Crown of Destiny

by Bertrice Small

  “He is your son, also, my love. For all his wickedness, Kolgrim is your child, too,” Kaliq told her. “I think you clever to attend his wedding and give him what he wants. Your love and your respect.”

  Her eyes filled with tears again. “I have tried so hard not to care for him,” she admitted to Kaliq. “He should not have my love! He should not!”

  “But he does, Lara,” Kaliq replied. “And you are, as always, an amazing faerie woman that you can admit to it honestly.”

  “Do not dare to tell Ilona!” Lara said. “She would destroy me where I stood if she knew I harbored any affection for Kolgrim. And I do not understand why I do, Kaliq.”

  “It is that tiny bit of mortal within you, my love,” he answered her. “Mortals may be foolish, but they are good creatures at heart.” He kissed the top of her golden head. “Now, if we are going to that wedding and we must stop in Terah to convince the annoying Cadarn that he must go, too, then we had best hurry. But first we must eat. I am ravenous. And then we must rest. We may be magic, but we are not indestructible.”

  She stroked his handsome face. “Aye, food, rest, a few pleasures, a bath. And then I will be ready to face The City, and my descendants.” She smiled seductively up at him. “But which shall we have first, my lord?”

  10

  “IF YOU CANNOT MAKE UP YOUR MIND, MY LOVE, then perhaps I shall do it for us,” Kaliq said teasingly. “Remember that I am ravenous?”

  “But for food or pleasures?” she teased back, laughing softly.

  “Ahh, faerie witch, I know what you would have me say, but I tell you, both!” Kaliq answered her with a chuckle. With a wave of his hand he transported them to her bedchamber and onto the bed, where a tray of tempting foods awaited. They were both now quite naked. “Pity the poor mortals who cannot indulge their twin appetites at the same time, Lara, my love.” He caught up her hand, kissing it tenderly, then kissing the inside of her wrist, as well.

  Lara caused a strawberry to appear in her upturned palm. He smiled at her as their eyes met, his white teeth carefully picking up the strawberry and eating it. When he had swallowed she pulled his head toward her, kissing him, her tongue finding his, murmuring with delight as she tasted the strawberry, breathing the fragrance of it into her own mouth. “Delicious!” she said softly, magicking the tray to the sideboard as she lay back, and three more berries appeared in the shallow chasm between her breasts.

  His dark head bent, and one by one he plucked the strawberries with his teeth, crushing them so that juice ran from between her breasts, down her belly and into the cleft between her nether lips. His tongue followed slowly, thoroughly, licking up the juice, pushing between those tempting folds of flesh to touch her hidden jewel. His fingers spread her open so he might have greater access to the prize, which he taunted and teased with delicate licks, then stronger strokes of his tongue until she was writhing and moaning softly with his attentions. When her juices began to come forth for him, Kaliq raised up his head, pushing two fingers slowly into her sheath, moving them rhythmically back and forth until Lara sighed with her small release. Leaning forward, he kissed her lips passionately.

  Her arms wound about his neck as Lara drew him close. “You have but whetted my appetite, my lord,” she said to him. “Now you must satisfy that appetite.” Then she swiftly rolled him onto his back. Bind my love so he must yield! And let him not raise his shield! But let him a strong weapon wield! Lara silently invoked her spell before Kaliq might check her.

  Surprised, he found himself spread upon her bed, arms and legs bound with silk. The Shadow Prince burst out laughing. “In all our years together, my love, you have never been so bold,” he told her.

  “You delight in teasing me, my lord, and so I thought perhaps you should be teased instead,” Lara told him.

  “I am faint from hunger for food,” he said to her pleadingly.

  She pinched his muscled arm. “You do not seem too slender to me,” Lara said.

  “I shall be unable to wield a strong weapon,” he said, quoting a piece of her spell.

  “I can make you strong, my lord,” Lara told him as she slithered between his shapely legs. Reaching up she undid her long gilt-colored hair from its plait. Then, moving her head, she trailed her long, soft tresses across his torso several times, watching as his manhood, already interested in play, twitched. “Ohh,” Lara purred, “I think your weapon considers battle, my lord.”

  “You will have to do more than just tickle me with your hair, faerie witch,” he taunted her.

  Lara complied, positioning herself so she might play with his cock. She caressed it. She held it between two fingers and slowly licked its length several times, making him groan for the heat from her tongue was delicious. Lara took him into her mouth and suckled upon him until he was so swollen she could no longer contain him between her lips. Releasing him, she burrowed beneath the standing pillar of hard flesh, finding his sac, again licking, finally taking it into her mouth, her tongue rolling the twin seedpods about their container of cool flesh. Then Lara sucked hard thrice, and Kaliq actually cried out, a sound of both pleasure and pain.

  Releasing him, she pulled herself up and, positioning him between her thighs, lowered herself onto his cock until he was fully sheathed, and her buttocks rested upon his muscled thighs. Lara began to ride him slowly. “You will not release your lust, my lord, until I give you permission,” she warned him.

  “And if I do?” he demanded to know.

  “Then I shall see you chained to my bedroom wall and forced to watch while I take my pleasures with Lothair,” Lara said wickedly. “You know how he lusts after me.”

  “Faerie witch!” he growled at her. “Without my permission you are no longer free to indulge your passions with anyone but me!”

  “Oh, beware, my lord! I am faerie, and you know our natures are hot,” she replied mischievously. She began to ride him harder and harder.

  Kaliq struggled to contain his lust for her. He was perfectly capable of releasing himself from her spell, but he could see the delight she was taking in having the upper hand in their passion. “I could go deeper,” he said softly, “if our positions were reversed, my love. You have made your point. Do not deny us perfection.”

  Lara said nothing, but his bonds were released as suddenly as they had been set upon him. As he rolled her onto her back she raised her legs, putting them over his broad shoulders, and hooking her ankles behind his neck. Kaliq plunged deeper and deeper into her sweet softness with his hard cock. Bending his dark head, he captured a nipple and sucked upon it.

  A fierce thrill raced through her entire body, and Lara screamed softly. Her head was spinning with the beginnings of pleasure. Her breath came in quick little bursts and she tingled all over as her whole being centered itself on the long thick peg of flesh plunging in and out, in and out in perfect rhythm. Kaliq! Kaliq! Ohh, how I love you! she told him in their silent language. We will take pleasures together, my dear lord! Now! Oh, now, I beg you! Her scream was one of pure delight as he roared with equal satisfaction, their love juices mingling within her body. And then Lara swooned, which she had not done in many a decade. What they had just shared had gone beyond perfection.

  Kaliq could not believe the pleasure they had just attained together. He had known from the moment he met Lara that he would never tire of this female, but she constantly amazed him. He held her tightly in his arms, his lips softly kissing the top of her golden head. I love you, but then you have known that for decades, my darling. Never were life mates more suited than you and I. Whatever happens, I know that we will never be parted, Lara, my love. We are one. He stroked her hair as she nestled against him in a state of complete contentment.

  Finally Lara sighed and said, “I am ravenous! Where is that tray?”

  His chuckle was deep and rich. “Are we eating in bed?” he asked her.

  “Remember we just have time for a bath, and either food or a nap before we must go and fetch the Dominus and his wife.”
>
  “I think food will serve me better. Cadarn can irritate me even well rested,” Lara said. “I need the strength that taking pleasures with you, and a good meal can give me.”

  He magicked the tray back, and they ate. Then he left her to bathe, and Lara went to her own bath. Her women were waiting, and thoroughly pampered, she called to Cadi to bring her a gown. The faerie serving woman came smiling, holding out a beautiful gown made from a mixture of silk and fine cotton, bright green in color and embroidered with gold and silver threads.

  “Your heritage is that of a Forest Faerie,” Cadi said. “Tonight you will wear one of the forest’s greens. It would please your mother, my lady.”

  Lara nodded her approval. The gown was styled in the fashion of the desert kingdom. Its neckline was round with a keyhole opening. Its sleeves were long and wide, the broad cuffs decorated with the gold and silver threads matching the narrow band of embroidery at the neck. It was not fitted, but rather hung gracefully from her shoulders, not quite touching the floor. She would have matching green silk slippers.

  “Tonight,” Cadi said, “I have a new hairstyle for you. It is more elegant, as this occasion demands, mistress.” She brushed out Lara’s long tresses then, pulling it back, coiled it tightly and fastened it with gold and silver hairpins. When she had finished she stood back, admiring her handiwork, saying, “Do you like it, my lady?”

  “I do!” Lara replied. “I look quite sophisticated, which may make my great-grandsons feel more at ease with me.” She turned her head this way and that, admiring herself in the mirror. “Where are those wonderful barbaric gold ear loops, Cadi? The ones with the tiny diamonds threaded on them.”

  Smiling, Cadi handed them to her mistress. Then she took each of Lara’s hands in turn, and pushed several gold and silver bangles up her arm. “And you’ll need rings, too,” she said. “I thought the heart-shaped ruby with some simple bands on one hand, and the star-shaped sapphire Prince Kaliq gave you on your other hand.”

  “And Ethne about my neck on her gold chain,” Lara said of her guardian spirit who lived in a crystal star that had always hung about Lara’s neck. She preened before the mirror again. “I look as I should,” she decided aloud.

  Cadi chuckled. “You had best hurry,” she said. “It is close to sunset in Terah, and you will want to catch the Dominus before he goes to bed.”

  “I hope his day has been an easy one, for I can guarantee that the Ahasferus family has arranged a spectacular wedding for Nyura and Kolgrim.”

  “You honor the Twilight Lord,” Cadi said quietly.

  “I do what I must to keep the darkness at bay a little longer,” Lara replied.

  “The Forest Faeries have begun to leave Hetar for Belmair,” Cadi volunteered.

  Lara sighed. “Is my mother still here?”

  “Queen Ilona will not leave until she is assured that all of her people are safe. The faerie races of Hetar have carefully arranged their evacuation. Your mother has been in touch with King Annan, King Laszlo and Gwener, Empress of the Meadow Faeries. The Forest faeries are the last to depart Hetar.”

  “The others are already gone?” Lara was surprised. Could they not have waited to see if she might stop this new threat?

  Cadi nodded. “Old Prince Cronan spoke with each of them, and they listened. I am sorry, mistress.”

  “Nay, the darkness is coming now, and I know it. But I had hoped…” Her voice trailed off.

  “For aeons the light has brightened Hetar, and I am sure it will one day again, mistress,” Cadi said. “But for now Hetar has sealed this world’s doom. Eventually the good will lift its head and begin its rebirth here. But first the darkness will come. It has happened before this in other worlds, and it will happen again in worlds unknown to us. But the light cannot be stopped, my lady. It will return! It always has.”

  Lara took her serving woman’s hands in hers and looked into Cadi’s pretty face. “Thank you,” she said softly.

  “Lara!” Kaliq called from the garden where he now awaited her. He was garbed in his usual white, but today his tunic was decorated with silver thread and black pearls. On his feet he wore silver slippers rather than his leather boots.

  “I’m coming,” she said, hurrying from her chamber to meet him.

  “Ah, my darling,” he said, his eyes lighting at the sight of her in her green gown, “how beautiful you look. The color suits you well.”

  She stepped to his side. His arm went about her, and then Cadi watched as they disappeared before her eyes. They reappeared in the Great Hall of Terah’s castle, much to the discomfort of Cadarn and his wife, Paulina, who were seated alone at their High Board.

  “Greetings, Cadarn,” Lara said. “We have come to fetch you to the wedding of the Twilight Lord and his bride in Hetar.”

  “We cannot reach Hetar in time for that wedding,” Cadarn said irritably.

  “Great-grandson, you continue to disbelieve the evidence of your own eyes. Do you think you are dreaming?” Lara asked. Stepping up to him, she pinched his arm.

  Cadarn yelped, and yanked the arm away from her.

  “You will need to look more like the Dominus of Terah than you do,” Lara said.

  “What do you think, Kaliq?”

  “He has Magnus’s eyes,” Kaliq noted. “Turquoise-blue brocade with gold beading, I think.” The Shadow Prince turned his eyes to Domina Paulina, a pretty woman with fair skin, dark brown hair, and gray-blue eyes. “Rose silk for the lady,” he said, nodding to Lara.

  Then together they clothed the Dominus and Domina of Terah in magnificent garments. On Cadarn’s head an elegant gold crown studded with green transmutes appeared. Paulina’s dark hair was magically dressed in a series of bejeweled plaits, and about her forehead a gold circlet with a large pink pearl in its center appeared.

  The Terahn couple gasped in both surprise and shock.

  “How…” Cadarn said.

  “Oh really, great-grandson, please do not be so silly,” Lara told him. “’Tis magic. Now listen to me, you irritating creature, so you do not appear any more ignorant than you already are. Your great-grandfather, Magnus Hauk, sired three children on me. You descend from our only son, Taj. The Lord High Ruler, Palben, descends from our eldest daughter, Princess Zagiri, who married the Lord High Ruler Jonah. Do you understand?”

  “This is truth?” Cadarn asked.

  “Why would I tell you if it weren’t?” Lara demanded of him. “You are blood kin to Hetar’s ruler, Cadarn.”

  “If we are kinsmen, then why must my son, Vaclar, marry a Hetarian girl?” Cadarn wanted to know. “You said it was to make us all kin.”

  It was easier to make it simple for him, Lara realized. “The patriarch of the greatest family in Hetar, the clan Ahasferus, has three granddaughters. All are sixteen. One marries the Twilight Lord today. Two days ago another became your cousin Palben’s second wife. And shortly Vaclar will wed the third girl. You need to be kin to the Twilight Lord, for he is a powerful being who will shortly rule this entire world. If you are his kinsman, he is unlikely to harm you and your family.”

  “What do you mean the Twilight Lord will rule this entire world?” Cadarn demanded to know.

  “The darkness is coming, and it will overtake Hetar and Terah,” Lara said.

  “Why can’t you stop it?” Cadarn wanted to know. “You have stopped it before.”

  “Ahh,” Lara replied softly, “so you admit to knowing and believing in my accomplishments, great-grandson. I thought magic did not exist.”

  He ignored her taunts. “I thought you were all-powerful, Great-grandmother,” he said. “Have you lost your magic then?”

  “My magic can only exist in the light, Cadarn. For almost a century and a half I have kept the darkness at bay. But everything has its season. Even the darkness. The Twilight Lord was born of two powerful magic beings. Kol, the last Twilight Lord, was his father. Mine was, most reluctantly, the womb from which he sprang. I was born for the express purpose of causing chaos
in the Dark Lands, Cadarn. Twilight Lords can only produce a single son, though they are known to have many daughters. Once Kol had impregnated me I split the infant in my womb in two so that I birthed twins instead of a single son. Then I returned to my own life, leaving Kol with two sons and much difficulty.” Lara thought it better not to go into explicit detail with Cadarn. “The Dark Lands spent many years in anarchy and lawlessness until the twins came to manhood, and Kolgrim triumphed over his brother, Kolbein.”

  “And this Twilight Lord is more powerful than you? Than the Shadow Princes?” Cadarn asked her.

  “It is not that he is more powerful, Cadarn. He has yet to even realize his full powers, but he is strong. The dissolution in Hetar, and now Terah, has played into his hands. I cannot save a world that does not believe it needs to be saved. And so the darkness will overtake you. To help you before I leave Hetar, I have united these three branches of my family. It may protect you until the light can come again,” Lara told him. “Now do you understand why Vaclar must wed Yamka Ahasferus?”

  Cadarn nodded slowly. “Aye, I understand,” he said, “although I am not certain I completely believe your tale.”

  “Whether you believe me or not isn’t important, Cadarn, just as long as you unite your family with that of Kolgrim and his bride,” Lara replied. “Your son’s children will be blood kin to the children Kolgrim sires on Nyura. This will keep Terah safer than if you were not related. You may even keep your position as Dominus.”

  “What do you mean I may even keep my position?” he said nervously. “I was born to be the Dominus of Terah, as my father, grandfather and great-grandfather before me.”

  Lara sighed. The sound was part sadness, part exasperation. “The darkness has tried for centuries to conquer this world,” she said. “Until now it was not possible. Do you remember the story of Usi the Sorcerer?”

  Cadarn nodded slowly. “A child’s tale,” he scoffed.

  “All tales have an element of truth in them. Some more than others,” Lara told him. “Usi was real. Before the heroine Geltruda defeated him, Usi impregnated two of his concubines. One he sent to his brother in the Dark Lands. It is from the son of Usi born of Jorunn that Kolgrim descends. The maiden he marries this day descends from the female line of Usi, born to Ulla. She possesses certain powers that Kolgrim needs to complete his conquest of this world. Only by joining your blood with Kolgrim’s blood can you save Terah, but you will answer to an evil master in return.”