The Twilight Lord

body. By the time Taj is grown it will have long been in place and will not seem as strange to him as it does to me. We will ask for four representatives from each fjord for a total of twenty-eight members. As Dominus I will vote to break any ties should they arise.”

The prince nodded. “Then I will leave you. Bid your mother farewell, Dillon.”

The boy flew into his mother’s arms and she wrapped him tightly in her embrace. “Remember who you are,” she said. “You are Dillon, son of Vartan, lord of the Fiacre, and Lara, Domina of Terah. Your blood is noble and brave and faerie. Listen to the prince and his brothers. You will learn so very much from them. More than I, my son. But most of all, remember that I love you. That your stepfather and your family love you. Love is so important, Dillon. Without it we wither, both mortal and faerie. Without it the darkness creeps into our souls. But that will not happen to you for you are so dearly loved, my son, and you are filled with the light.” She kissed him on both his rosy cheeks and quickly on his lips. Then she said, “Before you go I have a gift for you, my son.” And she brought her walking staff forward. “Verica is now your companion as he was once mine. He wishes to accompany you, for my life has become too dull for him.”

“Indeed it has,” Verica’s ancient voice agreed. “I spend more time in a corner now than on fine long walks, and ’tis no way for a creature like me to live. At least with you, young Dillon, I shall be able to go adventuring once again and escape all this domesticity.”

They all laughed at Verica’s comments, then Lara said, “Make us proud, Dillon.”

Dillon looked up at Lara, his father’s blue eyes shining with happiness. He took Verica from her. “I will make you all proud, Mother,” he promised her. Then gently extracting himself from her arms he went to his stepfather. “Will you give me your blessing, Magnus Hauk?” he asked and he knelt before the Dominus.

Magnus placed both of his hands upon his stepson’s dark head. “You have my blessing, my son,” he told Dillon. “Go with it and return to us when you can. We will all miss you, but like your mother you have a destiny to follow.” He raised the boy up and kissed him on both cheeks.

Dillon then stopped before Anoush. “Be patient with our parents,” he told her softly and Anoush smiled.

“Indeed, young mistress,” Verica put in. “Do not try them too greatly. Your mother is a very wise faerie. Listen to her, I pray you.”

“I think I have gotten better,” Anoush said. “But then you have always been here to remind me of my faults, Big Brother. And Verica, as well.” She patted the staff’s head.

“But now you are the big sister and you must set the example for Zagiri and the little ones. I will think of you often, Anoush,” he told her. And then Vartan’s children embraced tenderly, tears in their eyes, for they had never before been separated.

Dillon knelt before little Zagiri.

“I do not want you to go,” Zagiri said, pouting.

“But I want to go,” Dillon told her.

“Don’t you like us?” Zagiri asked.

“I love you with all my heart,” the boy said. “But I have inherited magic and magic must be taught and nurtured by magic, Zagiri. It is a great honor to be taught by the Shadow Princes. When you are older, you will understand that.”

“Will you come back to us, Dillon?” Zagiri wanted to know.

“I will come back,” he said.

“When?” she demanded.

“One day,” he told her and kissing her gently he stood up. He stopped before the nursemaids to hold his youngest siblings. He kissed them each, smiling at Taj. “Be strong, my brother,” he said. Then he kissed Marzina, chucking her beneath her fat chin. “Be good, my little sister,” he said and she favored him with a smile. Dillon turned now and walked over to the prince. He bowed formally. “I am ready now, my lord.” His fist clutched Verica tightly.

Kaliq swung his great shining white cape about the boy by his side and in an instant they were gone.

Zagiri began to cry, but Anoush picked her sister up and said, “It is his destiny, Little Sister, and destiny plays a strong part in this family.”

“Do you have a destiny?” Zagiri asked her older sister and Anoush nodded. “And do I have one?” Zagiri pursued. Anoush nodded again. “And Taj and Marzina?”

“Aye,” Anoush said. “All of us possess a destiny. Some for good, some for great, but we all have one.”

“Papa?” Zagiri persisted.

“Aye, Papa’s destiny is to be Terah’s greatest Dominus.” She brushed the tears from Zagiri’s little face.

“And Mama?” Zagiri queried.

“Ah, Mama,” Anoush replied and suddenly her blue eyes grew so bright they seemed to be silver. “Mama’s destiny is the greatest of all, Zagiri, for she will one day unite us as one.” Anoush’s eyes returned to their own beautiful blue, then they closed and she grew pale, slipping toward the floor.

Lara quickly snatched Zagiri from her older sibling’s arms before she could be hurt even as Magnus Hauk caught his stepdaughter before she crumpled to the floor. With a nod to the nursemaids holding the twins he sent them from the room.

“Is Anoush all right?” Zagiri asked, her little face frightened.

“Your sister is fine,” Lara assured her little daughter. “She possesses what we call the sight, which means she can sometimes see into the future.”

Anoush moaned. Seeing that she was returning to herself the Dominus set the girl upon her feet. “What happened?” she asked them, looking a bit confused.

“You had a small vision, my darling, that is all,” Lara said. “How do you feel now, Anoush?” Dillon had told her that Anoush had this gift, but Lara had paid it very little mind until this moment. “Have you done this before, my daughter?”

“Not often, but now and again I see things,” Anoush admitted. “I’ve never fainted from it, however.”

“I think the excitement of Dillon’s departure, followed by your vision, probably made you weak,” Lara soothed her. “Take Zagiri, go and lie down. I will come to you shortly.”

Anoush nodded and taking her little sister by her hand she led her from her parent’s dayroom where they had been bidding Dillon farewell.

There was a long silence. Lara sat down. Her legs suddenly felt weak.

“What did Anoush mean, you would unite us all?” Magnus Hauk asked his wife quietly. His eyes searched her face.

“I don’t know,” Lara told him honestly. “Kaliq has said that my destiny is not yet fulfilled, but he will not tell me what remains to be done or even if he knows. Nor will my mother. All I can tell you is that for now I will be by your side with our children even as I was in my time with Vartan. I feel no pull to go anywhere else or do anything else. What remains of my destiny will reveal itself to me when it is time and not a moment before, Magnus. Let us be content with what we have.”

She will unite us all. The Dominus could hear his stepdaughter’s voice in his head. What could it mean? But then he sighed, realizing that Lara was right. Whatever remained for Lara to accomplish would reveal itself in its own time, and rarely did magic time conform with mortal time. He sat down next to his wife, putting an arm about her. From the moment that Lara had entered his life it had been one adventure after another. He wondered what would have happened had he married one of those sweet Terahn girls his mother had always attempted to foist on him. But he knew-his life would have been one long, dull monotony.

He would never be bored with his faerie woman. His life would continue to be filled with adventure. And why not? He was married to Lara, daughter of Swiftsword and Ilona, queen of the Forest Faeries. He had a mother-in- law who arrived and departed in a cloud of mauve mist. A prince who stepped in and out of their lives from the shadows. A stepson who would be a great sorcerer. A stepdaughter who had visions. The Great Creator only knew what Zagiri, Taj and Marzina would turn out to be one day. He could not even begin to imagine. The reality would probably be something that no one, especially a mere mortal as himself, could conceive.

Magnus Hauk began to laugh and he shook with his amusement.

“What is so funny?” Lara asked, turning to her husband who was doubled up with his mirth. What could have caused his hilarity? she wondered.

“I love our life together,” the Dominus of Terah told her. “I love you! I love the children! I love everything! I can’t wait for tomorrow to see what is around that corner.”