Releasing him, she pulled herself up and, positioning him between her thighs, lowered herself onto his cock until he was fully sheathed, and her buttocks rested upon his muscled thighs. Lara began to ride him slowly. “You will not release your lust, my lord, until I give you permission,” she warned him.

“And if I do?” he demanded to know.

“Then I shall see you chained to my bedroom wall and forced to watch while I take my pleasures with Lothair,” Lara said wickedly. “You know how he lusts after me.”

“Faerie witch!” he growled at her. “Without my permission you are no longer free to indulge your passions with anyone but me!”

“Oh, beware, my lord! I am faerie, and you know our natures are hot,” she replied mischievously. She began to ride him harder and harder.

Kaliq struggled to contain his lust for her. He was perfectly capable of releasing himself from her spell, but he could see the delight she was taking in having the upper hand in their passion. “I could go deeper,” he said softly, “if our positions were reversed, my love. You have made your point. Do not deny us perfection.”

Lara said nothing, but his bonds were released as suddenly as they had been set upon him. As he rolled her onto her back she raised her legs, putting them over his broad shoulders, and hooking her ankles behind his neck. Kaliq plunged deeper and deeper into her sweet softness with his hard cock. Bending his dark head, he captured a nipple and sucked upon it.

A fierce thrill raced through her entire body, and Lara screamed softly. Her head was spinning with the beginnings of pleasure. Her breath came in quick little bursts and she tingled all over as her whole being centered itself on the long thick peg of flesh plunging in and out, in and out in perfect rhythm. Kaliq! Kaliq! Ohh, how I love you! she told him in their silent language. We will take pleasures together, my dear lord! Now! Oh, now, I beg you! Her scream was one of pure delight as he roared with equal satisfaction, their love juices mingling within her body. And then Lara swooned, which she had not done in many a decade. What they had just shared had gone beyond perfection.

Kaliq could not believe the pleasure they had just attained together. He had known from the moment he met Lara that he would never tire of this female, but she constantly amazed him. He held her tightly in his arms, his lips softly kissing the top of her golden head. I love you, but then you have known that for decades, my darling. Never were life mates more suited than you and I. Whatever happens, I know that we will never be parted, Lara, my love. We are one. He stroked her hair as she nestled against him in a state of complete contentment.

Finally Lara sighed and said, “I am ravenous! Where is that tray?”

His chuckle was deep and rich. “Are we eating in bed?” he asked her.

“Remember we just have time for a bath, and either food or a nap before we must go and fetch the Dominus and his wife.”

“I think food will serve me better. Cadarn can irritate me even well rested,” Lara said. “I need the strength that taking pleasures with you, and a good meal can give me.”

He magicked the tray back, and they ate. Then he left her to bathe, and Lara went to her own bath. Her women were waiting, and thoroughly pampered, she called to Cadi to bring her a gown. The faerie serving woman came smiling, holding out a beautiful gown made from a mixture of silk and fine cotton, bright green in color and embroidered with gold and silver threads.

“Your heritage is that of a Forest Faerie,” Cadi said. “Tonight you will wear one of the forest’s greens. It would please your mother, my lady.”

Lara nodded her approval. The gown was styled in the fashion of the desert kingdom. Its neckline was round with a keyhole opening. Its sleeves were long and wide, the broad cuffs decorated with the gold and silver threads matching the narrow band of embroidery at the neck. It was not fitted, but rather hung gracefully from her shoulders, not quite touching the floor. She would have matching green silk slippers.

“Tonight,” Cadi said, “I have a new hairstyle for you. It is more elegant, as this occasion demands, mistress.” She brushed out Lara’s long tresses then, pulling it back, coiled it tightly and fastened it with gold and silver hairpins. When she had finished she stood back, admiring her handiwork, saying, “Do you like it, my lady?”

“I do!” Lara replied. “I look quite sophisticated, which may make my great-grandsons feel more at ease with me.” She turned her head this way and that, admiring herself in the mirror. “Where are those wonderful barbaric gold ear loops, Cadi? The ones with the tiny diamonds threaded on them.”

Smiling, Cadi handed them to her mistress. Then she took each of Lara’s hands in turn, and pushed several gold and silver bangles up her arm. “And you’ll need rings, too,” she said. “I thought the heart-shaped ruby with some simple bands on one hand, and the star-shaped sapphire Prince Kaliq gave you on your other hand.”

“And Ethne about my neck on her gold chain,” Lara said of her guardian spirit who lived in a crystal star that had always hung about Lara’s neck. She preened before the mirror again. “I look as I should,” she decided aloud.

Cadi chuckled. “You had best hurry,” she said. “It is close to sunset in Terah, and you will want to catch the Dominus before he goes to bed.”

“I hope his day has been an easy one, for I can guarantee that the Ahasferus family has arranged a spectacular wedding for Nyura and Kolgrim.”

“You honor the Twilight Lord,” Cadi said quietly.

“I do what I must to keep the darkness at bay a little longer,” Lara replied.

“The Forest Faeries have begun to leave Hetar for Belmair,” Cadi volunteered.

Lara sighed. “Is my mother still here?”

“Queen Ilona will not leave until she is assured that all of her people are safe. The faerie races of Hetar have carefully arranged their evacuation. Your mother has been in touch with King Annan, King Laszlo and Gwener, Empress of the Meadow Faeries. The Forest faeries are the last to depart Hetar.”

“The others are already gone?” Lara was surprised. Could they not have waited to see if she might stop this new threat?

Cadi nodded. “Old Prince Cronan spoke with each of them, and they listened. I am sorry, mistress.”

“Nay, the darkness is coming now, and I know it. But I had hoped…” Her voice trailed off.

“For aeons the light has brightened Hetar, and I am sure it will one day again, mistress,” Cadi said. “But for now Hetar has sealed this world’s doom. Eventually the good will lift its head and begin its rebirth here. But first the darkness will come. It has happened before this in other worlds, and it will happen again in worlds unknown to us. But the light cannot be stopped, my lady. It will return! It always has.”

Lara took her serving woman’s hands in hers and looked into Cadi’s pretty face. “Thank you,” she said softly.

“Lara!” Kaliq called from the garden where he now awaited her. He was garbed in his usual white, but today his tunic was decorated with silver thread and black pearls. On his feet he wore silver slippers rather than his leather boots.

“I’m coming,” she said, hurrying from her chamber to meet him.

“Ah, my darling,” he said, his eyes lighting at the sight of her in her green gown, “how beautiful you look. The color suits you well.”

She stepped to his side. His arm went about her, and then Cadi watched as they disappeared before her eyes. They reappeared in the Great Hall of Terah’s castle, much to the discomfort of Cadarn and his wife, Paulina, who were seated alone at their High Board.

“Greetings, Cadarn,” Lara said. “We have come to fetch you to the wedding of the Twilight Lord and his bride in Hetar.”

“We cannot reach Hetar in time for that wedding,” Cadarn said irritably.

“Great-grandson, you continue to disbelieve the evidence of your own eyes. Do you think you are dreaming?” Lara asked. Stepping up to him, she pinched his arm.

Cadarn yelped, and yanked the arm away from her.

“You will need to look more like the Dominus of Terah than you do,” Lara said.

“What do you think, Kaliq?”

“He has Magnus’s eyes,” Kaliq noted. “Turquoise-blue brocade with gold beading, I think.” The Shadow Prince turned his eyes to Domina Paulina, a pretty woman with fair skin, dark brown hair, and gray-blue eyes. “Rose silk for the lady,” he said, nodding to Lara.

Then together they clothed the Dominus and Domina of Terah in magnificent garments. On Cadarn’s head an elegant gold crown studded with green transmutes appeared. Paulina’s dark hair was magically dressed in a series of bejeweled plaits, and about her forehead a gold circlet with a large pink pearl in its center appeared.

The Terahn couple gasped in both surprise and shock.

“How…” Cadarn said.

“Oh really, great-grandson, please do not be so silly,” Lara told him. “’Tis magic. Now listen to me, you irritating creature, so you do not appear any more ignorant than you already are. Your great-grandfather, Magnus Hauk, sired three children on me. You descend from our only son, Taj. The Lord High Ruler, Palben, descends from our eldest daughter, Princess Zagiri, who married the Lord High Ruler Jonah. Do you understand?”

“This is truth?” Cadarn asked.

“Why would I tell you if it weren’t?” Lara demanded of him. “You are blood kin to Hetar’s ruler, Cadarn.”

“If we are kinsmen, then why must my son, Vaclar, marry a Hetarian girl?” Cadarn wanted to know. “You said it was to make us all kin.”

It was easier to make it simple for him, Lara realized. “The patriarch of the greatest family in Hetar, the clan Ahasferus, has three granddaughters. All are sixteen. One marries the Twilight Lord today. Two days ago another became your cousin Palben’s second wife. And shortly Vaclar will wed the third girl. You need to be kin to the Twilight Lord, for he is a powerful being who will shortly rule this entire world. If you are his kinsman, he is unlikely to harm you and your family.”

“What do you mean the Twilight Lord will rule this entire world?” Cadarn demanded to know.

“The darkness is coming, and it will overtake Hetar and Terah,” Lara said.

“Why can’t you stop it?” Cadarn wanted to know. “You have stopped it before.”

“Ahh,” Lara replied softly, “so you admit to knowing and believing in my accomplishments, great-grandson. I thought magic did not exist.”

He ignored her taunts. “I thought you were all-powerful, Great-grandmother,” he said. “Have you lost your magic then?”

“My magic can only exist in the light, Cadarn. For almost a century and a half I have kept the darkness at bay. But everything has its season. Even the darkness. The Twilight Lord was born of two powerful magic beings. Kol, the last Twilight Lord, was his father. Mine was, most reluctantly, the womb from which he sprang. I was born for the express purpose of causing chaos in the Dark Lands, Cadarn. Twilight Lords can only produce a single son, though they are known to have many daughters. Once Kol had impregnated me I split the infant in my womb in two so that I birthed twins instead of a single son. Then I returned to my own life, leaving Kol with two sons and much difficulty.” Lara thought it better not to go into explicit detail with Cadarn. “The Dark Lands spent many years in anarchy and lawlessness until the twins came to manhood, and Kolgrim triumphed over his brother, Kolbein.”

“And this Twilight Lord is more powerful than you? Than the Shadow Princes?” Cadarn asked her.

“It is not that he is more powerful, Cadarn. He has yet to even realize his full powers, but he is strong. The dissolution in Hetar, and now Terah, has played into his hands. I cannot save a world that does not believe it needs to be saved. And so the darkness will overtake you. To help you before I leave Hetar, I have united these three branches of my family. It may protect you until the light can come again,” Lara told him. “Now do you understand why Vaclar must wed Yamka Ahasferus?”

Cadarn nodded slowly. “Aye, I understand,” he said, “although I am not certain I completely believe your tale.”

“Whether you believe me or not isn’t important, Cadarn, just as long as you unite your family with that of Kolgrim and his bride,” Lara replied. “Your son’s children will be blood kin to the children Kolgrim sires on Nyura. This will keep Terah safer than if you were not related. You may even keep your position as Dominus.”

“What do you mean I may even keep my position?” he said nervously. “I was born to be the Dominus of Terah, as my father, grandfather and great-grandfather before me.”