“I am going to Shunnar and will be away overnight,” Lara said.
“Why?” he demanded, his look dark.
“Because the time has come to discuss Dillon’s future schooling with Kaliq. My mother wishes to be there and I will not have her making decisions for my son that I should be making. It is important to me, so I do not wish to rush back as I did today. Had I not promised you I would return immediately, my mother and I would have gone to Shunnar from her palace in the Forest, but I always keep my promises to you, Magnus. Do I not?” She gave him a sweet smile.
He glowered at her in return. “Can this not wait until another time? What is the rush? It is another year before Dillon leaves us, Lara.”
“Why must you make this so difficult, my lord?” Lara countered cleverly, totally ignoring his questions. “I know how fond you have become of my son, and he of you, but Dillon has magic in him and it must be fostered properly. Kaliq wishes to discuss the program for Dillon’s first year because there are things I will have to instruct him in before he goes. It will not only be Master Bashkar teaching my son in his autumn term. I must teach him, as well.”
The Dominus sighed irritably. “I cannot forbid you,” he groused.
“Oh, you could try,” Lara teased him, attempting to help him regain his good humor. She chucked him beneath his chin. “But I know you love me enough that you will not.” Leaning forward she kissed him lightly on his lips. “You may never understand me, Magnus, my love, but I know I can be certain of your affection.”
“You are wheedling me,” he said, but his lips were twitching with their urge to smile. “One night, Lara. And I want you sleeping in the same chamber as your mother.”
She laughed aloud at that. “As if I should be unfaithful to you, my dear lord.”
“May I come to Shunnar with you, Mother?” Dillon asked eagerly, leaning forward.
“If he gets to go, then I should, too. And Zagiri,” Anoush piped up.
“None of you are going,” Lara told them. “I go to discuss your brother’s future, Anoush. And if I am correct, none of you has a school holiday. I will be gone one night.”
Her children looked disappointed, but said nothing further on the matter.
When the next morning came Lara went to her private chamber and called her mother’s name thrice. Immediately the shimmering golden tunnel opened before her. At its end she could see the columns and balustrade of the Grand Corridor in Kaliq’s palace. She stepped through into the tunnel and walked its length. When she had traversed the passage she stepped out into the wide corridor, and the heat of the desert surrounded her.
“Lara.” Her mother stepped forth from another glistening tunnel.
Lara hurried forward to greet her parent and as they embraced, Kaliq appeared in his pure white robes to welcome them.
“Your mother has told me why you have come,” he said quietly. “Let us go into my private garden where we may take refreshments and speak together.” He led them from the Grand Corridor, through a hallway that was familiar to Lara. The prince’s private garden was pleasant, and silent servants brought refreshments, frine and sweet faerie cakes iced in pink sugar icing. Settling themselves, they partook of the sweets but Lara could hardly contain herself. Finally she could no longer make polite conversation.
“My mother has told me of how you and she manipulated the memories of all when you retrieved me from the Dark Lands. But now, Kaliq, I need to have my memories restored. This Twilight Lord is reaching out for me and I cannot fight him without a complete knowledge of what happened. You cannot fully protect me now. My poor mind seeks to reconstruct those months. I need the truth, not whatever this Kol may implant in my brain in order to regain my person.”
“Those memories can only make you unhappy, Lara. And you must keep them from your husband. That will not be an easy thing, my love,” the prince told her.
“You treat me like a child, Kaliq,” Lara told him angrily. “I am not a child. I understand you allowing Kol to take me and to mate me. Your plan to cause chaos in the Dark Lands was clever and no mere mortal could have accomplished it. But you had no right to steal my memories of the time I had to spend with this Twilight Lord.”
“I have sealed him up in his castle,” Kaliq said. “I have taken away his reflecting bowls. You are safe from him.”
“Nay, I am not,” Lara replied. “He draws me to the Dream Plain and calls my name. And you cannot make him cease for the Dream Plain heeds the laws of neither the mortal nor the magical world. I cannot fight the Twilight Lord if I do not know what happened while I was in his charge,” Lara repeated. “Return my memories to me, Kaliq!”
“The pain may do you irreparable harm,” he pleaded with her.
Lara looked at him with a stony-eyed gaze.
“Very well,” he said, resigned. “I must call the Munin lord to do this for while I have kept your memories, I need his aid in restoring them to you. You will have to sleep, Lara. It will not hurt you if you are sleeping when it is done.”
“But it will hurt when I awaken, won’t it?” Lara replied.
He nodded, his deep blue eyes agonized.
“Do it!” she commanded him.
Reaching into his robes Kaliq drew forth a small vial and after uncorking it poured a stream of pale-gold liquid into Lara’s half-empty goblet of frine. “Take it across the gardens to the chamber that is always yours,” he told her. “When you drink it you will instantly sleep and you will sleep until I awaken you. I will not allow you to rest yourself for too long a time. Your mother and I will need time when you awaken to help you come to terms with what happened to you. I cannot allow you to return to Magnus Hauk until you are at peace with yourself, my love.”
Lara nodded. “I understand, Kaliq, and I am grateful for your care of me in this matter.” Then picking up the goblet she stood and walked across the gardens into her bedchamber.
Ilona looked at the prince. “I am sorry,” she told him.
“Do not be,” he answered her. “I have loved her from the moment I first laid eyes upon her but I am not fated to be with her.” He arose. “Come, let us summon the Munin lord, and I will have him bring the jar into which I stored Lara’s memories. I fashioned it myself, Ilona, of silver and gold, and stopped its opening with a crystal so the light would always keep her memories alive.”
“Call the Munin,” Ilona said a trifle impatiently. She was always surprised by this Shadow Prince’s romantic attachment to her daughter.
“Lord of the Munin, hear my plea. Cease all else, and come to me,” Kaliq said.
Satordi, lord of the Munin, appeared almost immediately. “I did not expect to hear from you so soon, my lord prince,” he hissed in his whispery voice. Then seeing Ilona he bowed quite low. “I greet you, oh queen of the Forest Faeries.”
“I greet you, lord of the Munin,” Ilona replied, nodding respectfully.
The Munin reached into his filmy robes and drew out the vessel in which Lara’s memories were stored. “You will want this, of course. Does she sleep?”
“She sleeps,” Kaliq said. “How did you know?”
“The daughter of Ilona and Swiftsword is strong-willed, oh Prince. You sought to protect her but she must protect herself. And to do so she needs all her memories returned intact,” Satordi said. He held out the silver-and-gold jar. “Look through the crystal. Her memories are stirring restlessly. Unless they are restored to her they will be corrupted into something that they are not.”
“I was not aware such a thing could happen,” Kaliq replied.
“It is not usual for stored memories to behave in such a manner,” the Munin Lord whispered, “but her memories are still true. There is time, my lord prince.”
Kaliq said nothing more but in Ilona’s company led Satordi across his garden and directly into the chamber where Lara now slept deeply. “Do it!” he said.
Ilona watched as the Munin lord carefully opened the beautiful jar and slowly poured the glittering threads of Lara
’s memories back into her head.
When he had finished he held out his hand to Kaliq who handed him the vial he had kept. Satordi added it saying, “It is done, my lord prince. The Domina’s memories are complete again.” He bowed to both of them. “If I may ever be of service again, you will call.” Then the Munin lord quickly disappeared back to his shadowy home.
Kaliq led Ilona from the chamber. “We will let her sleep an hour and then awaken her,” he said.
Together they waited, seated on either side of the bed where Lara slumbered. She grew restless, moaning softly, her body twisting. And then before they might awaken her Lara sat up with a start. Her green eyes were confused at first and then, as she focused, she saw her mother and Kaliq looking anxiously at her. Suddenly she burst into fulsome tears, sobbing as if her heart would break. Neither of her companions made any move to comfort her as she cried. Gradually her weeping died away and finally she looked up at them. Kaliq’s heart contracted in his chest. Her look was one of utter sorrow.
Reaching out, Lara took his hand in hers. “Thank you for trying to protect me, Kaliq,” she said. “You are right. These memories are difficult to bear, but bear them I must, for everyone’s sake. What a dark destiny I have been given, yet I sense that it will not all be cruel.”
The prince squeezed her hand. “Nay, my love, it will not all be dark,” he told her reassuringly. “Your sojourn in the Dark Lands was the worst of it, Lara.”
She turned to her mother. “Did you know how carnal a creature Kol is?”
Ilona nodded. “I did.”
“And yet you created me for the purpose of being his mate,” Lara said slowly. “How cruel you are, Mother! I am your flesh! You planned this before my birth, didn’t you? You made me almost entirely in your image so that Kol would want me. Did you also manipulate the Twilight Lord’s Book of Rule for your purposes?”
“Do not blame your mother for this,” Kaliq told Lara. “Those of us who were privy to Kol’s direction a century in advance planned this. You were created from the love between your mother and your father, but when we saw how beautiful you were becoming and that you had magic in you, we realized you were the perfect vessel. The Book of Rule does not warn its Twilight Lord of danger or of enemies. It simply states what is to come. We could not change the book if we wanted to, for its creator built fail-safes into it to protect his descendants. Do you know from whom Kol descends?”
Lara shook her head.
“Usi the Sorcerer. The same foul creature that you defeated when you removed his curse from the men of Terah. Usi got children on two of his women and sent them away into safety to protect his line. One was taken to the Dark Lands for his brother was the Twilight Lord then. The other child was brought to Hetar.”
“Do you know who that descendant is?” Lara asked.
“It was a daughter and her line was felt to be of no importance. We can learn that information should we need it. Usi’s brother had no son to follow him, so his nephew did. Down through the centuries that line has been kept pure and while each Twilight Lord is the father of many daughters, he fathers only one son a generation.”
“Until me,” Lara said softly.
Kaliq nodded. “Until you,” he said. “Your tactic to divide the child in your womb into two sons was brilliant.”
“It seemed only logical when you restored my memories and explained to me why I was there,” Lara agreed. She turned to her mother. “I am sorry I railed at you, Mother. It has been a shock to learn all that happened to me.”
“I am not angry at you, my daughter. You have a right to be angry. No woman should have to bear children she does not want,” Ilona said.
“I was but a vessel like any mortal woman,” Lara responded with a small smile. “A means to an end. It is so odd. I feel nothing for those children.”
“Thank the Celestial Actuary that your faerie heart has protected you from your human nature in that regard,” Ilona replied.
“Yet I love my own children,” Lara noted, sounding a little confused.
“You love them because you love their fathers,” Ilona said.
“But how could I give those children to Kol when I did not love him?” Lara wanted to know.
“Because he had you believing that you were his mate and you loved one another,” Ilona said impatiently. “You must remember everything, Lara, if you are to carry the burden of your knowledge. Magnus can never know for he would never be able to forgive you.”
Lara nodded. “I believe I can shoulder this secret,” she said. “But I do not know if I should, even if it was a part of my destiny and it was meant to be.” She pierced Kaliq with a sharp look. “However, you were very wicked to tempt me so.”
The Shadow Prince actually flushed beneath his tanned cheeks. “I but sought to help you,” he said, but he could not quite look at her.
Lara laughed. “You sought to help yourself, Kaliq. You are a devious prince.”
“What is this?” Ilona looked at the two of them, her head turning this way and that. Then her green eyes narrowed. “Kaliq!” she scolded. “You made love to my daughter when you knew you should not?”
“Her memories of the Dark Lands existed then and were painful. I but made love to her to soothe her cruel memories,” he excused himself.
“That is the real burden I will carry,” Lara teased him wickedly.
Ilona laughed, then she said, “You really should not have a husband, Lara. Husbands are such a bother. You are more faerie than mortal—your blood runs hot.”
“I am as much mortal as faerie,” Lara said.
“Nay, you are not. It seems your father has faerie blood in him, too, although he never knew it. Your great-grandfather was half-faerie, although his mother believed him the son of her Midlands farmer husband. She had dallied one Midsummer’s eve with Prince Rufin of the Forest Faeries, a member of my own family. So says the Faerie Record which lists all those born with faerie blood. Your faerie blood is weightier than your mortal blood, my daughter. And those with mortal blood who show signs of magic as you did grow stronger if their powers are developed as yours have been. Dillon will be a great sorcerer one day,” Ilona said in pleased tones. “Perhaps I shall send your half brother Cirillo to study with him.” She turned to the prince. “Do you think you and your brothers could manage two lively boys, Kaliq?”
“I should prefer to have Dillon alone with me his first year,” the prince said.
Ilona thought a moment and then agreed. “Aye, that would be best. My grandson is a bit crude yet. A year with you will smooth those rough edges of his.”
“Anoush is showing signs of being a healer,” Lara said. “It would seem both of Vartan’s children have magic in them.” Then she grew pale. “Oh! What if Kol tries to steal my children from me?” she asked. “Magnus would want to know why and what could I tell him?”
“Kol is secured at Kolbyr,” Kaliq reassured her.
“But he is reaching out to me on the Dream Plain. What if he reaches out to Magnus and tells him what happened?” Lara fretted. She had grown paler.
“We cannot prevent him from reaching out to the Dominus if he dares, but why would Magnus believe him? Magnus would think he was just having a bad dream,” Kaliq said to her. “Your husband does not really understand the ways of magic.”
Lara shuddered. “Kol wants me back. It is not enough that I have given him heirs. The Twilight Lord loves me. I can feel him reaching out for me, Kaliq! It frightens me. I know him well enough to know he will do what he must to get me back.”
“He is imprisoned at Kolbyr,” Kaliq repeated.
“I could not live in that awful place again,” Lara said. “There was no color. Everything was gray or black. The mountains, where they were not slate or craggy, were covered in dark green pines and fir trees. No sunlight filtered into the valleys. In fact, I do not believe I saw sunlight at all in my year there except for some rare sunsets. I remember looking out through the mountains at the colors of the sunset and th
inking how beautiful they were and wondering why there could be no color in the land about us.” She trembled. “I should die if I had to go back there, Kaliq! What if Kol sends the Munin to take my memories again and steals me back? I could not bear it! I could not!”
“I will weave a spell about you, my daughter,” Ilona said reassuringly, “that will not allow anyone to ever again steal your memories.”
“The Munin will never again aid Kol,” Kaliq told her. “They learned his generosity was but an enticement to trap them so they would always be forced to do his bidding. I rescued them and they are safe now, my love. You need have no fears.”
“I suppose I am being foolish,” Lara replied. “But as the memories of those months in the Dark Lands come to the surface of my consciousness I do become afraid. I suppose it was the helplessness I felt when you made me once more aware of who I was, and I had to face the lies Kol had woven about me while pretending to be his beloved.”
“It will take time, my love,” he told her, “but those memories will eventually slip into your past and no longer be so painful.”
“Ah!” Suddenly her eyes lit up. “I believe I met Og’s father in the Dark Lands. His name is Skrymir, and he was the giant lord of the Dark Lands giants. He was on a hunting expedition when the Forest Lords murdered the Forest giants. He and his companions fled to the Dark Lands. Kol gave them sanctuary, and they are loyal to him as are the dwarfs and the Wolfyn. What if Kol sends one of them after me?” Lara wondered aloud and her fears came racing back to overwhelm her as she began to tremble.
“We are going to have to enchant Kol and his castle into sleep,” Ilona said. “We cannot allow Lara to fear him. She will alert Magnus that something is wrong and when he learns what it is he will never forgive her, foolish mortal!”
“I will have to discuss that with my brothers,” Kaliq said. “I do not know if we can enchant the Twilight Lord into sleep. It would swing the difference between the light and the dark too far one way and unbalance it. Too much good is no better than too much evil, Ilona. Balance is always best.”
The Twilight Lord Page 30
