the lie she spoke unless she asks, Mother. You know that you would not forgive it. What if Marzina had attempted to seduce Thanos, and then told you it was the other way around.”
“Seduce Thanos?” Ilona’s tinkling laugher bubbled up. “I would never believe such a thing, Lara.”
“Nor did I believe that Kaliq had attempted to seduce Marzina,” Lara countered. “Would not the lie have angered you, Mother?”
Ilona’s laughter died away, and she said, “Aye, it would. To disparage Thanos, who has been so good to Marzina, would be quite dreadful, Lara, even as her charge against Kaliq was quite wrong. I understand your anger, but you must forgive your daughter. If the darkness is once again on the move, Lara, then we do not want Marzina tempted into it. And given who her real father was, it could happen. We have done our best to make Marzina strong and good, but she still has a broad streak of recklessness that she needs to learn how to control.”
Suddenly Kaliq reached out his arm seemingly into the air. The fingers of his hand closed partly, and with a sharp pull he brought Marzina into their midst. “We have an eavesdropper, it would seem,” he said. His look was one of deep concern. “How long have you been listening, Marzina?”
Marzina’s pale face was drained of its little color. She looked to her grandmother. “What did you mean given who her real father is, Grandmother?” Her young voice was shaking, and her violet eyes were wide with her fear.
Lara reached out to grasp Kaliq’s arm. Her fingers dug hard into the muscle. Ilona made a small sound, not quite a whimper, not quite a moan. Her eyes desperately sought Lara’s.
“Magnus Hauk was my father, wasn’t he?” Marzina’s young voice was pained.
Lara drew a very deep breath then let it out with a sigh. Letting go of Kaliq’s arm, she reached for her youngest daughter, drawing Marzina into a gentle embrace. “Do you know how much I love you, impossible child?” she said, and she stroked the dark head. “Even when you do foolish things, and lie boldly to me, I still love you.”
Marzina looked up at her mother. The warm arms about her were comforting, and she felt safer than she had in decades. “Oh, Mama, I am sorry,” she said. “Kaliq did not approach me. I approached him, and when he rebuffed me I was angry. I did not mean to lie, but I have admired him my whole life.”
“I know,” Lara said softly. “You are forgiven your lapse, my darling.” She kissed the top of Marzina’s head.
“But what did grandmother mean, Mama? Magnus Hauk was my father, wasn’t he?” Marzina’s eyes questioned Lara anxiously.
There was no way she could escape telling Marzina the secret she had kept for so many years. “You and Taj were born from my womb on the same day,” Lara began. “You were believed to be fraternal twins. And Magnus Hauk believed that you were his child as was your brother. But you were not his child, Marzina. Newly pregnant with Taj, I was violated upon the Dream Plain by Kol, the Twilight Lord. You are his daughter,” Lara told her youngest child.
“No!” Marzina cried out, and she looked to both Ilona and Kaliq to tell her it was not so, but they did not speak.
“There is more,” Lara said, “and you must know it. Long ago as I summered in the New Outlands with the clan families, Kol, the Twilight Lord, kidnapped me and robbed me of my memories. He believed I was his chosen mate, and I believed I was his wife. He impregnated me with his son. Twilight Lords can only sire a single male heir although they can have many daughters. Kaliq helped restore my memories and told me that it was planned that I bear a son for Kol who would cause chaos within the Dark Lands. By means of my magic, now restored to me, I divided the child into two children. And indeed the birth of Kolgrim and Kolbein did cause eventual anarchy in the Dark Lands. I returned to my own life. The memories of the months in which I was gone were removed from us all to protect us. But Kol began invading my dreams, seeking to bring me back. Kaliq finally had to tell me what happened and restore the memories of my time in the Dark Lands so I might protect myself, because Kol was threatening to tell Magnus what had happened. I, however, told him first.”
“What did my fath—what did the Dominus say when you told him?” Marzina asked her mother. She looked so vulnerable, so broken at that moment.
“He was furious. His pride was crushed. He railed at me, at Kaliq. At one point your grandmother threatened to turn him to stone he angered her so greatly,” Lara said. “But then his anger and hurt cooled, for your father loved me.”
“Do not call him my father!” Marzina cried. “He was not my father! My father was some monster who forced his seed upon you!” And she began to weep bitterly.
Lara wrapped her arms about her youngest child and, holding her tightly, rocked her back and forth. “Magnus Hauk never knew the truth of your conception, my darling. He believed himself your father, and he was your father. The only father you ever had.”
“I am the Twilight Lord’s sister then,” Marzina said slowly, and suddenly she remembered a time long ago when she had first gone to live in the forest with her royal grandmother. She had learned how to transport herself by magic, and in her excitement had appeared in Lara’s privy chamber, surprising her. Marzina had found her mother in conversation with two young men, but Lara had quickly magicked them away with little explanation. “That first time I learned how to transport myself…” she began.
“Aye—” Lara nodded “—I remember.”
“I gained barely a glimpse of the two men with you. Their faces were identical, but one was dark, the other light.” Marzina cudgeled her memory. “Which one of them became the Twilight Lord, Mother?”
“Kolgrim, the one with the golden hair,” Lara replied.
“What happened to the other, the dark one?” Marzina persisted.
“Kolgrim imprisoned him with their father in a cell fashioned by the Shadow Princes,” Lara explained. “Neither of them will ever be free.”
Marzina felt cold. Tears still ran down her face, staining it, but she paid little heed to her tears. In these past few minutes her entire world had been turned upside down. “Then that is why I am all magic when neither Anoush, Zagiri or Taj had any magic at all about them,” Marzina said thoughtfully.
“That is why,” Lara told her, stroking the long black hair.
“Both light and dark inhabit my soul,” Marzina remarked. “And the balance must be kept. Is that not so, Mother?” She looked into Lara’s face.
“It is to be hoped, Marzina, that the light will overwhelm any dark within you, for in the battle to come we will need your help, too,” Lara said.
Marzina was silent, and then she finally spoke. “Now I understand why I do the reckless things I sometimes do.”
“No one is perfect,” Lara answered her. “Even in the magic world. There is always a balance.”
“How can you love me?” Marzina asked brokenly. “He forced himself upon you.”
“It is true that you were not conceived from love,” Lara told her youngest daughter candidly, “but from the moment I laid eyes upon you I loved you, Marzina. And Magnus loved you. Your whole life you have been surrounded by love, and it is love that makes you strong, and will keep you strong.”
“But if fath—if the Dominus had known the truth, Mother, would he have loved me? If he knew my sire was evil personified, could he have loved me?”
“Yes!” Lara spoke without hesitation. “He would have loved you no matter. That I know for certain. Your father’s heart was a large one for a mortal, Marzina.”
Suddenly the Queen of the Forest Faeries spoke. “Well, Marzina, now you know the consequences of eavesdropping. I hope you have learned your lesson. When I think how we have all struggled to protect you over the years, and are you any better for the knowledge you have gained this day?”
“I