“Our part in this is over,” Palben said. “Will you all agree that the bride’s claim to virginity was a legitimate one? And that the bridegroom was not cheated?”
His companions nodded.
“Then we will return to the banqueting chamber with the proof,” the Lord High Ruler said.
Stepping into the corridor from the viewing room, they found the three facilitators waiting for them. The Pleasure Woman bowed to Lara, handing her the bloodied coverlet.
“Thank you,” Lara said, nodding to her.
The Lord High Ruler snapped his fingers at the two male sex slaves. “You belong to the Pleasure Mistress Lady Helena?”
“We do, my lord,” one replied.
“Tell your mistress that this noble young lady would avail herself of your services this evening. You are to both come to the palace.”
“Yes, my lord,” was the reply.
“Why thank you, nephew,” Marzina said, smiling sweetly at him.
Behave yourself! Lara scolded her daughter, but her mouth was smiling.
He lusts after me because he sees me as young and fair, Marzina said. And it truly troubles him, Mother, because I am his great-aunt. She swallowed back a giggle.
They reached the banqueting hall. Lara entered and walked directly to the High Board, followed by the other witnesses. Moving to the table’s center, she was lifted atop it by the four male witnesses. Once there Lara unfurled the white silk coverlet, its crimson bloodstains now beginning to turn brown. “The bride was true!” she cried.
The banqueting hall erupted in cheers, and as she was helped down from the High Board she saw Grugyn Ahasferus being congratulated. Lara shook her head in wonder. Hetarians encouraged their daughters to take pleasures early so they might be contented wives; they loved their Pleasure Houses; yet one maid who retained her virginity was celebrated for it on her wedding day though she had been scorned for it in the years prior.
“Are you coming back to the palace with me?” Marzina asked her mother.
“Nay. I think Kaliq and I will go home to Shunnar. Will you come and see us soon, my darling? I need to speak with you.”
“Is it about Kolgrim?” Marzina asked cleverly.
“Aye, it is,” Lara responded candidly. She would not lie to her child now. Not when what she must say was so important. She wanted Marzina’s cooperation.
“I will come,” Marzina replied, “but, Mother, you must not worry about me. I know what Kolgrim is. Really is. I know as much as he desires a family, a little sister, he would kill me if it suited his purposes. I am aware of it.”
Lara nodded. “I trust your judgment,” she said.
“Now let me go. Those two delicious sex slaves are awaiting me, and I am eager to take pleasures with them,” the young faerie woman said with a twinkle in her violet eyes. “Do you think they are as sturdy as they look?”
“You will tell me when you come to Shunnar,” Lara told her daughter.
Marzina laughed and, turning, hurried away.
“Great-grandmother!” Dominus Cadarn had come to her side. “We need your help in the matter of my son’s betrothal.”
“Your uncle is expert in all matters Hetarian,” Lara said. “Can he not help you?”
“It is he who calls for you,” Cadarn said.
“Very well, I shall come.” She turned to Kaliq. “Will you wait or go home?”
“I will await you in Shunnar,” he said, bending to kiss her mouth. Then, stepping away from her, he swirled his cloak about himself and disappeared.
Cadarn’s mouth fell open. “What happened to him?” he asked.
“He returned home, which I should like to do, so take me to Lord Amren so we may conclude the matter of Vaclar’s marriage. If I know your uncle, there is something he knows the Hetarians will consider unpleasant, and he wants me to press the point.”
The wedding guests had all gone, and the house was virtually empty but for the family and their servants. Cadarn led Lara to a large library where Grugyn Ahasferus was now seated with her grandson, Prince Amren. She nodded to them both then said, “Well, what is it that I am needed for, my lords?”
“Will you not be seated, Domina,” Grugyn Ahasferus invited Lara. “And I have not thanked you for being witness to my granddaughter’s defloration ceremony.”
Amren rolled his eyes at Grugyn’s polite speech. The Hetarian magnate was just attempting to get on the good side of his faerie grandmother. “They want the wedding here in The City,” Amren said, his tone annoyed. “But the wedding must be held in Terah, in the castle of the Dominus. Lady Yamka will one day be Terah’s Domina. Her marriage must be celebrated where she will rule.”
“Has neither of you heard of the word compromise?” Lara asked them tartly.
“She must be wed here among her family,” Grugyn Ahasferus said.
“Nay, she must be wed in Terah,” Prince Amren replied.
“She can be wed in both places,” Lara told them. “Let the first marriage be performed here in this house in the hour before sunset. Then I will transport them by means of my magic to Terah in time for the sunrise ceremony that is our tradition.”
“But what of the wedding feast?” Grugyn demanded. “Is my family to be made a laughingstock because we do not celebrate Yamka’s marriage as we have celebrated the marriages of my other two granddaughters?”
It would be one of the last things she did for them all, Lara thought. “Both Terah and Hetar will have their feasts,” she told them. “In Hetar you will celebrate within your banqueting hall for it will be night. But if you walk from your hall through a magic tunnel we will provide, you will find yourself in Terah celebrating in the gardens of the Dominus’s castle in the morning light. Neither of you will be embarrassed before your families and friends. Indeed you will be envied in both lands that magic made such a thing possible even though you all claim that magic no longer exists,” she mocked them.
Grugyn Ahasferus’s brow furrowed as he considered her words. “Indeed,” he finally said, “there has certainly never been a wedding such as this one will be. And none will be able to duplicate it. Aye! You have given us the perfect solution, Domina Lara.”
He looked to Prince Amren. “My lord, are you in agreement?”
“I am!” came the reply.
“You must have Dominus Cadarn’s permission for this,” Lara said quietly, realizing that the two old men were leaving Terah’s ruler out of the matter.
“Of course! Of course!” Prince Amren quickly agreed. “Nephew, will you give us your formal consent to celebrate the marriage of your son and heir, Vaclar, to Yamka Ahasferus, in both Hetar and Terah?” His tone was properly deferential.
The Dominus’s ego now properly soothed, Cadarn looked at the two men, and said, “I will agree, my lords. You have come up with a clever solution.”
“It is the Lady Lara who has found the solution,” Grugyn Ahasferus said, “and I am grateful to her. This will be a good marriage, my lord Dominus. My granddaughter has been properly raised, and knows her place, as I have previously said.”
“Aye, it is Grandmother’s magic that will make this all possible, nephew,” Prince Amren said quietly. Why was Cadarn so antagonistic toward Lara, he wondered.
“When would you celebrate this marriage?” Lara asked them. “Soon?” It has to be soon, she thought. Before Kolgrim moved to bring the darkness. Terah needed to be doubly related to the Twilight Lord by then.
“A month,” Grugyn Ahasferus said. “The bride needs to gather together her dower portion. The house must be prepared, and another feast planned.”
“Yamka must be isolated during that time,” Lara said. “She has taken lovers in the past, but now is not the time for her to decide to have a final spree of lust before she marries. It is of vital importance that any child she bears carries both her blood and Vaclar’s. I will keep her safe myself.”
“Certainly, Domina Lara, we may be trusted to keep Yamka safe,” Grugyn Ahasferus said pompously.
>
“I will not negotiate with you in this matter, my lord,” Lara told the magnate. “And it is already done. I have transported the sleeping girl to a safe haven. When she awakens it will be her wedding day.”
Prince Amren grinned, unable to help himself. Even Cadarn was forced to smile.
Suddenly a knocking sounded upon the library door, and it opened to reveal Lady Camilla. She was most distraught. “They are gone, Grugyn!” she cried.
“Who is gone?” the magnate demanded irritably. The faerie woman’s high-handed tactic had irritated him, although he suspected she had done a wise thing.
“Nyura and Kolgrim! They are not in their bridal chamber,” Lady Camilla said.
“He has taken her home to the Dark Lands,” Lara said quietly.
“But the entire week is filled with parties for them,” Lady Camilla protested.
“Kolgrim has done what he needed to do, and what was expected of him. He has married your granddaughter and completed the defloration ceremony,” Lara said. “That done, he has taken his bride and returned to his castle in the Dark Lands.”
“But he did not say his farewells,” Lady Camilla said in a disappointed tone.
“I did not raise him, and so I cannot be responsible for his manners,” Lara said. “However they are usually better than this. I suspect he was simply anxious to get Nyura to some place quiet and private where they might take pleasures together.”
THAT WAS EXACTLY WHAT Kolgrim had done. The Hetarian ceremonies had both irritated and bored him. In a few days’ time, ten at the most, he would have to seed Nyura with his son. Once that had happened she would be forbidden to him until the child was born, and they performed the Completion Ceremony. The few days they had together he wanted to spend taking pleasures with her, not attending parties in their honor. How wasteful of time these Hetarians were. And so when the witnesses had departed he had put his arm about his bride and magicked them into the bedchamber that would be hers in his castle in the Dark Lands.
Still dazed from her first adventures in pleasures, Nyura looked up at him, confused. “Where are we?” she asked.
“We are home in my castle,” Kolgrim told her.
“But we cannot leave Hetar yet,” Nyura protested. “There are events planned in our honor, my lord. It would be rude for us to just disappear.”
“I did not ask for events in our honor, Nyura,” Kolgrim said. “You know why this marriage has taken place. I told you that the Book of Rule chose you. Perhaps you do not fully comprehend your situation. It is the mating season for me. It is in this time, and this time only, that I can release the seed into your womb that will become my son. Twilight Lords only sire a single son in each generation. You are the one chosen for the honor of bearing that son. In a few days I shall seed you. And after that we will not come together as man and wife until after my son is born. Nothing can endanger you while you carry the child. This child will descend from Usi the Sorcerer on both sides of his lineage. He will be a special child, Nyura.”
“Why must you seed me so quickly,” Nyura pouted. “I have waited sixteen years to taste pleasures. I want more of them!”
“The time is circumscribed in the Book of Rule for your seeding,” he replied.
“Couldn’t we do it next month, or next year?” she pleaded.
“Nay, it must be within the next ten days, Nyura,” Kolgrim told her. “And on the night I seed you, you will give me the gift of Ulla to add to my own powers.”
“Nay,” Nyura said. “There is no set time for me to pass my powers to you, my lord. I will give them to you when the child is born, but not before.”
“You would defy me, Nyura?”
“Nay, my lord, never,” she swore. “But the shade of Ulla visited me before our wedding and advised me to wait,” Nyura lied smoothly to him. “As you must obey your Book of Rule, so must I obey the shade of Ulla. If I do not, my gift will be rendered worthless to you. Neither of us wants that, my lord, do we?”
Kolgrim laughed. “I think you lie to me,” he said, “but you know I dare not take the chance that what you say is truth. You play a clever game, Nyura. Now tell me, do you like your chamber? It was once inhabited by my dear mother.”
Nyura looked about. The chamber was spacious. There was a great hearth opposite the large bed that was covered in luxurious furs. On the far side of the room was an open colonnade, but as it was night she could make out nothing beyond it. The furnishings were few, and rough. The bed, a sideboard, a table, two chairs. “I am surprised that your mother could live in such a rough chamber,” Nyura told him. “I cannot be comfortable here until I furnish this place to suit my needs, my lord.”
“Which you are free to do,” Kolgrim told her.
“I must have my furnishings from Hetar,” Nyura insisted. “I will never be happy without my own things about me, my lord.”
“In a day or two I will escort you myself to The City. You may choose whatever pleases you.” He remembered she had said at their first meeting she could be happy in the Dark Lands. Kolgrim almost laughed with the memory.
“But it will take months for it to be brought here,” Nyura said petulantly.
“Ah, I forgot that you were brought up to deny magic, my beauty. My magic will bring you whatever you desire in the same day, Nyura. Will you be happy then?”
“Oh yes!” She giggled. “Having a husband who is magic will be quite convenient. I shall be the envy of my cousins Divsha and Yamka.” She snuggled against him. “You are so good to me, my lord. May we take pleasures again tonight?”
“We shall spend the next several days taking pleasures, Nyura. I want to make up to you the missed opportunities you suffered while you waited for me. And there is much you have to learn. Losing your virginity was pleasurable, but traumatic, too. Now I will show you all the delights you can enjoy with me. Your cousins have had other lovers. But I am the only lover you will ever have, Nyura. You understand that, don’t you?” His hand wrapped itself tightly into her long golden-red hair, forcing her head back so he might look into her beautiful face.
“Why would I want another lover?” she asked him innocently.
“Each man is different in his ability to make love, my beauty. I, however, am an expert in the arts of passion. You will never be unhappy with me, so when your cousins visit you and brag on their lovers I do not want you to be jealous,” Kolgrim said.
“Neither of them will take lovers again until they have given their husbands children,” Nyura said. “As we are assets to our husbands, so are they assets to us.”
“How practical,” Kolgrim replied drily. Then he bent to kiss her ripe mouth, his other hand moving down her body so he might push two fingers into her sheath. She started, but the Twilight Lord held her tightly by her hair while his fingers mimicked what his cock would soon do. She released her juices to him quickly, and his kiss deepened with his approval. Like all Hetarian women she was a lustful creature, and he would mold her lust to suit his own. He broke off the kiss and pushed her to her knees. “Open your eyes, Nyura, and view my manhood. I have what no other male, even the great Shadow Prince Kaliq, has. Twilight Lords possess two rods. The dominant, which is now before your eyes, and the lesser, which is released upon my command.”
Nyura stared at the long peg of flesh hanging before her. “It was bigger earlier,” she noted to him. “Does it expand and contract?”
He chuckled. “It does indeed.”
“What does the other rod look like, and why would you need two?” she asked.
“The other rod is so I may possess both of your lower entries at the same time,” he told her. “As for what it looks like, you shall see for yourself very shortly. Now take the dominant rod into your mouth and suckle upon it,” he commanded her.
Fascinated, Nyura obeyed, listening as he instructed her. Both her cousins had told her that men enjoyed being sucked upon.
“Be careful with those little teeth of yours, my beauty. Use your tongue. Run it about and beneat
h the head. Ahh, that’s it.” He was astounded by her natural skill. He knew she would have never involved herself in any, even the most innocent, sexual activity while keeping her virginity. Nyura was no fool, and knew the dangers of such play. He came close to groaning as she began to suck him deeper into her mouth and throat. She never hesitated, and Kolgrim closed his eyes, briefly allowing himself a moment of pure unadulterated enjoyment. But then as his dominant rod lengthened and grew hard, he felt the lesser of his rods stirring. “Cease, and sit back upon your haunches, my beautiful Nyura, and observe what happens.”
She obeyed instantly. His dominant rod thrust straight out almost touching her face. It bobbed just slightly as from beneath it his lesser rod began to emerge. Much longer than the dominant, and slender, it was hard to the touch of her fingers, which could not refrain from touching it. Its tip was pointed and shaped like an arrowhead.
Nyura shivered looking at it. She could almost feel the lesser rod piercing her fundament. A small stream of her juices ran down her thighs. “I never imagined such a thing as two rods,” she said slowly.
“I would have you taste it tonight,” he said to her. “It should not return beneath the dominant unsatisfied, my beauty.
“How can we accomplish it?” Nyura asked, genuinely interested. The thought of having herself filled with two rods was beyond exciting.
“Come to the bed with me,” he said, drawing her up from her knees. “It requires a special method to accomplish what you desire.”
They climbed onto the bed of soft furs together. While she thought it a bit barbaric and savage, there was something about the touch of the furs on her naked body that Nyura decided was quite exciting. She lay stretched out upon her back waiting for him to begin. The lesser rod was now iridescent with a silvery sheen. Its arrowhead glowed brightly. It was the most living thing she had ever seen.
Kolgrim clapped his hands once. Two thin silver chains with manacles at their ends dropped down. The restraints were lined in silk and lamb’s wool. “This will help you to attain the proper position,” he explained as he fastened the manacles to her ankles.
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