Lady of Light and Shadows (8 page)

"No." There was the sound of the river in her ears, the feel of tree bark beneath her hand, the cool breath of wind on her face. But she didn't feel or see any pulsating magical life force emanating from the tree.

"You're cluttering your mind with other thoughts, Ellysetta. You're still too focused on the physical. Block out what you hear, what you feel through physical touch. Those things are unimportant." His voice dropped to a low murmur, and he began speaking to her in Feyan, a chant of words she didn't completely understand but found oddly calming all the same.

The sounds of the river faded away. The breath of the wind on her skin was only a faint, distant sensation, soothing, relaxing. She could no longer feel the bark of the tree beneath her hand. She was floating in a well of warm darkness that changed slowly to a landscape of glowing lights pulsing with a multitude of colors and intensities. She could make out the shapes of everything around her, but it was as if she were seeing them through different eyes. Rain stood before her, a shimmering rainbow of lights-red, white, lavender, green, blue, black-all dimmed as if he were wrapped in a dark veil.

Beside her, the fireoak stood tall and strong. It was no pulsating glow. It was a brilliant light, blazing with vibrant shades of green and blue, marbled with veins of lavender, red, and black. It was beautiful, glorious.

"Do you see it?" Rain asked.

"Yes." Her tongue felt thick, as if she were trying to speak while half asleep.

"Do you see where your hand touches the tree?”

"Yes.”

"Then call the light of the tree to your hand. Imagine it flowing into your fingers and up your arm. Ask the light to come to you, to share its magic with you.”

With her eyes still closed, she looked at the glowing life beneath her hand. She wanted to know what that brightness would feel like rushing through her own veins. She opened her senses and asked it to flood her with its beauty.

The light of the tree rushed towards her in a blinding flash, shooting up her arm. Startled, Ellie cried out and yanked her hand away from the trunk. Her eyes flew open. Rain leapt forward to snatch her to his chest and fling a protective barrier around them as fireoak branches snapped and rained down from above, blanketing the ground around Ellie and Rain.

When the shower of tree limbs ceased, Rain looked at the destruction at his feet and glanced up at the tree. Not a single branch remained. The once-lush fireoak was now a thick, denuded pole thrusting up from the ground.

"I think we need to teach you moderation," he murmured. "What happened?" Ellie looked at the tree in dismay. "Did I do that?”

"Nei,
it wasn't really you, Ellysetta. You weren't weaving magic. You only asked the tree to respond to you. But you must have asked very, very strongly." He shook his head.

"Can you fix it?" She couldn't bear to leave the poor tree like this.

"Ai yah. “

As Ellie watched, Rain's eyes began to glow with summoned power. He gestured with his hands, and silvery white threads of what Ellie now knew was Air wrapped around one of the branches and raised it high overhead. Bright green Earth threads knit the branch back in place. Rain continued, branch by branch, until the fireoak was once more whole and undamaged.

When he was done, Ellie thanked him and whispered a heartfelt apology to the tree, not daring to touch it again lest she feel it quivering like a frightened puppy.

"That was good," Rain said.

"Good? I almost killed the poor tree!”

"But you did not. I want you to try weaving magic.”

"I don't think that's a good idea. I just destroyed a tree without even trying to weave magic. I shudder to think what I might destroy if
I was
trying ...”

"Shei’tani,
trust me. You promised me you would accept instruction.”

"I promised to accept instruction when we reached the Fading Lands," she countered. "We're not there yet”

He opened his mouth, then shut it. A rueful smile tilted up one corner of his mouth. "When you wager with tairen, take care with your words.” Then his expression grew serious. "This is important, Ellysetta. I will not allow you to harm yourself or anything else, but you need to understand what magic you possess, and you need to learn to control it. Both our bond and the tairen depend on it.”

She hesitated in indecision. On the one hand, she was terrified of the magic she seemed to possess. On the other hand, she was desperate to learn how to control it so she could stop herself from weaving it accidentally or with unexpected consequences as she had last night and with Adrial this morning.

"All right," she agreed. "Teach me."

Terkaz, Blood Drinker, slake your thirst.

Frathmir, Flesh Eater, feed your hunger.

Boraz, Bone Grinder, mill your dust.

Choutarre, Soul Taker, claim your due.

-Feraz Witchspell

"We'll start with something simple," Rain said. "You've already shown you are strong in Air, and it is weightless and easy enough to direct for what I have in mind. Sit here." He indicated a grassy spot beside the Same River.

Ellysetta sat where he directed.

"Now we'll borrow a little bit of the river and shelter both it and us from the current and the breeze." He lifted his hands and wove a curtain of still Air around them and a small portion of the river near Ellie's feet. She started to dip her toe in, but he stopped her.

"Nei,
do not touch the water. The surface must be perfectly still for this exercise." His eyes glowed faintly and a pale blue light shone around his hands. A moment later, the small portion of the river before them was smooth as glass. "There. Now I want you to try to weave enough of a breeze to make the water ripple.”

"How do I do that?”

"Find the silence inside you. Just a moment ago, when you. asked the fireoak tree to respond to you, you found the silence and through it you could see the weaves that make up all living creatures. The silence is the source from which your magic springs. You call the magic from there and let it flow through your body. And when it fills you and becomes you, then you can direct it as you do your own limbs. The process takes effort at first, but eventually the path will become as easy to find when you seek it out as it currently is when you travel it instinctively.”

Once again he guided her through the meditative exercise to find the silent, shining place where the world was lit with glowing threads of magic.

"All around you is Air. You will see it as a soft whiteness. Summon it to you.”

"I see it, but how do I summon it?”

"Much the same way as you asked the fireoak to share its essence with you. Open yourself to it. Imagine that you are a cistern and magic is the water that must flow to fill you.”

Ellie gave it a try, but no shining white light answered her call. "It's not working.”

"I will show you what I mean; then you can try again.”

The shadowy world evaporated in an instant when Rain set aside his sword belts and settled behind her. He pulled her back against him. Tingling warmth raced up her spine as his body pressed against hers. He surrounded her. His thighs cradled hers, his arms covered her own, his fingers interleaved with her own.

"What are you doing?" Her voice came out a bit thready.

"If you were my
chadin,
my pupil, I would be able to enter your mind to observe your efforts and guide you. Since our bond is currently unfulfilled, I cannot enter your mind yet, but by holding you close this way, you will be able to feel what I do as I call and weave Air. I'm hoping you will be able to emulate my efforts and perform this exercise on your own." Against her cheek, she could feel him smile. "And besides,
shei’tani,
not a moment passes that I do not seek an opportunity and excuse to touch you”

Pleasure shuddered over her. "If you think I'll be able to concentrate with you snuggled up against me like this, think again," she warned him.

His lips brushed her ear. "It is good to know you are not unaffected by my touch." His low voice whispered across her skin, echoed in her mind. "But do try to concentrate,
ajiana.
When we are done, I will reward us both.”

Her heart began to pound. How did he expect her to focus when he said things like that?

He began to murmur in Feyan, quiet, liquid syllables, words she couldn't make out that played in her mind like a peaceful song. The sound of his voice flowed over her and warmth seeped into her skin, making her feel drowsy. His fingers, long and capable, stroked her hands. The starch in her spine wilted, and she relaxed against him, tilting her head back against his shoulder.

"Now, Ellysetta, I will call Air. Can you feel it gathering inside me?”

"Yes.” The Air stirred almost imperceptibly as it responded to Rain's call. The magic didn't come to his hands, as she had always thought it would. Instead, it filled him from within, welling up and permeating his body, until the Tairen's Eye signet on his right hand began to glow faintly.

"I do not need much Air. The strength of the weave depends on the amount of magic called and the way in which it is woven. For now, I only need a gentle breeze, so I call just a little Air and release it in a loose weave. All the elements have their own natural patterns. Weaving magic is learning to bend those patterns to a particular purpose.”

Ellie felt the power concentrate in his hands, fed from the inner spring within him. His pale hands grew luminous as the energies gathered in anticipation of release.

"A breeze is a soft, sinuous pattern, with very little disturbance in the threads." His fingers flicked out, and thin filaments of white energy flowed out in lazily undulating lines. When the weave touched the stilled portion of the river, the water's surface rippled in response.

"Did you feel how I released the Air?”

"It felt like a sigh.”

"Aiyah.
Small Water weaves feel like laughter. Small Fire feels like a blush. Your mind instinctively knows the patterns, you simply must learn how to weave them at will." With his hands still touching hers, he called Water and once more stilled the pond. "Now you try to ripple the water's surface.”

Ellie took a breath, clenched her jaw, and tried to call the Air to fill her.

"Do not fight for it. You want to summon the Air, not overpower it. Draw it to you. Breathe it in." His fingers stroked hers.

She tried to do as he said, but nothing happened.

"Keep trying," Rain insisted. "Imagine the wind blowing past you. When learning to call magic, it helps to imagine the element in its natural state.”

Ellie concentrated. Once again Rain murmured his encouragement. She imagined a breeze blowing across her face and through her hair. She imagined herself breathing the Air into her body until her lungs filled, imagined breathing it back out across the river, making the water ripple. Again, nothing happened.

"I can't do it.”

"You're still fighting your magic. Relax,
shei’tani.
Let it fill you." His hands moved down to her waist. "Breathe," he whispered in her ear.

She dragged a deep breath into her lungs.

"Good. Now feel the magic gather within you." He stroked her belly. making tight heat curl within her.

Hunger was welling up inside her far faster than magic, and suddenly all she could think about was carnal weaves and the hard heat of Rain's body pressed against her back.

"Let the magic flow throughout your body until it becomes as much a part of you as your own flesh and blood." Rain's hands stroked upward on either side of her rib cage, brushing against the sides of her breasts in a way that made her breath catch in her throat.

She almost moaned aloud.
Dear gods, please let me complete this exercise before I leap upon him and demand a different kind of lesson.
"And now," Rain said, "release it”

Flames shot from her fingertips. Water sizzled, and the river's surface rippled.

There was a small silence. "Well,
shei’tani,
you do wield Fire, after all.”

Ellie refused to look at him. "That wasn't Air. I thought I called Air.”

"You did. I felt it gather in you, but you obviously released Fire instead. I must have put the idea in your mind when I told you that Fire feels like a blush.”

No, Ellie thought. He'd put the idea in her mind when he was running his hands all over her body and breathing in her ear.

"Or," Rain said, "I put the idea in your mind when I was stroking you.”

She swallowed. "I thought you said you couldn't read my mind.”

He laughed softly against her cheek. "That's not what I'm reading." His hands cupped her breasts through the warm, corseted silk of her new gown, and his thumbs brushed across the tight, sensitive peaks of her breasts.

Tongues of flame seared her. Ellysetta gasped. "Rain ...”

"I think we are done with our first lesson, and I did promise to reward us both.” His voice dropped to a husky murmur and his lips tracked tingling kisses down her throat. The Air weave around them dispersed, and the warm summer breeze swirled over them, fragrant with the scent of daisies and the verdant freshness of the glade. He lowered her to the soft, thick grass and leaned over her. His long, dark hair draped down around them like veils of ebony silk. Warmth infused the pale perfection of his face, melting all remnants of cold aloofness, leaving stark, burning beauty, unshielded need, and the fiery intensity of his eyes.

His hand trailed up her arm, the fingers light, dancing across her skin from elbow to shoulder, around the bend, then down to brush the soft curve of her breast beneath the saffron silk of her gown. The pad of his finger traced a spiral of increasingly small circles on the silk, traveling a scintillating path up the gentle swell. Anticipation tightened in her belly with each completed circle.

«Ku shalah aiyah to nei, shei’tani,»
he whispered in her mind. Bid me yes or no. Each word was a caress as erotic as the sweet torment of his circling finger.

Never in her life had any man stirred her senses, not even the most celebrated Dazzles of the court over whom so many other young Celierian maidens sighed. No man until Rain. And with him, it was as if all the longing of the ages had been stored up inside her, waiting for his arrival to break free. One look, one touch, one whisper of his voice, and Ellysetta, who had never known the slightest desire for any man before him, went up in flames. Already she was aching for him with the same fierce passion that had fueled her weave last night.

Bid him yes or no, he asked. As if she could ever-would ever-give any possible answer but one.

"Aiyah."
Consent emerged as a thready whisper, barely audible. The hunger was so strong, she could scarcely breathe. She lifted her hands to his hair, filled her palms with black silk, wished she were brave enough to reach for more.

"You have no idea the beauty that fills my eyes when I look upon you." With infinite care, he drew back the edges of her bodice to bare the soft fullness of her breasts. His fingers traced the contours of the small globes, then cupped them gently, thumbs whispering over pink nipples. The peaks leapt instantly to attention. His gaze flicked up, burning with lavender fire, locking with hers in a look so deep it shook her to her core.
You dazzle me, Ellysetta.”

Her mouth went dry. Liquid fire gathered in a rush of desire.

His gaze dropped to her lips. His mouth followed, pressing nibbling kisses. The tip of his tongue traced the seam of her lips, teasing, tasting. The warm, moist strokes made her gasp in delight, and he deepened the kiss, exploring the secrets of her mouth, laying claim to them. He took her breath into his lungs and gave her back his own.

Still his fingers circled her breast, teasing, tormenting. Her hips shifted restlessly, her arms wrapped around his shoulders, clinging tight. Her back arched, pressing her breast more fully against his palm in a silent plea.
«Rain ... Rain, please.»

"I
heard your thoughts last night when you spun your Spirit weave," he whispered. "I heard what you said. I felt each word like a brand on my skin." His lips found the pulse point on her throat and pressed a kiss there.

She shivered as the wicked warmth of his tongue stroked the hollow of her throat. For once, the mention of her disastrous weave did not embarrass her. All she could think of were the feelings infusing her body, the wild need rising inside her. "What did I say?”

"You said, "I want.' " His lips tracked up her throat, tracing a fiery path across the soft skin.

Oh, yes, she wanted. Him and no other. She always had. She always would.

"’I need.'“

He took her hand and guided it to his own chest. Earth magic tingled in electric arcs. Black leather vanished. The burning heat of pale, luminous Fey flesh filled her palms. She ran her hands over his chest, relearning every curve and rock-hard muscle she had discovered last night, testing the eager leap of his flat nipples as her nails drew lightly across them.

"’I ache.'“

Slowly-far too slowly-he drew back. The silk of his hair whispered across her skin. Cooler air rushed in where his warmth had been, sending a fresh flood of tingling sensation sweeping across her exposed skin. Her breasts felt swollen, the nipples taut and begging as his hands continued their teasing erotic play.

"’I burn.'“

Keeping his eyes locked with hers, he bent his head to her breast, and despite the flags of heat that flooded her cheeks, she couldn't look away. She watched him take her in his mouth. Oh, gods. Her lashes fluttered down as her eyes rolled back in exquisite pleasure. Her hands came up to clutch his shoulders, holding him fast as he worked all manner of enchantment that needed no aid of magic.

She was on fire. Living flame beneath his hands.

«Burn with me.»
He sang in vivid tones that reverberated through her being. Incandescent notes of dazzling hues, so vivid each was a sensory explosion. Tairen song. His song. Resonating in her soul.