“Your uncle is expert in all matters Hetarian,” Lara said. “Can he not help you?”
“It is he who calls for you,” Cadarn said.
“Very well, I shall come.” She turned to Kaliq. “Will you wait or go home?”
“I will await you in Shunnar,” he said, bending to kiss her mouth. Then, stepping away from her, he swirled his cloak about himself and disappeared.
Cadarn’s mouth fell open. “What happened to him?” he asked.
“He returned home, which I should like to do, so take me to Lord Amren so we may conclude the matter of Vaclar’s marriage. If I know your uncle, there is something he knows the Hetarians will consider unpleasant, and he wants me to press the point.”
The wedding guests had all gone, and the house was virtually empty but for the family and their servants. Cadarn led Lara to a large library where Grugyn Ahasferus was now seated with her grandson, Prince Amren. She nodded to them both then said, “Well, what is it that I am needed for, my lords?”
“Will you not be seated, Domina,” Grugyn Ahasferus invited Lara. “And I have not thanked you for being witness to my granddaughter’s defloration ceremony.”
Amren rolled his eyes at Grugyn’s polite speech. The Hetarian magnate was just attempting to get on the good side of his faerie grandmother. “They want the wedding here in The City,” Amren said, his tone annoyed. “But the wedding must be held in Terah, in the castle of the Dominus. Lady Yamka will one day be Terah’s Domina. Her marriage must be celebrated where she will rule.”
“Has neither of you heard of the word
“She must be wed here among her family,” Grugyn Ahasferus said.
“Nay, she must be wed in Terah,” Prince Amren replied.
“She can be wed in both places,” Lara told them. “Let the first marriage be performed here in this house in the hour before sunset. Then I will transport them by means of my magic to Terah in time for the sunrise ceremony that is our tradition.”
“But what of the wedding feast?” Grugyn demanded. “Is my family to be made a laughingstock because we do not celebrate Yamka’s marriage as we have celebrated the marriages of my other two granddaughters?”
It would be one of the last things she did for them all, Lara thought. “Both Terah and Hetar will have their feasts,” she told them. “In Hetar you will celebrate within your banqueting hall for it will be night. But if you walk from your hall through a magic tunnel we will provide, you will find yourself in Terah celebrating in the gardens of the Dominus’s castle in the morning light. Neither of you will be embarrassed before your families and friends. Indeed you will be envied in both lands that magic made such a thing possible even though you all claim that magic no longer exists,” she mocked them.
Grugyn Ahasferus’s brow furrowed as he considered her words. “Indeed,” he finally said, “there has certainly never been a wedding such as this one will be. And none will be able to duplicate it. Aye! You have given us the perfect solution, Domina Lara.”
He looked to Prince Amren. “My lord, are you in agreement?”
“I am!” came the reply.
“You must have Dominus Cadarn’s permission for this,” Lara said quietly, realizing that the two old men were leaving Terah’s ruler out of the matter.
“Of course! Of course!” Prince Amren quickly agreed. “Nephew, will you give us your formal consent to celebrate the marriage of your son and heir, Vaclar, to Yamka Ahasferus, in both Hetar and Terah?” His tone was properly deferential.
The Dominus’s ego now properly soothed, Cadarn looked at the two men, and said, “I will agree, my lords. You have come up with a clever solution.”
“It is the Lady Lara who has found the solution,” Grugyn Ahasferus said, “and I am grateful to her. This will be a good marriage, my lord Dominus. My granddaughter has been properly raised, and knows her place, as I have previously said.”
“Aye, it is Grandmother’s magic that will make this all possible, nephew,” Prince Amren said quietly. Why was Cadarn so antagonistic toward Lara, he wondered.
“When would you celebrate this marriage?” Lara asked them. “Soon?” It has to be soon, she thought. Before Kolgrim moved to bring the darkness. Terah needed to be doubly related to the Twilight Lord by then.
“A month,” Grugyn Ahasferus said. “The bride needs to gather together her dower portion. The house must be prepared, and another feast planned.”
“Yamka must be isolated during that time,” Lara said. “She has taken lovers in the past, but now is not the time for her to decide to have a final spree of lust before she marries. It is of vital importance that any child she bears carries both her blood and Vaclar’s. I will keep her safe myself.”
“Certainly, Domina Lara, we may be trusted to keep Yamka safe,” Grugyn Ahasferus said pompously.
“I will not negotiate with you in this matter, my lord,” Lara told the magnate. “And it is already done. I have transported the sleeping girl to a safe haven. When she awakens it will be her wedding day.”
Prince Amren grinned, unable to help himself. Even Cadarn was forced to smile.
Suddenly a knocking sounded upon the library door, and it opened to reveal Lady Camilla. She was most distraught. “They are gone, Grugyn!” she cried.
“Who is gone?” the magnate demanded irritably. The faerie woman’s high-handed tactic had irritated him, although he suspected she had done a wise thing.
“Nyura and Kolgrim! They are not in their bridal chamber,” Lady Camilla said.
“He has taken her home to the Dark Lands,” Lara said quietly.
“But the entire week is filled with parties for them,” Lady Camilla protested.
“Kolgrim has done what he needed to do, and what was expected of him. He has married your granddaughter and completed the defloration ceremony,” Lara said. “That done, he has taken his bride and returned to his castle in the Dark Lands.”
“But he did not say his farewells,” Lady Camilla said in a disappointed tone.
“I did not raise him, and so I cannot be responsible for his manners,” Lara said. “However they are usually better than this. I suspect he was simply anxious to get Nyura to some place quiet and private where they might take pleasures together.”
THAT WAS EXACTLY WHAT Kolgrim had done. The Hetarian ceremonies had both irritated and bored him. In a few days’ time, ten at the most, he would have to seed Nyura with his son. Once that had happened she would be forbidden to him until the child was born, and they performed the Completion Ceremony. The few days they had together he wanted to spend taking pleasures with her, not attending parties in their honor. How wasteful of time these Hetarians were. And so when the witnesses had departed he had put his arm about his bride and magicked them into the bedchamber that would be hers in his castle in the Dark Lands.
Still dazed from her first adventures in pleasures, Nyura looked up at him, confused. “Where are we?” she asked.
“We are home in my castle,” Kolgrim told her.
“But we cannot leave Hetar yet,” Nyura protested. “There are events planned in our honor, my lord. It would be rude for us to just disappear.”
“I did not ask for events in our honor, Nyura,” Kolgrim said. “You know why this marriage has taken place. I told you that the Book of Rule chose you. Perhaps you do not fully comprehend your situation. It is the mating season for me. It is in this time, and this time only, that I can release the seed into your womb that will become my son. Twilight Lords only sire a single son in each generation. You are the one chosen for the honor of bearing that son. In a few days I shall seed you. And after that we will not come together as man and wife until after my son is born. Nothing can endanger you while you carry the child. This child will descend from Usi the Sorcerer on both sides of his lineage. He will be a special child, Nyura.”
“Why must you seed me so quickly,” Nyura pouted. “I have waited sixteen years to taste pleasures. I want more of them!”
“The time is circumscribed in the Book of Rule for your seeding,” he replied.
“Couldn’t we do it next month, or next year?” she pleaded.
“Nay, it must be within the next ten days, Nyura,” Kolgrim told her. “And on the night I seed you, you will give me the gift of Ulla to add to my own powers.”
“Nay,” Nyura said. “There is no set time for me to pass my powers to you, my lord. I will give them to you
