“Ah, you were listening to us, were you?” he replied. “In mortal society they consider it rude to eavesdrop, but we don’t consider it that at all, do we, my pretty one? How on earth would we learn what we need to know if we didn’t listen at doors?” He laughed at the guilty flush suffusing her face.

Mother! Mother! Hear my plea! Cease all else and come to me! Marzina said.

“She can’t hear you, Marzina. I put a spell about your house as I came. I certainly don’t want our mother interrupting us. You know, of course, who I am.”

“You are Kolgrim, the Twilight Lord,” Marzina said.

“And your brother,” he added with a charming smile.

“I did not know that until recently,” Marzina replied.

“How did you learn it? I would have thought our mother would not want to share that information with you,” Kolgrim remarked. “Unless, of course, she means to use you against me, little sister. Does she?”

“I overheard her speaking with Grandmother,” Marzina said low.

Kolgrim burst out laughing. “You were eavesdropping!” he chortled. “It must have been quite a shock to learn that the revered Magnus Hauk was not your sire.”

“He was my father!” Marzina cried angrily. “Do not ever say he wasn’t!”

“I will agree that he believed you his own child, and raised you thusly,” Kolgrim said. “But it was my father’s seed that gave you life. We are blood kin, little sister, and as such I can never, by our own laws, harm you.”

“Yet you murdered your own concubines and their children without a moment’s hesitation or remorse,” Marzina surprised him by saying. “You violated your own laws, my lord. There is no way in which you can justify such bestiality.”

“I wanted my son to have no sisters threatening his rights as the Darkling Ciarda threatened mine and my brother’s,” Kolgrim responded. “Other than Ciarda the women were no kin of mine.”

“And the children?” Marzina pressed him. “They were your blood.”

“Females, and barely formed most of them,” he said casually. “They had some of my blood in them, but you, Marzina! I look at you and can see that the light does not claim you entirely. Stand with me little sister, for I mean to conquer this world of Hetar.” His gray eyes blazed with excitement. Reaching out, he caught her hand in his, and before she might protest there was a flash, and Marzina found herself standing in the middle of a strange room.

She gasped, surprised, whirling about. She could see beyond an open balustrade the jagged purple snowcapped peaks of a range of mountains that seemed to go on forever. The skies were a reddish-dun color filled with lightning. Marzina did not need to ask where she was. The Twilight Lord had brought her into the Dark Lands. It was terrifying and beautiful all at once. She was fascinated in spite of herself.

“Now, little sister, you are going to be my guest until my marriage is celebrated and consummated,” Kolgrim said in perfectly pleasant tones.

“Take me back immediately!” Marzina snapped at him, knowing even as she spoke that he would not obey her. But she had to try.

“Now, sweeting, you know I cannot do that,” Kolgrim said. “Mother has hidden my chosen bride away. I might find her for myself, but I do not choose to waste the time when it’s easier to simply take something that our mother values instead. You!” he chortled. “Unless, of course, you know where Nyura is. Do you, sweeting?”

“No! I didn’t even know you had chosen a bride. Why doesn’t Mother want you to have her?” Marzina asked him candidly.

“She is a descendant of Ulla, and carries her powers,” he answered. It was not necessary to say more, for being of the magic world Marzina would understand the rest.

“It has taken aeons to get to this point,” Marzina said thoughtfully. “The mating of a descendant of Ulla’s with a descendant of Jorunn’s.”

His eyes lit up with pleasure at her intelligence. “You understand the ramifications,” he said, smiling at her. While he believed that ordinary women were beneath the male of the species, Kolgrim knew that some women could be their equal, or close to it. His mother was one of these women. This little sister he had so newly discovered was obviously proving to be another. He could actually talk with her, and he had to admit to himself that he had been lonely for another with whom he might speak on equal footing. “Then you also comprehend why I must regain custody of Nyura. Soon the season of the mating frenzy will come upon me, and she is the chosen one even as our mother was once our father’s chosen one.”

“If you can only sire one son, and it must be on the chosen one, then why can’t you just wait until you find the girl?” Marzina asked. “And who chooses your bride for you?”

“The strongest son is sired during the season of the mating frenzy,” Kolgrim explained to her. Then he said, “Come, and I will show you the Book of Rule. It directs me in all my important actions,” he said as he beckoned her across the chamber where the book sat upon its stand. Opening it, he saw new words upon the page.

The Faerie Maiden who is your kin can aid you in all you do. Or destroy you. She cannot be harmed no matter her direction. Win her over, and the victory is yours.

“I realize that you cannot read the words, for only certain of us can comprehend this ancient language of the Twilight,” Kolgrim said.

“What does it say?” Marzina asked him innocently, but to her surprise the words upon the parchment page were quite understandable. Still she knew it was wiser to keep this knowledge to herself.

“It directs me to treat you well as my guest while you are here, little sister,” he told her, lying with such charm that had she not known better she would have easily believed him. He smiled warmly at her.

“Oh. I expected it would be something with far more portent,” Marzina replied, sounding quite disappointed.

He laughed. “The Book of Rule is not always portentous,” he said. “Just sometimes.” Then changing the subject, he asked, “Do you like my Throne Room?”

“It is beautiful,” she responded. “I like the black, the gray and the silver.”

“You see,” he said. “You will not be unhappy here, little sister.”

“You cannot keep me here, my lord,” Marzina said.

“Ah, but I can,” Kolgrim told her. “I have put a lock upon your magic. You cannot leave until I let you leave.”

Return me now from whence I came. I do not choose to come again, Marzina said. But nothing happened. She remained where she was. The girl grew very pale. Until now very few had been able to thwart her magic. Her grandmother. Her mother. Prince Kaliq. And they had not interfered with her in years. “My mother will punish you for this,” Marzina said, in what she hoped passed for a hard and strong voice. “You have overstepped your bounds, my lord.”

“You are brave,” he told her admiringly. “I only intend keeping you until our mother releases the lady Nyura, my bride, to me. She will resist for a brief time, of course. But that will allow us to become better acquainted, little sister.”

“I have no desire to know you better, my lord,” Marzina said.

Kolgrim laughed. “You are a poor liar,” he responded. “You wanted to know all about me, which is why you watched me in your reflecting bowl. I could sense your eyes on me, which is why I was able to catch you so quickly, little sister.”

“You did not even know about me until the dwarf told you,” Marzina replied. “Who is he? He is very old.”

“Aye, he is. He has served several Twilight Lords before me as chancellor. His name is Alfrigg. He would spend his declining years tending his mushroom and nightshade gardens if he could, but I have found no one to replace him,” Kolgrim told her. “I have never known him to keep a secret from me before, but I forgive him for he saved this secret for the time I would need it the most.”

“Return me to my hall,” Marzina said. “By taking me you have set yourself up against a host of those who would gladly destroy you.”

“No,” Kolgrim said. “I want my bride returned to me first.”

Marzina sighed. “I shall be here a long time then,” she told him. “Where am I to sleep? You took me just before the dinner hour. I am starving. Do you mean to starve me then?”

“Will our mother sacrifice you needlessly, little sister?” he asked her. “I mean to have Nyura to wed and bed. Her path was chosen centuries ago.”

“You mean to bring the darkness to the world of Hetar, brother. You intend to bring it forever, but the good in our world will not allow you to do so,” Marzina said.

“Nay, little one. I will only lead Hetar into the darkness. It is the son Nyura bears me who will keep it there,” Kolgrim told her. “That is why our mother is so desperate to stop me. But she will not this time. She lingered too long among the mortals. And worse, she behaved like them except in the privacy of her own chambers. They no longer believe in her, or in the magic world. They do not even believe in their own mortality. Status, power, wealth and lust have become their deities. They will follow any creature who promises them more of it, and I will. I do not have to bring the darkness to Hetar. They will bring it upon themselves.”

“Yes, yes, but where am I to sleep?” Marzina demanded of him.

Kolgrim laughed aloud again and held out his hand to her. “Come, and we will eat. Then you will be shown to the quarters that will always be yours when you come to visit me, little one.” He smiled warmly at her as he led her from his Throne Room down a beautiful dark marble corridor to a small, intimate dining room.

Marzina could not help herself. She took his hand, and he gave it a little squeeze. She had to admit that he was, as she had been warned, a very charming man. She knew she was going to like him in spite of herself. His manners were impeccable as he seated her. Who had taught him, she wondered. “When are you going to send for Mother?” she asked him as a silent servant ladled soup into a bowl before her. She took a spoonful, and it tasted of the earth and the forest. It was delicious.

“I’m not,” Kolgrim said. “She and Ilona keep a close eye on you, although you have not been aware of it. They will both know soon enough that you are missing. It will not take Mother long to know with whom you are currently residing.”

“And then she will come and get me,” Marzina said as she tore a piece off a warm loaf of bread, dipping it into her soup before popping it into her mouth.

“She will come, little sister, but she will not take you from me,” he told her.

“Why not?” Marzina asked him.

“Because you will be where she cannot retrieve you,” Kolgrim told her. “She must first return Nyura to me so our marriage may be celebrated. Then I will release you.”

He smiled at her. “Don’t worry. I promised our mother long ago never to harm any of my blood, and I have not. Now eat your supper, little sister.”

The soup was followed by a platter of some kind of fish, lying upon a bed of dark green leaves and thin slices of lemon; a capon roasted to a golden-brown, and stuffed with sweet and tart fruits; a stew of venison in a rich wine gravy that was filled with leeks, mushrooms and slivers of carrot; more fresh warm bread, butter and two cheeses. When it had all been cleared away a sponge cake soaked in sweet wine and covered with rich thick cream was served.

“My aunt is fond of cake like this,” Marzina remarked as she enjoyed the sweet.

“Ah yes, the beautiful dragon Nidhug,” Kolgrim replied.

“You’ve seen her?” Marzina was surprised.

“When Ilona finally invited Nidhug to her domain because the egg in the dragon’s nursery hatched a faerie child, and not an infant dragon,” Kolgrim said, “I came to see for myself. Of course no one knew I was there.” He smiled. “Have they produced any other children, Prince Cirillo and Nidhug?” he asked her.

“There is another egg in the nursery nest, but it is believed that one is Nidhug’s successor, and will not hatch until a thousand years before her time as guardian of Belmair is to come to an end,” Marzina told him. “It will take the Great Dragon of Belmair that length of time to teach her heir all he will need to know.”

“Fascinating,” Kolgrim said, shaking his head. Then, seeing she had finished, he asked her, “Are you ready to see your chamber, little one?”

“I am tired,” Marzina admitted.

“Come along then,” Kolgrim said, standing up. He led her from the dining room down another wide marble corridor. At its end was a single door. Opening it, he ushered Marzina into the chamber. “It is simple, but I thought you would prefer it. Your own home is without ostentation. You may come and go within my palace whenever you choose. However, be advised that if you are not in this place when our mother arrives to discuss matters with me, you will be magicked back here immediately, and the chamber door will be locked. Do you understand, Marzina?”