“I don’t think so at all,” Lara said stubbornly. “I am relieved, however, that she has decided to stay with Mother. She cannot come with us, can she, Kaliq?”
“Nay.” He shook his head.
“Here we are, my lord,” Tavey said as they reached a large double oak door. He opened it to reveal a flight of stairs. “Your apartments are up in the tower. Shall I send Cadi to you, my lady?”
“Nay, not tonight,” Lara replied. “But ask her to come to me in the morning.”
“Very good,” Tavey replied and, giving them a small bow, he hurried off.
They ascended the winding staircase finally reaching another smaller door. Opening it, they stepped into a lovely round day room. There was a hearth burning fragrant wood and through the windows they could see Belmair’s twin silver and gold moons blazing down to light the gardens on one side, and the countryside beyond on another side. There was another door in the room, and, going to it, they discovered another smaller shorter staircase.
Climbing it, they found themselves in a beautiful bedchamber at the top of the tower. There was a small hearth burning the same scented wood as the day room, and an arch of windows that allowed the room to be flooded with moonlight. A door led to a small balcony, and before the hearth was a large circular stone. Kaliq looked carefully at this particular stone, and then he saw a little stone button next to the hearth’s opening. He pressed it, and the circular stone slid back, revealing a round stone tub filled with water. The steam rising from the tub indicated the water was warmed.
“Ingenious!” he said, and immediately began stripping off his clothing. Naked, he stepped down several stone steps into the tub. As soon as he had settled himself comfortably in the water a small tray of soaps, oils and lotions appeared on the edge of the tub. “Your brother is a fine host,” Kaliq remarked, smiling broadly.
Lara needed no invitation, and did not even bother to pull her garments off. She simply magicked them away, stepping into the tub to join Kaliq. “The water temperature is simply perfect,” she noted, settling herself opposite him. “It feels wonderful after my little fray with Kolgrim. It has been a long time since I wielded Andraste.” When she had divested herself of her garments she had sent the sword to hang over the hearth in the room below them. After a short time she said, “Come to me, my lord, and let me cleanse you free of the dust and the scent of Hetar.”
“Then I will do the same for you, my love,” he told her.
Lara took up a lovely sea sponge and filled it with liquid soap from the tray. She washed him thoroughly even his thick dark hair. And when she had finished he did the same for her. When he had finished, however, he drew her back against him, cupping her breasts in his palms, fondling them, pushing aside her wet hair, kissing the space between her neck and her shoulder. Lara sighed contentedly.
“For the first time in months,” he murmured in her ear, “we are free to concentrate upon each other, and the pleasures we can obtain from our bodies.” His kissed her ear, nibbling gently upon the tender lobe.
“I don’t want to wait,” Lara told him, turning in his arms, kissing his mouth.
“Neither do I,” he said, his palms slipping beneath her buttocks to raise her up so he might fill her with his manhood.
Lara wrapped her legs about his torso, hooking her ankles together so she might grip him firmly. “You feel so good inside me,” she said softly. “How wicked of Dillon to create this tub, for we could never have just bathed, and departed it. Surely he knew that, my lord.” Her arms were now about his neck, and she pressed her full round breasts into his broad smooth chest.
Kaliq smiled into her eyes. “He is obviously his father’s son,” he whispered against her mouth. They kissed, tongues intertwining and dancing together as they did.
He put her back against the stone wall of the tub and began to piston her. As he did the tub suddenly emptied and instantly refilled with barely warm water that was scented with an aroma that filled them both with hot lust. It permeated the entire chamber. They instantly found pleasures that left them weak but still hungry with their need.
Together they stepped up from the tub. When they were clear of it the round stone cover slid back into place, and before the fire a towel rack filled with warm towels now appeared. They dried each other even as their need grew stronger and stronger. They fell upon the bed together, Kaliq burying his dark head between her soft white thighs as he peeled her nether lips apart, his tongue seeking for the jewel of her sex. Finding it, he used the tip of his tongue to tease and stroke it, drinking her juices which flowed copiously for him, and him alone.
Lara cried out with the pleasure he was offering her. “You are my love, my life, Kaliq of the Shadows,” she gasped. Her fingers twined themselves in his damp dark hair.
He drew himself up lying half atop her, kissing her deeply so that she tasted herself on his foraging tongue. He stroked her face with one hand while his other caressed one of her breasts, bending to take the nipple into his mouth. Then he sucked upon it, and Lara cried out again. His teeth grazed the sensitive flesh until it burned. She pulled at him, forcing herself beneath him, catching his great cock in her hands, drawing it to her.
He began to thrust back and forth within her, and soon they were both crying out with their pleasure. Finally they slept only to awaken in the predawn to make love again. They had been together for the majority of her life in one way or another. He had never interfered with her when she had wed, waiting patiently for the day when she would be his forever. He was not afraid of her independence or determination. Kaliq of the Shadows understood Lara better than she even understood herself. But he would not reveal that knowledge lest it interfere with her. They had been created for one another by a power far greater than all of their magic put together. He had had to wait for her. But he had done it with good grace.
OVER THE NEXT FEW MONTHS Kaliq and Lara tutored their grandson, Biton, and the two granddaughters who showed great promise for magic, Rima and Abella. Biton learned because he felt he should as his father’s heir. He was the youngest of Dillon and Cinnia’s children. Rima and Abella pursued their studies with great seriousness. They knew that their grandparents would eventually be leaving Belmair, and when they went the great magic would go with them. So they studied hard to learn all they could. If they were ever needed one day, Rima and Abella would be ready.
Ilona and her Forest Faeries settled into their new home in the Beltran province of Belmair. Thanos was delighted with the age of the forest, and the vast variety of trees there. He was already busily working at cataloging them.
And then one day as Spring arrived Ilona came to see her daughter. “We must talk,” the queen of the Forest Faeries said to Lara. “It is Marzina.”
“Is she all right?” Lara asked anxiously.
“Nay, I do not think she is,” Ilona said. “She is restless, and seems to have no purpose here at all. She has reconstructed Fairevue on the side of a mountain, but she is bored, Lara. I cannot sugarcoat it. She misses Hetar.”
“Hetar is lost,” Lara said stonily. “Surely there is something for Marzina to do, Mother. What did she do in Hetar?”
“She visited The City regularly. She enjoyed pretending to be a Pleasure Woman now and again. She became friends with Maeve Scarlet’s granddaughter,” Ilona said.
“I did not know,” Lara replied. “Marzina never told me.”
“She did not tell you because she was afraid you would disapprove of her harmless little amusements,” Ilona responded. Then she sighed. “She misses Kolgrim.”
Lara shuddered. “That evil spawn I gave birth to has surely bewitched Marzina!” she cried angrily. “He wants her back, but I cannot let her go, Mother!”
