The Twilight Lord (19 page)

Finally it was Anka’s turn. She was sobbing with her fear and howling even before the Punishment Master raised his whip to strike. The man, who was masked, grinned with obvious delight at her terror. Ten blows fell on the screaming woman’s back and then she was turned about to receive ten more blows on her breasts and belly.

The Punishment Master managed to skillfully nip her nipples several times with just the tip of his whip. It was enough to sting her, but not to break the skin. When he had finished both women were ordered upon their hands and knees and Kol took his pleasure of them. Then Anka was given to the Punishment Master for an hour of pleasures. The man thanked his lord and lady for their generosity, licking his lips as he gazed on Anka.

Lara had been revolted by the whole thing, but she knew she had further impressed Kol with what he believed was her burgeoning darkness. And his decision not to see her until after she gave birth was a great relief to her. He escorted her back to her apartments where the new wet nurse was awaiting them. Lara looked the woman over. She was a big-boned creature with two enormous breasts that reminded Lara of cows’ udders. She stood, eyes lowered before the Twilight Lord and his mate.

“You have weaned your child?” Lara demanded of her.

“Aye, mistress, as I was ordered to do,” the woman replied.

“My son will not be born for another few weeks,” Lara told the wet nurse. “I do not want your milk drying up. The solution for that is to have you suckled by your master at least twice daily. Do you understand me? You are being given a great honor.”

“Aye, mistress,” came the response.

“You have a name?” Lara asked.

“Ema, mistress.” The woman never lifted her head.

“I have had a room fitted out for you, Ema. It is next to my bedchamber. Take your master there now and suckle him so that your milk remains sweet and fresh for our son.” Lara turned to Kol. “Go with her now, my dearest lord. I will keep to my chamber when you come and we will not see one another until the child is born.” She stood on her toes and kissed his lips sweetly. “Farewell until then, my lord Kol.” Then turning Lara entered her own bedchamber and closed the door behind her, sighing with relief. As long as she didn’t have to interact with Kol, or see him, she could hold the darkness in her to a minimum.
Oh, Great Creator,
she prayed silently,
forgive me all the terrible wickedness I have done these past days. Forgive, too, the wickedness I will do in the coming days that Kol not know I have been restored to myself. Help me to return safely to my beloved Magnus. Never let him
learn of this terrible interlude in my life! Let Kaliq keep his promise to me so that I forget this time in the Dark Lands.

Had the children missed her? Well, Dillon would have. Anoush had probably come to hate her again and Zagiri would not even know who she was.
I don’t care what I have to do,
Lara thought,
I am never leaving my children again!
It was past time she gave Magnus his son. A little boy with his father’s deep golden hair and turquoise-blue eyes. She winced suddenly as the life within her protested her thoughts. One child squirming within her womb was bad enough but two was awful. They would be pale-skinned and dark-haired as their father was, she knew.

Ema came to tell her when the Twilight Lord had left. She looked drained and tired and Lara felt sorry for her. She told the woman to rest. Macia was whimpering with the stripes upon her back. Lara took pity on her and devised a spell that took most of the pain away, leaving just enough to remind Macia of her sins. Anka returned bruised and battered. Lara later heard her whispering to Macia that the Punishment Master was the finest lover she had ever known and that she would be visiting him again when she could find the time. Lara let Anka live with her pain, which did not seem so great, leading her to suspect the Punishment Master had put some soothing ointment on the woman himself. As for Alvar, he would not wield his love rod for several weeks.

Macia did not complain, instead she served her mistress with devotion. When Lara asked her why this sudden change in her attitude, Macia said, “Because I can now see you are more than just a woman upon whom our lord’s son will be gotten. You are his equal in every way, mistress. You know how to punish. I am proud to serve you. And forgive me if I have spoken out of turn.”

Lara slapped the woman’s cheek hard and smiled. “You think too much, Macia. Remember, you come from the lower orders. But I do forgive you for your boldness. You are almost a perfect servant. Some day soon you will help me to correct Anka’s continuing impertinent behavior.”

“Whatever you require, mistress, I will do it,” Macia said, rubbing her cheek and returning the smile Lara had given her. She was thrilled her mistress obviously cared enough about her to personally punish her. The slap was a badge of honor for Macia.

And then, on a black night when not a star shone upon the Dark Land, Lara went into labor. The Twilight Lord was notified but he would not come until the child was born. It was tradition. Another tradition they would observe was her healing. After their son was born she would be given special herbs and ointments that would be rubbed on her sexual organs. In exactly one week from her delivery Lara would be completely healed and Kol would pierce her with his love rod. They would take pleasures publicly before his chancellor, his underlords and other invited guests to show them that both he and his mate were fit again and that the child who had come from their loins was a strong infant who would one day lead his people. Kol concentrated upon that ceremony as he waited for word of a successful birth.

Lara’s labor was the worst she had ever had. She knew, thanks to Kaliq, that it would not be long. But Great Creator! It was hard and painful. Only Macia and Anka were there to attend her. She hadn’t wanted anyone else. Knowing it was not her first child, Kol allowed her to have her way but a midwife waited outside of Lara’s apartments in case she was needed.

The woman winced, hearing Lara’s shrieks of pain. Finally she could bear no more and entered unbidden, pushing the frazzled Macia and Anka aside. Looking down she swore, “Great Krell, help us!” seeing two thin little legs pushing from Lara’s body. The child was coming backwards and there was now no help for it. Without a word she reached up, inserted several fingers and helped the baby’s buttocks and torso to move down the birth passage. Lara screamed as the shoulders and head burst forth from her body, but then that the midwife cried out. “Great Krell, what is this?”

“What is the matter?” Lara gasped, then shrieked again and pushed as hard as she could. It had to be done quickly to keep the three women in a state of confusion. She could already hear the first child crying.

The midwife said nothing at first and just caught the second child as it shot forth from his mother’s body grasping the arm of the sibling who came before it. “There are two boys, great lady,” the midwife finally said. “Such a thing has never happened!”

“See to my sons! See to my sons!” Lara cried out to them.

The trio of amazed servants quickly did as they were bid, cleaning the evidence of the birth from the twins, swaddling them tightly. The two children were identical in every way. Tufts of ebony hair adorned each head. Dark blue eyes were now but barely visible. Milk-white skin revealed not the faintest hint of color. They were brought to their mother and shown to her.

Lara nodded. She was astounded that she felt nothing for these children. “Take them to their father,” she told Macia and Anka.

The two women obediently departed, each carrying a baby. The midwife then turned to caring for Lara who quickly passed the placenta. Then the woman began preparing Lara for the ceremony that would take place in exactly one week. Lara was silent under her ministrations for she was considering what Kol was going to say when he learned that he had not one son, but two.

Kol watched as his mate’s two serving women came into his privy chamber where he was seated with his chancellor, Alfrigg. They hurried to him and presented the bundles they carried. Kol stared in shock. “What is this?” he demanded, realizing even as he asked how stupid he sounded.

“Your mate has given you two sons, my lord,” Macia half whispered.

“Which one came first?” the Twilight Lord demanded.

The two women looked at him startled and shook their heads. “We do not know, my lord,” Macia said.

“How can I distinguish between them?” Kol wondered aloud.

Alfrigg came to his side and the serving women bent to show him the babies. “They appear identical, my lord. Undress them,” Alfrigg snapped.

Macia and Anka complied with the request, and immediately the two babies began to scream and flail their limbs in protest. Ignoring them both Kol and his chancellor sought some sort of difference that would distinguish the children but neither man could find anything. The infants were indeed identical.

“Wrap them up again,” Kol said to the two servants.

“This presents a problem, my lord. Was there nothing of this in the Book of Rule?” Alfrigg asked.

“Nothing,” Kol replied. “It just said I would get my son on Lara.”

“Look in the book now, my lord,” Alfrigg suggested.

Kol reached for the book kept by his chair. Opening it he gazed down, and stared hard. The book’s pages were blank beyond the prophecy regarding Lara.

“There is nothing,” he said.

“You must kill one of these children, then,” Alfrigg said.

“I cannot and you know I cannot,” Kol exclaimed. “It is against our law. This event is confusing enough. Nothing like it has ever occurred before. What if I kill the wrong son? Nay. They must be allowed to grow up and only then will I be able to tell which is the true heir, Alfrigg.”

The chancellor shook his head. “I fear for the days ahead,” he said. Then he turned to the Twilight Lord. “What will you call them, my lord?”

“Kolbein and Kolgrim,” the Twilight Lord said. Then he took a dagger from his belt and made a small cut on one infant’s cheek. The wound bled fiercely but after a few drops had fallen Kol touched it with a single finger and a thin scar immediately covered the cut. The baby, who had screamed at the piercing of his skin, grew silent as his father’s finger healed him and removed the pain. “This is how we will tell Kolbein from his brother.” He then marked the other twin in the same manner on his opposite cheek with the same result. “Kolgrim is marked on the left cheek, and Kolbein on the right cheek,” he explained.

“Cleverly done, my lord,” Alfrigg said.

“Return the twins to their mother and tell her I will come to her shortly to tell her what I have done and why. Notify Ema that those hefty dugs of hers will nurse both my sons and put them to her breasts while I speak to their mother,” Kol ordered his wife’s serving women, who hurried from his presence with the infants.

“What you have done is impressive, my lord,” Alfrigg said. “With your permission I will notify all the lords of your prowess and the success it has led to with these births. The invitations will be sent immediately for the Completion Ceremony.” He bowed and withdrew from the chamber on his short legs.

Kol sat for several minutes taking in the fact that he had fathered two sons instead of the requisite one. It was obviously the will of Krell or it would not be. Rising from his chair he hurried from his privy chamber to congratulate his mate on their incredible achievement. It never occurred to him that anything might be amiss.

K
OL FOUND
L
ARA
exhausted with her labors when he entered her bedchamber. Bending he kissed her lips gently. “You are amazing, my precious,” he told her. “Have they shown you how I marked the twins yet?”

Lara nodded. “What are their names, my lord?”

“Kolbein and Kolgrim,” he told her. “Kolbein is marked on his right cheek, and Kolgrim on his left.”

“Oh, my lord, I am so sorry,” Lara said feigning a sob. “Why has this happened? Why did my womb birth two sons instead of the required single child?”

“I do not know,” Kol admitted to her, “but it can only be Krell’s will, my precious. Do not fret yourself. When our sons are grown men I shall set them to several tasks, and the one who succeeds in completing them all will be my heir. If they both succeed then they shall battle to the death for supremacy. Whichever of them lives will rule the Dark Lands after me.”

“Oh, how clever you are, my darling,” Lara told him.

“You must rest now,” he said to her. “I will not see you for seven more days. We will meet at the Completion Ceremony.”

“What is the Completion Ceremony?” Lara asked him.

“A celebration of our sons’ birth that you and I will perform for our high lords,” he answered. “You will enjoy it, I promise you, my precious.”

She drew his head down to her and kissed him again. “Then until that day, my lord,” she said smiling at him. “I am relieved not to have displeased you.”

“You could never displease me, Lara,” he said softly. Then he arose and left her. Outside in her dayroom he called Macia and Anka to him. “Your mistress, not being born a Darklander, does not know the particulars of the Completion Ceremony. You will not tell her anything. I want it to be a surprise for her. And if you behave yourselves, I will permit you both to take part in the Afterwards. You will choose any of the lords present for your lover that night.

“You understand that this is an honor. But if Lara is not amazed and delighted by her part in the Completion Ceremony I will have you both slain and fed to my dogs. Do I make myself clear? Macia? Anka? If my mate learns beforehand of her part, you will both die.”

“Yes, my lord!” the two women chorused.

“We will say naught,” Macia swore.

“Any of the lords?” Anka boldly asked.

“It will be your choice. You favor the Wolfyn, don’t you?” Kol chuckled. “You are a lustful creature, Anka.” Then he left them.

“The Wolfyn frighten me,” Macia said.

“Then whom do you favor?” Anka asked her.

“Perhaps a sturdy giant lord or mayhap two of the dwarf lords. Surely I may have two of them, as two equal one Darklander,” she said thoughtfully.

“How do you think the mistress will enjoy taking pleasures before the high lords?” Anka wondered. “She is a delicate creature. I suspect she will not like it at all, but if we do not tell her and obey our master, she will be well repaid for beating us, will she not, Macia?” And Anka laughed.

Macia laughed, too. She would not tell Lara what awaited her, either, but only because she feared the Twilight Lord more than she feared Lara. She did not doubt for a moment that he would kill them and she suspected it would be a nasty death.

Two nursemaids were found to watch over the twins. Several times a day they would bring their charges to Ema to nurse. Although Ema had unusually large breasts, the twins were voracious eaters and emptied each breast at each feeding. Lara realized that if Ema was to survive her nurslings she would have to set a firm schedule for the wet nurse’s comfort. She saw that the woman was fed six times a day so that she might keep her strength up. Ema was also to rest in between the feedings. Her only duty, Lara told her servants, was to feed the twins. She would be burdened with nothing else.

And each day of the first week of her sons’ life, Lara was bathed daily, her sexual organs treated with salves, and she was given herbal draughts to drink down several times a day. She was not unhappy to find herself completely healed so very quickly and feeling quite well by the sixth day. She began to consider when she would call out to Kaliq and make good her escape. But she sensed that she must wait until after the Completion Ceremony was celebrated lest she break any taboo that would render the twins’ birth irrelevant and permit Kol to seek another mate with whom to create another male heir.

And each morning the twins she had given Kol were brought to her. It was not difficult to be indifferent to them. They were oddly adult and a little frightening. Unlike most infants, who slept much of the first few months of their lives, Kolbein and Kolgrim were lively boys whose dark eyes were forever scanning everything in their view even in their first week of life. When they looked at her there was a certain knowing in their gaze that always surprised her. She did not like them. She and Kol had created them. She had carried them within her body and pushed them from it to give them life. But she did not like them.

The Completion Ceremony was to be celebrated on the seventh night after the twins’ birth. Lara was bathed and her hair dressed in several braids that were looped and curled about her head. Her gown was a deceptively simple violet silk robe sewn all over with tiny seeds of black onyx. On her feet were placed slippers of silk covered with thin sheets of beaten silver. A silver crown studded with amethysts and topped with a silver crescent moon was fitted over her head.

Macia and Anka had been given simple robes of dark purple silk and wore silver crescent moons in their hair. They had been designated to lead her into the ceremony. Both were trembling with their silent excitement at taking pleasures with the lords. Conceiving a child with one of those lords would give them the opportunity to be freed of their service and taken into the lord’s household as a concubine. It was a chance rarely offered to the lower orders.

“Where are we going?” Lara asked them as they ushered her from her apartments.

“We cannot tell you, mistress,” Macia said. “It is not permitted.”

Through the dim corridors they led her until finally before them a large silver door loomed. The double doors opened silently as they reached them and the three women entered a great domed chamber. Macia and Anka stepped back, allowing Lara to go forward to greet the Twilight Lord awaiting her in the room’s center. She had been told to take his hands in her hands, pressing them first to her forehead, next to her heart and finally to her lips as she knelt before him. She did. The Twilight Lord gave a cold smile of approval. Lara spoke the words she had been taught to say.

“I thank you, my lord Kol, for permitting me to nurture your powerful seed within my unworthy body and to safely bring forth from that body your sons. Praise to Krell!”

“Praise to Krell!”
The voices of many erupted, and glancing up Lara saw that a great balcony encircled the whole chamber. It was filled to capacity with the Twilight Lord’s subjects. This was the first time she had seen anyone else but for the castle’s servants. Her quick peek showed her giants and other creatures she could not identify and through the open balusters she spied the faces of many dwarfs.

Remembering her part Lara continued, “Before your subjects, my lord Kol, I now stand ready to prove my worthiness as the mother of your sons. Command me as you will! All praise be to Krell!” His hands drew her to her feet again.

“All praise be to Krell!”
the spectators shouted eagerly.

“Remove the garments I wear, my mate,” the Twilight Lord said and flung wide his arms to facilitate her efforts.

His words surprised her but Lara nonetheless unfastened his black robe, pushing it back to allow her two attendants to slide it down his sinewy arms. From this moment on she was not certain what would transpire. She knelt, slipped his silver slippers from his big feet. Then she stood again.

“Take her robe,” Kol commanded Macia and Anka.

Lara was not pleased to be rendered naked before a balcony full of bystanders, but it was obviously part of the ceremony and she could hardly protest. A sigh of obvious appreciation at her nudity arose and she felt her cheeks warming beneath the sound.

Then a deep voice called out loudly.
“Show us your strength, my lord Kol! Show us the strength of your mate. Complete the cycle!”

“Complete the cycle!”
came the shout.

Kol waved his hand and the floor beneath them rose to make a dais. A double couch with one open end and one rolled end appeared. Kol took Lara’s hand and led her to the couch. “Lay back upon it,” he said softly.

Lara realized that she had no choice. The twins’ legitimacy must not be questioned. She suspected now what was coming and was not pleased, but it had to be done. She positioned herself in the middle of the couch and lay back. Almost at once Macia and Anka came to stand on either side of their mistress, each taking one of Lara’s feet in their hands. At a flick of Kol’s eyelash they slowly raised Lara’s legs up, moving back until her limbs were practically over her shoulders and she was spread wide for all to view. Above her she could see the eager faces of the spectators waiting. Lara now understood that as the creation of Kolbein and Kolgrim had come about because she and Kol took pleasures with each other, their first week of life would end with their parents taking pleasures together for the first time since that moment. The Completion.

Kol knelt between Lara’s outstretched legs and leaning forward began to lick at her sweet flesh with his forked tongue. She knew her response to him this night must be one that brought him more respect than he had ever had of his subjects. Closing her eyes Lara released all thought of dismay and displeasure at her current situation, and sighed audibly. The flickering tongue poked and prodded at her, touching her lust orb, making it tingle with excitement. She moaned with appreciation, a little cry escaping her as the tongue slipped into her love sheath to tease her more. Slowly, for Lara understood that this was a moment that must be savored by the spectators, she let her juices begin to pearl and then she screamed as his teeth nibbled upon her aching lust orb, causing it to burst forth with a sweetness that sent a shudder through her body. The spectators cheered this event, and cried out,
“All praise to Krell!”

Kol stood up and posed before the balcony. His great dominant rod sprang forth to enthusiastic clapping and more cries of
“All praise to Krell!”
He strutted about the dais, allowing them all a long look at his mighty rod. Lara held out her arms to him as if pleading. The look in his eyes told her that her act pleased him. And then cheers and more clapping as the thin and pointed lesser rod appeared, glistening with its silver sheen. The females accompanying the lords screamed with excitement and once again the cry,
“All praise to Krell!”
was shouted enthusiastically.

Kol preened once more before his subjects and then turning his attention to his mate he slipped onto the couch and began to slowly impale her on both of his great rods. Open-mouthed, the spectators in the balcony watched as Kol’s enormous dominant rod slid into Lara’s waiting sheath even as the pointed tip of his lesser rod pierced her rose hole. Then, both rods fully sheathed, his dominant rod began to pump her with slow, majestic movements while the lesser rod remained throbbing within her narrower passage and the spectators leaned forward to gaze upon the strength and magnificence of the Twilight Lord and his beautiful faerie mate. Macia and Anka struggled to maintain their place. Both women were near to swooning with their own lust as they watched their master and mistress perform before their subjects.

Kol’s movements began to quicken and then his dominant rod was flashing fiercely in and out of the hot, tight love sheath that had been so perfectly prepared over the last week to receive him once again. He bent forward and suckled and bit her breasts. Lara screamed with delight and her nails clawed at his back, going deep, drawing blood. The crowd roared its approval. Their lord’s mate was no weak female to be easily overcome by her master. When he finally triumphed over her it would only be after a great battle had been fought between them.

For over an hour the two lovers writhed upon the couch as above them their subjects watched with favor as Kol’s strength and that of his mate was more than proven to them. And then Lara reached around her lover and two of her fingers found their way between his buttocks to caress his hidden flesh. Kol howled with surprise and delight. His two rods, but a small wall of flesh separating them, sought together for that tiny spot that when touched would send Lara into a paroxym of joy. He found it. The two rods caressed it from either side and her pleasure began to peak. Lara shrieked with her satisfaction as the tremors began to race over her. Her head spun. Stars exploded behind her closed eyelids into a myriad of dazzling colors while around her the roar of the crowd grew louder and louder. And then blackness. Silence.

Kol arose from the unconscious body of his mate. “All praise be to Krell!” he shouted and they shouted it back at him.
“Am I strong enough to rule you?”
he demanded of them.
“Does my mate meet with your approval?”

“Yes!” the spectators roared with one voice. “All hail to our lord Kol! All praise be to Krell!”

“Lower her legs,” Kol ordered the two women. “You are free to choose whom you will from among my lords.” The Lustlings appeared and began to cleanse the tired sexual organs of the Twilight Lord and his mate. When they had finished he picked up his robe, wrapped himself in it and then lifted Lara from the couch that they had shared. Leaving the rotunda the Twilight Lord carried his mate back to her bedchamber and lay her upon the bed. The rest of the night would be spent in a carnal celebration by his lords and the women who accompanied them. He would eventually join them in the banquet hall, but not quite yet. He lay down next to Lara and gathered her into his arms.

It was almost a full hour before she began to stir. As she came once more to her senses Lara smelled his fragrance and opening her eyes saw he was cradling her. “Did we please the lords?” she asked him softly.