Lara actually purred with delight as he began to make love to her. She had not been with him in several months, and she could not now remember why that was. Reaching out, she caressed his neck with her fingers, encouraging his rising passions. She had loved other men in her lifetime both physically and emotionally, but none was like the great Shadow Prince. Kaliq’s love for her was pure, and burned with an unquenchable fire as did her love for him.

He lifted his head, and his clear bright blue eyes starred into her green ones. “I could be with you like this forever and a day,” Kaliq told her.

Lara smiled. “I wish it also, but it seems we have mortals to look after, and the darkness is seeking to escape the bounds of Kol’s kingdom.”

“There is time,” he told her, smiling back.

“No, there isn’t,” she said. Then adding, “Well, perhaps a little time. Cadi?”

“Is quite busy grooming Dasras, and afterward will fall asleep by the waterfall, my love,” Kaliq murmured as his dark head bent to find the tempting nipple he wished to nuzzle and savor. He began to suckle upon her, and as he did Lara realized that they were both quite naked for he had divested them of their garments. She stretched herself to her full length beneath him. The tug of his lips on her nipple was translating itself into a ripple of excitement that spread down her torso, culminating in a tingling deep between her nether lips. His teeth nipped at the very sensitive tip of the nipple, and Lara shuddered with relish, anticipating more delights to come.

A hand kneaded her other breast strongly, pinching its nipple hard, and she squirmed slightly beneath him as the action sent a jolt of enjoyment through her. Her fingers insinuated themselves into the thick dark thatch of his black hair, digging into his scalp. His mouth found hers again, kissing her deeply, their tongues fencing with one another until she sucked hard on the fleshy organ. Pulling away, he began to trail a path of kisses down her torso while her fingers traced a delicate pattern across the warm flesh of his smooth back with gentle nails.

He shivered when her finger sensuously stroked the dimple that lay above the crease separating his buttocks. His tongue encircled her navel, dipping into it briefly. Then Kaliq’s dark head moved lower, positioning itself between her milky-white thighs. His tongue ran slowly again and again along the shadowed slash between her plump nether lips. She hissed softly when it poked between the soft flesh, now glistening with new moisture, to find the tempting nucleus of her sex. Slowly he encircled it, then his tongue flicked it back and forth until she was squirming with her excitement. He held her hips in an iron grip until she was whimpering with her need for him.

Raising his head he knelt between her legs. Taking his massive love rod in his hand he ran up and down her wet slit, pushing it between the flesh to touch her already-quivering and swollen love bud. He pressed the tip of his cock against it hard, watching the fierce desire filling her beautiful face. Beg! he commanded her in the silent magic language. You have kept me waiting for months, my faerie witch. I have a need to punish you for it, Lara, my love.

You might have eased your lust on another, she told him.

Never! he swore to her. From the moment I pledged myself to you, I have not given any part of myself to another. There is no pleasure without you, my darling faerie wife, he declared passionately.

She was surprised. Nay, she was astounded by his use of the word wife. Aye, they had pledged themselves to each other a century ago, but Shadow Princes rarely gave the title of wife to a lover. “Oh, Kaliq!” she exclaimed aloud to him. “Yes! Yes! Love me, my dearest lord, my magical husband and mate! Love me!”

He withdrew his cock from her flesh replacing it with his lips, sucking hard on the swollen bud until she cried out. When she did, he mounted her and drove himself deep into the wet heat of her tight sheath. He groaned with delight, and her cries told him all he needed to know. He thrust deep and hard until Lara was screaming softly, the tears slipping down her face as he gave her the intense pleasure that only Kaliq could offer.

They clung to each other, their fierce need rising, rising with each wild thrust of his mighty cock. Neither of them, it seemed, could quite get enough of the other. But slowly, slowly, their passions came to a sharp peak. Lara cried out as she reached the culmination of her desire. The world erupted before her eyes. She shuddered so hard she wondered that she did not explode. And Kaliq cried her name aloud as his juices burst forth to flood her hidden garden. “Lara! Lara, my love!” Then the pleasures receded slowly, leaving them both weak, their skin damp with their exertions, but content beyond all measure.

They slept for an hour, and when they awakened, stretching lazily, the ebony table which they had somehow in their hungry lust managed not to tip over, filled itself with a beautiful meal. Upon it were icy-cold raw oysters, a juicy capon that sliced itself at their command, fresh green asparagus with a tart sauce, a warm round loaf of bread and a dish of butter. Kaliq gobbled most of the oysters, although Lara did manage to eat a few. They ate thin slices of capon. She teased him with the asparagus, dipping the vegetable in the piquant sauce, then licking the tip of the stem suggestively, sucking the stem slowly until, seeing his manhood begin to burgeon, Lara giggled wickedly. Then she fed him some asparagus, too, lapping the sauce when it drizzled from the corners of his mouth.

The food disappeared when they were finished, replaced with a bowl of strawberries and a pitcher of thick cream. Kaliq amused himself putting a berry upon each breast, and lining several down her torso. Next he poured the cream on her breasts, plucked each berry off with his teeth and licked up the cream, sucking her breasts. Then he drizzled the cream down the line of berries upon her torso, and one by one nibbled the strawberries off her quivering flesh, licking the cream away, as well.

When he had finished, Lara made him stand up. Then, kneeling before him she dipped his swelling cock into the pitcher, which had magically refilled itself. The cream was quite thick and clung to his dense length. Like a cat, Lara slowly, daintily, licked the manhood before her. Pushing his legs farther apart, she pushed the pitcher up between them to cover his jewels in the cream. Setting the pitcher aside, now she positioned her head so she might lick the cream from his sac.

When she had finished, sitting back upon her heels, he fell to his knees and turned her about so that she knelt before him, her buttocks raised and facing him. Kaliq took Lara’s hips between his hands, guiding his throbbing cock into her female channel. Her submissive position allowed him to delve deep. He pumped her hard until she was yearning with her need, pleading with him to give her pleasures. As filled with lust as she herself was, he complied. Lara screamed with her delight, and he howled like a beast as this time they met with perfect timing upon passion’s plain. Finally exhausted with their mutual satisfaction, they fell into a deep sleep amid the colorful pillows wrapped within each other’s arms.

Lara woke to find Kaliq staring down at her. His blue eyes shone with such love she felt humbled by him. Outside the sky was light, but they instinctively knew it was not quite yet dawn. Without a word they arose and walked from the tent into the warm waters of the pool. The pale gray sky morphed slowly into a light blue, and then a richer blue. On the horizon, tendrils of color began to reach out. Pink, rose, peach and gold oozed out, staining the blue background. Kaliq and Lara watched as a ruby-red sun burst forth briefly, staining the rippling sand dunes of the desert bloodred.

“I have never seen the sand crimson before,” Lara said softly to him.

“It is a recent, and not particularly welcome phenomenon,” he replied. “We do not know what it means.”

She was surprised. “But the Shadow Princes know everything,” Lara said.

Kaliq laughed. “I misspoke, my love. We know it portends some evil, but we do not know what evil.”

“The evil is my son Kolgrim,” Lara answered him. “Of that I am certain, my lord. I must return to Terah and learn what my grandson Amren knows. If something is amiss, or of import within Hetar, Amren will know.”

“Unless he heard of it before he departed The City, he will not,” Kaliq said. “And we have learned from our own sources that Cadarn means to replace his uncle with his own brother, Cadoc.”

“Why? Amren has served Terah well,” Lara said.

“He has, but of late, at the urging of his Hetarian wife, he has begun accepting bribes in order to feather his own nest. Cadarn has not been particularly respectful of his aging uncle. He mistrusts him, and rightly so. But Amren is intelligent, for a mortal, and senses that something is amiss with the Dominus. He would remain in Hetar given the opportunity,” Kaliq told her. “He has become friends over the years with Prince Nasim, and confides in him. Your grandson trusts few, but he trusts Nasim, who keeps nothing from his Shadow Prince brothers.”

Lara nodded. “He was at the castle when I left. If he is still there I will speak with him, my lord. Though he was kept from me as a child, he has sought my advice over the years in dealing with Hetar in Terah’s best interests.”

Kaliq nodded. “He respects you, or so Nasim says. But he also fears you and your magic, my love. Nasim has allowed that fear to remain, believing it best that it did.”

Lara chuckled. “Aye, he was right to do so, my lord.” The sand beneath her feet was soft. Pushing off, she swam to the waterfall and let the cooler water flow over her. Joining her, Kaliq was unable to resist taking her into his arms and kissing her. Briefly she melted into his embrace, her lips welcoming him, but then she drew away and swam back into shallower water, walking from it up onto the beach and letting the morning sun dry her off.

Kaliq followed her. “You are going back,” he said.

She nodded. “Aye, I am. But I promise you that when I have learned what I must, I will come to Shunnar. It will be my home as it should have been all these years past.”

“Shall I raise you up a palace of your own, my love?” he asked her.

“You love me, my lord, and if you think you can live with me, I shall be content to have the bedchamber that is mine, and nothing more. But if you would prefer we live together but apart then do what you will,” Lara told him. “I will bow to your will in this one matter.”

“But no other.” Kaliq chuckled. “I am satisfied to have you in your old chamber, Lara, my love,” he told her. “And Cadi has her own quarters, as well.”

“Take Dasras with you to Shunnar,” Lara said. “Since his longtime groom died, he has been neglected by the Dominus’s servants. I return to Terah to gain what knowledge I can, but then I am gone. There is nothing left for me there now. I was foolish not to realize it years ago. My mortal children are gone. Kemina outlived Arik, but now both of these religious houses have been corrupted. There is nothing for me at the Temple of the Daughters of the Great Creator. Oh, Kaliq!” Lara turned to look at him. “Why did I not realize sooner that my time in Terah was finished? I behaved like a mortal who cannot accept change, and clung to a past long gone.”

“But you needed to let go by yourself, Lara,” he said.

“But now I fear I may have given Kolgrim an advantage,” she answered.

The Shadow Prince shook his dark head. “Nay, my love. Everything is as it should be. With this decision you have finally shed that last bit of your mortal skin. Once you make the magic world your home you will become entirely magic. But that is a decision that was yours alone to decide. I am pleased that you have finally made it.”

They walked back to the pavilion where Cadi awaited them, smiling. “I have your breakfast, mistress, master,” she said. Then she magicked white silk robes with necklines and cuffs trimmed in delicate gold threads and miniature transmutes, smiling when the little jewels glowed crystal clear with a faint golden cast. Transmutes, mined by the Jewel gnomes in the Emerald Mountains, were gemstones that changed color according to the wearer’s mood. Their color showed Cadi that both her mistress and the Shadow Prince were happy.

Lara and Kaliq sat down again among the pillows to eat. Their meal consisted of creamy yogurt, apricots, melon and green grapes, warm new bread, butter and a sweet hot tea, pale purple in color, brewed from the tiny new leaves of the Umbra trees that grew at Shunnar. Only the Shadow Princes had access to this tea for the Umbra trees were rare. Their fruits made a purple dye used for painting the nipples. The sweet flesh was coveted, for it also possessed an aphrodisiac quality.