling into the hands of those who would depose Gaius Prospero and to prevent her from being shamed and seeking to wreak revenge upon her former husband. Her family is a prominent and conservative one.”

“And the emperor will be grateful to his good right hand,” Lara replied with a small smile. “And then the creature you have given Gaius Prospero will disappear. Not right away, I hope. He needs to be punished for all his wickedness. If the emperor is content with this female then you have removed the curse I placed upon him, Kaliq, so he might enjoy pleasures with her. It is the only reason he would revere her, for his tastes have long since been jaded.”

“It was necessary,” Kaliq said, “and you should really have never plagued him in such a manner, Lara.” He scolded her with a smile.

“Magical or mortal,” Lara replied dryly, “all men stick together when it comes to matters of pleasure.”

The prince laughed. “You are feeling a little better,” he said.

“Aye, but I am also very tired, Kaliq.”

“I know,” he replied sympathetically. “Being in the Dark Lands for so many months has drained you of your strength. You will remain with me until you are fully recovered, my love.” His elegant fingers caressed her face.

“May I see Dillon?” she asked him.

“I do not think it wise,” he told her. “I am going to return him to Magnus today with the message that you will soon be home again. He knows now that your disappearance had to do with fulfilling your destiny.”

She nodded. “And when I do go back to my husband and children?”

“Your memories of those months spent in the Dark Lands will be gone, my love,” he said quietly. “As for those affected by your disappearance, they, too, will not remember. It will be as if you had never been gone, Lara. Magnus will remember coming for you in the New Outlands and bringing you home. The past months for you all will be recalled as any year in your lives. Nothing special will have happened. In Hetar, the war that Gaius Prospero plans will be based solely upon his fears of Terah and his need to do
something
to keep in favor,” Kaliq explained. “Your lives will go on as they should.”

“You can do this?” she said.

“My brothers and I, working with the Munin, can do this,” he replied. “The Munin owe us one more favor for rescuing them from Kol and the Dark Lands.”

“But Kol will not forget what has happened,” Lara said.

“Nay, he will not,” Kaliq answered her. “It is a punishment for him that he will remember that once he possessed a most beautiful faerie woman called Lara. No other will ever please him again. But he will be too busy with the sons you gave him to spend much time grieving. He must hold on to the Dark Kingdom from within his prison and in the face of the growing threat Kolbein and Kolgrim will present to him. And without the presence of their lord to hold them in check, the giants, the dwarfs and the Wolfyn will run rampant throughout the Dark Lands,” Kaliq said.

“Then I am safe,” Lara murmured. She was growing very tired and slumped against Kaliq’s shoulders. “I need to sleep,” she told him.

“Come,” he said and led her to the magnificent apartment that had once been hers.