Lord of the Fading Lands (26 page)

"I wish," she told him fervently.

His eyes crinkled at the corners. "Then we will do it again." He grimaced ever so slightly. "With your parents' permission, of course.”

"Of course." Ellie smiled. The Tairen Soul chafed at the restraint, but she was pleased that he cared enough to honor her parents and her country's customs. "And thank you.”

His gaze was tender, as was the faint hint of a curve on his lips.
"Sha vel'mei, shei'tani.”

The Baristani household, when they returned, was in chaos. Ellie couldn't believe her eyes. Gaily wrapped packages sat on every available surface, while others lay tossed on the floor with their ribbons and paper ripped and tangled. Dress pattern books lay scattered on the settee, several of them open. Shoe boxes, with their contents spilling out, were jumbled beside a lamp table. Swatches of fabric and lace dangled from the back of a chair and made a haphazard path across the floor. The smell of something burning emanated from the kitchen.

Apprehension clutched at Ellie, and she felt Rain stiffen at her side. Drawing blades with a quiet hiss, the quintet of Fey warriors fanned out quickly and silently, like dark shadows whispering through the house. Rain gestured, and light surrounded Ellie.

"Mama?" Ellie called.

"Just a chime!" Lauriana's voice shouted from the kitchen. There was a sound of muffled cursing, then something banged, and Ellie heard the sizzle of water hitting a hot surface.

"I've burned the dinner rolls." Lauriana appeared in the doorway to the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron and scowling. "What in the name of … ?" The scowl darkened and her fists planted themselves on her hips as she surveyed the destruction in the room. "Lillis!" she yelled. "Lillis Angelisa Baristani, come here this instant!”

Ellie heard a door bang at the back of the house, then the sound of small feet racing. Lillis burst breathlessly into the room, followed close on her heels by an equally breathless Lorelle. Their hair was disheveled, but it was obvious they were unharmed.

The glow of magic around Ellie winked out. Rain straightened from the tense, slightly crouching position he had assumed. The Fey warriors who had fanned out in the room returned and sheathed their weapons.

"Yes, Mama?" Lillis gasped.

"I thought I told you to keep that cat out of this room. Look at the mess she's made.”

"I know, Mama. I'm sorry. I gave her to Kieran, and she was behaving so well, but then he starting doing magic and—"

"Magic?" Lauriana echoed sharply.

"A thousand pardons, Madam Baristani." Kieran entered the room, followed by Kiel. Lillis's tiny white kitten, an adorable blue-eyed darling named Love, was perched on Kieran's shoulder. Her stubby pennant of a tail flicked continuously at his ear, and she was purring loud enough for all to hear. She looked far too innocent to have caused such wholesale destruction.

"It is my fault," Kieran said. "Kiel and I will clean up the mess"

"Let me assist you," Bel offered, and a white glow of Air lit his fingertips.

"Nei!"
Kiel and Kieran shouted in unison.

At the same instant, sweet, adorable Love sprang into screeching, insane life and launched herself off Kieran's shoulder, fangs gleaming, claws bared, every little white hair on her body standing straight up. She landed with a thud on top of the pile of pattern books, and the sound of ripping pages filled the air as her claws scrabbled for purchase.

Kieran dove for her, but she eluded him, leaping to the chair draped with fabric. Swatches spat out from beneath her frantically pedaling feet.

"Let go, Bel," Kiel commanded. "She senses when anyone calls magic within a tairen-length of her, and she
hates
it. “

Bel released his power and the kitten went skittering across the floor to hide under a tall, carved display cabinet. Blue eyes shone out from the darkness as Love crouched there, hissing and watching them warily.

"She hates Air especially," Kieran added, climbing to his feet and running a hand through his hair. That was when Ellie noticed there were enough bleeding scratches on the backs of his hands to form a Stones grid. "I would have thought it would be Water, wouldn't you?" He shook his head and grinned a little. "Perhaps she's got a bit of tairen in her rather than just plain house cat. Fire, Water, and Earth only get her back up. Air makes her crazy. And if you want to see real feline insanity, try a weave of Spirit.”

"Aiyah,"
Kiel agreed with a shudder. "That's what caused all this." His hands gestured to the destruction throughout the room.

Ellie bit her lip, trying hard not to laugh as Kieran crossed the room to crouch down beside the cabinet and croon, "Here, kit, kit, kit. Come here, little Love. That bad Fey warrior has put his nasty magic away." Kieran turned his head just slightly to flash a laughing blue-eyed look at Belliard as the older Fey's back went stiff. Within a few chimes, Kieran had successfully coaxed Love out of hiding, and once more she perched on his shoulder, purred, and flicked his ear with her stubby little tail.

"How sweet of you, Lillis, to let Kieran hold your kitten," Ellie remarked.

"I gave her to him," Lillis said proudly. "It was the best reward I could think of.”

"Reward?”

"For pushing Kelissande into the river.”

Ellie rounded on Kieran. "You were responsible for that?" Kieran smiled, shrugged, and scratched a finger beneath Love's chin.

Ellie shook her head. Centuries old he might be, but there was still plenty of mischief in him. She turned back to her mother. "Mama, do you need any help in the kitchen?”

Lauriana was still staring daggers at the Fey for weaving magic in her house. At Ellie's question, she gave them one last frowning glare and turned away. "No. Just have the girls clean up this mess. You need to look through those pattern books and make some decisions about what you want. Maestra Binchi said she'll send a lad round tonight to pick up your selection so they can cut the fabric for your wedding gown tonight and do the first fitting tomorrow morning. The other three dressmakers have asked for the same thing." Which explained all the pattern books and fabric swatches Love had scattered everywhere. "And Lady Marissya sent a note saying that you and the Feyreisen are expected at the palace for dinner on Kingsday night. She's already selected a gown for you, and it's being made, along with everything else you'll need to wear." Lauriana disappeared through the kitchen door.

Dinner? At the palace? Three days from now? Ellie stared up at Rain in dismay.

"Peace,
shei'tani.
We do not have to go.”

"Oh, and one more thing," Lauriana said, popping back out of the kitchen. "Lady Marissya says you have to go. Something about upholding Fey honor and family ties."

"Where is Marissya's note?" Rain asked. Lauriana gestured to a small table by the front door and disappeared back into the kitchen. Rain crossed to the table in four long strides, read Marissya's note, then crumpled it in his hand, glowering. The note burst into flames.

On Kieran's shoulder, Love hissed and arched her back. Kieran gave his king a reproachful look, then set about soothing his magic-ruffled pet.

"It appears we do have to go," Ellie said. She swallowed her trepidation and smiled bravely. "I'll try not to embarrass you with my poor social graces.”

Rain frowned at her. "You bring pride to this Fey," he replied. "Never believe otherwise." He shook his head. "There is an attempt in the Celierian Council to reopen the Eld borders. I have urged Dorian not to do so, but there is opposition in the Council of Lords. He is holding this dinner in our honor in order that he and I might present a united front against those who oppose him. Marissya has sworn a Fey oath guaranteeing that you and I will be there. That makes it impossible for us not to go. But even without Marissya's oath, if Dorian asks for my help to keep the Eld out of Celieria, then I must give it.”

"According to the papers, the Elden ambassador just wants to open trade between our countries again," Ellie said. "That doesn't seem like such a bad thing.”

"It is never 'just' trade with the Eld.”

"How can you be sure?”

"Because I know the Eld. Because I sense the darkness. The serpent is there, waiting in the grass. It has been coiled so quietly for so long, Celierians have forgotten it. Even among the Fey, there are those who have forgotten how quickly the serpent can strike, how insidious and lethal is its venom. They think we can walk the path and not be bitten.”

"But you don't think so.”

"I am unwilling to take the chance." His face was grim, his eyes shadowed. "I have seen what Elden Mages can do to a Fey. I hope never to see it again.”

Ellie remembered the torment Rain had shared with her in the museum that first night. She never again wanted to witness—even secondhand—anything remotely like the horrors he had experienced in the Wars.

"Then of course we must go," she said, forcing down her own curl of dread. She'd met a number of Celierian nobles when assisting her father, and for every one she'd thought was kind, she'd met ten more who weren't. She had no illusions about the kind of reception she would receive from them. "Perhaps we won't have to stay long?”

"Longer than I would like," he grumbled. "Celieria's noble families are full of dark-souled creatures. I have never been able to abide them.”

"Well, let's worry about tomorrow when it comes," she declared, pushing aside her useless fears. "For now, we have a mess to clean up." She bent to gather up the pattern books and all their torn pages.

The sensation came without warning, like deadly ice spiders crawling up her spine. Every hair on Ellie's body stood on end. The pattern books spilled from her hands to the floor. She jerked up and instinctively grabbed hold of Rain's arm, leaning into his strength and shivering.

"Shei'tani?"
His concern was instant. "What is it?”

"I—" As suddenly as the feeling had come, it was gone. She exhaled. "Nothing.”

"Ellysetta." His hands cupped her face, forcing her to meet his eyes. "Do not keep things from me. I am your mate. You must trust me. I can sense your fear, but not what caused it. Tell me what it was you felt." He was frowning, his black brows drawn together, his eyes intent and demanding.

"It's nothing. Just a ghost treading on my grave”

"A ghost? A wandering soul?”

She laughed a little. "I didn't mean that literally. It's just an old Celierian saying for when something makes you frightened for no reason.”

"Old sayings are usually grounded in old truths," Rain told her, still frowning. "Have you had such feelings before?”

"On and off, ever since I was a child." She gave him a lopsided smile. "It's one of the many little oddities about me that make me undesirable as a Celierian bride. The feelings never seem to mean anything in particular. They just scare me a little." But not nearly as much as those waking nightmares that left her sobbing in agony and terror just before a seizure. She forced a reassuring smile to her face. "I'm fine. I'm sure it's nothing.”

Opening his Fey senses, Rain stretched the limits of his awareness, his mind filling with thousands of thoughts, mundane, mortal, many dark but none an obvious threat to the young woman by his side. In addition, he probed for the telltale reddish-black glow of Azrahn. He found nothing.

He glanced at Love, but the kitten was still purring on Kieran's shoulder. Whatever the wandering soul was, it did not trigger fear in Love the way magic apparently did.

Because he could sense no danger, he nodded. "Very well, then. It must indeed have been nothing." But his instincts urged caution. He met Bel's eyes. He didn't need to say a word. Bel simply nodded. The Fey would be on their guard.

High Mage Vadim Maur dipped his quill in the inkpot beside him and recorded the details of his latest experiment on a piece of blank parchment. The waterclock on the wall of his office softly chimed the first silver bells of the evening. Even without the clock, he knew the sun had set over Eld. The tingle of magic in his flesh had strengthened, as it did every night when light retreated from the world. Azreisenahn, the dark magic of the Mages more commonly known as Azrahn, thrived in the night. The darker the sky, the greater his magic, and the more powerful the spells he could cast.

Next to the waterclock, a mechanical moonclock ticked slowly. The golden orb representing the Great Sun had disappeared, and the small globes representing the two moons had risen. Painted half white and half black, the globes had rotated on their slender brass rods to show the current moonphase. Unfortunately, both the Mother and Daughter had just waxed full, and his magic was at its lowest ebb of the year. Discovery of the girl—if she was indeed the one he'd been searching for so long—couldn't have come at a worse time.

A knock sounded on his office door. "Enter," Vadim called. He looked up from his desk as his apprentice, the young but very powerful Mage Kolis Manza, entered. The younger man's red robes swirled around him as he walked. About his waist, Kolis wore a scarlet sash embroidered with golden threads and decorated with numerous dark, shining jewels, each a commemoration of a great achievement. Kolis was a Sulimage, the Eld equivalent of a journeyman, and he was famous among the novitiates, apprentices, and his fellow Sulimages for his magical prowess. His current service in Celieria, coveted by even the most experienced, fully ranked Primages, was one of the many important tasks that Vadim had set before him over the years to complete his training.