“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 am sadder, Grandmother, but I am wiser,” Marzina answered. “Now I will work harder to overcome my sire’s heritage.”
Lara hugged the young faerie woman. “There is far more of the light in you than there is dark,” she said. “But one thing, Marzina. Kolgrim does not know the truth of your heritage. If he learns it, he will attempt to turn you to him. He is very charming and very persuasive. But he is far more wicked than his father ever was. Be warned.”
“I hope she will listen to you now as she never listened to me,” Ilona said irritably.
Lara shot her mother a fierce look, and seeing it, the Queen of the Forest Faeries laughed aloud. “It is not funny, Mother,” Lara said.
“Oh, but it is, my darling,” Ilona said. “You have at long last perfected my look of disapproval and righteous indignation. You did it quite well, Lara.”
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