The Twilight Lord

and what has transpired for Og.”

“I will,” Ilona replied. And then she opened the golden tunnel for her daughter.

Lara saw at its end the small room in her own home, the candle on the table almost burned down to a stump. She stepped into the tunnel’s entrance. “Farewell, Mother,” she said and then she walked through back into her own castle even as the tunnel closed behind her.

13

“I CANNOT FORGET her,” the Twilight Lord groaned.

“But you must, my lord,” Alfrigg said.

“Never! She is mine and I want her back!” Kol roared angrily.

“My lord, she was naught but the female vessel needed to give the Dark Lands its next lord, but she could not even do that right. She gave you identical twins instead of one son. Thus we are thrown into chaos.”

“The Book of Rule said my mate would be a faerie woman and Lara is a faerie woman,” Kol said irritably. He longed to strike out at his chancellor, who was becoming very annoying, but he could not relieve the dwarf of his position for Alfrigg had been named specifically in the Book of Rule as his chancellor. Still, the thought of taking his head from his shoulders and pickling it was enticing. Kol ground his teeth.

“I would never gainsay the Book of Rule,” Alfrigg said. “I merely question if the female vessel you chose was the correct one.”

“Of course she was the correct one, you blithering old fool,” Kol shouted. “I saw her in the reflecting bowl when I asked to see my mate. Would the bowl have lied?”

“Perhaps you were shown what you were supposed to see,” Alfrigg said quietly.

“Of course I was supposed to see her!” Kol’s normally pale skin was growing crimson with his outrage and frustration. “Why else would the reflecting bowl have revealed her to me?”

“My lord, we both know the power of the magic world. And we both know that the balance between the light and the dark must be maintained-” Alfrigg began.

“Why?” Kol interrupted. “Why should there be any balance between good and evil? Why cannot one overcome the other? Show me where it is written that there must be balance, you imbecile! It is not in the Book of Rule. Show me!”

“I do not know if it is written, my lord, but that is the way of it,” Alfrigg replied calmly. “The Shadow Princes know everything there is to know. Their magic reaches even into the Dark Lands, my lord. I believe that they arranged for you to see Lara and want her with all your being. And having engaged your lust they allowed you to take her so you might get your heir on her, for she was a faerie woman and met the requirement in the Book of Rule.”

“She loves me. She would not have given me children otherwise. Faerie women will not give children to those they do not love. Now they have stolen her from me.” Kol flung himself upon his throne and looked out into the stormy sky outside. “I want her back, Alfrigg. I want her back, and I shall have her back!” His severe, handsome face bore a look of determination.

“My lord, you must face reality. You robbed this faerie woman of her memories of who she was, of her husband, of her children. Then you convinced her that she was your wife and you loved her. She was frightened and confused. You gained her trust. She did not know she was faerie, therefore you were able to impregnate her. Once her memories were restored she schemed against you, deceived you and with the help of her mentor, the Shadow Prince, she fled the Dark Lands to return to her husband, her children and their home. She does not love you, my lord. She does not love you!”

Kol leapt from his throne, picked up the dwarf and flung him down the length of the long chamber. Alfrigg landed with a loud thunk and for a moment Kol believed he had killed his chancellor. He was torn between a feeling of deep satisfaction and panic, but finally Alfrigg arose from the floor, shaking himself and running his hands over himself as if he were checking for broken bones. Satisfied he was still in one piece he reached up to inspect his head and discovered a trickle of blood. The dwarf turned and bowed stiffly to his angry master.

“I will leave you to yourself, my lord, while I attend to my wounds.”

“Krell damn you to Limbo!” Kol cursed Alfrigg as the doors to his throne room closed. His chancellor was wrong. Lara loved him. He would regain her even if he had to unleash all the powers of the Dark Lands into Terah. The Shadow Prince had enchanted him so he could not leave his castle for a hundred years, but he did not have to leave Kolbyr to get her back. He could send his giants or the Wolfyn after her, after the Dominus of Terah who claimed her as his wife, after her children. But first he had to contact her upon the Dream Plain. Unless she returned to him he would destroy Terah and all that was in it. Her loyalty to the Dominus was only based upon the children they shared. Well she had given him children, too, and his sons needed their mother. He needed her and he would have her.

The Twilight Lord strode from his throne room to his bedchamber, a small, narrow, dark room, its walls and ceiling painted black. He flung himself down upon the bed, and his dark eyes closed as he reached out to her, commanded her to come to the Dream Plain. He had done this for many nights, and while he had sensed Lara’s presence he had never been able to get close enough to her to treat with her. But tonight she appeared to him in a sudden burst of golden light, and he stepped back, surprised, for it hurt his eyes.

“Enough, my lord Kol! I will speak with you this night but after this night nevermore. Why do you call me to the Dream Plain?” Lara demanded but she knew the words he would utter.

“You are shining. Your brightness is making me ill,” Kol complained.

“I am more faerie than you can imagine,” she told him. “I am more faerie than even I knew. I am not a creature of the half light and the darkness like you, Kol. When you had the Munin steal my memories from me you took away the knowledge of who I was and thus dimmed my light. You will not do it again.”

“Come back to me,” he said.

“No,” Lara answered him quietly. “I will never come back to you. To live in the Dark Lands would kill me. I need the light, the flowers and the birds about me.”

The brightness about her had lessened now and he could see her clearly. She was, it seemed to him, even more beautiful than he remembered. He felt his lust rising as he gazed upon her. “I need you,” he said softly. “I love you and our sons need you.”

“If you indeed love me, my lord, then take that love and shower it upon the sons you forced me to give you,” Lara said coldly, her faerie heart hardening. He was a monster! And she could never forgive this creature for what he had done to her. And using his sons, Kolbein and Kolgrim, to attempt to reach out to her was unspeakable.

“You love me,” he told her, his eyes changing from gray to black, glittering as he encompassed her with his burning glance. “You love me!” he repeated.

“I despise you,” Lara answered him.

Her icy tone discomfited him. Was it possible? Was it just possible that she was speaking the truth? If it was then it would be unbearable. “Tell me that you love me, Lara.” His voice was almost pleading. His lust for her, painful.

His love for her was weakening him, Lara realized in surprise. She had not considered that Kol could be weakened by anything. This was interesting. “I find the very sight of you repellent,” Lara told him. “I do not love you, although perhaps the poor creature you created of me loved you a little. But I do not.”

Black anger rose up to fill Kol’s soul with fury. “Do you believe that because I am sealed within Kolbyr that you can escape me, escape my vengeance? Consider Magnus Hauk and how he would feel if he learned you have given me what you will not give him,” Kol sneered. “And what of your daughters? Perhaps I shall use my magic to bring them to my House of Women, and take them for concubines. Your eldest female child is already half-grown. And then there is your son by the Outlander.” He smiled wickedly at her, but his smile faded as he jumped back to avoid the small ball of fire she threw down at his feet. It singed his robe.

“I would not consider coming after me or mine if I were you,” Lara warned him. “I am capable of killing you, Kol, even as I vanquished your ancestor, Usi. Perhaps I shall just take your sons and drown them instead. I would