Seeing it, Ciarda snatched the crystal globe away from the young Wolfyn. She was in no mood to be plundered by him again tonight. "Tell Alfrigg that I want a meeting with my brothers, Rolf. The sooner the better. It is almost time for me to bring the Hierarch out into the open. It will cause a war between his followers, and those who follow Jonah. And then we will take Hetar with virtually no loss to ourselves. They will not triumph over the darkness this time."

"Your father would be proud of you, Ciarda," Rolf said.

"My father had no real use for any of his daughters," she replied. "Only the birth of the next Twilight Lord was of interest to him. Then that damned faerie woman he insisted upon mating with caused us chaos by birthing twin sons. And when she escaped him he would not let it go. He had to invade her consciousness upon the Dream Plain. We all know how that turned out," Ciarda said bitterly. "We are unable to release him, Rolf. The Shadow Princes have made it impossible. But I will complete what he began. The conquest of first Hetar, and then Terah."

"I tell you again, Ciarda, that your father would be very pleased with you. It is unfortunate that you are a female. You would make a great ruler," Rolf said.

She smiled at him. "Thank you," she said, and with a wave of her hand she sent him back to his own time and place.

Kaliq had heard enough. He willed himself back to his palace in Shunnar. So the Darkling was the daughter of Kol. Kaliq chuckled to himself. He had seen the quick look on Ciarda's face when the young Wolfyn had said she would be a great ruler. There was no doubt in the Shadow Prince's mind that that was exactly what the girl meant to do. She would use her twin brothers' forces to take Hetar after they had been weakened by their own civil war. The brothers would perish before it was all over, and the beautiful Darkling would attempt a coup. She would probably succeed, too. Kaliq chuckled again. Ciarda was worthy of his admiration. It was a very clever plan. The trick, of course, would be to keep Ciarda bottled up in the Dark Lands.

Oddly her observation about Jonah and Zagiri was, he considered, good news. Lara might not think it so, but the fact that the Lord High Ruler of Hetar, an ambitious and ruthless scoundrel, loved Zagiri was encouraging. Not that Kaliq believed that the girl's love for Jonah would change him. It wouldn't. But unless Zagiri grew disillusioned with her husband and rebelled against him, she would be safe, for Jonah would protect her. He would attempt to convince Lara of that fact, but his beloved faerie woman retained a mortal's emotions where her children were concerned. She had lost her firstborn to Belmair, her second to the New Outlands.

To lose the first of the children she had borne Magnus Hauk so soon after the other two was difficult for her, especially as she had promised Marzina that she might go to her grandmother in the Forest Kingdom when the Icy Season came. Now she would not want to allow Marzina to leave, Kaliq knew, but he must convince her otherwise. Marzina, like her mother, was extraordinarily magically talented, and, like her mother, would certainly have a destiny to live out. As the Shadow Prince had anticipated, Lara was not happy with the news he brought her.

"How can she be happy with that man, Kaliq? How? Jonah is a vicious snake!" Lara's beautiful gilt-colored hair swirled about her as she paced back and forth.

"I cannot disagree with you regarding Jonah's character," Kaliq said quietly. "But Zagiri has fallen madly in love with him, and he is utterly besotted by her. There is no enchantment here. Hetar suits your daughter. She appears to adore the many luxuries it offers her, and Lady Farah has seen her trained to both give and receive pleasures. Her passions, like yours, my love, run very deep. She is content, and she is safe."

"For now," Lara answered him. "What else have you learned, my lord?"

Kaliq told her about Ciarda, and the plans she had.

"Indeed," Lara said softly. "So Kol sired a daughter before his sons."

"Several, it would appear, though how many I do not know. I would have thought him more prudent," the Shadow Prince observed.

"And so he may have been," Lara responded. "Ciarda probably lied to you, but then again there might be others. And this Darkling would kill Kol's sons, would she? Interesting, my lord. Is it possible that we can alert Alfrigg to her plotting?"

"Not yet, my love," Kaliq said. "I am not certain if he sides with one of the twins, or if he has decided to support Ciarda."

"Alfrigg is a man who believes strongly in the traditions of the Dark Lands," Lara told Kaliq. "I do not think he would favor Kol's daughter over one of his sons. He probably has not chosen a side at all. He will remain neutral until one of Kol's sons triumphs over the other. Then he will declare his loyalty to the victor."

"They are your sons, too," Kaliq reminded Lara. "Have you no feeling for them at all, my love?"

"None!" Lara told him. "Kol forced his spawn upon me. Turning the one into two was the only way I managed to triumph over the darkness for us all. And I could not have done it without your help, Kaliq. 'Twas you who got the Munin to return my memories to me, else I should have perished in the Dark Lands."

"It matters not to you that your sons will be murdered by the Darkling in her attempt to grasp her father's power?" Kaliq asked quietly.

Lara shook her head stubbornly. "Do not ask me to care about them, Kaliq. I do not know them, nor they me. They are their father's sons, not mine. And as Kol's sons it will take more than a Darkling to destroy them. Remember their birth was meant to cause chaos in the Dark Lands."

"But if their lives are taken, and Ciarda can make good her ambition to rule in her father's place, both Hetar and Terah once again stand in danger from the darkness," Kaliq said. "You know we cannot let that happen, my love."

"Then what would you have us do, my lord?" Lara demanded of him.

"First," he said, "Marzina must go to Ilona, for only her grandmother can protect her from what may come. Your daughter will be needed in the future."

"I have lost my three oldest children, Kaliq, and now you would have me part with my youngest?"

He laughed aloud at her outrage. "Think, beloved! Do not let that tiny bit of you that is mortal rule your cold faerie heart. Marzina longs to go to her grandmother to learn all that Ilona can teach her about magic, and you promised her that she could. Perhaps after you have returned from The Gathering rather than waiting for the Icy Season," he suggested. "Then we only have Taj to protect. As both of us will be going back and forth to manage this situation, one boy is easier to manage than three children. And there is the matter of the Hierarch. I do not know enough yet about him, and he represents a danger to Hetar."

"I will speak to Taj and Marzina," Lara agreed finally, sitting down next to him. "How can you be so calm about all of this, Kaliq?"

The Shadow Prince chuckled. "These past few years have been quiet, my love. Are you not ready for a few more adventures? Has your life not been just a bit dull while you played at being a wife and a mother to your five children?"

"I never played at being either a wife or a mother. I loved being Magnus's wife. I loved mothering my children," Lara said softly.

"And you almost forgot that fate has a destiny planned for you," Kaliq told her.

"Every step of my life has been a part of my destiny," Lara responded.

"You have been but marking time," the Shadow Prince said. "Now the wheel of life has begun to move again for you."

She sighed deeply. "I know. I sense the changes coming. I will not be allowed to simply live quietly like a mortal." She reached up, and touched the crystal star she had worn about her neck her entire life. "I can feel Ethne, my guardian spirit, growing restless within her crystal. And Andraste has of late begun to hum above the hearth in the Great Hall where she waits for me," Lara said. "When Magnus was killed I knew the time was near when my life would begin to shift once more. Yet I hoped it was not so. I have been so happy in Terah, Kaliq."

"If you choose, Terah can always be your home, my love," he said to her. "I had hoped that you would consider Shunnar your home."

Lara looked sharply at him. "That you still love me after all these years," she said. "I have let two mortal men into my cold faerie heart, Kaliq. Both are dead too soon."

"But I am a Shadow Prince, and I have lived forever," he replied with a small smile. He leaned forward to kiss her lush mouth.

Lara melted into the kiss. No one had ever kissed her quite like Kaliq, and she sighed happily. She had never really been able to resist him. He was the ultimate in pure magic. They broke off their embrace, and her green eyes looked into his blue ones.

"One day," he told her.

"One day what?" she queried him.

"One day you will be mine forever, my love," he answered her.

"Did you not once tell me that such a thing was not meant to be?" Lara said.

"I also told you I could not father children," he replied with a wicked smile. "Yet we have a son who rules in Belmair, do we not? If I had not lied to you then you should not have gone forth from Shunnar as you were meant to do. You were so very young then, Lara, filled with both passion and idealism. You would have never discovered your greatness as it was intended you do, nor accomplished all you have accomplished. I could not allow you to stay, and so I lied to you then. Now, however, is a different time."

"And now," she answered him, "I am not quite so idealistic, my lord Kaliq. As the truth of my heritage has been revealed I have become more faerie with but a touch of mortal. I do not know if I have it in me to love again as I have in the past."

"You love me now," he said with just a hint of arrogance in his voice. "One day you will admit it, Lara, my love. And then you will make Shunnar your home again."

She laughed, for suddenly she felt as if she were almost on an equal footing with the great Shadow Prince. "But until that time I may take lovers," she said.

He shrugged. "As will I," he returned playfully. Then he grew more serious. "I must set my brothers in Hetar to seek out all they can learn about the Hierarch."

"Aye, for if we can stop him before a civil war is begun we can stop Ciarda from moving out of the Dark Lands and into Hetar," Lara said.

"You might have to choose sides in the Dark Lands," Kaliq told her.

"Why?" Lara wanted to know.

"Ciarda must be destroyed, and one of your sons must triumph over the other," Kaliq replied. "Whichever of them takes up the throne of the Dark Lands will be kept too busy consolidating his power to cause trouble in Hetar. I think you must decide which of your sons is the lesser of two evils. Then we will aid him to gain the ascendancy, my love."

"This is a terrible choice you give me, Kaliq," Lara said, low.

"Do you think you can recognize the one you created from the first?" he asked her. "Perhaps he will be the least dangerous."

"I have not seen them since several weeks after their birth," Lara replied. "Can you find them for me, Kaliq? Can I see and study them?"

He nodded. "It can be done, my love."

"Then do it," Lara told him. "Do it before this situation breaks my cold faerie heart. I have not thought of Kolbein and Kolgrim in years. I never wanted to think of them, or their wicked, black-hearted father. Now they are men, almost grown, and I must choose which one will live to reign over the Dark Lands, and which of them will die so the other may rule in relative peace. No mother should be forced to this kind of a decision, Kaliq. But I am faerie, and I know what will happen if I allow that drop of mortal blood in me to overrule my common sense. Find me a way to observe Kol's twin heirs, and I will pick so that our worlds may be safe." His arm about her was comforting, and seemed to imbue her with an iron strength.

"They are both well hidden," Kaliq said. "It will take time to ferret them out, my love. Keep to your summer schedule-go to the New Outlands to visit the clan families. Now more than ever it is important that Terah have their loyalty. Take Taj with you so he may make friends among those his own age."

"He already has many friends there, but renewing those friendships now that he is the Dominus is wise. First, however, he must go to the Temple of the Great Creator where the High Priest will see that he is anointed formally. After that we will travel to the New Outlands. I will be there when you need me, my lord Kaliq."

They both arose, and he smiled into her eyes again. "Continue to be brave, my love," he said to her, and then he stepped back into the shadows of the room and was gone.

A faint smile touched Lara's lips as she breathed in the sandalwood scent that clung to his cape. She was still not happy with Zagiri's marriage. But she had no time for Zagiri now. There was much to do, and much at stake in the weeks to come.

7.

LARA ALWAYS ENJOYED VISITING the clan families of the New Outlands. Each summer she would decamp from her castle and spend several weeks with them. One summer many years past, Kol, the Twilight Lord, had kidnapped Lara, stealing her memories from her so that she believed she was his wife. He believed she was the female who would give him the single son that was born to his kind. What Kol had not known was that the Shadow Princes had planned the entire episode, and when Lara was pregnant they had regained her memories for her. Then they had explained why she had been chosen to give Kol his son. Her magic would change the child in her womb into two sons. And after their birth Lara would be brought back to Terah.

As it was forbidden to kill any son born to a Twilight Lord, the birth of twins did precisely what the Shadow Princes had intended. It caused chaos and a civil war in the Dark Lands that raged to this day. The Twilight Lord was imprisoned. His sons were hidden away, and factions favoring each of the boys grew up around them. But Kol had had his revenge upon Lara, assaulting her upon the Dream Plain when she was carrying Magnus Hauk's only son, and implanting a daughter who was born with Taj, and believed to be Magnus Hauk's child. Lara's husband had never known, for his mother-in-law had claimed Marzina's exotic coloring was that of a Nix ancestor.

It had been difficult at first for Lara to love this youngest child of hers, but Marzina had proven so genuinely sweet natured and dear that her mother could not resist her. She was also, next to her elder brother, Dillon, the most magical of Lara's children. It was a bond that drew them closer as the years passed by. Now Lara prepared to send her beloved daughter to her mother in the Forest Faerie Kingdom of Hetar. After what had happened to Zagiri she feared she could not protect Marzina properly as she needed to concentrate upon teaching her youngest son to rule his domain of Terah. Her destiny, Lara realized, was once again leading her forward whether she would go or not.

And, too, Lara's mother, Ilona, Queen of the Forest Faeries, longed to take charge of her favorite granddaughter in order to teach her faerie magic. Appearing in her daughter's apartments in her usual puff of smoke, she embraced Lara. "I am so glad you have decided to send Marzina to me sooner," she said in her musical voice.

"Kaliq has convinced me it is important she leave Terah now rather than a few months from now," Lara replied. "I hate it when he gets all mysterious."

Ilona laughed. "He knows much of what is to come, but is forbidden from disclosing it lest he change the history of our worlds. Are you off to the clan families?"

Lara nodded. "I left Anoush several weeks ago, but did not remain. Now I would spend some time making certain that the clan families do not forget the debt they owe to Terah, and to me. Liam and his generation are growing older. Those following them must be made to remember. It doesn't matter that a mountain range separates us. If we leave the clan families to themselves they will become a law unto themselves, and forget their loyalty to Terah. It is the way of mortals to eventually forget their past."

"You are wise, daughter," Ilona said. "And Anoush has definitely decided to remain with her father's people?"

"Aye. They accept her Sight now, and revere her healing skills. Some young man will eventually seek her love, and take her for his wife. Anoush prefers being Fiacre, and there is little of me in her, which is perhaps for the better, Mother."

"Aye, I believe you are right," Ilona agreed. "Well, daughter, it would appear you have but one duty now. That is to Taj, and to Terah. Anoush and Zagiri have both made their choice of how they would live their lives. Dillon rules Belmair. Now Marzina, the most talented of your three daughters, will come with me so she may fully embrace her faerie heritage. I will take good care of her as I would have of you had I had that opportunity, Lara. She will be safe in the Forest Kingdom. Our people will guard her with their own lives."

"What of my brother, Cirillo?" Lara asked her mother.

"Impetuous boy," Ilona said in an annoyed tone. "He spends more time with his lover on Belmair than in the kingdom he will inherit one day." She shook her head. "A female dragon! Where did I err in raising him? I blame his father, of course. Thanos is the one who is so enamored with the natural world. It is all his fault!"

Now Lara laughed. "Oddly I think Nidhug the perfect mate for Cirillo. Oh, he will please you one day, and sire an heir on some sweet faerie lass, but Nidhug is the female he will love above all others, Mother. Be glad he will do his duty by your kingdom. Besides, it will be centuries before you fade away."

"Indeed it will," Ilona agreed. "Now where is my darling Marzina?"

"Here, Grandmother!" Marzina said, appearing suddenly.

"How long have you been eavesdropping on us?" Lara asked her daughter. "You know I have asked you not to do that." She turned to Ilona, who was beaming with pride at her granddaughter's aptitude. "Marzina lacks discipline, Mother, and even you will agree that good magic requires strict discipline."

"Aye, it does," Ilona agreed, "but do not scold the child, Lara. She is just eager."

Lara sighed. "You spoil her, Mother. Try not to make her too impossible. Remember that she is a princess of Terah as well as faerie born." Lara reached out and took Marzina's face between her two hands. "I love you, little one. I will miss you. Were times not so dire I should keep you with me, Marzina. Remember you are my daughter, and the sister of Terah's Dominus. Obey your grandmother without question. If you prove worthy she will teach you the magic you need to know. Do not be impatient or imperious with others as you sometimes are." Lara kissed her daughter on both of her rosy cheeks. "There is change coming, Marzina, and it brings great danger with it. Do not leave the Forest Kingdom unless you are with your grandmother, your uncle Cirillo or Prince Kaliq. Do you understand me, my daughter?"

"I understand, Mother, and I thank you for this wonderful opportunity," Marzina said earnestly. "I will not fail you, or my brother."

"He may need you and your magic one day," Lara told her youngest born. "Remember that you have an obligation to Terah, the land of your birth. Study hard with your grandmother." She smoothed a lock of Marzina's dark hair from her face and sighed. "Go now before I allow my love for you to overrule my common sense," Lara said, and she struggled to hold back the tears that threatened to well up in her green eyes.

Ilona came forward, kissed Lara upon the cheek and then, putting an arm about her granddaughter, disappeared with them both in a poof of lavender smoke. Goodbye, darling girl, Lara heard her mother call in the silent language of the magic world. A single tear ran down Lara's cheek. She brushed it away impatiently. Marzina was not a mortal child. She was magic, and it was time she learned how to control her magic and use it for good.

The day after her youngest child had departed Lara took her son with her upon Dasras, and they left for the Temple of the Great Creator where Taj would be officially anointed as Dominus of Terah. Dasras descended several miles from the temple, and galloped the rest of the distance as was his custom. They were greeted at the gates by the High Priest Arik, who was Taj's great-uncle.

"Welcome, my lord Dominus, my lady Domina," he said, coming forward smiling. He looked at Lara. "You are well, my daughter?"

She nodded. "I miss him, but aye, I am well. Painful as it is even I know that it is as it should be at this point in time, my lord Arik."

"The guest house is ready for you," Arik replied. "Tomorrow at the exact moment of sunrise we will annoint young Taj. Will you stay with us for a few days?"

"Nay, it is our time for the New Outlands, and they are expecting us," Lara told him. "Changes are coming, my lord, and we need to be ready for them."

"Is Terah safe?" he asked anxiously.

"To my knowledge for now, aye," Lara responded. "But you must know that my daughter Zagiri was lured away to Hetar. She has of her own freewill married the Lord High Ruler. They believe it will force us to aid them in any time of trouble."

"Will it?" Arik queried her.

"I want to say nay, but the truth is I do not know now. I suppose it will depend upon the situation. I am not happy that Zagiri has put Terah in this position, my lord."

"Nay, you would not be. You refused such a match, did you not?" he said.

Lara nodded. "I did. There is more to this tale than I would tell you, my lord Arik. I know you will trust me to do what is best for Terah, and for my son Taj."

"I will, Domina. My nephew trusted you, and Magnus was no fool despite his deep love for you," the High Priest said. "Now I would take my great-nephew from you. He must be bathed, purified and spend the night in prayer and contemplative thought before he is anointed at dawn. Can you find your own way now, Domina? You will find an old friend awaiting you. You and she will be the only females allowed to witness the anointing." He bowed respectfully to Lara.

"Kemina!" Lara exclaimed. "How wonderful! Aye, I can find my way to the guest house, my lord Arik. I remember it well." She turned to Taj. "Make your father proud, my son," she told him, and she kissed him upon his forehead. "Now go with the High Priest while I attend to Dasras, and then find Kemina."

The young Dominus returned his mother's kiss, touching her cheek with his cool lips. Then with a small nod of compliance he went off with Arik.

"He wears the mantle of his office well for one so young," Dasras noted.