Crown of Destiny Read online

  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 a
re 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.

  “I am returning to the castle today,” Lara told Cadi. “When I have done what I must, I will leave Terah behind. We shall live in Shunnar. You may come with me or go with Prince Kaliq now. I am sending Dasras with my lord and will travel by magic.”

  “I’ll come with you,” Cadi said. “I don’t even want to think what your mother would do to me if I left your side.”

  Lara didn’t bother to argue the point. She was glad her serving woman would be with her. Terah was lonely enough now as it was. “We will not linger, Cadi. I promise.” When she had finished her meal, Lara left the pavilion and went to where Dasras stood shaded by the palms beneath his own silk awning.

  The great white stallion looked up at her from his bin of oats. “Good morning,” he greeted her. “Less than a day, and you already look relaxed once again.”

  “The time has come for me to depart Terah for good,” Lara began.

  “All praise to the Great Creator!” Dasras said with a nod of his head.

  Lara laughed. “But first I must return there to conclude one final bit of business. Then I shall collect Andraste and Verica and make Shunnar my home. I want you to go with the prince. Cadi and I shall travel by simple magic this day.”

  “As you will, mistress,” Dasras responded. “As always, you have made a wise decision. There is, however, a boon I would ask of you.”

  “Whatever you desire,” Lara told him.

  “The great-grandson of my original groom, Jason, is called Leof. He is only a boy. He attempted to care for me when my former groom died. The older men were jealous and drove him away, yet none of them wanted to take responsibility for my care for they feared me because I am magic. Leof has managed to sneak into the stables now and again to bring me apples and carrots, but the last time the head groom caught him and beat him badly. I promised the boy that if I ever left Terah for good I would take him with me, mistress. Will you bring him with you when you return to Shunnar?”

  “You have my word on it, Dasras. And he will take care of you. Og will teach him all he needs to know. His mortal kin are grown, and prefer the nomadic life of the desert dwellers. His wife is long dead. Leof will make a good companion for Og, as well. What of the boy’s family? Do they need him?”

  “He was the youngest of his generation. Jason was quite old when he was born, but he lived until the boy turned five. I remember him bringing Leof to the stables with him. Of course he was no longer caring for me, but he oversaw those who did. And he began to teach the boy. But once Jason was gone it all changed. The boy was driven away. His family is large. They will not miss him.”

  “Then I see no impediment to his coming. Has he learned, like all the others at the castle, to fear me?” Lara asked Dasras.

  “Nay, his grandfather told him how kind you were, and I have reassured him the same,” the stallion said.

  “I’ll have Cadi find him and bring him to me. The choice to come must be his, Dasras. You do understand that, don’t you?” Lara said.

  “I do, but he will come,” Dasras responded in positive tones.

  “Then I will leave you in Prince Kaliq’s hands, my faithful friend,” Lara said, patting the beast and giving his velvety nose a rub. She then hurried to find Cadi.

  Her serving woman was clearing away the dishes. She looked up, smiling. “Are we ready?” she asked. Cadi waggled her fingers and the dirty dishes disappeared.

  Lara nodded, then she called, “Kaliq, we are going now.”

  He was immediately at her side, his arm about her supple waist, drawing her close. “Do not linger long, my love,” he said, brushing her lips softly with his own.

  Reaching up, Lara caressed his strong jaw. “I won’t,” she promised.

  Smiling into her faerie green eyes, the Shadow Prince released her.

  With a wave of her hand Lara opened the Golden tunnel that magic folk often used to transport themselves from one place to another. Then she and Cadi hurried through into the swirl. It closed behind them as they moved along, shutting entirely as they exited into the small windowless room that Lara had always used for her magic. Lara looked about her then turned to Cadi. “Pack this room up and send it to Shunnar. Then join me in my apartments,” she instructed her serving woman.

  As she departed the little chamber, she heard Cadi already murmuring the spells that would render the space empty as it had not been in over one hundred and twenty years. She realized that she felt no sadness in this at all and smiled a small smile. Encountering a guardsman on her way to her apartments, she asked him, “Is Prince Amren still in the castle?”

  “He is, my lady.”

  “Tell him his grandmother would see him in her apartments,” Lara told the man.

  To his credit the man-at-arms bowed politely. “At once, my lady,” he replied.

  Lara gave him a smile and moved quickly by him, finally reaching her apartments. They were empty, for only Cadi served Lara now. The faerie woman looked about her. Everything was in order, neat and clean, but the sensation of love, of life, was no longer there. She shook her head. Aye. ’Twas past time she left Terah. The memories here had long ago faded, leaving in their place a melancholy. Why hadn’t she noticed it until now?

  Then she sensed an approach and turned quickly, even as the door to her apartments opened, and her grandson Prince Amren entered. “Come in, my lord,” she invited him pleasantly. “Sit down. We must speak on matters that concern you.” Going to a painted sideboard Lara poured a goblet of dark red wine for her grandson and another for herself. Handing it to him, she sat down opposite Amren.

  “What matters?” he asked her, taking the goblet with a nod of thanks.

  “The Dominus Cadarn plans to dismiss you, and replace you with his brother, Prince Cadoc,” Lara said bluntly.

  “How can you know this?” Amren demanded, surprised.

  Lara raised a delicate dark eyebrow. “Really, my lord, how can you even ask such a question of me?” she replied. “Do you think because you have been raised to fear me and ignore what I am that my powers are lessened to any degree? When something concerns me, I make it my business to know what I must.”

  “You must be mistaken, Grandmother,” he said, but he did not sound very sure. “I have served Terah well since my youth.”

/>   “Aye, Amren, you have. Both your father and your grandfather would be most proud of your devotion to your duty to Terah.” He was still a handsome man, Lara thought. How old was he now? Seventy? Aye, seventy.

  Her words pleased him well, she could see, but then he asked her, “And are you proud of me, Grandmother?”

  Lara laughed. “I suppose I am in my own way, Amren,” she told him.

  “What do you want then of me?” he asked her candidly.

  Lara laughed again. “How Hetarian you have become,” she said, “but of course you are right. A favor for a favor, eh, Amren?”

  And now he chuckled. “’Tis the Hetarian way,” he agreed, “and the truth is I have spent most of my life in Hetar. My wife is Hetarian, and our children.”

  “Will you remain in Hetar when the Dominus dismisses you?” she wanted to know. “You have a home in The City, and one in the province of the Outlands. I doubt your wife would enjoy living in Terah.”

  “I had not considered being cashiered from my position,” Amren said slowly. “You know how important one’s position is in Hetar. An ex-ambassador has not the status of an ambassador, but Clarinda would indeed be unhappy here in Terah. And we should not have the enjoyment of our grandchildren.”

  “The Dominus does not want to hear anything I have to say,” Lara told her grandson, “but I shall put the thought into his head to create a new position for you. You shall be Terah’s Trade Commissioner. There will certainly be opportunity for you to extract some goodly bribes in such a position, Amren.”

  His face grew red, and she saw him preparing to vehemently protest her words.