"The faerie woman Lara," he replied.

"What form will your vengeance take?" she wanted to know.

"I will take something from her that she holds dearest," Cam answered. "And that is all I will tell you, Darkling."

Ciarda nodded. Revenge that black she understood, and she didn't care what he did to the faerie woman as long as she gained her goals, her father's goal of uniting the worlds in darkness. "We have a bargain," she agreed, "but we must seal it by exchanging tokens. Take pleasures with me now, and I will keep your seed in pledge of our covenant. In return I will give you the ability to go where you want by simply asking to be there."

He stood up from beneath the tree where he had been lounging. Reaching out, he grasped her by her long black hair, and pulled her to him. "I will have you here and now," he said, loosening his garments and turning her about and pushing her up against the wide trunk of the tree.

Ciarda was astounded by his boldness. She magicked her garments away, but her nakedness neither shocked nor surprised him. His hands slid beneath her buttocks. The brief glimpse she gained of his manhood delighted her. He was large and he was thick. She moaned as he rammed himself into her. She gasped as he used her roughly until she was whimpering with her great need. Need such as she had certainly never known. And he satisfied her again, and again, and yet again. This mortal was the finest lover she had ever had. She clawed at him, pushing him even further until they were both groaning with the pleasures they were gaining from one another, and wet with their exertions. Finally he flooded her with his juices, which were so copious that they overflowed her womb, and ran down the insides of her thighs.

"You are magnificent!" Ciarda gasped as her legs fell away from his torso, and she clung to him because she could not quite stand on her own right now.

"Your sheath is narrow and tight," he told her. "I quite enjoyed it. Now give me the small power you promised me."

"You had it the moment you gave me your seed," Ciarda told him.

"Let's see if it works," Cam said. "Take me to Ciarda's bedchamber!" And he suddenly found himself in an exotic room with a large round bed covered in red silk. And there in the middle of the bed Ciarda lounged temptingly. He looked at her. "You are tempting, but I cannot shirk my duty as Sholeh's herder. Take me back to the meadow,'" he said.

"Come back tonight!" Ciarda called to him.

"Perhaps," his fading voice answered her.

But he had not come back that night. She waited for several nights for him, and to her annoyance he did not come. She expected him to be surprised when he found her in his rustic bed several nights later, but he was not. He complained that it had taken her long enough to come to him. Then, mounting her, he rode her hard the night long, sleeping briefly and leaving her without a word in the first minutes of dawn to attend to his duties. Ciarda didn't know whether to be furious or not.

In the end, however, she decided not to be angry. There was no mortal sentiment in Cam, and that was a good thing. In the weeks that followed she discovered his insatiable need for power. He would be ruthless with his enemies, and that was a good thing. Ruthlessness inspired fear in the masses, and fear gave one the ability to control.

As Hierarch Cam would rule Hetar for her with an iron fist. And for now she would give him the girl he desired for a wife because in the end when she controlled it all, the faerie woman's daughters would be taken from the men who cherished them, and given to the Wolfyn for playthings. She expected Magnus Hauk's daughter to last longer.

"You are smiling," Cam said to her.

"I am thinking of our future," Ciarda answered him.

Cam laughed. "You are so deliciously vile, Darkling," he told her. "Let us hope your powers are strong enough to do all you seek to do. If my aunt decides you are an annoyance she will quite happily destroy you as she did your father," he told her cruelly.

"Hateful mortal," she snarled at him. "If my father had succeeded in his plans you would now reside beneath his boot, and not in my bed."

"I enjoy your bed," he said, grasping one of her large, round breasts. "Slaking my fierce and unquenchable lusts on your body allows me to play the gentle suitor with Anoush. She is falling in love with me, Darkling." He squeezed her breast hard, and she was unable to restrain a whimper of pain. "In the spring I will make her my wife." His mouth took Ciarda's in a hard kiss. "And eventually you will both come to my bed together, and we will take pleasures. Anoush is a gentle maiden, but she will have her mother's appetite for passion, I am certain. I will have you lick her secret treasures while I plunge myself into you over and over and over again. Will that please you, Ciarda?"

He forced the Darkling onto her back and pushed his fingers into her sheath, moving them back and forth until she was begging him for release. "Or perhaps I shall mount her while you kiss her lips until they are bruised. Would you like that, Darkling?" He was atop her now, entering her body, driving deep, relishing her cries. He cared not if they were of pain or pleasure.

"Yes!" she sobbed to him. "Yes! I should like it, Cam. I would!" She writhed beneath him in a frenzy of lust unsatisfied.

"You must learn to call me my lord, Darkling, for I am the Hierarch, and to be respected." He caught her thrashing head between his two hands. His fingers dug into her scalp. "Say it, Darkling. Say, yes, my lord." The blue eyes blazed down at her. His great manhood was suddenly still within her.

"Mortal, you forget yourself!" Ciarda cried. "It is I who command you."

The sound of his laughter actually sent a chill through her. "Darkling, without me you can do naught. We are equals. For now. Now humor me, and do as I have asked you, my pretty Darkling. Say, yes, my lord."

"I could turn you into a beetle to crush beneath my foot," she told him.

He laughed, and began to ride her again. "There will be no pleasures for you until you have obeyed me, Darkling."

Ciarda could not believe what was happening. He was controlling her, and to her shock she found it more exciting than anything she had previously experienced. She was a Darkling. She was magic, and yet this mortal man was forcing her to his will, and for all her protests she was enjoying it even as he withheld pleasures from her. She ached with her need. Her desires were running hot. She needed pleasures. She needed them! "Yes, my lord!" she gasped out, and then screamed with joy as he met her needs more than satisfactorily, groaning as his own lusts were fully sated.

Afterward as Ciarda lay in his arms she told him, "If you were not so necessary to my plans, Cam of the Fiacre, I should kill you without hesitation."

"And if you were not so necessary to my plans, Darkling, I should have not accepted your bargain," he responded. "We need each other. I need you so I am finally able to gain my revenge, and you need me so you may complete your father's plans. I am curious though, Darkling. Why do you attempt to accomplish what he could not? You have not his great powers."

"His powers were great, it is true," Ciarda said, "but he felt he needed the faerie woman's magic. It was a mistake. He could have done without her, but it was foretold that she would birth his son. But he did not need her for more than that. A well-coordinated and unexpected attack on Hetar should have given him the victory he sought. But by the time he sent his armies into battle the Hetarians had been warned. His mistake was in not taking The City first. If you control The City, you can control all of Hetar. But he let his forces march across the land and The City was warned. Then the faerie woman took her revenge on him, marshaling her allies to defeat my father. You speak casually of the Domina of Terah. But you do not really know her, Cam. She is dangerous."

"She is a faerie woman, and all women can be manipulated," Cam replied. "Do I not manipulate you? And my sweet Anoush?"

"When you speak of Vartan's daughter you sound as if you truly care for her," Ciarda said jealously. "Do you?"

"In my own way, aye, I do. As a child she was my friend when no others were," he recalled. "But then her cursed brother interfered. Still she tried to remain loyal, but her mother took her away to Terah. I was sent to Rivalen, and into Sholeh's care. At first it was just for the summer, but then I was not allowed to return to Camdene. When that happened I realized I must pretend to change my ways. I did. Even Sholeh, wise as she is, believes I am what I appear to be," Cam said. "You are envious of my feelings for her, Darkling, but be warned. Should she be harmed in any way I will hold you responsible, and you will lose my help."

"I will not harm her," Ciarda said. Not yet, she thought to herself. "If the little mortal female means that much to you keep her. And then one day we will sport together as you have previously said we would, my lord Hierarch."

"You are clever, Darkling," he replied. "We will do well together. Now tell me. When am I to be revealed as Hetar's great hope?" He laughed softly.

"You will appear first in the Coastal Kingdom, where you will perform several wonders that will be reported to the Lord High Ruler. I want Jonah to be afraid of what is to come. You will disappear from the Coastal Kingdom mysteriously only to reappear in the Midlands, where your miracles will be even more amazing. The gossip will race forth into The City, where eventually you will make a grand entrance. Once there we will go about winning over the magnates and others of importance. That is all you need know for now," she told him.

"When will this all begin?" he asked.

"Toward the end of the Icy Season when the populace will have endured another bitter few months. Food will be scarce. The cold will be numbing. Sickness will run rampant as the spring rains begin. And then the Hierarch will come promising to end the want, the plagues, the general unhappiness of the population. You will promise to return Hetar to the days of her glory. You will point out that all these changes that have been made have not bettered Hetar, but ruined it. That by flouting the great traditions of Hetar, Hetar has been almost destroyed."

"And will I be able to return Hetar to its former grandeur?" Cam asked the Darkling. "Will my promises be good? Or will they be worthless?"

"There are enough of those who wish to return to the old days to help us do just that," Ciarda said. "The Crusader Knights and the Mercenaries are both unhappy. The magnates are not pleased that certain Pleasure Women now own their own houses, cutting the magnates out of what had been a most lucrative business. There is enough discontent among the wealthy and formerly powerful to work to our advantage, my lord Hierarch."

"And when the Hetarians are convinced the good old days have returned?" Cam asked her. "What then, Darkling?"

"Then you will rule in Hetar, my lord Hierarch. I will give you several cohorts of Wolfyn to keep the peace. And the darkness will fall over the land even as my father desired it," Ciarda said with a smile. "He will be so proud of me."

"If he lives," Cam told her. "But why would the Twilight Lord be pleased to see a slip of a female succeed where he had failed? You fool yourself, Darkling, when you say you do this for your father. You do it for yourself, for you are an ambitious woman. You will see the women of Hetar subjugated once again while you overcome all odds to take power for yourself. You are wickedly clever."

"And you are too clever," she responded. "What makes you think I will not dispense with your services once I gain what I want?"

Cam laughed. "Darkling, you need me, for no other lover has ever satisfied you as I do, and your appetite for pleasures is as great as mine."

Ciarda looked irritably at him, but then she said, "You are right, my lord Hierarch. Not even the Wolfyn have your talent for pleasures. Perhaps when I have accomplished all I desire I will take you for my consort."

Cam laughed again. "My aunt will defeat you, Darkling. But as long as I rule Hetar and Anoush is by my side, she will not care."

"You are nothing without me, Outlander!" she cried. "Nothing!"

"I will not argue the point with you, Darkling. I am but an ordinary man without your magic. But you will continue to give me that magic because I suit your convenience. You will find no other to play the part who can lead the people of Hetar into your web, Ciarda. I know my own worth. Do you?"

He was right, of course, but the truth rankled her. A stupid man would not be able to convince Hetar that he was who he said he was. Cam was everything the legend said the Hierarch was. His appearance was like a sunrise, sudden and unexpected in its beauty. His charm could make every person who heard him speak believe that he was speaking directly to them. "We must not quarrel," Ciarda said. "Our goal is Hetar, and you will rule it as my govenor, my lord Hierarch. We must be united."

"Agreed," he said. "Now leave me be until you absolutely need me, Darkling. I would court Anoush, and it is difficult enough without your interference."

"Very well." She pouted. "But you must give me pleasures before you leave me."

He granted her wish, and when he finally left her Ciarda lay but half-conscious and in a weakened state. He did not even glance back at her as, using her magic, he returned himself to his own bed. In the morning he arose early, and, going to a nearby hot spring, washed his body free of the stink of their lust. It would not do to go to Anoush smelling of another woman. He wanted to rid himself of every memory of the Darkling for now. He wanted to simply be Cam, a herder from Rivalen, who wanted to court Anoush, a maiden of Camdene.

In the hall that morning he went to Sholeh, the headwoman, who had acted as his foster mother these past few years. She smiled warmly at him as he approached her.

"Good morrow, Cam," Sholeh greeted him.

He took her hands up in his, and kissed them respectfully. Then he knelt before her. "I would beg a boon of you, my lady. If you can grant it my heart will be happy."

Sholeh reached out and ruffled his curly dark hair. "What do you want, Cam? If it is within my power I will give it to you."

"Invite my cousin Anoush to visit with you, lady," he asked her softly. "I cannot shirk my duties to the herd, which makes it impossible to know Anoush again. If she were here with you we could sit together in the evenings by the fire and talk. Perhaps she would bring a basket out to the meadow in the noonday so we might eat together."

"Ah," Sholeh said, "to be young and in love again." She smiled fondly at him. "Of course I will ask my kinswoman Anoush to come and visit with me, Cam. I will send a message to her today via faerie post."

His handsome face lit with pleasure, and he kissed both her hands again. "Thank you, my lady! Thank you!" Then he rose to his feet.

Sholeh laughed. "Are you so eager for a wife, Cam?" she asked him.

"Until now, nay, but now that I have seen Anoush again, aye!"

"Do not hurry the maid, Cam. Anoush is a careful girl. Take time to reacquaint yourselves again. If she cares for you none will dissuade her. You have time," Sholeh advised him. "I believe you can rekindle the feelings Anoush had for you as a child."

"I hope so!" he said earnestly.

There was a boyishness about him that touched Sholeh's heart. Cam saw it and was satisfied that Sholeh would do whatever she had to to help him. The Lord High Ruler of Hetar had been clever in taking a princess of Terah as his wife. But he had made a mistake in angering her mother by stealing the girl. When Anoush agreed to be his wife he would go to her mother and plead for her permission to make her his bride.

He knew that when Hetar had been taken by the forces of the Darkling, and he was given the power to rule it, he could take his revenge on Lara. He would see that both of her daughters were turned over to a new Pleasure House he would create especially for the rapacious Wolfyn soldiers. Within a few months both of the young women would be dead, but those last months would be spent in an agony of unending pleasures as they were used over and over and over again. Thus would he destroy the faerie woman who had murdered his mother and father. She would never forget how her two daughters had ended their lives, nor that she had been unable to prevent it, for the Darkling would put a spell around that Pleasure House that could not be broken.

Cam smiled. He suspected that Ciarda had planned to just give the two sisters to the Wolfyn despite her vow not to harm them. But his way was a far more refined torture, and he knew when he told her the Darkling would appreciate the subtlety of his plan. Multiple rape by the Wolfyn would kill Anoush too easily. Zagiri would last longer, but she, too, would succumb quickly enough. Setting the sisters in a Pleasure House to endure the slow attentions of their cruel Wolfyn lovers was a far more satisfactory revenge.

He would be sorry to lose Anoush for he did have feelings for her. But the knowledge of what he must do would make their time together all the sweeter for him. In the end, however, she would have to be sacrificed, for he must have his revenge against her mother. And he was being quite generous. He was taking only two lives for the two taken. The laws of revenge did allow him more, but he was not a greedy man.

True to her word Sholeh sent an invitation to Anoush to come and visit. Several days later Anoush rode into Rivalen on a small golden mare, one of Dasras's daughters. And that same evening she walked hand in hand with Cam beneath the autumn stars. It was the beginning of their romance, and as that romance deepened word spread among the Fiacre clan families that the daughter of Vartan was being courted by the son of her father's killers. Anoush's other suitors were outraged.

But when the respected headwoman, Sholeh, kin to Vartan, defended the lovers, pointing out what a fine man Cam had become beneath her tutelage, opinions began to change. Especially when Anoush and Cam were seen together, and they were so obviously in love. Winterfest came, and Cam was ready to solicit Lara's permission to ask Anoush to be his wife. Forewarned of this by Noss, Lara chose instead to go to Shunnar. She did not often join the Fiacre except for those weeks late in the summer, so it would hardly be thought odd.

Seated at supper with Kaliq, Lara said, "Noss still does not like Cam despite what everyone else seems to think. Our friendship goes back so far that I trust her instincts as much as I would trust mine."

"And what do you think?" Kaliq asked.

"He seems changed, and yet..." Lara paused. "There is little light surrounding him. He says all the right things, but beneath his smiles and fine words I sense something else although I have not been with him enough to put my finger on it."

"You don't want to be with him, do you?" the prince said as he reached for a small bunch of grapes.

"Nay, I do not," Lara admitted. She took a golden apricot, split it with her two thumbs and ate one half of it. "Every time I look at him I see his parents. I do not care what others may think of him. Yet Anoush is in love with him. She does not remember her father for she was a baby when he was killed. All she knows of Vartan is his legend. Yet Cam has managed to revive those feelings she had for him as a little girl before Dillon warned me of his wickedness. Anoush's letters to me are so sweet, Kaliq. So filled with the joy and wonder of first love. How can I who have known such great love in my own life deny my child love? I thought others would court Anoush, that she would come to consider Cam as her kinsman only. It has not happened, and now he would wed her. If I allow him to ask me for her what can I reply feeling as I do? I do not want this man as my son-in-law. I do not want grandchildren from his black blood. If I refuse him will my daughter turn against me as Zagiri did?"

Reaching out, he took the other half of the apricot from her hand, sucking the juice from her fingers before he ate it. He did not release her hand. "I am pleased to see your instincts are as sharp as ever despite these last months, my love. I told you that we had set a watch upon Ciarda. We have discovered some very interesting things about her. Cam is her lover, and the skill of his passions has enslaved the Darkling. We have not dared to come too close to her for we are not yet certain ourselves how attuned her senses are. Remember, she seemed to know she was being observed when you first sought her out. As soon as we can determine the proper cloaking we must use to hide our presence from her we will know more. But for now you understand that if Cam is Ciarda's lover there is some wickedness afoot between them. Your daughter must not be involved further with him. If necessary we can bring Anoush to Shunnar for her own safety."

"Nay, Kaliq, that would but alert Cam that we suspected something of him. Let me put Anoush into a deep sleep from which she cannot be awakened by mortal hand. I will surround her with a protective barrier so that the Darkling cannot harm her. Cam dares not ask me for my daughter's hand when she lies in an unconscious state from which no one can arouse her. And when I am called to her side I will deny all knowledge of what has befallen my child. You and I both know that to forbid Anoush the man she believes she loves would be fatal, for then she would be even more determined to have him. In that she and her sister are alike."

"In that all females are alike." Kaliq chuckled. Then he grew serious. "There is one more gate that must be closed to prevent your mare from escaping. We must bar the Dream Plain to Anoush. Her sleep must be one without even the remotest chance of a dream where something evil might approach or attack her. If there is some reason why Cam needs to wed Anoush he will use the Darkling to reach out to her and force her awake so his purposes may be realized. I would come with you when you set the spell, Lara. Not because I do not believe you are capable, but because you will need all the help that can be given to you."

"I will not argue that, Kaliq," Lara replied. "My primary concern is that Anoush be kept safe from any and all harm. Now that you have told me of Cam's involvement with the Darkling I cannot believe his feelings for my daughter are genuine."

"There is indeed something wicked afoot, my love," he said. "I had hoped when we imprisoned Kol for a thousand years there would be peace. This Darkling is an ambitious female, something that is very rare among denizens of the Dark Lands. I wonder who her mother was. One day I will satisfy my curiosity to that. For now we must contain the evil she would perpetrate."

"Sometimes I grow tired of this constant battle," Lara said candidly. "Sometimes I wish we might just go to Zeroun, and never return. But then I know I have a destiny, and a purpose in life. I feel the strength filling me again."

"And that is as it should be," Kaliq told her. "Even those of us in the magical realms feel despair now and again. I suspect we should feel that way even if we only dealt with our own kind." He chuckled. "But the Celestial Actuary has given us the task of monitoring the mortal races, and they are not easy creatures under normal circumstances. But when the darker among our numbers seek to encourage them mayhem is certain to ensue, my love. This is a never-ending battle between the light and the dark."

"Will one side ever triumph over the other for good and all?" Lara asked him.

The Shadow Prince shook his head. "Even I do not know the answer to that question, my love. But I do know we must do everything in our power to prevent the darkness from overwhelming us. It is my belief, and that of many others in both the magical worlds and the mortal worlds, that the light must prevail at all costs."

"Then we should get on our way, my lord Prince. It will be night in the New Outlands, and Anoush should be sleeping in her own bed, in her own house. I dare not wait any longer, for I must face Cam sooner than later."

"Then we go, my love," the prince told her. Stepping next to her, he enveloped Lara in his long white cloak. When a moment later he threw back the edge of the garment, they were both standing next to Anoush's bed. She can neither see nor hear us, Kaliq said to Lara. He stepped away from her, and looked about the chamber. Then he nodded, satisfied. Whatever mischief was planned involving Anoush, there is no magic in this place right now but you and I, he told Lara. Weave your spell, my love.

Is she not beautiful, Kaliq? Lara said. When I look at her I can see Vartan, although her hair is more the shade of mahogany while his was black as the night. Such is the nature of evil that it would reach out to take the fairest. Lara sighed sadly. Then she said, "The natural world you now forsake. Sleep until I bid you wake. No dream or call will break your rest. Though some will put it to the test. Your mother's love protects you well. None can break your mother's spell. Sleep, Anoush. Sleep sound and deep. Your spirit now I shall well keep." Bending, she kissed her child upon her cheek. And as she spoke in the silent language of the magical worlds Lara's hands, raised just slightly above her daughter's body, moved from Anoush's dark head to the very tips of her toes and back again. When she had finished she looked to the Shadow Prince.

Kaliq put his two hands together, and then, slowly opening them, he ran them from the head of Anoush's bed to its foot. She is now sealed effectively in a protective spell, he told Lara. No one will be able to touch her or disturb her.

Seal the room, as well, Lara said.

Nay. If no one can enter it becomes too obvious what has happened, and suspicion will fall upon you. It will be said you did this to prevent a marriage between Anoush and Cam. The Fiacre like the idea of a union between Vartan's daughter and Adon's son. They see it as an end to the terrible memories. What I will do, however, is seal the windows against evil, but even if it comes through the door nothing will awaken Anoush, or be able to touch her. Not even you, Lara. Not until this is settled, and this new evil, whatever it may be, is found out and defeated.

I bow to your wisdom, my lord, Lara answered him.

He chuckled, and gave her a wry grin. We should go, and decide what our next move is to be.

A moment, she said. Lara looked down at her oldest daughter. Anoush looked so peaceful as she slept. How long would she have to remain like this? My beautiful, gentle child, Lara thought sadly. I am ready, she told Kaliq.

The prince threw his cloak over her, his arm about her shoulders, and a moment later they were back in his garden in Shunnar.

Lara felt the heat of the late-morning sun warming her shoulders, and it felt good after the chill of Anoush's bedchamber. "Today," she said, "I shall go to Camdene to speak with Liam and Noss. I shall be told of Anoush's condition, and proclaim no knowledge of what has happened to her. But I will reassure them that she appears fine otherwise. Cam shall be told of Anoush's condition. I shall ask him if he has had anything to do with her condition. Of course he will deny it."

"He will believe his jealous lover, the Darkling, is involved," Kaliq remarked. "And she will deny it, of course."

"I will see he does not believe her, for I will assure him Anoush's condition is certainly magic." Lara chuckled. "It may very well spoil whatever alliance the Darkling has with Cam."

"Nay," Kaliq said. "It will sour it, but Cam is an ambitious man or he would not be treating with the Darkling at all. He will continue on with their plans. Anoush, I believe, was somehow involved with those plans, but the enchantment about her will not deter the Darkling or Cam. We need to know exactly what mischief they are up to, Lara."

"Have any of the princes been able to get closer to her?" she asked him.