Lord of the Fading Lands

  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. Bel»—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.

  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 traditional 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.

  “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-silk-wrapped 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.

  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.