“And what will be paid you for the girl?” Palben asked.

“I may mine minerals and ore in the mountains of the Twilight. Sixty percent of what I mine will go to Lord Kolgrim. The remaining forty will be mine. I will give you fifteen percent of the profits from the minerals and ores. I may also keep all the transmutes I find. I will give you thirty percent of those, my lord.” Grugyn looked expectantly to the ruler.

Palben was silent for what seemed a long time, and then he said, “I will accept your offer on one condition, my old friend. I want your granddaughter, Divsha, as my second wife. I have consulted on this matter with the First Lady Laureen, and she is agreeable. I will expect Divsha to give me children so that our offspring, and those of my lord Kolgrim will be blood kin through their mothers.” He smiled broadly again. “Is that not an excellent idea, my old friend?”

Grugyn Ahasferus was briefly rendered speechless. Then he managed to say, “This is a great honor you do my family, my lord Palben.”

Kolgrim was surprised. He had underestimated Palben. The man was clever. With the proper amount of fear instilled in him and training in how to serve, he would prove an excellent minion, the Twilight Lord decided to himself. “The nuptials could be celebrated together,” he suggested. “I am certain such loving cousins would want to be at the weddings. Once I return with my bride to the Dark Lands she must concentrate her entire being on giving me my heir. We will not come to Hetar for some time. If you would not mind sharing the day, my lord Palben,” Kolgrim said, “we might take our brides in seven days.” Seeing Palben hesitate, the Twilight Lord continued, “I can but imagine the joy you will have with a beautiful young bride to share pleasures with, my lord. I know I can hardly contain my anticipation.”

Lust sprang into Palben’s eyes. “Aye, aye,” he replied enthusiastically, “I agree! The marriages will be celebrated together.”

“Nyura is a proven virgin,” Grugyn said. “You know the fuss surrounding such a thing in the case of a bride, my lord. It will bring great notoriety to the House of Ahasferus. I would not want to overshadow your own nuptials. Perhaps you could wed the day before, and then my Lord Kolgrim the day after.”

Palben considered his friend’s words. “Aye,” he finally said. “You are right. Nothing should overshadow the wedding of the Lord High Ruler. It is settled then! I will wed the day before him.”

Grugyn bowed low. “I will inform my family of this double good fortune,” he said. He then turned to Kolgrim. “You will not see your bride until your wedding day, my lord. It is custom here in Hetar. I hope you will understand.”

“Of course,” Kolgrim replied. “I have some other business to conduct before the marriage. I will take this time to do it.”

Grugyn Ahasferus hurried home to tell his wife this latest news.

CAMILLA THREW UP HER HANDS in frustration. “Two weddings in a week? It will require a miracle. Have you sent to our eldest son to tell him this good news? Divsha, the Lord High Ruler’s wife!”

“Second wife,” Grugyn said. “She will have no title but Lady. She won’t like that, I fear. Nor will she be pleased to learn she is to become the Lord High Ruler’s property. Still in all she is a clever wench. She will find a way to make a success of this.”

“It will cost us dearly to pacify her,” Camilla noted sourly. “It would have been better if we had just matched her with the son of another wealthy magnate.”

“Divsha is a good Hetarian woman. She has been brought up properly and will do what she is told for the good of her family,” Grugyn replied.

“She wanted the Twilight Lord, and will demand much of the family to go to the Lord High Ruler’s bed smiling,” Camilla insisted.

“We will give her everything she wants then,” Grugyn said. “Do you know what these marriages mean, wife? We are not only about to become the richest family in Hetar, but our power base will be greater than I had ever imagined. I will no longer be just Palben’s friend. We will become blood kin by this marriage, and blood kin to the Twilight Lord, as well. The House of Ahasferus will be the most influential in our world. Could you have ever imagined such a thing, Camilla?”

As the realization of his words hit her, she staggered with shock. “Grugyn! What have we done?” she half whispered. “You are the cleverest man in Hetar, my lord, to have engineered such a coup.”

He accepted her praise, but the truth was, he had done nothing. The Twilight Lord had come to him. The Lord High Ruler had come to him. His only contribution was in having three beautiful sixteen-year-old granddaughters.

“We must do something for Yamka,” Camilla said. “She will be devastated by her cousins’ good fortunes. Of course we can’t duplicate such magnificent matches for her, but we must find someone worthy.”

“Go and speak with her then, and reassure her,” Grugyn Ahasferus said to his wife. “We cannot have our daughter’s child unhappy, and she certainly will be at this turn of events. But she must not remain unhappy long. I won’t have her sulking about on the wedding days, taking the attention from the bride.”

“I will go and find her immediately,” Camilla said, and she hurried off.

WORD SPREAD QUICKLY throughout The City of the two great marriages about to take place. In the residence that housed the members of the High Council, the Shadow Prince Nasim heard first. Going to his private apartments, he expeditiously transported himself to Shunnar and found Kaliq. “News, my brother! Bad news!” he greeted him.

“What news?” Kaliq asked. “Lara, come quickly!”

“What is it?” She was at once by his side.

“Nasim brings news from The City,” Kaliq told her.

“What has happened?” Lara asked Nasim.

“Kolgrim came to The City. He had sent to Palben to request he be allowed to visit,” Nasim began. “It is the purpose of his visit that is most interesting.”

“He came for his bride,” Lara said. “And he has found her, hasn’t he?”

Nasim nodded. “Nyura, granddaughter of Grugyn Ahasferus, daughter of his younger son, Zenas, and his wife, Sabine. He had his choice of three of Ahasferus’s granddaughters, but he chose this one.”

“She has Ulla’s power then. The question remains, does she know how to use those powers? Few of Ulla’s descendants ever did. Villia tried, but all she accomplished was attracting the Darkling Ciarda. What is known of this girl?”

“Little,” Nasim said, “other than she is a virgin. She is fair to look upon, Lara, but her two cousins are actually more spectacular, and they have been enjoying lovers since they reached fourteen. But not this girl, which is why little is known of her.”

“Something more must be known of her,” Lara said.

“Of Divsha and Yamka I can tell you much,” Nasim said. “But this girl has kept to herself. I, myself, only saw her recently because of the fuss that was made when the three girls were brought to their grandparents’ house to be inspected by Kolgrim. They came through the streets of the Golden District in separate litters proceeded by musicians and dancers. I was there visiting a friend, and we watched the procession. She found the whole thing most amusing, given the reputation for enjoying pleasures that two of the maidens have. The third girl, however, she knew nothing about. I caught a good glimpse of her as her litter went by. Slender, fair, red-gold hair, a serene beautiful face. My friend named each of them as their conveyances passed us by. This is all I can tell you.”

“So he has found the girl,” Lara said thoughtfully. “The marriage must be stopped. I wonder if this girl realizes she has powers. She might not want to share them with a husband, and especially not a powerful husband. If she is a true Hetarian, she would want to keep those powers for herself even if she didn’t know how to use them.”

“She is a Hetarian girl, Lara. She has been taught total obedience to the men in her life,” Kaliq reminded her quietly.

“You can argue this until the end of time,” Prince Nasim said. “You have no other choice than to go to Hetar and deal with the girl directly.”

“Nay,” Lara told him. “I do not want to go to Hetar, for Kolgrim is there now. He always senses when I am near him. He would seek me out and make it appear as if I were involved in this marriage of his and approved it. Nay! We will bring the girl to us on the Dream Plain tonight and learn what she knows of her gift. Then we will deal with it.”

7

NYURA! NYURA! COME TO ME, CHILD, LARA CALLED. She stood among the swirling mists of the Dream Plain. The girl should be asleep in her own bed now, and she would be alone. Lara hoped Kolgrim had not set some spell about her to keep her safe from other magic. Certainly they had not aroused his suspicions yet. Nyura! Lara called again. Nyura, come to me. Then to her relief she heard the girl’s voice.

Who calls me? a young voice asked. Where are you?

Come forward, Nyura, Lara said. Let us speak face-to-face.

The mists grew thinner as Nyura walked barefoot in her simple white night garment, and then she saw the woman before her. She was a beautiful, slender creature with golden hair, pale green eyes and a sweet smile. Who are you? Nyura asked.

I am called Lara. I am Faerie, and I wish to speak with you.

You are my lord Kolgrim’s mother! Nyura said excitedly.

I am, though I am not proud of it, Lara responded. I am told you are to be his bride, Nyura. Why do you wish to ally yourself with the darkness, child?

It is my fate, Nyura said quietly. When I was very young the shade of my ancestress Ulla came to me. She told me I possessed certain powers that had once been hers. She told me I must not take lovers when I turned fourteen for I was meant to be a virgin bride for my husband one day. She said he would be the Twilight Lord. She said my purity and my powers would help him to conquer our worlds. She said that I would stand by his side and rule with him. She said I would give him a son who would be all-powerful. Should I have eschewed such a fate, my lady?