[English] LORD OF THE FADING LANDS

Lord of the Fading Lands
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Her sleep had been tormented by more dreams. Not the familiar, violent dreams of blood and death or the dark, malevolent nightmares that had haunted her most of her life, but new, frightening dreams of fiery anger and pale purple eyes, of a soundless voice that called to her, demanding that she reply. She remembered tossing and turning, remembered trying to block out those eyes and that insistent voice. Not until close to dawn had she finally found peace.

Now, staring up at the bright blue morning sky, with the Great Sun glowing like a huge golden ball, she could almost pretend that the dreams were nothing more than her imagination running wild … that worry about the situation with Den was to blame ... that everything would be all right and life would return to its pleasant, comfortable routine.

She didn't believe it for a moment.

Twenty miles outside the city, two hundred Fey warriors and one Fey Lord traveled at a fast lope down the broad road that cut a swath through the Celierian landscape of lush fields dotted by small villages Farmers and villagers bordered the road in small groups, having come with their families as they always did to see the immortal Fey run past. This year, however, their attention was directed not at the road, but overhead, where Marissya v'En Solande rode the wind on the back of a massive black tairen—the infamous Rain Tairen Soul himself.

The Fey warriors had broken camp three bells before dawn and resumed their trek to Celieria at a fast clip. Marissya had run with them until Rain returned just as the Great Sun began to light the sky; then she continued the journey on tairen-back, allowing the warriors to resume their normal, easily sustainable run. They had traversed the next seventy miles in just under three bells. Everyone knew that something had disturbed Rain the night before and that he had gone in search of the source of the disturbance. But he had not spoken of it since his return, and not even Marissya could get him to talk.

When they neared the city, Rain landed, lowered Marissya to the ground, and shifted back into Fey form. He paced restlessly as Marissya and the Fey prepared themselves for their ceremonial entrance into the city.

Marissya shed her brown traveling leathers for a red gown that covered her from chin to toe and a stiff-brimmed hat draped with a thick red veil that covered her face. Her waist- length dark hair was braided and tucked out of sight. The garb would have been hot and stifling had her truemate, Dax, not woven a cool web of Air around her. Marissya was a shei'dalin, a powerful Fey healer and Truthspeaker, and none who were not Fey or kin were permitted to look upon her outside of council.

All around Marissya, two hundred Fey warriors donned gleaming black leathers and spent at least half a bell polishing and re-sheathing the scores of blades each warrior wore when he left the Fading Lands. Her mate, Dax, clad in the dark red leathers of a truemated Fey Lord, tended his own weapons with similar care. Though he was no longer of the warrior class—no Fey Lord was permitted to put his mate at risk by continuing to dance with knives—his blades would always stand between her and danger.

Marissya finished her physical preparations long before the men, and she went to join Rain. It had been many years since she'd seen him in such a state. He was restless, edgy, pacing back and forth with short, rapid steps. There was so much power in him, so scarcely contained that a shining aura surrounded him, flashing continuously with tiny sparks. His eyes glowed fever-bright. His nostrils quivered as if he were an animal scenting something in the air that set him on edge. If he'd been in tairen form, he would have been spouting flame. He was still in control of himself—she and all the Fey would have known if he were not—but he was in a high state of agitation, and that did not bode well for the long day ahead. She knew better than to touch him—one didn't touch raw power without receiving a shock. Instead, she reached out to him on their private mental path, the one they had forged centuries ago in friendship. «Rain, be calm.» She sent a soothing wave of reassurance along with the words, not surprised when he shrugged it off and continued pacing.

«She is there. For a moment last night I was in her mind; then I lost her again.» Frustration boiled through the link.

«Who, Rain? Who is there?”

He snapped around, eyes flashing. His long, elegant hands clenched and unclenched. His chest heaved. He was angry and frustrated, yes, but now Marissya realized it was more than that.

«She is.» he snapped. «She! The one!» And then, the one word she was sure to understand. The one word that explained everything. He shouted it out loud: "Shei'tani!”

There was a sudden clattering whoosh of sound followed by absolute silence as two hundred Fey warriors jerked around to stare at their king in stunned disbelief.

Marissya's breath left her in an astonished gasp. «But that cannot be.”

«It can be nothing else.”

The tumult of Rain's emotions blasted over their mental link, and Marissya stumbled back in shock, recognizing those feelings for exactly what they were. Her mind reached instinctively for Dax, her own truemate, sharing the shocking truth of Rain's emotions with him.

Their gazes met across the distance, and as one they turned to look at their king.

He was pacing restlessly once more. Every few moments his head turned towards Celieria and the power in him burned a little brighter. They both knew the instincts driving him, knew that because he was the Tairen Soul those instincts would be far more intense and far harder to control, fueled by Fey and tairen passions combined. If they weren't very careful, the coming days could end in disaster.* * *

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As she caught sight of the Feyreisen riding the wind in tairen form, Ellie acknowledged that just a glimpse of him was well worth the interminable wait and jostling crowds. Long before the Fey warriors drew near, Ellie and the twins saw Rain Tairen Soul soaring through the sky. He was all that legend claimed, and more—a gigantic, ferocious black feline with glowing purple eyes, frightening and beautiful at the same time. He winged like a raptor over the city, circling again and again, emitting warning bursts of fire when the thronging crowd moved too close to the approaching warriors. Even from a distance, she could see the glistening danger of his sharp, venom-filled fangs. His ears were laid back on his head, his claws extended.When the Fey warriors came into view, the sight of them was almost as awe-inspiring as that of the Tairen Soul. There were at least twice as many warriors as had ever come before. Row after impeccably formed row marched into view, and for the first time in Ellie's memory, magic surrounded them in a glowing aura of light.

A murmur of wonderment rose up from the crowd.

The Fey warriors presented a stunning display, clad in black leather from neck to toe and bristling with silvery swords and knives that gleamed in the sunlight. Every warrior clutched two long, curving blades called meicha, and what seemed like hundreds of razor-sharp throwing knives called Fey'cha were tucked into leather belts that crisscrossed their chests. As if that weren't enough, each warrior wore two massive seyani long swords strapped to his back.

It was said that one Fey warrior was as lethal as ten champions. Looking at their fierceness, their precision, and the tangible glow of magic enveloping them, Ellie believed it.

In the center of the formation, surrounded by an even brighter glow, walked an unarmed figure draped in voluminous folds of blood red. It was the shei'dalin, the Truthspeaker, Marissya v'En Solande, and the handsome, dangerous-looking man in red leather by her side was her truemate, the Fey Lord Daxian v'En Solande.

As the procession moved closer, the crowd surged forward, everyone straining for a better look. Rain Tairen Soul roared and spouted a warning flare of fire. With many screams and uplifted heads, the crowd wisely jumped back.

In the sudden shifting of massed bodies, Lillis lost her footing and fell to the ground. She howled in pain when Lorelle, trying to avoid being knocked over herself, trod on her hand.

Ellie was there in an instant, hauling Lillis to her feet and inspecting the injury. The child's little fingers were red, the skin slightly torn over one knuckle. "Oh, kitling. I'm so sorry. Would you like me to kiss it better?”

Lillis sniffled and nodded. "Yes, Ellie. You kiss the pain away better than anyone.”

Giving her a fond smile, Ellie raised the girl's injured finger to her mouth. "Gods bless and keep you, kitling," she murmured and kissed the little finger. A tiny electric current leapt from Ellie to her sister, making them both jump. Ellie laughed a little. "Sorry, Lilli-pet. I didn't mean to shock you.”

Rain Tairen Soul whooshed overhead, roaring, the sound like a clap of thunder in the air.

Ellie straightened in time to see the Fey warriors come to an abrupt halt, their curved meicha blades raised. The ones closest to the Truthspeaker drew their long swords with a hiss of metal leaving scabbard.

The shei'dalin turned her head from side to side as if scanning the crowd. Beside her, her mate had razor-edged swords in hand and was ablaze with power.

The crowd went silent. From her vantage point on the knoll, Ellie watched with bated breath and clutched the twins to her side. She didn't have any idea what was happening, but it was something unusual. Something important and frightening. The crowd around Ellie began shoving, everyone trying to get a better glimpse of what was going on.

"Lillis! Lorelle! Stay close to me!" She grabbed the twins and hugged them tight, afraid they were about to be pushed off the knoll into the trampling feet below Rain Tairen Soul roared again, clawing the air, now obviously agitated about something. Flame seared the air, followed by another roar of tairen fury. From the street, the shei'dalin raised her arms and shouted, "Rain! Nei!”

The crowd began to panic, and so did Ellie. Someone stumbled heavily into her back. She staggered and tried to keep her balance, but her leather shoes slipped on the grass. With a cry of alarm, Ellie toppled off the knoll. She fell forward, pushing the children to safety with one hand and reaching out with the other to break her fall. She landed hard and screamed in pain as a man's boot heel stamped on her fingers, crushing the slender bones with a snap.

Pain and terror swamped her senses. People rushed madly around her, and another boot ground into her broken hand. She shrieked again. Barely able to think, certain she was about to die, she curled her body into a tight ball and brought her broken hand up over her head.

She was dimly aware that people were screaming around her. She didn't see Rain Tairen Soul fold his wings and drop like a hurtling black meteor towards the ground. But something touched her senses, something made her realize that suddenly the sun was gone, and so were the people hurting her.

She glanced up and let loose another shrill cry of horror as the huge, terrifying, black-winged tairen swooped down upon her, metamorphosing at the last chime into Rainier vel'En Daris Feyreisen, the infamous Rain Tairen Soul, who lightly stepped from sky to ground, one black-booted foot at a time.

He towered over her huddled form. Death-black hair hung in long, straight strands that blew about his face in the windy remnants of the tairen's downdraft. His skin was pale and faintly luminescent, his face terrible in the perfection of its stunning masculine beauty, and his lavender eyes glowed with a brilliant, icy fire. With a wave of one hand, he threw up a towering cone of Air and Fire magic that surrounded the two of them in a whirling haze of white and red.

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Ellie cowered in fear, and instinctively held up her broken hand to ward him away. With a sobbing gasp, she rolled to her feet and staggered back.

"Stay away!" she ordered hoarsely. Her heart was racing, her breath coming in fast, shallow gasps, but she couldn't seem to get any air. Had he used his magic to steal the breath from her lungs? She knew the Fey could do that sort of thing.

"Ver reisa ku'chae. Kem surah, shei'tani." He spoke to her in a lyrical foreign tongue—Feyan, she realized, though she didn't understand the words—and stepped towards her.

"No!" she cried out. For all she knew, he'd just told her to prepare for her impending death. "Stay back! Don't come any closer!”

He paused for a moment, frowning. "Ve to dor. Ve ku'jian vallar." Then Rain Tairen Soul came towards her again, his steps slow and resolute. He reached for her, ignoring the way she sobbed and flinched away from him. His fingers, strong and surprisingly warm, curled around her forearms and trapped her with effortless strength. She had the overwhelming sensation of immense power, deep sorrow, and a terrible longing. But underlying all of those was another emotion—a violent swirl of rage. She cried out and struggled to free herself, succeeding only in grinding the bones of her hand together. Agony knifed up her arm.

A scream ripped from her throat. She fell to her knees. Unexpectedly, she found herself free. She blinked and risked a glance up at the Feyreisen.

His eyes were squeezed shut, his hands clenched in white- knuckled fists at his sides. He was shaking as if he were in pain. His eyes flashed open again. The ice was still in them, and confusion, and more than a hint of madness.

She watched him fearfully, her body poised to flee if he came towards her again. With a flick of his finger, he fashioned a door in the whirling cone of magic. His voice, deep, ancient, commanding, called out in Feyan.

A moment later, the Truthspeaker stepped through the doorway, followed closely by her mate. The Fey Lord Dax had sheathed his swords, and as he stepped inside the cone of magic the Feyreisen had erected, his own glow of power winked out. He followed a few feet behind his mate as she approached Ellie.

Though the shei'dalin's face was hidden behind folds of red, she radiated waves of compassion and reassurance. Despite everything—including her own mind whispering that this was a Fey trick—Ellie felt her terror begin to abate. She needed to trust this woman. The Truthspeaker would never cause her harm. There was no need to be afraid. She could be calm. All would be well.

The soothing compassion, the compulsion to release her fear, was impossible to resist. Dazed, lulled by the powerful hypnotic spell of a Fey shei'dalin, Ellie didn't protest when Marissya reached for her broken hand.

The Fey woman's long, pale fingers, slender and elegant, passed over Ellie's. Warmth sank through Ellie's skin and into the flesh and bone below. Her pain evaporated. A strange ticklish tingling spread across her hand, and she watched in astonishment as her bones straightened and knit. Within moments, her hand was whole and unhurt.

She flexed her fingers experimentally. There wasn't the faintest twinge of pain.

Ellie swallowed the lump in her throat and raised awestruck eyes to the Fey woman. "How did you do that?”

"Eva Telah, cor la v'ali, Feyreisa." The voice behind the veils sounded so peaceful, so soothing, so compassionate. Ellie wanted to sink into the comfort of that voice and absorb its tranquility. She fought off the lethargy with a brisk shake of her head.

"I don't understand you.”

The Truthspeaker's head jerked up. Though Ellie couldn’t see her eyes, she had a feeling the shei'dalin was staring at her in surprise. "You don't speak the Fey tongue?”

"Only a word or two." Ellie couldn't understand why that would be so unusual. Had she offended them somehow? "I'm sorry," she apologized. "I read it fairly well, but very few Celieria" still actually speak your language.”

"You are Celierian?”

Ellie blinked. "Of course.”

The Truthspeaker cast a glance over her shoulder. The Feyreisen was still staring at Ellie, and he was frowning. She began to inch away. Immediately, the shei'dalin turned back to her, lifting her heavy veil as she did so. Huge blue eyes, so full of compassion Ellie could drown in them, were smiling at her from a face so beautiful it would put a Lightmaiden to shame.

"Be at peace, little sister," the shei'dalin murmured, and her hand came out to rest on Ellie's. "Of all people, you need never fear Rainier." As the Fey woman spoke, Ellie felt a faint pressure in her head, so slight she might not have noticed it had she not already been on edge. Her eyes widened as she realized the Truthspeaker was probing her mind. It was said that a shei'dalin could strip a soul naked, leave even the strongest of men sobbing like infants. Truthspeakers could bend anyone to their will.

"No!" Ellie yanked her hand out of the Fey's grip and imagined a gate of brick and steel slamming shut around her mind, thrusting out the invading consciousness.

The shei'dalin gave a muffled cry and staggered back. The Tairen Soul's eyes flared bright, and a bubble of lavender light burst into glowing life around Ellie. A feral snarl rumbled from the Tairen Soul's chest, and he bared his teeth like a wild animal on the verge of attack. In a blur, he leapt between Ellie and the shei'dalin. In the same instant, the shei'dalin's mate also leapt forward.

"Get back!" The voice was in Ellie's head, sharp, commanding. Somehow she knew it had come from the Feyreisen. Scared out of her wits, Ellie pushed against the purple light enveloping her, trying to escape before the two Fey Lords decided to slaughter her where she stood.

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Instead, to her utter amazement, the Tairen Soul whirled on the shei'dalin and her mate. His hands rose, power arcing from his fingers in blinding flashes just as the other Fey Lord's power snapped into blazing light and he sent a bright bubble of energy surging forth to wrap around his mate. Like Rain's, Daxian v'En Solande's teeth were bared in naked menace, but that menace was directed solely at the Feyreisen.

The two men faced each other, faces drawn in fury, power bursting around them, scorching the air with the scent of ozone.

"Nei, Rain!" the Truthspeaker protested. Her voice wasn't calm now. It was afraid. "Nei, shei'tan!" Then in Celierian, "I didn't mean to frighten you. Please, forgive me! Calm yourself. Guard your feelings.”

It took a startled moment for Ellie to realize the Truthspeaker was addressing her. "Me?”

"Yes! Can you not see he is protecting you?" Even as she spoke to the girl, Marissya sent a silent plea to Rain. «I'm sorry, Rain. I didn't mean to frighten her. Please. She is unhurt. See for yourself. Be calm. You must be calm. It is you who frighten her now.» And to her truemate, whose thoughts and feelings she sensed as her own, «Dax, shei'tan, I am not hurt. She only surprised me. It is my fault. I should not have probed her. She felt it and was frightened. Rain responds to her fear, to protect her, as you protect me. Please, let go before someone gets hurt.”

Neither Rain nor Dax relaxed his grip on his power or his rage. It wasn't surprising. A Fey Lord reacted violently to even the smallest perceived threat to his mate.

«Please, Rain. She needs you strong for her, in control of yourself You must control the tairen in you. She was hurt, and you came. You protected her. She is safe.”

«She fears you.» Blazing, half-mad lavender eyes pinned her. will not permit it.»«I'm sorry. I—» The weave of Fire and Air appeared without warning. With incredible speed and dexterity, Rain had rewoven the protective cone of magic, shutting Marissya and Dax out, closing himself and the Celierian girl within.

It took Rain several chimes to beat back the tairen's fury, to shove it into a small corner of his mind and keep it there. Only then did he turn to face the woman whose emotions ripped at his sanity. Her fear—of him, he knew, despite his wanting to blame Marissya—tore at him in ways he'd never known. The web of Spirit he'd woven around her winked out as he released his power back to the elements. Still, she cowered from him. Rain would have torn out the heart of any other man who dared to frighten her this badly, yet he would not—could not—leave her.

"Come." His tone was imperious, yet the hand he held out trembled. "I could never harm you, shei'tani." His Celierian was rusty, deeply accented with Fey tones, and his attempt to appear nonthreatening was equally out of practice. The tairen in him still clawed at the edges of his control, all fiery passion, possessiveness, and primitive instinct. "I am called Rainier.”

"I know." Her eyes were huge in the too-thin oval of her face. Twin pools of verdant green, they stared at him as if he were a monster. "You scorched the world once. It's in all the history books.”

"That was a very long time ago." He tried *****mmon a smile, but the muscles in his face couldn't seem to remember how to form one. "I promise you are safe with me." His fingers beckoned her. "Come. Give me your hand.”

The exotic flares of her brows drew together in a suspicious frown. "Why? So you can try to invade my thoughts like the Truthspeaker?" Rain could see she was still afraid, very afraid, yet she was working hard to master her fear.

"I ... apologize for Marissya. She had no right.”

"Then why did she do it?"

"She was … curious about you." She had done it to find answers, of course. Answers to the questions of how a Celierian child-woman could wield the power he had felt, and more importantly, how she could possibly be Rain's shei'tani.

"Did she never think to just ask?" The asperity in her voice was unmistakable. The delicate, frightened shei'tani had steel in her spine after all.

"She will now. Believe me." The tairen in him was slowly subsiding. It had ceased pounding the door of its cage and was now pacing restlessly within, edgy but contained. For the moment. But it, like him, had a great need to touch this woman. Once more he held out his hand. "Come. Give me your hand. Please." The last was more a genuine plea than an afterthought. "I would give my life before allowing harm to come to you.”

Ellie stared at the outstretched hand in stunned silence. Was Rainier vel'En Daris, King of the Fey, truly standing before her, vowing to sacrifice his immortal life to protect her? Her, Ellie Baristani, the woodcarver's odd, unattractive, and embarrassingly unwed adoptive daughter? Surely she was dreaming.

But this all seemed so real. And he was so beautiful. Beautifully and fearfully wrought. Her dazed mind supplied the quote from Avian's classic epic poem, "Rainier's Song." Avian, she now knew, had barely got the half of it. She had dreamed of Rain Tairen Soul all her life, and here he was. She felt herself moving towards him, her hand reaching out. He had asked, and she had to touch him. If only to be sure he was real.

Her fingers trembled as they slid into his. She trembled as his hand closed about hers. Warmth, like the spring heat of the Great Sun, spread through her body, and a sense of peace unlike anything she'd ever felt came over her. She heard him inhale deeply, watched his eyes flutter closed. A nameless expression, an unsettling mix of joy and pain, crossed his face.

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He drew her closer, and she went without protest, dazed with wonder as his arms, so lean and strong, wrapped her in a close embrace. Her ear pressed against his chest. She felt the unyielding bristle of the countless sheathed knives strapped over his chest, heard the beat of his heart, and was oddly reassured. There was safety here as no other place on earth.

She felt him bow his head to rest his jaw on her hair, the touch feather light. Tears beaded in her lashes at the simple beauty of it.

"Ver reisa ku'chae. Kem surah, shei'tani." He whispered the words against her hair.

"You said that before," she murmured. "What does it mean?" It sounded familiar, like something she had heard or read somewhere. She felt the stillness in him, the hesitation, and she pulled back to look up into his eyes.

His gaze moved slowly over her face as if he were committing her likeness to memory for all time. "I don't even know your name.”

She blinked in surprise. Since the moment she had put her hand in his and he had pulled her into his arms, she felt as if he knew everything there was to know about her. It was surprising and disconcerting to realize that, in fact, they knew each other not at all. "Ellie," she told him solemnly. "My name is Ellysetta Baristani.”

"Ellie." Liquid Fey accents savored the syllables of her simple name, making it something beautiful and exotic. "Ellysetta." His pale, supple hand brushed the mass of her hair. His gaze followed the path of his fingers as they delved deep into the untamable coils. "Ellysetta with hair like tairen flame and eyes the green color of spring. I've seen the mist of your reflection in The Eye of Truth." His gaze returned to hers, filled with wonder and regret. "Ver reisa ku'chae. Kern surah, shei'tani. Your soul calls out. Mine answers, beloved.”

At last Ellie remembered why the Fey words seemed so familiar. She'd read them before in a slim volume of translated Fey poetry. It was the greeting a Fey man spoke to a woman when recognizing and claiming her as his truemate. The strange buzzing in her ears was all the warning Ellie received before her knees buckled.

Rain caught the girl as her legs gave way and held her tight to his chest, even as his own legs trembled beneath him. She was not the only one stunned by his claim.

Never in recorded history had a Tairen Soul claimed a truemate.

That was the price of the Tairen Soul, one he had accepted eleven hundred and eighty-seven years ago when his adolescent Soul Quest had shown him flame and fang. And on the day of his First Change, when all the tairen and Tairen Souls of the Fading Lands gathered in Fey'Bahren to guide him through his first transformation, he had trembled with fear and exaltation—but no regret—as his Fey form dissolved and re-formed as a massive, black-furred tairen who rode the winds on mighty wings. He had known then that he was destined for loneliness. Never to find a truemate, the one who was his other half. Never to bear a daughter of his loins. Never to know relief from the souls that darkened his own.

Sariel had joined her life with his, even knowing their souls would never follow where their hearts had led. Then she had died, and he had survived her death. Ah, gods, how he had railed against that. If Sariel had been his truemate, the mate of his soul rather than simply the mate of his heart, nothing could have chained him to life after her death. But he was a Tairen Soul, and Tairen Souls did not have truemates.

Until now.

Rain shook his head in disbelief. This girl in his arms was the first truemate to be claimed in a thousand years. The first truemate ever to be claimed by a Tairen Soul. Among the many wonders of the shei'tanitsa bonding, not the least of its benefits was the guarantee of fertility and the continuation of the strongest magics of the Fey.

There was no doubt in his mind that she was the reason the Eye had sent him to Celieria. Somehow, for some reason beyond his understanding, the gods had granted this slender Celierian girl—scarcely more than a child—the power to save the tairen and the Fey.

Somehow, though he did not want it, they had granted her the power to save him.

CHAPTER THREE

Ellie woke wrapped in warm strength, the music of a steady heartbeat sounding in her ear. His strength. His heartbeat. Rainier vel'En Daris Feyreisen. Rain Tairen Soul. The man who had claimed her as his truemate, the missing half of his soul.

"I'm all right," she murmured, pulling away to stare up into the watchful lavender gaze of the stranger who named her his beloved. "I just got a little dizzy for a moment." Something warm and hungry unfurled within her as their eyes met. She backed away from him, hoping he had not noticed. "Why did you … say what you did?”

"That you are my shei'tani?" he growled. "Because it is the truth. Because I must." A muscle flexed in his jaw. She was suddenly aware of a sense of driving need, of a hunger not warm like hers but hot and demanding; then the feelings faded as Rainier vel'En Daris turned his back to her and took several deep breaths. "We must go," he said abruptly. "Your countrymen grow restless and too bold by half. The girl children who were with you are worried.”

Her hands clapped over her cheeks. "Lillis! Lorelle!" How could she have forgotten about them? She spun around, only to find her wrist clasped in his hand.

"Stay close to me, Ellysetta Baristani. I can allow no harm to befall you." He gestured. The cone of magic surrounding them disappeared, revealing them both to the swarming crowds jamming the streets. The throngs were so thick, with more bodies pushing into the area by the second, that Celierians dared to crowd within five feet of the small, lethal army of Fey warriors. There was a dull roar of sound— thousands of bodies shifting restlessly, voices murmuring— but all fell silent when Ellysetta and Rainier appeared.

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"Wait here a moment, shei'tani." A bubble of multicolored magic enveloped her as Rain Tairen Soul walked several paces away to speak with the shei'dalin and her truemate.

"Ellie!" The high-pitched shrieks heralded the twins' arrival as they raced towards her. Their faces were splotched with tears, their dresses torn, their lovely curls disheveled. Two Fey warriors, looking much worse for wear than the girls, hurried close on their heels.

"Nei, little Fey'cha." One of the Fey, a tall young man with silvery blond hair, a swollen eye, and a set of four bleeding scratches down the side of his face, snatched up Lorelle just as she would have flung herself into Ellie's arms. Lorelle immediately convulsed into a howling, screaming fit, her little fingers curved into claws, which explained the battle wounds on the man's face. He subdued her, admonishing in a gentle, genuinely concerned voice, "Nei, nei. Do not touch the Feyreisa when the bright light surrounds her. It would do you much harm.”

Lillis stopped a few feet away, her lower lip trembling, tears pouring from her eyes. She looked so pitiful, so woefully in need of a hug that Ellie instinctively stepped towards her. When the warrior behind Lillis grabbed her up, Ellie froze in her tracks.

A lump rose in her throat. She turned towards the Feyreisen. "Please," she called out. She pushed at the light surrounding her, but it merely flowed around her hands. "Release me from this thing.”

The look he turned upon her was once again the cold, frightening Tairen Soul's gaze. With no expression on his face, he scanned the crowd for several long moments, then dissipated her shield without a word.

As soon as it was gone, she lurched forward to snatch Lillis and Lorelle into her arms, hugging them close as they wrapped their little bodies around her and cried into her neck. "Shh, kitlings. Shh. It's all right. I'm safe." She showered kisses upon their curly heads. "I'm so sorry you were frightened. Hush, now. Please don't cry.”

"What's going on, Ellie?" Lorelle asked once she had calmed down enough to speak. "Why did the tairen-man attack you, then put you in the fire cage?”

"It's all very confusing," Ellie told them. "And it must have looked very frightening." It certainly had scared the wits out of her. "But the Feyreisen didn't attack me. He knew I was hurt and came to my rescue.”

"Why wouldn't the Fey let us come to you?" Lillis asked. "We cried and cried, but they wouldn't let you out of the cage and they wouldn't let us in!" Lillis wasn't used to her tears being so ineffective. She glared at the brown-haired, blue-eyed Fey who had kept her from going to Ellie. He only grinned back at her and bowed.

"I know," Ellie soothed. "I'm sorry. But I'm here now and we're together again and safe.”

"I want to go home." Lorelle's brows drew together in a scowl.

"Me too, kitling." Ellie murmured. "Me too.”

A few feet away, Rain watched the reunion. Her love for the children was obvious, as was theirs for her. He had known love once, but it had died along with all his gentler feelings at the Battle of Eadmond's Field, where Sariel had breathed her last. That day had changed him forever, stripping him of kindness and compassion, leaving him with sorrow, anger, duty, and the stain of millions of lives darkening his soul. Had he not been the last Feyreisen, he would have been cast out by the Fey for the blood on his hands and the taint on his soul.

Yet now, in a fit of wicked humor, the gods had thrust Ellysetta Baristani in his path and decreed he must mate, binding the darkness of his ancient soul to the shining innocence of hers. He didn't want it. The responsibility for her safety and happiness was yet another burden, the reawakening of violent tairen-passions a potential danger to them all. But he was the Feyreisen, the last Tairen Soul, repository of all the ancient Fey magics and the only remaining Fey capable of entering the tairen's lair, Fey'Bahren. He had lost the freedom of choice with the death of all the other Tairen Souls. What remained was his duty to protect the Fey. To live when he would rather die. To mate when he would rather remain alone.

The tairen in him roared again. The Fey in him roared back. The tairen hungered for his mate, was furious at the delay, while Rain, the beloved of Sariel, didn't want to let another in his heart, as he must in order to fulfill the mate- bond.

«Rain, be calm,» Marissya warned.

«I am calm,» he snapped back, but he grabbed the unraveling threads of his emotions and pulled them tight. "Celieria unsettles me." There were too many memories here, of Sariel and happier days, of death and war. "My shei'tani is not safe here. She must return with me to the Fading Lands. The courtship will take place there.”

"You cannot just abduct her, no matter how much you worry about her safety. She has parents, a family. Do you think she will accept you if you take her from everything she knows?”

"I will permit her family to enter the Fading Lands. They can remain until the matebond is complete." That was fair. More than fair. No one but Fey had been allowed to enter the Fading Lands since the Mage Wars. "She will accept me."

"Don't be so sure you know a shei'tani's heart," Marissya warned him. "She may be young, but she would never be your truemate if she weren't very strong.”

"Marissya is right, Rain," Dax agreed. "She doesn't trust any of us. If you take her from her home, you may never win her. And where will that leave the Fey? We can't afford to risk losing you any more than you can afford to lose her.”

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Rain knew they were right. If Ellysetta Baristani didn't accept him, he would die. No gift from the gods ever came without a price, and that was the price Fey warriors paid for the truemate bond. He had recognized her as his mate. His soul, for good or ill, was already bound to hers. She, on the other hand, had yet to accept him, and he was ancient enough, powerful enough, that the debilitating effects of an unfulfilled matebond would begin to take their toll on him quickly. Madness first, then death, either at his own hands or the hands of his people.

"My Lord Feyreisen”

Ellysetta stood beside him, holding tight to the children with the lovely hair. He could feel her fear, and her determination not to be cowed by it. She didn't trust him, even though she felt the pull of his soul—or perhaps because of that—and she definitely didn't trust Marissya or Dax. The tairen within pushed against its cage, sensing its mate, seeking release.

"My Lord Feyreisen," she repeated. "My sisters and I must return home.”

Logic evaporated. Cold fury took its place. She thought to leave him? "Nei.”

Ellysetta's jaw went slack.

"What Rain means is that you are welcome to walk with us," Marissya hurried to explain. 'Rain! Do you want to drive her away?» She held out a hand. "I would be honored if you would join me.”

"No!" Ellysetta all but leapt back to avoid Marissya's outstretched hand. "I mean, no, thank you. We've had enough excitement for one day. I'm sure you understand." Her eyes turned back to Rain and she said slowly, as if he were thick in the head, "My parents will be worried if we don't come home.”

"Your sisters may go," Rain told her. "You stay with me."

"I can't send them home alone!" she exclaimed. "They're just children!”

Her defiance angered him. The tairen's cage rattled. "The Fey will take them. You stay.”

Her hands fisted. Her body trembled. "I won't!”

The tairen screamed in rage. She is our mate. She will not leave us! She will submit. We will make her submit! Power flamed in his eyes. "You will.”

She cried out and shrank back in fear. Suddenly there was a glow of power around her, and it wasn't his. Baring his teeth in a snarl, he whirled around. Who dared? His eyes narrowed on Dax, who wore the telltale shining aura about him.

"Rain, stop it." With seeming fearlessness, Marissya stepped between her king and her mate. «This anger is the bond-madness talking. The girl must return to her home. She is not leaving you. She has not rejected the bond. Think, Rain! Stop feeling, and think!» She didn't touch him, but he felt the insistent presence of her power in his mind, urging calm upon him.

He shook his head. He couldn't think. That was the problem. Since the Mage Wars, caging the tairen required constant vigilance and concentration. His centuries-old vise hold on it had been weakened by the Eye only days ago, and the tairen had reawakened with a vengeance, hungry for freedom. Here in Celieria, memories and the thoughts of millions pounded at him, sapping his concentration. Added to that, the visceral power of the matebond had him in its teeth. Just touching his shei'tani's hand caused a rush of feelings the likes of which he'd never felt—not even for Sariel. Was it any wonder he was going mad?

"I must leave this place. I need to find peace … and strength … to do what must be done”

Marissa nodded. "Aiyah, but you cannot take the girl with you. We will watch over her until you return." He looked at his shei'tani. Her lips were almost bloodless with fear, and the sight stabbed at his Fey heart. He was a monster. And this poor child had just been offered up as a sacrifice. "She may return to her home for now," he informed Marissya abruptly, adding on a private weave, «She must be well guarded. Half of the warriors will accompany her to her home, stay there to guard her. The other half will remain with you. Belem—he looked at the tall, dark warrior who had been his friend since before the Mage Wars—«Guard her. Use Kieran, Adrial, Rowan, and Kiel for her quintet.» At Bel's nod, Rain released his power and glared at Dax until he did the same. Only when his shei'tani was no longer enveloped in another's light did Rain begin to relax.

He crossed the short distance to Ellysetta Baristani, ignoring the tairen's hissing command to dominate her when she backed away from him. "I know I have given you cause to fear me, and I am sorry for that. I am ... not myself." He held out his hands, shamelessly used a push of Earth to make the ground beneath her feet shift so that she stumbled forward into his arms. His eyelids lowered as the intense pleasure flowed up from his hands where his bare skin touched hers. He breathed in her scent, knowing he would never forget it. "Of course you may return to your home, but you must allow me to send warriors to accompany you.”

"I—" She looked at the grim-faced army of Fey and gulped. "I really don't need—”

"It is for your protection," he interrupted. "They will guard you until I return.”

She looked up at him, green eyes wide. "You are leaving?" Her relief was so obvious that he didn't need to read her emotions to know it. His young shei'tani thought to be rid of him!

"Only for a short while." There was tairen-wicked satisfaction in dashing her ridiculous hopes. "I will come for you tomorrow." Releasing her hands, he made a sharp gesture and half the contingent of Fey warriors circled her.

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She gathered the twins closer and eyed the warriors with naked fear. "This isn't necessary. Really. One or two to serve as an escort would be fine."

"Be at peace, little sister," Marissya said. "They will not harm you." There was understanding and sadness in her voice. "Indeed, they would each die to protect you from the slightest harm”

«Go.» Rain saw Ellysetta jerk when his voice sounded in her head. «They will protect you while I am gone. No harm must come to you.» He could not compel her with a thought—she was his shei'tani, so free access to her mind was denied him until she accepted their bond—but he knew she feared him enough to obey. Fear was his specialty. He stood there, alone, remote, imperious, until she bowed her head to his will and began walking.

One hundred Fey accompanied her, with five of the Fey's greatest warriors ringed protectively around her. Belliard vel Jelani, the oldest unmated warrior of the Fey and Rain's most trusted friend, walked at Ellysetta's side. Bel and the other four warriors Rain had designated to be part of his shei'tani's personal guard would kill hundreds and die themselves before allowing harm to come to her. Magic glowed bright around the procession as it departed from the main thoroughfare, heading into the narrow, winding side streets of Celieria.

Rain waited until Ellysetta was out of sight before he broke into a run, then leapt into the air, transforming in an instant into a massive black tairen. Powerful wings beat the air, lifting him above Celieria into the freedom and silence of the skies. He rocketed high up into the icy coldness of the ether, released a scream of tairen fury, and disappeared over the horizon.

As the Tairen Soul took to the sky and half of the Fey warriors escorted the Celierian girl away, dark eyes watched with interest. Black eyes that glowed with red lights. Elden Mage eyes, steeped in Azrahn, though the magic was tightly leashed to avoid Fey detection.

The Tairen Soul had a truemate. A truemate with tairen- flame hair and green eyes like those of the child that had been stolen from the High Mage of Eld more than two decades earlier. Kolis Manza, apprentice to the High Mage, knew his master must be informed. The decision of how to proceed belonged to the High Mage alone. In the meantime, the girl must be watched.

Kolis made a quick gesture, little more than a flick of one wrist, accompanied by a brief command sent on a filament- thin weave of red-tinged black carefully hidden within a subtle Spirit weave to avoid Fey notice. Two young lads beside him, unfortunate children of the street who'd given Kolis access to their souls in return for full bellies and warmth in the winter, darted after the Celierian girl's entourage.

Marissya sent calming thoughts over the curious crowds as she, Dax, and the remaining contingent of Fey warriors continued on their way to the royal palace. Despite the long delay, the King and Queen of Celieria and a host of Celierian dignitaries were still waiting on the steps of the palace to greet the Fey with even more ceremonial pomp than usual.

It seemed as though the entire court had turned out for their arrival. They were hoping to get a glimpse of the Feyreisen, Marissya knew, and disappointment hung like heavy smoke in the air. She had never seen so much bosom on display, many ladies bordering on indecency with the amount of skin they revealed. They were so obvious, these women, with their foolish hopes of attracting the Feyreisen's attention.

Unlike the women of their court, King Dorian X and his queen had clothed themselves with both extravagance and decorum, and if they were disappointed that Rain was absent, they did not show it. They stood side by side in royal splendor, King Dorian outfitted in robes rich with gold thread, queen Annoura shining in silver. The queen's pale hair had been piled high and decorated with shimmering silver birds and jeweled butterflies. The pair of them remained cool and composed while the rest of their court had melted in the summer heat. Marissya suspected King Dorian had wrapped himself and his wife in the same cooling Air magic that Dax had woven around her. Dorian had inherited at least a minor command of magic from her sister's bloodline.

Standing before the royal couple, Marissya raised the heavy outer veil from her face and uttered the tra***ional blessing of the shei'dalin. "Peace, health, and fertility upon the house of Marikah of the Fey. Greetings from the Fey, your kin”

"Greetings, Lady," returned King Dorian. "Truth and light upon you. We welcome the shei'dalin into our walls and vow to protect her from harm. Enter in peace.”

Marissya lightly embraced the king and queen, sending them a wave of healing and peace as she did so. Her brows drew together in the tiniest frown as her fingers touched Annoura.

«Marissya?»

«It is nothing, shei'tan. A whisper of darkness that I don't remember.» She felt Dax's concern and smoothed the frown from her face. «She is mortal. It is to be expected.» But it was more than that, too. During the procession, she'd been aware of an unusual level of hostility in the crowd. She'd thought it was in response to Rain's presence—he was responsible for more Celierian deaths than any other individual in history— but now she wondered if that was the case. She touched Prince Dorian and his chosen bride, Lady Nadela, and was pleased to find little trace of darkness in either of them.

As they moved towards the doors of the palace, the Fey warriors fanned out around them. Several broke off from the main group to stand guard outside the palace. Inside, Dax and five Fey remained with Marissya while the rest of her guard took up pre-assigned protective positions throughout the palace. Dax walked beside his mate, and Marissya rested her fingers on the back of his wrist in the Fey way, leaving his fingers free to call magic or unsheathe weapons should the need arise.

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"Your journey was pleasant, I hope, Lady Marissya, Lord Dax," Queen Annoura said as they made their way through a labyrinth of halls and winding corridors. Liveried servants and richly garbed courtiers bowed as the entourage passed. "Aiyah," Dax replied. "Celieria is beautiful as always."

"All seemed peaceful," Marissya added.

"Yes, well ... Ah, here we are. A nice quiet spot for a private discussion." King Dorian led the way into a small, comfortably appointed antechamber. As soon as the door closed, Dax wove shields of Air and Spirit to seal the room and ensure privacy.

Marissya took a seat on one of the cream velvet sofas and removed her heavy veils and hat. She captured Dorian's gaze and opened up her empathic senses. "Your concern weighs heavy on your mind, bond-nephew. All is not as peaceful as it appeared on our journey, then. Tell us.”

"A minor disturbance in the north, but the Border Lords have matters in hand.”

"Disturbance?”

"Dahl'reisen," Dorian admitted. "They've been raiding a few of the small villages along the northern borders. They killed about half a dozen men last month.”

Marissya sat back. Dahl'reisen were banished Fey who had turned their backs on honor and chosen to walk the Shadowed Path. "You are certain it was dahl'reisen?”

"As certain as one can be" Dorian reached into his robes and pulled out a cloth-wrapped object. "Usually they leave no weapons and no witnesses, but this was recovered from one of the raid sites.”

Dax took the small parcel and pulled back the folds of cloth to reveal a small, shining dagger with a red-silkwrapped handle. He examined the blade and checked the marking on the pommel. "I do not recognize the name- mark, but it is a true Fey'cha. Fey rarely lose their blades. If you found this, it was most likely left deliberately—either to implicate the dahl'reisen or to issue a challenge.”

"Are there witnesses?" Marissya asked.

"Not from the attack where that Fey'cha was found, but there is an old woman who swears she saw her son murdered in his bed by the Dark Lord himself." Dorian said the last bluntly, but his sympathy skated across Marissya's senses. She stifled a flinch. The Dark Lord was a phrase originally coined to refer to the God of Shadows, but since the Mage Wars, it had been used almost exclusively to refer to Gaelen vel Serranis, Marissya's brother, the infamous dahl'reisen whose bloody vengeance for his twin sister's murder had ignited the Mage Wars. She wanted to cry out that it was not true, that her brother would not have murdered a helpless mortal in his sleep, but she could not. For the last thousand years Gaelen had lived beyond the honor of the Fey. She no longer knew what he was and was not capable of. "Is it possible to bring this woman to me that I might question her?”

"She has refused out of fear, and her Lord is bitter enough over the recent attacks that he supports her refusal.”

"Has news of these raids reached Celieria City?”

"The pamphleteers were spreading tales more than a week ago, and the newspapers began printing the story two days after that—including the bits about an eyewitness and evidence proving that dahl'reisen were behind the attacks.”

That would explain the hostility Marissya had sensed during the procession. Most Celierians considered dahl'reisen and Fey to be one and the same. If dahl'reisen were killing Celierians, the blame would fall on the Fey.

"Enough of all this doom and gloom," Dorian announced briskly. "There will be time enough for weighty discussion in the next few days. For now, tell us what happened between the Feyreisen and the Celierian girl. Is it true that he dropped out of the sky and locked himself with her in a cage of magic, then sent her home with an escort of one hundred Fey warriors?”

"It's true," Marissya confirmed. "But those tales are only part of the whole story. Rain has found his truemate.”

The king's eyes widened. "But this is excellent news.”

Marissya exchanged a look with Dax. "That remains to be seen," Dax replied. "There has never been a truemated Tairen Soul before. The bonding period is difficult at best, for any Fey man. But Rain fights the tairen in him as well. It will push him to the brink of madness. Our best hope is that the girl accepts him, and quickly."

The marching Fey warriors caused an uproar along Celieria's quiet side streets as Ellysetta, the twins, and their enormous escort made their way to the merchant class district that housed the Baristani residence. Luckily, the streets were mostly deserted, or Ellie's entourage would have caused all manner of problems. As it was, a crowd double the size of her escort followed them from the main thoroughfare, and more folk joined them as they went. Ellie's face was flaming with embarrassment long before they reached her street.

Unlike Ellie, once the twins had recovered from their initial fear, they found the attention quite entertaining. They darted to and fro, giggling when they managed to catch a warrior's eye. The Fey did not smile at their antics. They just watched them, stone-faced and gimlet-eyed, except for the brown-haired, blue-eyed warrior, who would give Lillis a tiny grin each time she stuck her little snub nose in the air to show that she still had not forgiven him for not falling prey to her earlier tears.

The warrior beside Ellie was named Belliard vel Jelani. She gathered he was quite, quite old, though his face was as unlined as that of a Celierian just leaving his twenties. It was his eyes, dark and fathomless, that showed his age. Looking into those eyes, she felt an oppressive weight and terrible sorrow, as if he had lived countless centuries without joy. He did not, she noted, look directly at her for more than a moment at a time, and his stern, studious avoidance of her gaze invited little in the way of conversation.

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As they neared the Baristani home, Ellie's step faltered and her stomach clenched in nervous knots. Her mother stood in the doorway of their house. Someone had obviously run ahead to announce her coming, and Mama did not look happy. As the first of the Fey neared the Baristani residence, the procession smoothly parted in two separate columns that circled around the sides of the house like a black river flowing around an obstruction in the effluvial plain. Within moments the house was surrounded and Ellie found herself deposited on the doorstep, looking up at her mother's grim face.

The twins ran to her, chattering excitedly about the Tairen Soul and fire cages and having been very afraid though now they weren't. Lauriana listened with half an ear, then shooed them into the house.

"What's this about the Tairen Soul and fire cages, Ellysetta?" she demanded as Ellie drew close. Her voice was sharp, filled with a brittle combination of fear and anger. She held no affection for the Fey. In her opinion, magic was the scourge of the earth. "And why is this … this army of Fey bringing you home?”

Ellie cast a glance at the surrounding avid faces of the neighbors. "Can we talk about this inside, please, Mama?" There was a note of desperation in her voice.

Fortunately, Lauriana firmly believed that respectable folk did not air laundry on the front steps. "Very well. Get yourself inside" Her eyebrows shot up into her hairline as Belliard vel Jelani and four other Fey—including the two who'd seen to Lillis and Lorelle—followed Ellie up the steps. "Sers, thank you for escorting my daughter, but you need not follow her into our home." Her teeth made an audible click as she gave the men a grimly pleasant smile. "Especially as you have not been invited.”

Belliard gave her a deep bow. "Eternal apologies, honored one, but we must enter. We protect the Feyreisa. We go where she goes.”

"The Fey-who?" Lauriana turned to Ellie. "What is he talking about?”

"Please, Mama. Let them in, if that's what they want. Let's go inside." Ellie glanced again at the crowd and tried to direct her mother towards the privacy of their home.

"And what are they doing?" Outraged, Lauriana turned to glare at a group of warriors weaving an intricate, nearly invisible mass of shining magic over the front of the house. "You there! Stop that this instant!" Four of the Fey behind her took advantage of her distraction to slip into the house. Belliard remained, his gaze intent and watchful as he waited for Ellie.

"Mama, I'll explain inside. Please!" Ellie tugged her mother across the threshold as yet another group of Fey took up guard beside the front steps. The rest seemed to melt away into the shadows of alleyways and rooftops. Ellie knew they were still there, unseen. She could feel them, like a ripple of wind on the back of her neck.

Inside the house, the five Fey guards positioned themselves by the doors and windows of the large main room. They stood silently, arms crossed over their chests, fingers a mere breath away from the countless knives they wore. After one look at their stern faces and resolute stance, Lauriana did not even attempt to oust them. Instead, she turned a dark look on Ellie.

"Well, young lady, what is the meaning of this?”

"It's a long story, Mama.”

Lauriana crossed her arms over her chest. "I have time, Ellysetta.”

Ellie bit her lip. When Mama called her Ellysetta and had that darkling look in her eye, she meant business. "Well … I took the twins to see the Feyreisen like you asked me to …" She related the series of incredible events, leaving out the more alarming parts like the bit about Rainier vel'En Daris claiming her as his shei'tani. "… and he sent the Fey to escort me home … and, well, here we are." Conscious of the five pairs of Fey eyes watching her steadily and her mother's patent disbelief, Ellie flushed and stared at her feet. Her story was a fabrication of partial truths laid over gaping chasms of omitted pertinent facts.

Before Lauriana could take Ellie to task, a commotion outside the front door drew her attention. "Now what?" Scowling, she marched to the door and threw it open.

The enormous crowd outside had grown even larger. It now included the strangers who had followed the Fey, nosy neighbors in search of gossip, and, to Ellie's dismay, Den Brodson. He had bullied his way to the front of the pack and was now loudly demanding to know what was going on. Den's mother, a plump woman with ruddy cheeks and frizzy brown hair, stood beside him, clutching his elbow and adding her shrill voice to his.

When she caught sight of Lauriana, Talla Brodson waved a frantic hand and yelled, "Lauriana Baristani, what in the name of the gods is going on? Tell these Fey to let us pass!”

At Lauriana's insistence—and a subtle nod from Belliard—the Fey allowed the butcher's wife and her son to enter the house. As they passed the Fey guards, Talla sniffed and stuck her nose in the air, while Den puffed out his chest and eyed the warriors haughtily.

Once inside the house, Den's haughty look changed to a scowl, and he marched across the room towards Ellie. "What's the meaning of this, Ellysetta Baristani?" he demanded in a bullying tone. "You have quite a bit of explaining to do, my girl." He reached out to grab her arm in what was sure to be a bruising grip, but before he could lay a finger on her, the sound of unsheathing swords cut the air. Den, his mother, Ellie, and Lauriana froze. Each of the five guards held naked steel in his hands. Though Belliard vel Jelani was still easily the most frightening of the Fey, now even the youthful smiling one looked like death waiting to be set free. Belliard tested his thumb on the edge of his blade, eyed Den's hand, and shook his head ever so gently.