Бертрис Смолл – Crown of Destiny (страница 15)

Ilona laughed, too, but then she said, “Your mother has finally left Terah, and no sooner had she departed than the Dominus, her great-grandson Cadarn, began dismantling the southwest tower of the castle where she lived. I suppose he thinks if he destroys her home she cannot come back. But he will never get that tower down for each night after his workmen have left it I use my magic to rebuild the tower.” Ilona chuckled. “The Terahns are beginning to be frightened, and Cadarn is quite frustrated. He even attempted to blow up the tower. Eventually he will simply give up. He may put Lara from his thoughts, but he will not destroy the evidence of her existence in Terah.”

“I suppose Mother has gone to Shunnar,” Marzina said casually. “She always runs to Kaliq when she weakens.”

“Your mother has done great things for Hetar and Terah,” Ilona said quietly. “Do not be angry at Lara because Kaliq loves her. He did from the moment he first laid eyes on her, Marzina. Your mother and Kaliq are life mates. They always were, but your mother had a path to follow, and she did.”

“Mother has never been kind to me since Kaliq tried to seduce me. She blamed me, Grandmother,” the young faerie said. Though she had lived over a hundred years, she looked no older than a girl of sixteen.

“Marzina, Marzina,” Ilona chided her. “Kaliq did not try to seduce you. You made a very blatant attempt to seduce him. An attempt to which he did not succumb, I might add. And when your mother learned of it she was rightly and justly angry. It was a very naughty thing to do.” But Ilona could not hide her smile. Still it disturbed her that Marzina could twist the truth to suit herself.

“You and Kaliq were lovers once,” Marzina said.

“Whoever told you such a thing?” Ilona demanded.

“No one told me, Grandmother. But I know it to be true. Kaliq has lived for centuries, and so have you. And you and mother look alike. He could not have you for you were born to succeed Queen Maeve. So he had mother instead,” Marzina said.

“My dear child,” Ilona said, “I do not know how you wove such a tale, but unweave it, for it is not so. Kaliq and I have always been friends, but never have we been lovers. Oh, I will not deny I have always thought him an attractive creature. But as you have so rightly pointed out, Marzina, I was born to take my mother’s throne. Kaliq was born to be Lara’s life mate. Her destiny is entwined with his, and it was always meant to be. Your mother loves Kaliq as she has never loved another.”

“Even my father?” Marzina demanded.

“She loved Magnus Hauk for the mortal he was even as she loved Vartan, lord of the Fiacre, in the same way. But Kaliq is magic as your mother is magic. Their passion is magic, and far different from any passion magic could feel for a mortal.”

“I have never been in love,” Marzina said.

“I know,” her grandmother replied.

“But why?” Marzina wanted to know.

Ilona laughed softly. “You have not yet met the right one for you,” she responded. “Oh, you have enjoyed pleasures with both mortal and faerie, but none was the one. When he comes into your life, Marzina, you will know it, I promise.”

“Was your husband, Thanos, the one?” Marzina inquired boldly.

“Thanos? Gracious no, child. Thanos was the mate I needed to sire my heir. We have little else in common although I will admit he is a fine gentleman faerie, and he gives me no difficulty, nor does he cause scandal.”

“Who was the one for you, Grandmother?” Marzina persisted.

“I am not certain there was ever a special one for me, child,” Ilona said slowly, “but if I had to choose it would be John Swiftsword, who sired your mother on me. He was such a beautiful and exciting boy. And he loved me unconditionally, but his fate lay in Hetar, and mine lay in the Forest Kingdom.”

“What if I never find the one for me, Grandmother?” Marzina asked her.

Ilona shrugged. “It does not matter if you do or not, child. A companion to take pleasures with is very nice. Love, however, complicates things, Marzina. Each of you must be totally unselfish, must be willing to sacrifice yourself for the other. I don’t think I could have ever done it. I am selfish, and make no apologies for it. And I need no male of any species to succeed in life. No female should. Your mother and Kaliq are unique creatures. The love they share will do great things, Marzina. Do not be jealous of it. And better to be happily free than to be unhappily bound in a relationship you don’t want or need, my child. You must continue to be an independent creature. Males are for pleasures, or if you want a child. There is no other need for them.”

“I don’t think I want children,” Marzina said. “You have to invest too much of yourself in your offspring. Like you, Grandmother, I am selfish.”

Ilona reached out and stroked her granddaughter’s silken head. “You are faerie, my darling child. Pure faerie.”

Aye, she was pure faerie, but she shouldn’t be, Marzina thought. Not with a mortal for a father. But perhaps, as neither her twin brother, Taj, nor her sisters Anoush and Zagiri had magic, it was Marzina alone who had inherited their faerie mother’s magic. They were long gone, of course. Sometimes it was as if they had never existed at all, Marzina considered, feeling a prick of sadness. Of course her big brother, Dillon, the king of Belmair, was all magic having had Kaliq for a father. And he lived.

Kaliq. How she had lusted after him, and if the truth be known, she still did. In her vivid imagination none of her lovers, mortal or faerie, could equal Kaliq. But he had made it very clear he wanted nothing from her, not even a single evening of pleasures. How it had wounded her pride to have him refuse her. He had done it gently at her first approach, but she had persisted, Marzina recalled, flushing angrily at the painful memory, until finally taking her by the hand he had brought her to a group of his brothers, saying, “This bitch is in heat. Cool her unseemly ardor.”

What had followed had been a night such as Marzina had never known before or since. The Shadow Princes came by their reputation as magnificent lovers honestly. She experienced pleasures heretofore unknown to her, and her lust had been eased. But having tasted such passions Marzina had never stopped wondering about what pleasures with Kaliq would have been like. She never knew who told her mother of her attempted seduction of Prince Kaliq, but Lara had sought her daughter in the forests of Hetar and excoriated her cruelly for her behavior.

“It is bad enough you would betray me, my daughter, but to embarrass Kaliq, who had been so good to you is unforgivable!”

“’Twas he who approached me,” Marzina lied. She was frightened by the way her mother was looking at her.

Liar! Do you think I do not know Kaliq, Marzina, that I would believe that ridiculous falsehood? Did you learn nothing from me? From your father? Magnus Hauk was the most honorable of mortals. When did I ever behave so disgracefully? You ought be ashamed of yourself, my daughter. Lara’s words spoken in the silent language of magic were far more stinging than if she had voiced them aloud.

But something in Marzina would not let her apologize to her mother. Instead she glared haughtily at Lara and said, “You may think what you will, Mother. I know the truth of what happened.” Why could she not admit her fault and ask her mother’s forgiveness, Marzina wondered to herself. But she could not.

She could still see the look of anger and disdain in Kaliq’s bright blue eyes when he turned her over to those half-dozen Shadow Princes. Not that she hadn’t enjoyed herself with them, but it would have been better if he had beaten her and banned her from Shunnar. As it was, she hadn’t been back since. And she envied Lara Kaliq’s love and devotion. What they had together went beyond mere magic.

“How long has it been since you have seen your mother?” Ilona said, breaking into the girl’s thoughts.

Marzina shrugged. “A few years, Grandmother. Taj’s Farewell Ceremony. I could hardly believe that old man on the bier was my twin brother. Still he remained a handsome man like our father.”

“Go and see your mother, child,” Ilona told her granddaughter. “That pride of yours will be your downfall. Tell her you are sorry. Lara’s heart is generous, and she will forgive you, Marzina. She loves you.”

“Kaliq will never trust me again, I fear,” Marzina said. “And I must admit to you, Grandmother, that I still find him attractive, and intriguing.”

“Have you accepted the fact that he will never be yours, child?” Ilona asked.

Marzina nodded, and there was no guile in her now. “I know he is Mother’s,” she admitted with a dramatic sigh of regret.

Ilona laughed. “It is always difficult losing your heart to someone who loves another. But you are young, and you will survive. Now go and see Lara.”

“I will think about it,” Marzina said. Then she disappeared before her grandmother’s faerie green eyes, leaving her mother-of-pearl comb behind upon the velvety deep green moss.

Ilona shook her silvery-gold hair impatiently. The breach had to be healed between her daughter and her granddaughter. Something was about to happen, to change. She sensed it. Her faerie subjects felt it. The forest felt it. She had met recently with her counterparts in the faerie world. King Annan of the Water Faeries; King Laszlo of the Mountain Faeries; and Gwener, Empress of the Meadow Faeries. They, too, anticipated something momentous coming. But no one could imagine what it was. “Humph!” Ilona said aloud and, snapping her fingers, appeared before her daughter and Kaliq, who were sitting in Shunnar’s main garden in the twilight.