“But not until after they had done their duty by our father,” Kolgrim said.

“Brothers,” the Darkling said, “I need your help.”

“I can do whatever you want done,” Kolbein insisted. “Send him away!”

“How may we be of service to you, half sister?” Kolgrim asked.

“I need a place to hide the faerie woman’s daughter. This castle is perfect, for it is unlikely she will consider the girl is here,” Ciarda said.

“I thought that Lara’s daughter was put into a deep sleep, and surrounded by a protection spell fashioned by the Twilight Lord. There is no way we could overcome that,” Kolgrim said sensibly.

“The protection spell is no longer there,” Ciarda said excitedly.

“How would you know that?” Kolgrim asked. He was fascinated by her.

“I have gone each night to stand by the girl’s bedside. To see what I could do to unravel Prince Kaliq’s spell. But I could not decipher it. I do not like to admit defeat and so I kept returning to that little chamber where the girl lay sleeping. And then today I went, and the spell was gone! It had vanished. I reached out to touch the girl, and my hand met with the fabric of her garment.”

“If the spell is gone then why do you need us?” Kolgrim asked Ciarda.

“I would take this girl, and hide her here. She is the leverage I need against the Hierarch. If he knows I have her he will obey me again without question. But I need the power of our blood, and the power of three to make a spell strong enough to transport this girl from her chamber in that Fiacre village.”

“We are only learning the magic that is ours,” Kolbein said. “We can’t help you.”

“Aye, you can,” Ciarda insisted. “I will weave the spell, brothers. The power lying dormant in you will, when we join hands, make the spell work.”

“You are certain of that?” Kolgrim asked her.

“I am,” Ciarda assured him.

“Your lover will not be pleased,” Kolgrim said softly. “And he may not believe you, half sister.”

“I will bring him here to prove to him that I hold his beloved my captive,” the Darkling replied.

“Our captive, half sister,” Kolgrim said, and he smiled a toothy smile at her.

Ciarda nodded in agreement.

“When shall we do this thing?” Kolgrim asked her.

“Now! I do not know why that protection spell is gone, but if anyone else learns of it, rest assured the girl will be protected again, and quickly,” the Darkling replied. “Where will you put her?”

Kolgrim laughed. “I think the chamber in which her mother resided once will serve.”

“Which chamber is that?” Kolbein wanted to know.

“Why, the one in which we were conceived and born,” Kolgrim said, and the trio laughed together. It was a sound that sent a chill down the chancellor’s spine as he watched and listened from his hiding place behind the throne of the Twilight Lord.

IN THE KINGDOM OF THE Forest Faeries Ilona was at a loss, for her granddaughter had been hiding from her. “What is the matter with the girl?” the queen asked her consort.

“She is either being naughty and willful, a most faerielike trait,” Thanos said wisely, “or she has done something she doesn’t want us to know about.”

“It is more than likely the latter,” Ilona replied. “I cannot handle her, my lord. She is very intelligent, and very impatient to learn all there is to know about our kingdom, our ways, our magic. Whatever I teach her, or try to teach her, is never enough for Marzina. She wants more, and she wants it now. But my instincts tell me that we must find her sooner than later, and learn what it is she has done.”

“Call our son, Cirillo, for she adores him. He will be able to lure her out of hiding if anyone can,” Thanos advised his wife.

Cirillo was called from Belmair, where he now spent much of his time with his dragon lover, Nidhug. Knowing his parents were now resigned to his choice of a mate, he assumed it was some emergency that forced them to ask him to return to the Forest Kingdom. Ilona explained the difficulty of the missing Marzina, and Cirillo agreed to find his talented niece and learn what was troubling her.

Encasing himself in an invisibility spell, he began to search the forest. It took him several days, but then, deep within the woodlands by a small, still pool, he found Marzina. She was weeping bitterly. Uncloaking himself, he knelt and gathered the distraught girl into his arms. “Little one, little one, what is it that troubles you so greatly? Your grandparents are very worried over your absence.”

Marzina looked up at him. Her eyes were red with much weeping. “Oh, Uncle! I have done a terrible thing. I will never be forgiven! Never!”

Cirillo struggled not to laugh. She was fourteen. She lived with her grandparents. What could she have done that was so awful? “Tell me,” he said, not knowing what to expect, but assuming whatever trifle she confessed to could be quickly corrected.

“I have undone someone else’s spell!” Marzina cried.

Cirillo was surprised. This was perhaps a bit more serious than he had anticipated. His faerie green eyes were curious. “Whose spell did you undo, Niece?”

“Prince Kaliq’s!” Marzina wailed, and burst into fresh tears.

Cirillo was astounded. “You undid a spell that Kaliq fashioned, Marzina? Are you quite certain? You put it back, of course.”

“I couldn’t!” Marzina howled louder. “I tried and I tried, but I just couldn’t reweave his spell, Uncle! And now Anoush is gone, and it is all my fault!”

“What do you mean Anoush is gone?” Cirillo had been on Belmair for months and did not know the situation unfolding in Hetar.

Marzina explained the situation to him between sobs and gulps, concluding, “It was a protection spell, Uncle. By removing it I left my sister vulnerable to the forces of Darkness, and now she is gone. Mother will never forgive me. I can’t forgive me!”

“We must return to the castle at once,” Cirillo said. He took the girl by the hand, and she tried to pull away. “Marzina!” His tone was sharp. “Aye, you have done a dreadful thing, Niece, but it cannot be corrected if we do not call your mother and Prince Kaliq to us at once. Perhaps it is not as bad as you think. They may have found the spell gone, and removed Anoush to a safer place. Come! Quickly! Unfold your wings, and let us hurry, for I suspect time is of the essence in this matter.”

Wings Marzina had never known she possessed until she entered her grandmother’s kingdom unfolded from her shoulder blades. They were lacy in texture, and gilt in color. Her uncle’s were identical. Together the two quickly made their way through the summer green trees to reach the castle of the queen and her consort. Ilona hugged her granddaughter to her breast, relieved the girl was all right. But when she learned of what Marzina had done she was at first astounded, and then furious.

“You dared to meddle with another’s spell?” Ilona demanded in a hard voice such as Marzina had never heard her use. It was the queen’s voice.

“I just wanted to see how it was made, and if I could do it, too,” Marzina muttered.

“What in the name of all the faerie worlds made you think you could replicate a spell fashioned by a Shadow Prince? You are a child, Marzina! A mere child, and you have shown me a great lack of courtesy by sneaking off to that Fiacre village and tampering with Prince Kaliq’s spell. But worse, you say your sister is now gone? If she has been taken into the darkness you will have endangered her very life!”

Marzina began to weep again.

“My dear,” Thanos said, but Ilona cut him off.

“Nay, my lord, there is no softening this misadventure. We must call Lara and the prince to us immediately!” And she did.

Prince Kaliq appeared first, followed by Lara.

Seeing the look on her mother’s face, and noting that her youngest child was verging on hysteria, Lara demanded to know, “What has happened, Mother?”

“Your overly precocious daughter may have put Anoush’s life in danger,” Ilona said. And she glared angrily at Marzina.

“She did not mean to, my dear,” Thanos said quickly, “but the damage is done, I fear, and now you two must correct it.”

“What has happened?” Prince Kaliq asked.

“The brat undid your protection spell,” Ilona said. “And, of course, she could not reweave it back. When she went back to try to correct the damage she had done Anoush was gone. So what did this child do? She hid from us in the forest. I had to call Cirillo from Belmair to find her. Only then did she confess her misdeeds.”

“Marzina!” Lara gasped, shocked.

The Shadow Prince’s eyebrow had cocked with surprise when he learned what the young girl had done. “You undid my spell?” he said to the tearful Marzina.

She nodded. “I thought it easy until I tried to put it back together again, my lord,” the girl confessed, shamefaced.

Kaliq laughed aloud. “Aye, it is complex in its fashioning, Marzina.”

“I cannot have her with me any longer,” Ilona said. “You must take her back to Terah, Lara. I am unable to control her. The wickedness is in her blood, I fear.”

“Nonsense,” the Shadow Prince quickly said. “She is no more naughty than Lara was at that age.”

“At that age,” Ilona began, and then she closed her mouth at a look from Lara.

“Of course I will take Marzina home, Mother. As much as she desires to study faerie magic she is obviously not mature enough yet to do so,” Lara said quietly. “We will find Anoush and bring her home safely. I suspect whoever has her will not harm her. But, of course, it is imperative that we find her quickly.”

“We will go to Shunnar,” Kaliq said. “She should not go back to Terah quite yet, my love. Under the circumstances she is safer with us there.”

“Thank you, Mother, for all you have done. And, you as well, my lord Thanos,” Lara said quietly. “Cirillo, come and see me soon.” Then, taking her daughter’s hand, she stepped beneath the Shadow Prince’s cloak, and when he threw it back with a flourish they were in his desert palace.

The prince quickly called for refreshments to be brought to his garden escorting Lara and her daughter there. Sweet apricot Frine was brought, along with cheese and rounds of crisp flatbread. Kaliq poured a small goblet of Frine for Marzina, handing it to her along with a circle of flatbread and cheese. Lara helped herself, struggling to keep calm. If she frightened Marzina any further she might forget something important.

“Now, child,” the prince said quietly, “tell me everything that happened when you returned to the chamber where Anoush had been sleeping.”

“She was gone,” Marzina said. “The bed upon which she lay, too, my lord.”

“Did you notice anything else about the chamber?” he asked her.

Marzina’s brow wrinkled as she tried to remember. “It was cold, my lord. Colder than it should have been.” She paused. “And there was a smell.”

“What kind of a smell?” he pressed her gently.

“Flowers,” Marzina told him. “The scent was heavy and sweet like-” she thought “-like lilies. Night-blooming lilies!”

“The Darkling!” Lara exclaimed. “That is the fragrance that always surrounds her, Kaliq. How did she know that the spell was broken? She must have been trying to undo it herself, and kept coming to Anoush’s bedside. I can but imagine her surprise when she discovered my daughter was hers for the taking. But where will she have secreted Anoush?”

“I want to help!” Marzina cried.

Lara turned a fierce eye on her youngest child. “Nay,” she said. “You have not the skills and your interference in something you did not understand has put your sister in danger. You lack self-discipline, Marzina. You are so eager you will not take the time to learn, nor do you have the patience you need to learn properly. You have been given a gift, and when this is over you will be taught how to use it properly. But until then I forbid you from attempting magic of any kind.”

Marzina’s violet eyes grew stormy with rebellion. “You are just jealous,” she said. “My powers will one day be greater than yours.”

“Possibly they will,” Lara answered. “But not unless you learn how to channel them properly.”

“You will remain here at Shunnar for the interim,” Prince Kaliq said in a quiet voice, “for you are in danger, too, my child. When this is over I will teach you myself as I did your brother Dillon. You have the ability to be a great sorceress, Marzina. But if you would learn from my brothers and from me you must swear to me you will obey your mother’s dictates and eschew magic for the time being.” The Shadow Prince looked into the young girl’s face. “Can you promise me that, Marzina?”

“Oh, yes, my lord!” Marzina cried. “To learn from you would be an honor!”