Lara shook her head. “This is worthy of Kolgrim,” she said sadly. Then she dipped another sugar cone into her mint tea and consumed it before drinking down the liquid in her cup.

“Aye, he will encourage this evil to even greater heights,” Ilona said. Then, changing the subject, she asked, “Has he mated his bride yet?”

“I don’t believe so, but his mating cycle is coming to an end shortly. He must do so soon. I’m sure he will find me to tell me when it is done,” Lara replied.

“You must leave Hetar with the rest of us, Lara,” Ilona responded. “You know you cannot withstand the darkness alone, my daughter. If you remain, he will take your magic from you, and you cannot allow that to happen.”

“I know,” Lara told her mother. “But it is Marzina I fear for. Kolgrim has developed a strong attachment to her.”

“He barely knows her,” Ilona scoffed.

“That is true,” Lara agreed, “but once he learned he shared not just a mother with her, but a father as well, he suddenly decided he must have his family about him. He addresses her as sister. I know Marzina is intelligent, and she does understand that her brother is an evil creature. But as he is fascinated with her, she is equally intrigued by him. You know how reckless she can be, Mother. And I will not leave Hetar until I know Marzina is safe on Belmair with you.”

“Do not fear, Lara,” the Queen of the Forest Faeries said. “I can reason with Marzina, and I promise you she will come with us. We will be gone within the month. The last Autumn has begun, and once it has ended, Kolgrim’s power will be strong enough to begin to bring the darkness.”

Lara set her cup down. Her eyes were filled with tears. But Ilona watched proudly as her daughter hardened her cold faerie heart. “There will be other springs on other worlds,” she said. “Hetar will come to regret its own foolishness.”

“Kolgrim’s victory will in the end be a hollow one. The light cannot be extinguished forever,” Ilona said quietly.

The door to the queen’s privy chamber opened, and her consort, Lara’s stepfather, Thanos, stepped into the room. He was pale and looked exhausted. “Is there more of that tea?” he asked the two women, and Ilona at once magicked him a steaming cup, which she handed to him. He sat down in a comfortable chair and sipped the minty brew.

“You look so tired, my lord,” Lara said. “Mother has told me of your great efforts in removing the rare flora and fauna from Hetar to Belmair.”

“It is just about done,” Thanos replied. “It has been hard, but worth it. These plants and creatures will die out in the darkness to come. I could not bear seeing that happen. Nidhug has been most generous, offering her garden as a transplant nursery. I pray all of what we have taken will survive.” He dipped a sugar cone in the hot tea and quickly ate it. “And the creatures we have removed are managing to overcome their confusion at being taken from the places of their ancestors. We have done our best to place them in similar environments. Many of the beasts on Belmair are related to those of Hetar.” He yawned several times, his faerie green eyes began to close, his blond head drooped, and he fell asleep where he sat.

Ilona reached out and took the cup from his elegant hand before the remaining tea spilled. Then without another word she transported her consort to his bed. “He has a truly amazing touch with all he loves, and he does love the flora and the fauna,” Ilona remarked with a fond smile. “He is really a perfect mate for me.”

“You mean he allows you to do as you please,” Lara said with a chuckle.

“Aye,” Ilona agreed. “He has done his duty as my consort. He gave me a son, appears with me on formal occasions and leaves me to rule without interference. Thanos is really quite perfect for me, as Kaliq is for you.”

“I do not rule anything,” Lara said. “I am no queen.”

“You have your own destiny, my daughter, and Kaliq is a part of it. Be glad for it, Lara. In the morning you will go home to him. I will not see you again until we have safely evacuated to Belmair. Make your farewells to the forest of your ancestors before you leave tomorrow.”

“You will not forget about Marzina, will you, Mother? Kolgrim must not have her! I could not bear it if he did.”

“I will keep my promise to you, Lara. Marzina will come to Belmair with me,” Ilona, Queen of the Forest Faeries, promised her only daughter.

KOLGRIM, HOWEVER, HAD PUT aside his plans for his little sister, Marzina. The time had come for him to seed his new bride. Nyura was proving a delightful sexual partner.

So far he had not found her hesitant to perform any act. Even after having her virginity taken, Nyura retained a look of innocence. Kolgrim found it particularly exciting, and her interest in playing sex games with him was a delight. While she had retained her virtue she was Hetarian. She had been taught and trained in all manner of games to keep lovers amused and satisfied. His bride, Kolgrim quickly learned, was not only adept but enthusiastic regarding such activities.

She loved being the captive ravaged by the enemy general. She equally enjoyed being the cruel mistress of a sex slave. She would whip his bottom lightly in this particular scenario, but then the sex slave would turn on his mistress and violate her. And she enjoyed being spanked, playing the naughty girl, teasing him wickedly until he mounted her and rode her to exhaustion. Kolgrim could not believe his good fortune in the bride the Book of Rule had chosen for him.

But now the matter of creating his only son was at hand. And for that special night he decided he would begin the process by bringing two of his concubines from his House of Women. “This will be a most extraordinary night for you, my darling,” Kolgrim told Nyura. “Tonight I will seed you, and in several months’ time our son will be born. But I must remind you from this night on I will not touch you. We will next come together at the Completion Ceremony when we join our bodies publicly before our people, Nyura. I want you to always remember this night, however.”

“What shall we do to make this night memorable?” she asked him.

“You have never flinched from anything I asked of you,” he began, “and so this night I will ask you to share the beginning of your passion with two of my concubines.”

Nyura smiled slowly. “You wish to see me make love with other women, my lord? Is that what would please you?”

“Aye, ’twould please me greatly,” he answered her.

“Rather than two of your concubines, why not invite my cousins Divsha and Yamka to join me,” Nyura suggested wickedly. “I know you have fucked them, for each could barely wait to tell the tale after you chose me for your bride.”

Kolgrim smiled a slow smile at her. “You have an unusual talent for exciting me, my pet,” he told her. “I should very much like to see you with them.”

“Then use your magic, my lord, to bring them to us,” Nyura said sweetly.

And Kolgrim did. Both of Nyura’s cousins were astounded to suddenly find themselves in the castle of the Twilight Lord. Divsha was particularly delighted for she had been in the midst of being lectured by the Lord High Ruler’s master of protocol on how she should behave at Yamka’s wedding. Yamka was equally pleased, for she had been put into an enchanted sleep in her parents’ home from which Kolgrim now awakened her. She welcomed a final adventure before she must marry and become a staid Terahn matron.

When told what would be required of them, the two cousins chortled, quite pleased.

“Nyura watched us for months before she became bold enough to join in,” Divsha said. She turned to Nyura. “Do you remember the first time we did it together.”

“She released her juices so quickly,” giggled Yamka. “I hope she has learned better with you, my lord.”

“Show me what you did with her that first time,” Kolgrim suggested to them.

The three cousins stripped off their robes, and taking hands to form a circle, raised their hands and came together for a kiss. Then Divsha took Nyura into her arms, her lips playing with the lips beneath hers while Yamka reached out to fondle Nyura’s round breasts. Kolgrim stretched out upon the enormous bed and watched the trio through half-closed eyes. For a time they kissed and fondled each other’s bodies. Then finally the three young women fell upon the bed near Kolgrim.

They took turns mounting each other, and playing at being the male. They kissed each other on both lips and body. They licked and sucked upon each other’s lust orb. The three beautiful bodies intertwining with one another delighted him. Divsha with her big round breasts. Yamka’s delightful plump bottom, and his exquisite mate, Nyura. Their long hair, red-gold, blond and dark auburn mingled as they pleasured each other. Kolgrim watched avidly, his arousal becoming more evident as each moment passed. Finally with a wave of his hand he froze Divsha and Yamka, removing them temporarily from the bed to sit on floor cushions. Their blue, green eyes were unseeing.

Stretched out upon the bed, Nyura smiled at her mate. “That was a delicious interlude, my lord.” Her lips were swollen with her cousins’ kisses, and her sex was slick and wet to his dark gray eyes. “I am ready to receive your seed, my lord. Come! For I need you inside of me,” she whispered eagerly.

Kolgrim smiled down at her. “Do you love me, Nyura?” he asked her. A single finger of his hand stroked her slit lightly.

“Aye!” she answered him without any hesitation. “You are my world, my lord. I waited sixteen years for you. I am proud to be your chosen one.”

The finger found her lust orb, still half-swollen from her recent love games. He began to play with her, rubbing it, pinching it, until Nyura was squirming beneath his hand. Then when she began to moan Kolgrim quickly thrust two fingers into her. Nyura arched her body, attempting to gain relief, but he would not give it to her. He watched her struggling on his hand to reach surcease, but his goal was to fire her lust into an almost-unquenchable blaze.

“Pleasure me!” she begged him.

“You have said you would bear my son, Nyura,” he replied. “Do you understand that in creation there is pain, my pet?”

“I will do whatever you desire, my lord, if you will just give me pleasures,” Nyura promised him. “Please! I am burning for you.”

Kolgrim withdrew his fingers from her, and stroked her hair. “There, my pet, I will reward you shortly, but for now I want of you what your cousins had of you.” He put his dark head between her legs, and with his forked tongue began licking her lust orb.

“Ohhh, my lord!” Nyura sobbed as her lust began to burn higher.

The tongue slid deep into her wet silken sheath, stroking its walls, readying her for his entry. Nyura had no idea of what awaited her. Despite his own burgeoning need he had to make certain her body was perfectly prepared to receive his seed. Her juices were already flowing, and she moaned with her need. He felt the tiny sharp nodules beginning to erupt all over his cock. This only happened when a son was to be created. “Tell me you love and desire me, Nyura. Tell me again that you would gladly conceive my son,” he murmured hotly into her delicate little ear.

“Oh, my lord, how can you doubt that I love you? I do! I do! And I want you so desperately that I shall die if you do not soon fuck me! Seed me, I beg you! Seed me and give me your son, Kolgrim, my love! Seed me now!”

He did not hesitate, but drove himself hard into her. The sudden show of surprise within her gray-green eyes, her scream of pain, aroused him further. All the hidden nodules on his thrusting cock bloomed, their sharp points caressing her throbbing wet sheath cruelly. Nyura’s nails dug deep into his shoulders and raked down his back, bloodying him. Kolgrim’s mouth met hers in a searing kiss, his forked tongue wrapping itself about her tongue and squeezing it hard.

He ceased his movement briefly, and with a silent command the silver chains with their manacles dropped from the ceiling over the bed. Kolgrim quickly fastened the manacles about each of Nyura’s ankles, careful not to dislodge himself from her. The chains drew themselves back up as soon as she was secured. “And now, my pet,” he whispered to her, “we will begin again.”

“You did not tell me there would be pain,” Nyura sobbed.

“But I did, my pet. I warned you that in creation there is pain, and now there will be more pain than you can imagine. And you will scream for me, for only your cries of agony will force my seed forth from me to create my son.”

“Our son!” Nyura said, and then her screams filled the chamber as he began to thrust deeper and harder into her. At first she thought she would die before he was finished, but then suddenly Nyura realized her own lust was building as a result of the pain. She gasped, and then she sank her teeth into his shoulder, biting down with all of her strength.