“On the morrow, my lord, but would it not be more wicked to say nothing, and let her continue to wonder why we make no attack?” the chancellor queried.

Kolgrim laughed. “For a moment I became foolishly sentimental,” he said. “It shall not happen again, Alfrigg. Aye, let her wonder. Let Hetar and its allies scurry about like mice in fear of the cat, waiting, wondering, just when the cat will pounce.”

“Oh, very good, my lord! Very good.” Alfrigg cackled delightedly. The young man was his father all over again. Alfrigg felt suddenly renewed.

BARAM, THE SHADOW PRINCE WHO had finally been able to slip beneath Ciarda’s guard, had watched as Kolgrim had taken the Darkling in the violent mating ritual of a Twilight Lord. He heard Ciarda’s thoughts as Kolgrim rode her. Some instinct had bade him follow Kolgrim back to the castle rather than remaining with the Darkling. The girl was no longer a danger. He had heard them speaking, but he still did not understand everything that they said. Now he stood in the shadows of the Twilight Lord’s throne room listening as Kolgrim spoke with Alfrigg. Shocked by what he heard, Baram had been forced to remain where he was until the two men separated, the dwarf leaving the chamber, the new Twilight Lord seating himself himself back on his throne to think.

Baram drew his cloak tightly about him, thinking of Shunnar, and when he flung it back he was in the open colonnaded hallway of Prince Kaliq’s palace. He hurried off to find his brother. He found Kaliq with Marzina. He was teaching her the lesson of patience, and Marzina was having a difficult time of it. Baram thought the girl extraordinarily beautiful, but he could see she had a great deal to learn, for she was very impatient.

“Nay, Marzina,” Kaliq said to her. “You are too eager for the end result. A year in the Temple of the Daughters of the Great Creator will be of value to you. Go along now, child.”

Dismissed, the Terahn princess ran off.

Kaliq turned to Prince Baram. “You have news, my brother?”

“The Darkling’s powers have been almost drained away from her,” Baram began, “and Kolgrim rules as the new and undisputed Twilight Lord.”

“The other twin?”

“With his father,” Baram said.

“What?” Kaliq’s face mirrored his astonishment at the words.

“In our own arrogance we did not place a sealing spell around him,” Baram said quietly. He then went on to explain all he had seen and heard, for, along with the trio of siblings, he had also stood unseen in Kol’s dungeon cell as they had been reunited with their sire. “Kolgrim told his father that Lara favored him. I could see that Kol still loves her, for he immediately transferred the powers of the Twilight Lord to Kolgrim, naming him his successor, and then took back what he had given to Ciarda even as she protested against it. Using his new powers, Kolgrim transported himself and Ciarda back to the House of Women, where he mated with her, giving her a son to be born one day.”

Kaliq’s crystal globe appeared in his hand. He gazed into it as it darkened and then cleared to reveal Kol and Kolbein together within Kol’s cell. Be sealed, and not be broken unless it is my word that’s spoken, Kaliq said silently. Baram was right. They had been arrogant. Nay! He had been arrogant. He had been so enraged at Kol’s conduct toward Lara on the Dream Plain he had not considered clearly all the possible consequences. And now because of him a new dangerous Twilight Lord reigned in the Dark Lands.

Sensing his thoughts, Baram said, “It is not your fault, Kaliq. We are all to blame. Our victory over the darkness made us all careless. And one of the twins was bound to overcome the other one day. If we must have a Twilight Lord, better Kolgrim. Kolbein is a stupid savage, and Ciarda was able to use him. Now she has been relegated to a mere female status by Kolgrim. She will try to maneuver around him, of course, for she is intelligent, and that will keep him busy. He was foolish to seed her with his son, for now he cannot destroy her until the child is safely born one day.”

“Removing his brother without shedding his blood was cleverly done,” Kaliq observed. “He is like his father.”

Baram nodded in agreement. Then he said, “Kolgrim has chosen to desert the Hierarch, and Ciarda no longer has the power to help him, nor will she be permitted to leave the Dark Lands any longer. Our young Twilight Lord has decided to be patient and build an army. A real army, not the ramshackle kind of thing his father gathered together the last time. It will take years, of course, to find and recruit the leaders and the men needed. They will have to be trained, but eventually we will be forced to face them. We have an advantage in that we know they are coming. Their disadvantage is that they do not know we know.” Baram chuckled.

Kaliq smiled. “I will speak with Lara about the Hierarch. It will be her decision what is to be done with him.”

“It is a decision that will affect us all,” Baram said. Then he asked, “Am I to return to the Dark Lands, brother?”

“Nay, there is no need for you to remain there at this point,” Kaliq said. “Go now and again so we may be aware if anything of import is happening or about to happen.”

“I will,” Baram promised, and then he left his superior.

Kaliq sat quietly for several long minutes. He needed to clear away the roiling emotions that were threatening to overcome him. Baram had done well, and his kind words had soothed the Shadow Prince’s conscience, but it continued to fret him that he had allowed his love for Lara to make him so careless all those years ago. Yet perhaps it had been for the better that everything played out as it did. The imbalance in the Dark Lands had been reflected throughout the worlds. Now balance was once again restored.

Domina, heed my plea. Cease all else and come to me, he called out to Lara.

“Kaliq, I was just preparing to retire,” Lara told him as she appeared before him.

He grinned wickedly at her. “Perhaps we can retire together when I have told you all the news I have for you,” he teased her.

Lara laughed. “But I never get any rest when I retire with you,” she teased back. Then she said, “What has happened, my lord, that you cannot wait to tell me?”

“Kolgrim rules undisputed in the Dark Lands,” Kaliq began, and he went on to tell Lara all that had happened.

She listened, and when he had concluded his report, Lara said, “Kolgrim is clever, and I am astounded that Kol still harbors any thought of me. Yet of the two Kolgrim was the better choice if a choice had to be made.”

“You like him,” Kaliq observed.

Lara thought a long moment. “In an odd way I suppose I do,” she agreed. “There is a fascination to such evil, and while I prefer the light, there are those among my race who prefer the dark, as you well know, Kaliq.”

“He wants you to love him,” Kaliq said. “It may one day be his undoing.”

“I know,” Lara replied. “But to love him I must accept him, admit to his existence, and how would that affect the other children I have borne? And what of Marzina? If Kol came to know her he would eventually realize the truth. He would use it against me, Kaliq. You know that he would. He would attempt to bring Marzina to the darkness. And how could I ever tell my daughter that Magnus Hauk was not her father? That her father was darkness personified, and her conception was the result of rape?” Lara shook her head. “Nay, I will never acknowledge that Kolgrim is my son. He is Kol’s son, but not mine. And I will protect my children from him.”

“When we chose you to fulfill our plans for chaos in the Dark Lands we never anticipated what would happen afterward,” Kaliq said.

“How could you?” Lara asked him. “It is my destiny that is being played out, Kaliq, not yours. For years I have wondered just what this destiny I have is. I have waited for some momentous happening to occur, but I have become convinced that there will be no great incident. It is the life I live, the decisions I make that affect not only me but those around me that contributes to my destiny. I am living my destiny, Kaliq.” She leaned over and kissed his mouth. “And you, my lord, are a part of my destiny that I very much like. Now, what else is there for us to consider?”

“The Hierarch,” he responded. “What are we to do about him?”

“I suppose we could leave him to an unpleasant fate, especially if the Hetarians discover he is an Outlander,” Lara said. “But a fragile Hetar is not good for any of us. Hetar needs to recover from its excesses. It will take years, but to expose Cam for the fraud he is would make it far worse. We must help the Hierarch, and then he must disappear. So it is said of the Hierarch’s legend, in any case,” she said with a smile.

“You will return him to the New Outlands afterward?”

She nodded. “And we shall have the Munin remove his memories of this particular time in his life. As for the clan families, they will believe that Cam’s cattle and bit of land have come from his own efforts.”

“But you will still prevent Anoush from marrying him,” Kaliq said.

“I believe it best, aye. The darkness is in him, Kaliq. You know it. And if it rose to overwhelm him again, if Anoush could not help him, Cam would break her heart. I will not allow that to happen.”

He nodded.

“Let me go and rest now, Kaliq,” Lara said.

“Remain here,” he replied.

“I do not want Taj distressed to find me just gone on the morrow,” she told him. “Remember my responsibilities to Terah. I will deal with Cam tomorrow,” Lara said. And then she was gone from his side.

Kaliq sighed. She was right, of course, but he would have enjoyed a few hours in her company, in her arms.