altogether. The power will be mine, Mother dear. I can afford to be generous to you this time.”
Outside Kolgrim’s Throne Room the skies darkened from pale gray to dark gray. The clouds thickened as the winds rose. Thunder rumbled in the distance, and jagged lightning flashed.
And there was her daughter standing between them.
“Are you all right?” Lara asked the young faerie woman, putting her arms about her youngest child.
Marzina looked dazed. “What happened?” she asked.
Lara took her daughter’s face between her two hands. “Look at me, Marzina. Focus your eyes on my face. You’re still half-asleep.” She looked to Kolgrim. “A bit heavy-handed with the sleep spell, weren’t you, Kolgrim?”
Marzina’s violet eyes began to clear. “Oh!” she said. “Yes! I came to see my brother, the dark one. Are you angry with me, Mother?”
Lara sighed. “Of all my children you are the most impetuous,” she said. “Aye, I’m angry, but I’m also relieved.”
“Kolgrim wouldn’t harm me,” Marzina said. “We’re blood kin.”
“He thought nothing of violating the law to kill his half sister, Ciarda,” Lara reminded her daughter.
“Ciarda was foolish, Mother. I am not,” Marzina replied boldly.
“I have upheld my end of our bargain, mother dear,” Kolgrim purred. “What about your end?”
“Look in your reflecting bowl, my lord,” Lara instructed him.
Kolgrim walked over to the black onyx vessel, waved his hand over it and saw Nyura as she wakened in her bed. She wore but a thin night garment, and her breasts were quite visible to his eye. His cock hardened beneath his robes. Soon those breasts would belong to him, for his pleasure. He watched as two servant women hurried into Nyura’s bedchamber followed by her mother.
Looking at his own mother, he said, “How can I be certain what I see is real?”
“You will just have to trust me, Kolgrim,” Lara told him. “Come, Marzina.”
“I can take her back at anytime,” Kolgrim said.
“Of course you can,” Lara replied. “But so can I.” Then she and Marzina were gone from his sight.
Kolgrim laughed softly. His mother was a magnificent opponent. He was almost sorry that this time he would win in the battle between the light and the dark. And when he did, he would take her powers for himself. She owed him a debt for having deserted him and his brother in their infancy. For leaving them to be raised by traitorous giants, and vicious Wolfyn. Aye! Her magic would be his. And when it was, he would make his mother love him as she had loved the children she had born to Kaliq, to Vartan and to Magnus Hauk.
He knew the magic inhabiting Hetar even now plotted their departure. They understood that this world would now belong to him. But his mother would not leave Hetar. Lara loved this world, and she would be convinced that she could save it as she had saved it from his father. She would remain. He was convinced of it. Aye, Lara would remain. And if she did then Marzina, his little sister, would remain, too.
“My lord.”
Kolgrim looked down to see his chancellor. “What?” he demanded irritably. He disliked having his thoughts interrupted.
“My lord, you must prepare to return to The City for the wedding of your kinsman, the Lord High Ruler, and the Lady Divsha. Palben has scheduled your marriage to the Lady Nyura for two days from now, not tomorrow. Will you remain in The City?”
“I shall remain there,” Kolgrim said. “I wish to see the pleasures Hetar has to offer me, Alfrigg, for soon I will be a married man.”
“Marriage should not deter you from your pleasures, my lord.” Alfrigg chuckled.
Kolgrim laughed darkly. “It will not,” he agreed. He grew thoughtful for a few moments before posing a query to his chancellor. “Shall I impregnate Nyura immediately, or give her time to grow used to my attentions. She is a virgin, after all.”
“But she is also a Hetarian,” Alfrigg said. “Once she has been introduced to the joy of pleasures she will become greedy for them. Time, however, is of the essence in this matter. The season of the mating frenzy is a short one. A few days, but no more, can pass before you must seed her with your heir.”
Kolgrim nodded. “I agree. I shall grow quickly bored with her anyway. But once she has proved fecund, then I may depart her bed. Nothing can prevent her from bringing this child to term.” His dark gray eyes turned to look directly at his companion. “Do you take pleasures, Alfrigg?” he asked the old dwarf. “You have a wife?”
“My wife is dead these many years, my lord, but I have three nubile concubines who serve their purpose well, and please me,” the chancellor answered. He was a little disturbed to have his privacy invaded by his master. But then Kolgrim was different from other Twilight Lords. “My lord,” he reminded his master, “the time grows short. Shall I instruct Drug to pack your trunk?”
“Aye, and remind him my wedding garments must be carefully stored,” the young Twilight Lord said. He turned back to the onyx reflecting bowl, where Nyura was now being prepared to attend her cousin’s wedding. She sat before her dressing table admiring herself as a serving woman brushed her long reddish-blond hair. He observed her vanity, and smiled. She had the face of someone pure, but Kolgrim saw the wonderful darkness in her, and was excited by it. Sexually he was a creature who needed more than one woman to attend to his lust. Nyura would come to bore him, he knew. But intellectually she would be a delightful companion he decided.
NYURA SMILED AT HERSELF in the looking glass. She sensed eyes other than those in the chamber upon her. It would be Kolgrim, of course. In just two days’ time she would be his bride, and she could hardly wait. Oh, let her cousin Divsha preen and brag about being the second wife to the Lord High Ruler. Divsha thought her position would be greater than Kolgrim’s wife. But then Divsha thought that only Hetar existence meant anything. Divsha, of course, was wrong. But she would learn that soon enough.
“Enough!” she said to the serving woman plying the brush. “It is almost time for me to go and attend my dear cousin, the bride. Do you think she will like my gown?”
“She will be most jealous,” the serving woman said, “for all eyes will be upon you today, my lady mistress.”
Nyura laughed. “And that is as it should be,” she said, well pleased.
9
WHEN THE THE LADY LAUREEN, THE FIRST LADY of Hetar, stepped from her apartments, she found herself face-to-face with the Twilight Lord. “My lord!” she said, surprised. Her hazel eyes swept over him admiringly. He was certainly an extraordinarily handsome young man. He stood several inches over six feet, and his dark gray eyes were a most startling contrast to his golden hair. He was wearing a long silk gown of rich lavender embroidered heavily with gold threads and studded with small amethysts and diamonds of the finest quality. Lady Laureen was an expert on gemstones and recognized the excellence of the tiny jewels. How the creator of the garment had found so many perfect stones amazed her, and she was frankly envious.
“I thought, perhaps, you might allow me the great honor of escorting you to the wedding, my lady,” Kolgrim said, smiling.
Behind her Lady Laureen heard her ladies twittering with excitement. She smiled back at the Twilight Lord. “How very kind of you, my lord. Aye, you may escort me.” She took the silken-clad arm he offered. Her husband was taking a young woman for a second wife. How fitting that this handsome, powerful young man be her escort. “But perhaps you should be escorting little Nyura,” she simpered at Kolgrim.
“The choice between a rosebud and an exquisite bloom is a difficult one, I will admit,” Kolgrim said gallantly, “but soon the bud will be mine to keep. For today I prefer the more mature rose. Besides you and I shall be the envy of all the guests, which is certain to irritate the bride.”
“Ohh, my lord,” Lady Laureen giggled, “you are quite naughty.”
“If you take pleasures with me later, my beauty, you shall see for yourself just how naughty I can be.
