is Og?”
“They have gone to Belmair for safety. We opened a Golden tunnel to some fine meadows outside of Dillon’s castle, and drove them through several days ago. Kolgrim wants your magic, Lara. He wants all the magic belonging to Hetar, and next to mine, yours is the most powerful. He is wickedly clever, this young Twilight Lord. He seeks to entrap you with Marzina, and me with you.”
“Then we must leave very soon,” Lara said.
“Aye, we must. But because Kolgrim has to believe we are still unaware of his plans for us, we must attend the wedding of Yamka and Vaclar.”
“I don’t want to go,” Lara said.
“You must,” he told her.
“I never want to see The City again,” Lara said. “Besides that wedding is but for Grugyn Ahasferus. He would display this third granddaughter’s great marriage to the other magnates and all of Hetar. If he were younger I would think he was planning a coup against Palben. Now I believe he simply wishes to be more powerful and important than Hetar’s Lord High Ruler. He has no idea the beast he has invited into his house.”
“Very well,” Kaliq agreed. “It matters not if we offend Grugyn Ahasferus by not appearing at the Hetarian portion of this wedding. We will be at the Terahn one, and in evidence at the feasting afterward, my love.”
“Have you heard from Marzina?” Lara wanted to know.
“I assume she is still at Fairevue.”
“My mother was to speak with her,” Lara said. “I hope she has. Oh, Kaliq, I must see her. I need to know she is safe from Kolgrim.”
“Then call her, Lara,” he told her quietly. He disliked seeing her so distressed.
Almost immediately, and much to Kaliq’s relief, Marzina appeared.
“What is it, Mother? Are you all right?” the young faerie woman asked anxiously.
“I had not heard from you…” Lara began. “I wondered if you were going to your kinsman Vaclar’s wedding to Yamka Ahasferus.”
“Aye, I am. Nyura cannot come for she is with child,” Marzina began.
“You know? How do you know?” Lara asked, trying to keep the irritation from her voice. “Have you been to the Dark Lands of late?”
“Nay, nay, but Kolgrim came to me to tell me that I will soon have a nephew,” Marzina said with a smile. “It will be nice to have a baby for a nephew for a change.” She laughed. “All of Taj’s and Zagiri’s children, and even their children, are long grown.”
Lara bit her lip so hard it began to bleed. “We may not be here when the child is born,” she said, unable to help herself, and praying Marzina would not take offense.
“Oh,” Marzina replied. “Aye, you are right, Mother. I had forgotten we must leave Hetar for good soon. I haven’t told Kolgrim.”
“Of course not,” Marzina replied. “I spoke with Grandmother yesterday. She wants me to come with her, Thanos and my cousin Parvanah to Belmair. Dillon has offered them a wonderful refuge, and there is even a forested mountain where I may rebuild Fairevue. My faerie servants have already gone in the first group of Forest Faeries who left today. Grandmother thought it best to send them a few at a time over several days so our exit causes no stirring in the air to attract Kolgrim.”
“Your brother knows the good magic is departing Hetar,” Lara said softly.
“Aye, he does, but no good can come from rubbing it in his handsome face,” Marzina responded. “He believes he may entrap some of the magic before it can escape him. That’s why I will go to the wedding as his companion since Nyura cannot. I even suggested it,” she said, pleased with her own cleverness. “He was delighted.”
“Oh, Marzina,” Lara said. “You play a dangerous game. Your brother is evil incarnate for all his charm. You must beware of him. I cannot ever remember being afraid, although surely there was a time when I must have been. But now I am frightened for you, my daughter.”
Marzina flung her arms about Lara. “Do not fear for me, Mother. I know the darkness that runs through my blood, but there is light, too, and I was raised in the light. I understand Kolgrim, and he is indeed evil. But I feel sorry for him, too, for he is so eager not just to conquer the world of Hetar, but to be loved, truly loved, as well. His blood is like mine, but that he was raised in the dark.”
“Do not think you can change him, Marzina,” Lara said, stroking her daughter’s cheek. “You cannot. And do not believe you can trust him. You cannot. He killed his half sister without hesitation. He may kill Nyura one day. And if he believes you are in his way, or attempting to thwart him in any manner, he will kill you, too.”
“I know,” Marzina replied. “He is quite frightening, Mother, isn’t he?”
“I do not understand you,” Lara said low.
“I know you don’t,” Marzina laughed. “But is it not that way with all mothers and daughters? One day in the future we shall both come to understand one another. But now is not that time.” She kissed Lara’s cheek. “Will I see you at the wedding in a few days, Mother?”
“We will be there,” Lara answered her. “Not in The City, but in Terah.”
“Goodbye then,” Marzina said, and she was gone in a puff of violet smoke.
“Are you satisfied now?” Kaliq asked Lara quietly.
“For now but I worry about her friendship with Kolgrim. Her lips say what she wants me to hear, but Marzina is fascinated by him. And he is fascinating, Kaliq.”
“Be satisfied that she has agreed to go with her cousin and her grandparents to Belmair. I have told you before that Marzina has her own fate to follow. You cannot stop her, and you should not stop her. I understand you want to protect her, but you cannot and should not lest you alter the fate meant for her.”
“What do you know of her fate?” Lara demanded of him.
“I know it is not yours to follow, my love. You have only begun to meet your destiny, Lara. There is more to come, and Marzina will not be a part of it. That is all I will say on the matter. You have always trusted me, my love. Trust me now.”
She did trust him. He had always had her best interests at heart even when he wouldn’t tell her. And he was right when he said that Kolgrim sought to snare her by taking Marzina, and trap Kaliq by taking her. And that could not happen. Her destiny was now tied to that of the Shadow Prince. Lara sensed whatever it was, it would be great, and it would be magical beyond anything either of them had ever done. Their powers combined would be unstoppable. And she wasn’t going to allow her maternal fears to prevent them from doing whatever it was she had to do. “I think it is time,” she said, “that my son be reminded of just who I am.”
Kaliq began to chuckle. He had not heard Lara use that particular tone of voice in some time. “And by that,” he said, “you mean to…?”
“I believe that rather than going to the wedding garbed in a beautiful gown I shall go as the faerie woman warrior that I have been in the past. None of these mortals now living have ever see me as such. Nor have they heard Andraste sing. I think that they should.”
“You will frighten them,” Kaliq told her.
“But perhaps they will take me and what I say more seriously. I know I cannot stop Kolgrim at this time, but let Hetar and Terah remember me as the warrior, not just a beautiful woman concerned for her family. That image fits what they would believe. My mistake was in letting the warrior hide behind that woman. I will do it no more.”
“Aye,” Kaliq said, agreeing with her. “Perhaps it is better that they remember you as the warrior who saved them several times in the past. The Hetarians and Terahns of today did not know that faerie woman. They only know a beautiful woman who does not age, and makes them uncomfortable. After the deaths of your children you sought to put them at ease by making yourself appear mortal, though you are not. They lost their belief in magic. Now they will suffer for it.” He laughed again. “Aye, appear at the wedding in your leather trousers with Andraste, her jeweled eyes glaring, strapped upon your back.”
“And you, my lord? How will you garb yourself?” Lara asked him.
“As I always do,” he said. “I should not like to take away from the shock you will give the wedding guests.” He grinned. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her passionately. “Soon, my beautiful faerie woman, we shall embark together upon a grand new adventure. We will not dally long in Belmair, Lara, for destiny awaits us, my love!”
