“And just how will you accomplish that or is that something else I need not know, my lord? And how will I return to my own life, to my husband, and not feel dirtied by this adventure? How can I go on knowing what I have become under this creature’s influence, Kaliq? Tell me how you will make it all right once again?”

“I can and I will make it all right, Lara,” he swore to her.

And in spite of herself, in spite of her anger and her feelings of betrayal, Lara believed him. She didn’t want to, but she did. This was Kaliq, her one-time lover, her mentor, her beloved friend. She drew a deep breath. “Tell me what I must do.”

“Only you, Lara,” he told her, “can overcome the darkness in this matter. Remember what the Book of Rule has decreed from its inception. Each Twilight Lord will only produce one son. By doing so they have managed to keep their line of descent straight and without controversy. There has never been an argument over who any Twilight Lord’s heir would be. And it is against their own law and culture to raise a hand or allow another to raise a hand in violence against any offspring born to a Twilight Lord. You can hold back the darkness with your magic, Lara, and you must do it now before you awaken. When you awake it will take every bit of your skill to continue to play the woman Kol has come to love, for he loves you as that girl loves him.”

Lara nodded. She knew now what she needed to do and she placed both of her hands over her belly. “One divide. One is two. Become selfsame in all but name,” she intoned. And she felt the child within her dividing itself, morphing into two babies as she spoke the spell. “Kol will not be pleased,” she murmured with a touch of her old humor.

“Nay, he will not,” Kaliq agreed. “Since he cannot be there when you give birth-and you will do it so quickly that the women attending you will be totally confused-no one will be able to say which of the boys came first. No one will think to make any kind of provision to identify the firstborn. And Kol’s sons will quarrel with each other from the moment of their birth. While Kol and his minions will follow the law of the Dark Land, his sons will not. They will spend their lives attempting to do away with one another. Kol will be so beset by them that he will not be able to carry out his plans for conquest or enjoy that wicked program you planned for the taking of Hetar.”

“Do not remind me,” Lara replied with a shudder. “How could I have even contemplated such things, Kaliq? What evil I planned to spawn! And the worst thing was that I actually enjoyed thinking about it.”

“The darkness was threatening to overcome you, my love, but all will be well now,” he said soothingly and held out his arms to her again.

Lara went into the comfort of his embrace, her golden head resting against Kaliq’s shoulder. “Tell me when I may leave him?” she asked.

“Remain long enough after you have given birth to help stoke his confusion over this turn of events. When you call my name I will transport you to Shunnar, where you will heal from this time you have given us. And then, Lara, I will wipe away your memory of these months you have spent with Kol in the Dark Land.”

“But what of Magnus, of my children, of Terah and Hetar?” she queried him.

“Trust me, my love. I will take care of it when it is time,” he promised her.

“Where is Ethne?” Lara wondered, her hand going to her neck where the chain she usually wore hung.

“Left behind when Kol stole you away,” Kaliq explained.

She nodded. “Kol has been good to me for all his evil nature,” Lara said softly. “He was never cruel nor did he deny me anything I said I desired. And he has been a passionate lover, I must say.” She smiled mischievously. “I never thought to know another after I wed Magnus.”

“He loves you,” Kaliq responded. “And the girl you have been has loved him. He made her feel safe. I believe you actually brought out a small bit of light in him despite the deep darkness of his soul. As for his amorous skills, he is certainly unique,” he teased her wickedly and then he kissed the top of her golden head. “I must leave you now, Lara.”

He did not tell her that because of her faerie blood she would live far longer than Magnus Hauk and one day know other lovers. This was not the time for it. “You must be strong over these next few weeks,” Kaliq advised her gently, “and you must not allow Kol to learn that all of your memories are intact. You must become the woman he believes he has created-his mate, his equal, and filled with more wickedness as each day passes. But if he asks you to use your magic for evil, refuse him, saying you are weakened with the life you carry and would not harm his son.”

“I am a little frightened by this now,” Lara said.

“Lara, my love, you outwitted the Forest Lords. You will outwit Kol, too,” Kaliq assured her. And then the shadows and the mists began to swirl about him and suddenly Kaliq was gone from her.

Lara stood a long few minutes upon the dream plain. He had left her to gather her own courage before she descended and awoke. She breathed slowly, clearing her mind, banishing her fears, gathering her courage. Within her womb she felt her twin sons beginning to stir and she sensed them quarreling already. She almost laughed when she considered the look on Kol’s face when he learned his mate had given him not one, but two sons. Most men would be delighted by what they considered their prowess but Kol would not think of it in those terms. Then she felt herself slipping into sleep and finally Lara awoke to hear the rumble of thunder outside of her windows. The icy autumn rains had come, not that the summer rains had been much better.

How had she borne the Dark Lands over this last year? The sun never shone directly on them. She had never seen a sunrise or a bright day here. But many days she could see between the tall sharp-peaked mountains a slash of blood red sunset above which a purple-and-black sky glowered. It was the only color she could recall in her time here. It was always gloomy with its landscape in half light. It rained most days in the more temperate seasons and snowed every day of the winter. And there was always thunder. Rain or snow, the thunder pealed out accompanied by silvery forks of lightning.

Kol’s castle of Kolbyr was built into the rock of the mountainside. The rooms were all square or rectangular. There were shades of black and gray marble everywhere. Everyone wore dark colors. The serving people were relegated to deep brown. Her own robes were in Kol’s favorite silver and varying shades of purple, the lightest of which was a deep lavender color. Kol himself was usually clad in black or silver. Now that she was restored to herself Lara found the whole place gloomy because she could recall all the other colors of the rainbow. She vowed silently to herself that when she escaped this dark land she would never again wear a dark shade. Lara opened her eyes and turning her head, looked toward the windows. Aye, it was raining. Her ears had not deceived her.

“Ah, mistress is awake,” Macia said, coming to hover over Lara. “How may I serve you, great lady?”

By not hanging over me, Lara thought irritably. Instead she said, “I am famished. Why is my morning meal not ready for me? I think that you are derelict in your duties of late, Macia. Perhaps a good whipping will help you to attend to your chores. Now go and fetch my food for me at once. And where is Anka? I think your bottoms both need a good beating. Yes, after I eat I shall whip you both. It is obvious to me that you are both in need of some discipline.”

“Not I, mistress,” Anka said as she hurried in with a tray of food for Lara. “But if Macia has been inattentive of late it is because she is spending more time with her lover,” Anka tattled. “I caught them taking pleasures the other day on your bed when you were walking with your lord.” Anka smirked at Macia.

“My bed? You took pleasures on my bed?” Lara demanded of the red-faced Macia.

“He caught me unawares, mistress,” Macia blubbered. “I could not help it!”

“He? Who is he? And what was he doing in my private chambers, Macia?” Lara said coldly. It was not difficult, she realized with shock, to slip again into the persona of the amnesiac Kol had stolen away. But she dared not back down. “You will be sent to the Punishment Master. How many lashes you receive will depend upon whether you are willing to name your bold lover,” Lara told the sobbing woman. Then she threw Anka a cold look. “Do not dare to speak his name,” she warned the servant. “This must be Macia’s decision.” Lara’s green eyes glittered. “You will receive twenty lashes with the biting whip, Macia, but if you will name your lover you will receive only ten.”

The biting whip was several lengths of leather braided with live stinging thorns that bit into the flesh of its victim.

“What will happen to him?” Macia wept.

“If you give me his name he will receive the ten lashes I will relieve you of,” Lara said in deceptively sweet tones. “Surely he is man enough and cares for you enough not to allow you to take the whole blame for your behavior? But if you do not tell me, Anka will and you will both receive twenty lashes of the biting whip. The choice is yours to make, dear Macia. Tell me your lover’s name.” She smiled, horrified by her own behavior and the fact that Anka was bursting to tell on her friend.

“His name is…” stammered Macia.

“Alvar!” Anka was unable to contain herself. “He is one of the men-at-arms who guards your door, mistress.”

Macia began to sob hysterically now. “I was trying to tell you, mistress! I was!”

Lara took Macia’s hand patting it. “I know you were, dear. You and Alvar will only receive ten lashes each,” she said. Then she turned her gaze to Anka. “But you who know no loyalty to your friend will receive twenty lashes of the biting whip. Then the two of you will offer pleasures to your master who I know has hardly visited his House of Women at all in my absence from his bed. Go and fetch him to me now.” She began to eat now, savoring a peeled blood orange and lavishly buttering her black bread.