Nidhug nodded, but then she said, “For all its lands with their differences it is still considered the world of Hetar, and the boy’s grandsire was Hetarian.”

“With faerie blood in his veins, as well,” Kaliq responded. “Trust me, Nidhug. Dillon is meant to be Belmair’s new king and Cinnia’s husband.”

“Show him to me,” the dragon said quietly.

The prince held out his palm, and blew into it until a large iridescent bubble had formed itself into a perfect sphere. Then he gently waved his hand over it.

The dragon peered into it and saw a handsome young man with dark hair and blue eyes. He sat on a bench in earnest conversation with a lovely young girl while three young children played about them. “Who are the others?” Nidhug asked.

“The girl he speaks with is his sister, Anoush, daughter of Vartan. The other three are Magnus Hauk’s offspring. The older girl is Zagiri, and the twins are Taj and Marzina.”

“The twins are quite dissimilar,” the dragon noted.

“Yes,” the prince replied. “Kol, the Twilight Lord, caught Lara on the Dream Plain, and implanted his seed within her. As her husband had just gotten her with child that seed quickly took root, and the children were born together, and assumed to be twins.”

“I thought Kol was imprisoned,” the dragon said.

“He is now,” Kaliq told her. “And he has been forbidden from the Dream Plain for what he did there.”

The dragon nodded. “This is an interesting family whose blood you would mix into Belmair,” she said drily. She peered more closely. The young man was fair of face and sturdy of form. Was he strong enough, however, to rule both Belmair and its sorceress? “Can he wield the power of a Belmairan king firmly? He looks to be a gentle man. But he cannot be! You are asking me to introduce a stranger into Belmair as its new king. The ducal families will not be pleased by a decision such as this.”