“I’m sure that pleased Squire Darah,” Lara said dryly.

“Nay!” Marzina gossiped on. “The Midlands are suddenly as fertile, if not more fertile, than they ever were. Squire Darah is very happy. He says it is just like olden times. But I am forgetting my purpose in coming. Grandmother says she wishes to see you as soon as you can come. I think she actually means now, Mother.”

Lara had to laugh. “You have come to understand Ilona well, Marzina. Tell your grandmother I will come tomorrow at the moonrise.”

Marzina threw her arms about Lara and kissed her cheek as she hugged her hard. “I have missed you, Mother. When will it be safe for me to come home for a real visit?”

“I do not know,” Lara said softly, “but sooner than later I hope, my darling. Do you have time to go and see Taj?”

“Nay, but I will come to him soon. Grandmother is expecting me back quickly,” Marzina said. “Goodbye, Mother!” And she was gone with the sound of tinkling bells, and in a puff of pink smoke.

Lara let out a gusty sigh. What a near thing it had been. While Marzina had briefly seen Kolgrim and Kolbein, Lara had managed to get them sent back to the Dark Lands before they had a chance to speak to one another. Had Marzina heard Kolgrim address her as Mother? She hadn’t said anything about it so Lara was hoping her youngest daughter had not heard his mocking address. She had not quite finished with the twins when she had been forced to remove them from her chamber. Now she must speak with their keeper, and she knew the old dwarf had enough magic to heed her command.

Chancellor Alfrigg, heed my call. Come to me from out yon wall!

And the stone wall suddenly opened showing the golden tunnel through which the Dark Lands’ ancient chancellor now hurried on his short little legs.

“Far too bright! Far too bright!” he complained as he entered her room. “I am almost blinded by your light, Domina. What do you want?”

Lara told him of the twins’ visit, explaining why she had brought them to her, and why she had quickly returned them. “My other children know nothing of that lost year,” she said. “Nor do I choose to share that time with them.”

“What do you want of me then, Domina?” Alfrigg asked her.

“I believe Kolbein is dangerous. Far more so than Kolgrim, who is much like his father. His evil is elegant and subtle. Kolbein is an ignorant brute, and the Darkling is using him for her own purposes. I believe that one way or another she means to rule the Dark Lands herself. If you would, protect Kolgrim, and make certain that Kolbein understands that the shedding of blood between brothers is forbidden by tradition within their family.”

“I will not ask where you gained your information,” Alfrigg said. “How odd that we have become allies of a sort, Domina. My lord Kol would be pleased to see you looking out for the interests of your children.”

“They are his, not mine. I do not claim them. My only interest is in keeping the darkness from leaving the Dark Lands, and spreading over our worlds,” Lara said.

“I have been suspicious of the Darkling, although I will admit a fondness for her. She is much like her dear father. Is he still alive, Domina?” Alfrigg inquired curiously.

“I do not know. I do not want to know. His fate was the province of the Shadow Princes.” Of course she did know, but Lara felt ignorance was the better path in this case. Alfrigg had been Kol’s chancellor for several hundred years, and he was devoted to him.

The old dwarf nodded. “I have held the kingdom together since his disappearance. I have monitored the progress of his sons. Now I must guide them.”

“Keep them in their place, and beware Kolbein and Ciarda,” Lara warned him. “You are a reasonable man, Alfrigg, and reason must prevail.”

“Thank you, Domina. Now, if you would open the tunnel for me, I will return.”

Lara raised her hand, and the tunnel appeared in the stone wall. Without another word the chancellor of the Dark Lands turned and hurried through the passageway. She watched him go, the opening closing behind him until the wall was wall once again. Lara sat back down again, and considered the past few hours. She had not heard from Kaliq, or any of the Shadow Princes, in several days.

Prince Kaliq, heed my plea. Cease all else and come to me, she called out in the silent language. But he did not answer her call, and instead Lara felt herself drawn into a golden tunnel, which ended at the Oasis of Zeroun. The desert moon shone down with its copper light dappling the pool and its waterfall. A light flickered from the tented pavilion. Lara walked toward it, and was suddenly greeted by Kaliq, who appeared before her in a loose white robe.

“I called to you,” she said. “And you did not come, my lord.”

“I decided that you needed a respite from your problems,” he said with a smile. Holding out his hand to her, he drew Lara into his arms and they were suddenly both naked. “’Tis not subtle, I will admit, but your son will expect you to emerge from your privy chamber in a few hours. I have missed you, my love.” His hands caught her head, holding it still as he kissed her, a deep and passionate kiss.

Lara slipped her arms about his neck, her fingers caressing his nape, setting the little dark hairs upon it to bristling beneath her touch. “Aah, Kaliq, this is wickedly perfect,” she murmured against his mouth. “My day so far has been difficult.”

“Tell me,” he said.

“Nay, not yet. I want to take pleasures with you first, my lord,” Lara said.

He swept her up in his arms, carrying her to the silken mattress upon the dais. Laying her down, his lips met hers again. Her mouth opened beneath his, and their tongues entwined slowly. They breathed each other’s essence, sighing. He lay upon his back and set her astride him, feeling the firm flesh of her bottom against his thighs. Reaching up, Kaliq took her breasts in his hands, fondling them, squeezing them individually, pressing them together. He suckled upon each of her nipples, nibbling teasingly, drawing hard so that she gasped aloud.

Lara reached out and caressed the length of his love rod. The very sight of it excited her, for she knew how well he could wield it. It grew in length and breadth beneath her touch. He laid her upon her back, straddling her, and when she pressed her two breasts together he pushed his rod back and forth between the soft flesh. Lara raised her head and leaned forward so she might lick the tip of him, laughing softly when he gasped.

Finally he turned himself about upon her so she might take him into her mouth while he began to play with the soft folds of her nether lips. He licked along her slit, pushing his tongue between the flesh to find the sensitive core of her. He licked at it first, but then he sucked and nibbled upon her even as he pushed two fingers into her tight sheath, moving them slowly back and forth.

“Ooh, Kaliq!” Lara exclaimed. And her juices bedewed his fingers and hand. He continued the love torture until her juices flowed again, this time more copiously. Then, turning his body back once again, he slowly drove himself as deep as he could into her eager body again and again, bringing her to the brink of pleasure, then withholding it. She wrapped her legs about his torso and his long, thick rod sank deeper as he pistoned her until she was crying with delight.

He could feel himself throbbing with his need, but he wanted more of her. Still deep inside her, he stopped to unfasten her slender legs from his body, and push them back until they were over her shoulders. Then, kneeling, his rod once again began to work her, deeper than he had ever gone, and Lara cried his name over and over and over again until the sheath in which his rod was so tightly encased began to tighten about him, and quiver with its need as she reached her peak. Her love juices flowed heavily as she attained pleasures such as she had never found before. She screamed softly with delight as her body spasmed over and over and over again. “Kaliq!” Lara cried as she felt him stiffen, groan, and then his manly juices poured into her. “Ooh, Kaliq!”

He held her tightly, his kisses covering her heart-shaped face, her throat, her chest. It matters not to me the lovers you take, Lara. You are mine and mine alone. No man, mortal or magic, can give you the pleasures that I do. No female, mortal or magic, can pleasure me as you do, my darling, he said to her in the silent language. The fates and all destiny help me, for I love you.

Oh, Kaliq, Lara murmured back to him in the same language, I love you, too. I have always loved you from the first. I loved Vartan, and I loved Magnus, as well. But not as I love you, my dear lord.

He said nothing more but held her in his arms until he knew that they had both recovered from the tremendous passion that had overwhelmed them. His hand stroked her golden hair as he enjoyed these moments of perfect peace with her. When finally he sensed her heart had calmed itself he said, “Tell me about your day.”

And Lara told him how she had brought the dark twins to her, of what had been said, of how she had quickly returned them to their own kingdom when Marzina had intruded upon them. “It is so like my mother to have taught her a spell like that,” Lara said. “It was thoughtless with no balances and checks. What if she had appeared a few moments ago as we labored together?”

“I suspect,” Kaliq said, “that her education would have been quite furthered, at least in the areas of pleasures.” The prince chuckled. “What did you tell her about Kolgrim and Kolbein?”

“I said you had sent them to me for questioning in the matter of the Hierarch,” Lara told him. “It was all I could think of to say. And of course, Kolgrim, with his usual vile humor, called me Mother. But I don’t think Marzina heard him.”