"Perhaps a sturdy giant lord or mayhap two of the dwarf lords. Surely I may have two of them, as two

equal one Darklander," she said thoughtfully.

"How do you think the mistress will enjoy taking pleasures before the high lords?" Anka wondered. "She is a delicate creature. I suspect she will not like it at all, but if we do not tell her and obey our master, she will be well repaid for beating us, will she not, Macia?" And Anka laughed.

Macia laughed, too. She would not tell Lara what awaited her, either, but only because she feared the Twilight Lord more than she feared Lara. She did not doubt for a moment that he would kill them and she suspected it would be a nasty death.

Two nursemaids were found to watch over the twins. Several times a day they would bring their charges to Ema to nurse. Although Ema had unusually large breasts, the twins were voracious eaters and emptied each breast at each feeding. Lara realized that if Ema was to survive her nurslings she would have to set a firm schedule for the wet nurse's comfort. She saw that the woman was fed six times a day so that she might keep her strength up. Ema was also to rest in between the feedings. Her only duty, Lara told her servants, was to feed the twins. She would be burdened with nothing else.

And each day of the first week of her sons' life, Lara was bathed daily, her sexual organs treated with salves, and she was given herbal draughts to drink down several times a day. She was not unhappy to find herself completely healed so very quickly and feeling quite well by the sixth day. She began to consider when she would call out to Kaliq and make good her escape. But she sensed that she must wait until after the Completion Ceremony was celebrated lest she break any taboo that would render the twins' birth irrelevant and permit Kol to seek another mate with whom to create another male heir.

And each morning the twins she had given Kol were brought to her. It was not difficult to be indifferent to them. They were oddly adult and a little frightening. Unlike most infants, who slept much of the first few months of their lives, Kolbein and Kolgrim were lively boys whose dark eyes were forever scanning everything in their view even in their first week of life. When they looked at her there was a certain knowing in their gaze that always surprised her. She did not like them. She and Kol had created them. She had carried them within her body and pushed them from it to give them life. But she did not like them.

The Completion Ceremony was to be celebrated on the seventh night after the twins' birth. Lara was bathed and her hair dressed in several braids that were looped and curled about her head. Her gown was a deceptively simple violet silk robe sewn all over with tiny seeds of black onyx. On her feet were placed slippers of silk covered with thin sheets of beaten silver. A silver crown studded with amethysts and topped with a silver crescent moon was fitted over her head.

Macia and Anka had been given simple robes of dark purple silk and wore silver crescent moons in their hair. They had been designated to lead her into the ceremony. Both were trembling with their silent excitement at taking pleasures with the lords. Conceiving a child with one of those lords would give them the opportunity to be freed of their service and taken into the lord's household as a concubine. It was a chance rarely offered to the lower orders.

"Where are we going?" Lara asked them as they ushered her from her apartments.

"We cannot tell you, mistress," Macia said. "It is not permitted."

Through the dim corridors they led her until finally before them a large silver door loomed. The double doors opened silently as they reached them and the three women entered a great domed chamber. Macia and Anka stepped back, allowing Lara to go forward to greet the Twilight Lord awaiting her in the room's center. She had been told to take his hands in her hands, pressing them first to her forehead, next to her heart and finally to her lips as she knelt before him. She did. The Twilight Lord gave a cold smile of approval. Lara spoke the words she had been taught to say.

"I thankyou, my lord Kol, for permitting me to nurture your powerful seed within my unworthy body and to safely bring forth from that body your sons. Praise to Krell!"

"Praise to Krell!"The voices of many erupted, and glancing up Lara saw that a great balcony encircled the whole chamber. It was filled to capacity with the Twilight Lord's subjects. This was the first time she had seen anyone else but for the castle's servants. Her quick peek showed her giants and other creatures she could not identify and through the open balusters she spied the faces of many dwarfs.

Remembering her part Lara continued, "Before your subjects, my lord Kol, I now stand ready to prove my worthiness as the mother of your sons. Command me as you will! All praise be to Krell!" His hands drew her to her feet again.

"All praise be to Krell!"the spectators shouted eagerly.

"Remove the garments I wear, my mate," the Twilight Lord said and flung wide his arms to facilitate her efforts.

His words surprised her but Lara nonetheless unfastened his black robe, pushing it back to allow her two attendants to slide it down his sinewy arms. From this moment on she was not certain what would transpire. She knelt, slipped his silver slippers from his big feet. Then she stood again.

"Take her robe," Kol commanded Macia and Anka.

Lara was not pleased to be rendered naked before a balcony full of bystanders, but it was obviously part of the ceremony and she could hardly protest. A sigh of obvious appreciation at her nudity arose and she felt her cheeks warming beneath the sound.

Then a deep voice called out loudly."Show us your strength, my lord Kol! Show us the strength of your mate. Complete the cycle!"

"Complete the cycle!"came the shout.

Kol waved his hand and the floor beneath them rose to make a dais. A double couch with one open end and one rolled end appeared. Kol took Lara's hand and led her to the couch. "Lay back upon it," he said softly.

Lara realized that she had no choice. The twins' legitimacy must not be questioned. She suspected now what was coming and was not pleased, but it had to be done. She positioned herself in the middle of the couch and lay back. Almost at once Macia and Anka came to stand on either side of their mistress, each taking one of Lara's feet in their hands. At a flick of Kol's eyelash they slowly raised Lara's legs up, moving back until her limbs were practically over her shoulders and she was spread wide for all to view. Above her she could see the eager faces of the spectators waiting. Lara now understood that as the creation of Kolbein and Kolgrim had come about because she and Kol took pleasures with each other, their first week of life would end with their parents taking pleasures together for the first time since that moment. The Completion.

Kol knelt between Lara's outstretched legs and leaning forward began to lick at her sweet flesh with his forked tongue. She knew her response to him this night must be one that brought him more respect than he had ever had of his subjects. Closing her eyes Lara released all thought of dismay and displeasure at her current situation, and sighed audibly. The flickering tongue poked and prodded at her, touching her lust orb, making it tingle with excitement. She moaned with appreciation, a little cry escaping her as the tongue slipped into her love sheath to tease her more. Slowly, for Lara understood that this was a moment that must be savored by the spectators, she let her juices begin to pearl and then she screamed as his teeth nibbled upon her aching lust orb, causing it to burst forth with a sweetness that sent a shudder through her body. The spectators cheered this event, and cried out,"All praise to Krell!"

Kol stood up and posed before the balcony. His great dominant rod sprang forth to enthusiastic clapping and more cries of"All praise to Krell!" He strutted about the dais, allowing them all a long look at his mighty rod. Lara held out her arms to him as if pleading. The look in his eyes told her that her act pleased him. And then cheers and more clapping as the thin and pointed lesser rod appeared, glistening with its silver sheen. The females accompanying the lords screamed with excitement and once again the cry,"All praise to Krell!" was shouted enthusiastically.

Kol preened once more before his subjects and then turning his attention to his mate he slipped onto the couch and began to slowly impale her on both of his great rods. Open-mouthed, the spectators in the balcony watched as Kol's enormous dominant rod slid into Lara's waiting sheath even as the pointed tip of his lesser rod pierced her rose hole. Then, both rods fully sheathed, his dominant rod began to pump her with slow, majestic movements while the lesser rod remained throbbing within her narrower passage and the spectators leaned forward to gaze upon the strength and magnificence of the Twilight Lord and his beautiful faerie mate. Macia and Anka struggled to maintain their place. Both women were near to swooning with their own lust as they watched their master and mistress perform before their subjects.

Kol's movements began to quicken and then his dominant rod was flashing fiercely in and out of the hot, tight love sheath that had been so perfectly prepared over the last week to receive him once again. He bent forward and suckled and bit her breasts. Lara screamed with delight and her nails clawed at his back, going deep, drawing blood. The crowd roared its approval. Their lord's mate was no weak female to be easily overcome by her master. When he finally triumphed over her it would only be after a great battle had been fought between them.

For over an hour the two lovers writhed upon the couch as above them their subjects watched with favor as Kol's strength and that of his mate was more than proven to them. And then Lara reached around her lover and two of her fingers found their way between his buttocks to caress his hidden flesh. Kol howled with surprise and delight. His two rods, but a small wall of flesh separating them, sought together for that tiny spot that when touched would send Lara into a paroxym of joy. He found it. The two rods caressed it from either side and her pleasure began to peak. Lara shrieked with her satisfaction as the tremors began to race over her. Her head spun. Stars exploded behind her closed eyelids into a myriad of dazzling colors while around her the roar of the crowd grew louder and louder. And then blackness. Silence.

Kol arose from the unconscious body of his mate. "All praise be to Krell!" he shouted and they shouted it back at him."Am I strong enough to rule you?" he demanded of them."Does my mate meet with your approval?"

"Yes!" the spectators roared with one voice. "All hail to our lord Kol! All praise be to Krell!"

"Lower her legs," Kol ordered the two women. "You are free to choose whom you will from among my lords." The Lustlings appeared and began to cleanse the tired sexual organs of the Twilight Lord and his mate. When they had finished he picked up his robe, wrapped himself in it and then lifted Lara from the couch that they had shared. Leaving the rotunda the Twilight Lord carried his mate back to her bedchamber and lay her upon the bed. The rest of the night would be spent in a carnal celebration by his lords and the women who accompanied them. He would eventually join them in the banquet hall, but not quite yet. He lay down next to Lara and gathered her into his arms.

It was almost a full hour before she began to stir. As she came once more to her senses Lara smelled his fragrance and opening her eyes saw he was cradling her. "Did we please the lords?" she asked him softly.

"We pleased them well. As I left the rotunda with you many of them were already rodding their women. I gave Macia and Anka leave to stay and seek pleasures if they chose. Anka is a very lustful creature and sought immediately for a Wolfyn lord. I think Macia had finally decided upon a giant. Let us hope her lover does not split her in two." He chuckled. "You were magnificent. You have an innate understanding of how to deal with the lower orders, my precious." He began to caress her breasts.

"Are you already hot again for pleasures?" she said. "I think it is you who are a most lustful fellow." Lara entwined her fingers into his dark hair.

"We did what we did for the lords," he said to her. "Let us now do it for ourselves, my precious. Then I will leave you and join the lords in the hall."

"May I not go, too?" Lara asked him.

"Will you feel strong enough?" he asked her solicitously.

"Will you?"she teased him wickedly.

Kol laughed.

"Take pleasures with me like the Wolfyn lord will do with Anka," she tempted him seductively. Lara rolled over and leaning forward drew herself up on her knees, resting her head upon her folded arms, her pretty bottom pushing up at him. "Are they as fierce as you, my lord?" she taunted.

Kol covered her body with his and growling he leaned forward to bite the nape of her neck sharply. "I am fiercer," he told her and thrust his dominant rod into her woman's passage. Then holding her hips in his grasp he began to piston her until Lara was moaning with undisguised pleasure. She had roused his lust to a fever pitch and he could not seem to stop with her. Twice he brought her to a peak only to continue, his great rod delving deeper until she was begging him to stop. But he knew she could be challenged once more and he was not quite ready. His hands moved from her hips to grasp her dangling breasts. He squeezed them hard, pinching the nipples cruelly, making her whimper with the pain. Then he felt her shuddering a third time, his rod quivered, his juices exploded and Lara screamed softly as she collapsed beneath him.

Kol rolled away from her, turning her over to face him. "Am I not fiercer?" he demanded of her.

She laughed weakly as she opened her green eyes to look at him. "I cannot know, for I have never taken pleasures with a Wolfyn," she told him mischievously.

"Little bitch," he said to her. "Perhaps I should give you to Hrolleif. He could curb you of your insolence, my precious."

"But you would not enjoy a mate less spirited than I, my lord Kol," Lara said softly. "You love my insolence." Her fingers reached up to caress his saturnine face. "Don't you?"

He laughed, but he did not answer her.

The Lustlings appeared and did their duty. Then the Twilight Lord and his mate arose, dressed themselves and went to the banquet hall to join the lords. Their entrance was met with cheers. They took their places at the head of the large banqueting table and the feasting and drinking began. The various lords were enchanted by Lara as this night was the only opportunity they had to view her and speak with her. Even Alfrigg seemed pleased, which Lara found amusing, having heard from Kol of his chancellor's normally sour disposition.

A young Wolfyn lord came to Kol and murmured low into the Twilight Lord's ear. Kol then leaned over to Lara and said, "He wants to keep Anka. Will you allow it?"

"Where is Anka?" Lara asked. "I would speak with her first."

The Wolfyn lord went off, then returned dragging Anka with him. She was not happy. Indeed, she looked a bit frightened. Seeing this, Lara said, "No, he may not have her, but I will allow him to amuse himself with her for three days, my lord. I suspect it will cure her of her boldness."

The Twilight Lord relayed his mate's message. The Wolfyn lord bowed to Kol, gave a polite nod to Lara and dragged Anka off with him. Macia returned barely able to walk from her adventure with a young giant lord. There was nothing for it but to take to her bed for the next few days as she could not stand for more than five minutes. Anka returned subdued and would not speak of her time with the Wolfyn lord.

Lara knew that Kol prepared to loose his armies on Hetar soon. It was now time for her to leave him and bring further confusion and discord to the Dark Lands. The twins, not even a month old yet, had already made adherents among the Dark-landers seeking to position themselves for the day when Kol would declare one of them his heir. That it was many years hence did not deter them from choosing sides. And Kol encouraged their behavior and their rich gifts to Kolbein and Kolgrim. Each petitioner was permitted to personally present his gift to the twin involved. Lara could have sworn that these infant boys knew exactly what was going on and were marking down their supporters within their memories. She found it disturbing.

Kol came to her each night now, and it was harder and harder for her to keep up the pretense of being his willing mate. She had to leave, yet something about this dark creature called out to her. She was having moments when she wondered if she could go. Finally one night she fought back the unseen forces she sensed about her and cried aloud,"Kaliq!" And he appeared before her just as Kol entered her bedchamber, stepping back stunned by the sudden brightness there.

The Twilight Lord's dark eyes blazed with fury."She is mine!" he roared at the Shadow Prince. "And you, creature of light, have no place in my kingdom! Begone!" His eyes hurt.

"Nor does Lara, daughter of Swiftsword and Ilona of the Forest Faeries have any place in your kingdom," the Shadow Prince said quietly.

"She is my mate. The mother of my sons," Kol replied. "She belongs to me! She is now my creature, Shadow Prince. Darkness fills her soul completely."

"Not completely," Kaliq replied. "You had the Munin rob her of her memories but for those you wanted her to have. But all of her memories have been returned to her, Twilight Lord. Now she will leave you and return to her world, which needs her more than you do." He glowed with light.

"She will remain with me, Shadow Prince,"Kol said in a fierce voice. "Tell him, my precious! Tell him that you love me and will stay."

"I do love you, Kol," Lara said quietly, "but I will not remain with you. Did you not hear what Kaliq told you? I have my memories once more. You cannot hold me by the force of your magic any longer. I cannot bear another day in your dark and dreary kingdom. I am faerie. I need the heat of the sun upon me, a warm breeze blowing my hair. I need color, and flowers and most of all I need Magnus Hauk and our children!

"Do you really believe that you could have succeeded in your nefarious scheme had not higher powers than yours permitted it? All my life I have moved toward a destiny that I neither knew nor understood. Now I do. It was my destiny to give twin sons to a Twilight Lord whose predecessors could sire only one son in a lifetime. Your laws will not permit you to kill one of your offspring, Kol. And besides, you cannot be certain which one is the true heir and meant to follow you. Until you can learn that secret the Dark Land will be kept in a turmoil by Kolbein and Kolgrim as they struggle for supremacy. They may even seek to destroy you, for you will learn that in their quest for power they will not be governed by the rule of law.

"You sought to loose the forces of darkness upon our worlds, Kol, but there must always be a balance between the dark and the light. That balance is now restored and will remain so for some time," Lara told him. "You have great magic, my lord, but so do I and without my magic you will not succeed with your plans to conquer either Hetar or Terah. I suggest you consider what you will tell your lords now as I am certain that they have been planning for the riches these conquests would bring them. You will have to placate them in some fashion if you hope to retain their loyalty." Lara turned to Kaliq. "I am ready now," she said and reached for his hand.

"No!" the Twilight Lord said. "I will seek you out again, Lara. You will return to me or I will kill you, for no other shall have you."

Kaliq shook his head. "Your reflecting bowls are gone, for I have taken them. You will make no others, for that knowledge was lost to your kind centuries ago. My brothers and I have sealed off your kingdom from the rest of the worlds for at least a hundred years. Until then, neither you nor your body servant can leave Kolbyr. You are trapped here where you can do little harm. Farewell!" Kaliq wrapped his golden brocade cloak about Lara and together they disappeared in a shadowy mist, Kol's shriek of fury echoing in their ears.

As Kaliq removed his cloak from his companion Lara slowly collapsed against him. "The strength has gone out of me," she said and she began to sob.

The Shadow Prince quickly scooped Lara up in his arms and carried her out to the great open corridor where there was morning sun and warm air. For months she had been penned within Kol's dark castle in the chill and dank. Such an atmosphere was anathema to her faerie soul and it had slowly begun to shrivel. Back in her own realm, however, she would soon be revived. "Breathe," he instructed her.

Lara drew a deep breath and the scent of flowers filled her nostrils. "Roses," she murmured with a sigh and relaxed against him. She sniffed again. "And lilies, and woodbine and yellow primroses, which are the sweetest." The sunlight seemed to revive her and she said, "Put me down now. I think I can stand. I want to see the horses."

Kaliq set her gently upon her feet and helped her to the balustrade, but his arm remained about her waist.

Lara looked down into the great green valley where the Shadow Princes' herds grazed. It never failed to amaze her that in the center of the desert this magical place existed. "Is Og here?" she asked Kaliq. "Does he know what happened?"

"Og is here and so is your son, Dillon," Kaliq informed her.

"Dillon should not be here yet," Lara cried, turning to look up into his handsome face. "I said you might have him when he was twelve but not before, my lord."

"I brought him to Shunnar but a short while back, Lara, and I did because he suddenly knew that you were in the Dark Lands. I needed to distract Dillon before your husband took him too seriously, marshaled his army and marched north. Hetar is threatening Terah. Your old friend Gaius Prospero has disposed of Anora and is divorcing Lady Vilia so he may wed his lover, a creature of our creation. But he will, I fear, be disappointed for all of his plans will come to naught. We will retrieve the lady Shifra when she has served her purpose for us."

"And what has her purpose been, my lord?" Lara asked him, curious.

"To distract Gaius Prospero from his nefarious plans to invade Terah, which he believes weakened by your absence," Kaliq told her. "And to break his heart."

"Will Jonah take Vilia to wife?" Lara wondered aloud.

"Aye, he will and while it will greatly discomfit the emperor to learn of the marriage, he will believe Jonah's explanation. That he has wed the lady only to prevent her from falling into the hands of those who would depose Gaius Prospero and to prevent her from being shamed and seeking to wreak revenge upon her former husband. Her family is a prominent and conservative one."

"And the emperor will be grateful to his good right hand," Lara replied with a small smile. "And then the creature you have given Gaius Prospero will disappear. Not right away, I hope. He needs to be punished for all his wickedness. If the emperor is content with this female then you have removed the curse I placed upon him, Kaliq, so he might enjoy pleasures with her. It is the only reason he would revere her, for his tastes have long since been jaded."

"It was necessary," Kaliq said, "and you should really have never plagued him in such a manner, Lara." He scolded her with a smile.

"Magical or mortal," Lara replied dryly, "all men stick together when it comes to matters of pleasure."

The prince laughed. "You are feeling a little better," he said.

"Aye, but I am also very tired, Kaliq."

"I know," he replied sympathetically. "Being in the Dark Lands for so many months has drained you of your strength. You will remain with me until you are fully recovered, my love." His elegant fingers caressed her face.

"May I see Dillon?" she asked him.

"I do not think it wise," he told her. "I am going to return him to Magnus today with the message that you will soon be home again. He knows now that your disappearance had to do with fulfilling your destiny."

She nodded. "And when I do go back to my husband and children?"

"Your memories of those months spent in the Dark Lands will be gone, my love," he said quietly. "As for those affected by your disappearance, they, too, will not remember. It will be as if you had never been gone, Lara. Magnus will remember coming for you in the New Outlands and bringing you home. The past months for you all will be recalled as any year in your lives. Nothing special will have happened. In Hetar, the war that Gaius Prospero plans will be based solely upon his fears of Terah and his need to dosomething to keep in favor," Kaliq explained. "Your lives will go on as they should."

"You can do this?" she said.

"My brothers and I, working with the Munin, can do this," he replied. "The Munin owe us one more favor for rescuing them from Kol and the Dark Lands."

"But Kol will not forget what has happened," Lara said.

"Nay, he will not," Kaliq answered her. "It is a punishment for him that he will remember that once he possessed a most beautiful faerie woman called Lara. No other will ever please him again. But he will be too busy with the sons you gave him to spend much time grieving. He must hold on to the Dark Kingdom from within his prison and in the face of the growing threat Kolbein and Kolgrim will present to him. And without the presence of their lord to hold them in check, the giants, the dwarfs and the Wolfyn will run rampant throughout the Dark Lands," Kaliq said.

"Then I am safe," Lara murmured. She was growing very tired and slumped against Kaliq's shoulders. "I need to sleep," she told him.

"Come," he said and led her to the magnificent apartment that had once been hers.

"We will eat our evening meal in your garden." Then he left her.

She was truly alone for the first time in months. And she was in a familiar place. Slowly Lara looked about her. She stood in the little antechamber where he had first brought her all those years ago. And then Noss had come in, and they had been so glad to have found one another again. Lara smiled with the memory. Could either she or Noss have ever imagined the future before them then? She doubted it.

Everything seemed to be the same within her apartment. It was a spacious accommodation with a dining chamber, a dayroom, a small bedroom where Noss had slept and a large bedchamber that had been hers for little over a year. There was also a small tiled bath with its own bathing pool. Lara looked down to see the same fine wool carpets in shades of ruby, sapphire, amethyst and emerald adorning the marble floors. The sheer, pale golden silk curtains blew in the soft warm breeze and beyond was a lovely green garden. Lara knew that Kaliq's chambers were on the other side of that garden. The furniture was ebony accented with gold, as well as plush covered in silk, and was strewn with plump pillows. She walked into her bedchamber and smiled again. She had always loved this room with its pale wood walls painted with all manner of desert animals. Curious, she opened the wardrobe to see it filled as it had always been with silk robes and little leather sandals in just her size.

Her bed beckoned and pushing aside the gossamer draperies that shielded it, Lara lay down. Her destiny had been fulfilled and she was amazed by what had happened. Recalling how she had always disliked the oblique mysteriousness of her peers when that destiny was referred to, she had to laugh. Despite the magic in her, despite the powers she now possessed, Lara knew that had she ever been asked directly to do what needed to be done, she would have refused. She would not have left Magnus and her children.

And yet it had been necessary for her, for their worlds, that she fulfill that destiny. Without her the deception could not have been played out. She wondered if Kol's Book of Rule had actually said that he would take a faerie woman for his mate, or if that had been but another part of the deception. Perhaps what had been written had not even mentioned a faerie woman at all. Perhaps that was just something that had been inserted by a power far greater than the Book of Rule's magical author.And who had that author been? she wondered. His essence would have had to have been completely erased from memory for another to overcome the magic in the book. She had so many questions to ask Kaliq and she wondered whether she would ever receive her answers. Her eyes felt heavy suddenly, then Lara lapsed into a deep and healing sleep.

When Kaliq had left her he had gone down into the valley below to find his horse master and young Dillon. He found them in a paddock. In the few days his visitor had been in Shunnar, Og had helped the boy by getting the yearling Dillon had chosen to accept him as his master. Kaliq watched as Dillon, holding a long rein, cantered the animal about the enclosure. He had a natural ability with horses, the prince could see.