Lara and Kaliq watched, amused, as the younger princes gave way to the sword master. He slid himself in next to Cadi upon the couch, gathered her into his embrace and kissed her a long, deep kiss. Cadi’s arms came up to slip around Lothair’s neck. She instinctively recognized a great lover, and had secretly had her eye upon him ever since they had entered the banquet hall.
“Why the little faerie vixen,” Kaliq chuckled, picking up on Cadi’s thoughts.
“Do not!” Lara scolded him. “Let them enjoy each other, and allow Lothair to think it is he who conquers her.”
He ran a finger down her slender arm. “Do I conquer you, my love?” he asked.
“From the first moment you kissed me, Kaliq,” Lara answered him honestly. “Mayhap even before. How I hated it when you sent me from Shunnar. But in hindsight I understand. There is so much more than just you and me.”
“Aye, there is, but now is not the time to discuss it,” Kaliq told her.
“When?” she queried him.
“In the days to come when you are rested, and your strength has returned,” he promised her. “Now, however, I want to kiss you.” And his dark head dipped to find her eager mouth. The touch of her petal-soft lips on his caused his head to spin with delight. They had been lovers on and off for well over a century, and yet he had never grown bored with his faerie woman. Each time was like the first time he had kissed her as they stood in the wide marble corridor of his palace, and she had told him of herself, and of Og, the giant who accompanied her. He had fallen in love with her at that moment. And he had never stopped loving her. Now he must divert his jealousy in order that she receive the diverse passions she needed from his brothers. His kiss deepened.
She felt him blocking his thoughts from her. At any other time it would have disturbed Lara, but she suspected she knew why he did it. He was one of the most powerful beings in the Cosmos, and yet he was capable of feeling invidiousness. Unlike mortals, however, the great Shadow Prince could put such emotions aside, and not act on his feelings. Make love to me, Kaliq, she said in the silent language.
Did you not tell Lothair that passion denied was sweeter? he teased her.
For Lothair perhaps, my love, but not for you and me, Lara replied. Is it possible for either of us ever to get enough of the other?
“No,” he murmured in her ear, and licked it. Then he forged a trail of kisses down her jaw, her neck and across her shoulder.
Lara drew his head to her breasts.
He groaned as he buried his face between the round twin orbs. He licked at her nipples one by one. Then Kaliq suckled upon them while a single finger ran up and down her slit until she was squirming. The touch of her hand communicated her needs to him.
Tell me your desires, my beautiful faerie lover, Kaliq said to her.
I need your tongue to love me, Lara told him.
The warm fleshy organ began to lick her belly with long, slow strokes. She sighed. He moved lower and lower until his tongue replaced the finger that had been teasing at her slit. He moved himself between her open legs, and opened her to his view. The dainty nub of flesh called her jewel was simply perfect. He was almost mesmerized as he stared at it so neatly placed between the deep pink walls of flesh now becoming wet and shiny with her need.
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 dea
d. 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.
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