Crown of Destiny Read online

Ilona stamped her foot irritably. “How like Kaliq to do something like that! Are you certain you can trust Marzina alone with him?” she said wickedly. “I am going home since my presence obviously isn’t required here.” And the Queen of the Forest Faeries was gone in a puff of royal-purple mist.

  Lara laughed ruefully. How like her mother to say something hurtful when she couldn’t get her own way. Unlike her grandmother, Marzina rarely made the same mistake twice. Lara reclined upon a couch and watched the rising moons of Hetar as about her the night birds sang softly, and the night blooms perfumed the warm air. She sensed Kaliq’s return before he actually appeared by her side, joining her on the couch.

  “She loves it and will remain for a few days,” he said, dropping a kiss upon Lara’s bare shoulder. “I’ve put a spell on the oasis so no one will find it while she is there.”

  Lara began to cry softly. “I didn’t want her ever to know, Kaliq. I didn’t want her to learn about Kol, or her brothers. And now I am afraid if she learns the truth, Kolgrim may very well learn it, too.”

  “Kolgrim will be too busy taking a bride and impregnating her with his son,” Kaliq said.

  “We know nothing until we have gone to the Dark Lands ourselves,” Lara replied. “What we think we know is but whispers upon the wind. Tomorrow. We must go tomorrow, Kaliq. And there is only one way we will learn what we need to know. I will have to ask my son myself.”

  “He could lie to you,” Kaliq reminded her.

  “Aye, he could,” Lara agreed, “but he has his father’s ego and pride. He cannot resist sharing his cleverness with me. If I ask him, he will tell me some of the truth. The rest we will have to learn for ourselves. I know you would come with me, Kaliq, but if you do you must remain cloaked. He will not speak before you as freely as he will to me alone. And you know the Twilight Lords are incapable of detecting Shadow Princes, so he will not know you are there.”

  “Very well, my love,” Kaliq said. “We won’t learn everything, but what little we do learn will enable us to ferret out the rest.”

  They fell asleep together upon the reclining couch in the gardens, and when they awoke Lara sought out a balcony in Kaliq’s palace that faced the rising sun. Pulling her loose gown from her, she stood, arms outstretched by her sides, her palms up, and allowed the great golden orb to bathe her. Its rays shot forth to fill her with strength, and she radiated light. It seeped into her flesh, and could be called upon later to protect her. When the sun had finally risen above the horizon, Lara left the balcony and went to bathe. Then Cadi dressed her in a beautiful white gown with long full sleeves and a rounded neckline. The serving woman fastened a gold rope belt about Lara’s waist and slipped gold sandals upon her dainty feet. Brushing her mistress’s long gilt-colored hair, she plaited it neatly, weaving delicate ropes of gold amid it so that the hair glittered even more than it naturally did.

  When she was ready, she joined Kaliq. Together they broke their fast. He had bathed and was dressed all in white, too. His bright blue eyes sparkled in his tanned face as he fed Lara bits of melon, and she laughed at him, licking his fingers teasingly. He stopped, shaking his head at her in mock disapproval. “We have business to attend to first, my love,” he said. “Do not distract me.”

  “Then do not treat me as if I were your special pet,” Lara shot back as she buttered a piece of fresh warm bread and began to eat it.

  “Your point is taken, faerie woman,” he responded. “But I cannot resist you.”

  “I know,” Lara answered him, grinning mischievously.

  “Remind me to take a lover one day soon,” he said wickedly.

  “If you insist,” she chortled. “Would you like me to choose her for you?”

  Kaliq burst out laughing. “I do not know how your mortal husbands survived that sharp tongue of yours, my love.”

  “I thought you liked my tongue,” Lara teased back.

  “Stop! Stop!” he pleaded, laughing harder, and she laughed with him.

  The meal finally concluded, they went to Kaliq’s library, where he took a black onyx bowl from a cabinet and, taking up an earthenware pitcher, poured water from it into the bowl. The water lay crystal clear and still within the wide almost flat dish.

  Lara waved her left hand above the water, saying as she did, “Show me Kolgrim.”

  The water darkened, and then clarified to reveal the Twilight Lord in his Throne Room consulting the Book of Rule while old Alfrigg stood by his side. The chancellor looked tired, Lara thought.

  “Remember, my lord, you are to remain unseen,” Lara said to Kaliq.

  He nodded and then, wrapping his cloak about them, transported them to the Throne Room of the young Twilight Lord. Lifting the edge of the cape to allow Lara to be seen, it appeared as if she had simply stepped from the air itself.

  “Kolgrim,” she said by way of greeting.

  The Twilight Lord looked up, surprised by the sound of her voice. Then he smiled broadly. “Mother dear! How nice of you to visit. How long has it been? A century?” Reaching out to catch her hand, he kissed it.

  Lara felt an icy chill race down her spine, but she showed no distaste. “You have left your hair golden,” she said. “I would have thought it better if you darkened it.”

  “My golden locks remind everyone who my mother is,” he said with a smile. “I believe that to be a good thing, coupled with my father’s features. Why have you come?”

  Lara turned her eyes on the very elderly chancellor. “Greetings, Alfrigg. I would have thought you retired by now.”

  The old dwarf bowed low. “Greetings, Domina. Regretfully I can find no one who suits my lord, though, by Krell, I have tried hard.”

  Lara looked at Kolgrim. “If he dies, what will you do?” she asked.

  “He will not die,” Kolgrim replied. “I have put a spell upon him. I need him.”

  “You are truly a monster like your father,” Lara said, feeling sorry for Alfrigg.

  “Why have you come to visit me?” he repeated. “I doubt not there is a purpose in your sudden appearance.” He smiled at her, and briefly Lara was reminded of his father, who now lay imprisoned beneath his own castle. Kolgrim was a handsome man. Tall with lightly tanned skin, his cheekbones were high, his nose long and straight and his mouth wide and sensuous. His had thick bushy black eyebrows above his dark gray eyes, which had long dark eyelashes tipped in gold. Like his predecessor, his eyes turned black with his deep thoughts. While his father’s handsome face was more beautiful and his twin, Kolbein, looked just like Kol, Kolgrim’s visage was stronger, more masculine. He favored the dark robes his father had once worn.

  “I am told,” Lara said, “that you seek to take a bride and sire your heir. I thought that Ciarda, your half sister, had been given that privilege.”

  The Twilight Lord’s eyes grew black with his displeasure. “The bitch failed me. She was filled with a sense of her own importance but her womb was barren. And she never stopped nagging me. Her bones lie bleached and white below the ravine bridge. I can point them out to you if you wish to see them.”

  “It was too soon for you to sire an heir,” Lara told him, controlling her urge to shudder at his dispassionate explanation.

  “You are right, Mother! If only you had said so to me then,” Kolgrim exclaimed.

  “You would not have listened,” Lara told him. “Children seldom listen when they set their minds to something.”

  Alfrigg smiled a small grim smile. Kolgrim was a great Twilight Lord, but had his mother taken any interest in him at all he would have been a greater one.

  “Are you planning to marry?” Lara said again.

  Kolgrim smiled slyly at her. “Perhaps,” he said.

  “What does the Book of Rule say?” she asked bluntly.

  The Twilight Lord shrugged. “I would show you, but you couldn’t read the words for they are in our ancient language,” he told her.

  “I do not need your book. All I require from you is an answer. Do you plan to wed, Kolgrim?�
�� Lara demanded for a third time.

  “I have already answered you, Mother. Perhaps,” Kolgrim said.

  “Perhaps is not an answer. Eventually you must wed in order to sire an heir. The rumor currently making its way about our worlds is that you intend to take a bride soon. Where will this unfortunate bride come from, Kolgrim?” Lara’s gaze met his and did not waver. She was stronger than he was, and she wanted to remind him of this salient point.

  Kolgrim finally looked away from his mother, irritated. The faerie-woman mother was more powerful than ever, he thought. If he could but have that power! “The Book of Rule has not revealed the chosen maiden to me yet,” he answered her honestly. Then his eyes danced devilishly. “Will you come to the wedding, Mother, and give us your faerie blessing? I promise you the grandchild I sire on this unknown will honor you as your Terahn and Hetarian grandchildren and great-grandchildren have not.”

  The barb stung but Lara struck back. “’Tis true they do not honor me, but my Belmairian descendants do. My son’s wife has borne him beautiful children.”

  “I am your son, too!” Kolgrim cried out.

  “You are your father’s son,” Lara said cruelly. “Farewell, my lord!”

  She quickly stepped back, feeling Kaliq next to her. He knew what she wanted, and his cloak immediately made her invisible. She did not speak in even their silent language for if she had, Kolgrim would have known that someone else was there, as he was capable of hearing and speaking that tongue himself. The Shadow Prince simply transported them back home to Shunnar.

  “He is every bit as devious as his damnable father,” Lara said angrily.

  “But he speaks the truth,” Kaliq said. “If the book had already instructed him to the unfortunate who is to be chosen, he would have told you. He wants you to know that he is capable of being every bit the Twilight Lord his father was.”

  “He never really knew Kol, and he did not know me until he was grown, but other than his golden hair, he is all Kol. His instincts for evil are all there, Kaliq. But we must learn who the bride is before he has a chance to wed her.”

  “Until the Book of Rule reveals her to Kolgrim, we have no chance of knowing,” the Shadow Prince replied. “This is a game of patience we have begun to play.”

  “We have to know when he knows,” Lara said.

  “I wish we could. There is something protecting the book,” Kaliq told her. “I attempted to put a small spell upon it that would alert us each time the book was opened, but my charm was repulsed.”

  “It is powerful magic that would repel a Shadow Prince,” Lara said slowly.

  Kaliq shook his head. “It was a simple spell. I dared not create a stronger one lest Kolgrim be warned. Marzina at the age of six could have repelled my spell. The Book of Rule, however, is a living thing. If it felt it could not defend itself, it would cry out to its master for help. Coilen will remain in the Dark Lands within the castle. He will know when Kolgrim discovers who his bride is to be, and then we will know.”

  “We will have to be satisfied with that,” Lara replied.

  MARZINA RETURNED several days later. Her naturally pale skin was bronzed, and her violet eyes sparkled in her face. “Oh, I love the sun!” she told her mother. “Thank you so much for sharing Zeroun with me. I feel much better.”

  “And you will remain with Kaliq and me?” Lara asked.

  “I will consider that I have a home here in Shunnar, aye,” Marzina said, “but the mountains of Hetar above the northern end of the forests are where I have made a home for myself, and raised up a small castle. It sits high on the heights, and the view of our world is wonderful, Mother. You have never seen Fairevue, and I should like you and Kaliq to visit me one day when you can.”

  “You are safe there?”

  “I have lived there for the last fifty years, Mother,” Marzina said with a little smile.

  “Alone?” Lara asked.

  “Sometimes, and sometimes not. But I have servants, and a bevy of forest creatures who serve as my guardians,” Marzina explained.

  “Let me learn what I must about this prospective bride for Kolgrim,” Lara said. “And then I will come and visit you,” she promised.

  “I am forgiven then,” Marzina said pointedly.

  “Aye, you are forgiven,” her mother responded.

  The beautiful young faerie kissed her mother’s cheek. “Then I am gone,” she said, and as she stepped away from Lara pale lavender mist enveloped the girl. When it cleared she was no longer there.

  “I am glad you two are reunited with one another,” Kaliq said, stepping from the shadows of Lara’s day room. “Especially given the knowledge she now possesses.”

  Lara shook her head. “I fear her curiosity is going to get the better of her, my lord. She is going to want to slip into the Dark Lands and see her brother for herself. I can reason with Marzina to a certain point, but I live in terror of Kolgrim learning of her existence. He will use her to his own advantage if he discovers who she is.”

  “If we take her with us once, we will be able to control that situation,” Kaliq replied.

  Lara nodded. “You are right,” she agreed.

  “She will manage her own behavior for a time, my love,” Kaliq said in sure tones. “It gives us time to learn what we must. Once we do, we will offer to show her Kolgrim.”

  “If I know my daughter, she will conjure him up in her reflecting bowl first,” Lara told him. “But she will control her curiosity for a brief time.” She leaned against him. “It will be soon, Kaliq. I can feel the change in the very air. It builds as if to a crescendo. From where will this bride come?”

  “Be patient,” Kaliq advised Lara. “Coilen will inform us when the Book of Rule speaks, and then we can act. But not before.”

  IN THE DARK LANDS the Shadow Prince known as Coilen stood invisible and silent in the Throne Room of the Twilight Lord, watching. Each morning Kolgrim came and opened the book. But nothing was written upon the fresh clean vellum page. Several weeks passed, and Kolgrim grew more and more impatient. Then one day when fierce storms battered the Dark Lands with great booms of thunder, and jagged sheets of lightning tore through the purplish skies outside the Throne Room’s balustrade, Kolgrim came and opened the book.

  Coilen could see from his vantage point directly behind the young Twilight Lord the words written upon the smooth paper. The Shadow Prince knew and read the mysterious ancient language of the Twilight Lords. Few could. Now his eyes scanned the page anxiously, surprised by what he translated. He put it into his memory so he might repeat it as it was written to Kaliq and Lara. Then he waited for Kolgrim’s reaction to the Book of Rule’s directive.

  “Guard!” Kolgrim shouted, and a man-at-arms immediately stepped into the chamber. “Go and fetch the chancellor immediately,” the Twilight Lord said.

  “Yes, my lord,” the man said, and he ran off.

  Kolgrim was smiling and chuckling to himself. He could hardly wait to let Alfrigg see what wisdom the book had imparted to him. He waited impatiently, but knowing his master, the dwarf came swiftly.

  “My lord, you sent for me?”

  “The Book of Rule has a message for me this day,” Kolgrim said. “Read it!”

  Alfrigg stepped up onto the small step by the trifooted book holder. His rheumy old eyes scanned the lines written. Then he looked up, smiling at his master. “It is genius, all praise to Krell, Lord of Darkness, who guides us so wisely,” Alfrigg said, smiling at his master. “We have never done something like this, but with the charm you have inherited from both your mother and your father you will accomplish your goal easily, my lord. And,” he added, “with no loss of life or resources to us.” He shook his head wonderingly. “It is too perfect, is it not?” His smile grew broader.

  “Aye, perfect, Alfrigg. But will Hetar cooperate with us, do you think?”

  “I believe that they will, my lord. Hetar has fallen back into its old decadence, with one exception. They learned from that fraud the Hierarch a hu
ndred years ago not to permit their underclass to suffer want and privation. They have kept them fed, housed and entertained ever since. It has cost them little enough to do it. And it permitted them to slide back into debauchery and greed. They want no wars with anyone. And if you can take Hetar without destroying its people and resources, so much the better.”

  5

  KOLGRIM WALKED OUT ONTO THE COVERED balustrade to view the storm as Alfrigg hurried off to attend to business. Prince Coilen of the Shadows brought himself back to Shunnar with a whispered command. Several weeks had passed since he had last checked in with no news. Now he sent out a silent signal to all of his brothers, materializing in Kaliq’s banqueting hall as the others came. Kaliq and Lara were already there.

  “We must wait for everyone,” Coilen said.

  Finally the Shadow Princes were all in the hall. Even the oldest of them, Cronan, who had come from Belmair, hobbling through a Golden tunnel for the distance was so great, and he was frailer than ever. Several of his brothers helped him to a straight-backed chair with sturdy carved arms and a cushioned seat. Then as if a silent signal had been given, they all looked to Kaliq, Lara and Coilen.

  “Our brother has brought us disturbing news,” Kaliq began. He turned to Coilen. “Tell them what you have seen and heard.”

  “For weeks I have stood in the Throne Room of the Twilight Lord, waiting for the Book of Rule to inform Kolgrim, the son of Kol, of his next move,” Coilen began.

  Lara was grateful he did not identify Kolgrim as the son of Kol and Lara although all the Shadow Princes knew she had borne him.

  “Today the book finally revealed its plans, my brothers, Lara. It said, and I quote it exactly,

  The Twilight Lord, Kolgrim, will seek his bride in the Hetarian House of Ahasferus. She who is to be your mate is the great-granddaughter of Cuthbert Ahasferus. She is one of three cousins, all aged sixteen, all beautiful, all descended from Ulla. But only one of these maidens has the power of Ulla. She does not know this power exists, or that it is hers. If you choose wisely, her power will become yours, Kolgrim. Tell Clan Ahasferus that you seek a virgin. Only the right girl still retains her virginity. It is lodged tightly within her silken sheath. You will need both her innocence and her hidden power to produce your successor. Find her and she will belong to you, and you alone for eternity. The son you father on her will be worthy of you, and your father before you.