Ellysetta wept with voiceless grief and denial. Although some part of her knew this was just another of the Shadow Man’s tricks to force her to reveal herself, the sight of her parents dead before her, of Lillis and Lorelle’s small bodies being ripped apart and fought over by carrion birds, was more than she could bear. She tried to close her eyes against the hideous vision, but even that escape was denied her. The scene played relentlessly against the backs of her eyelids, refusing to be shut out.
A shrouded figure stood on the hillside. Behind the figure, black-armored soldiers stretched out towards the horizon like a stain upon the earth. The Shadow Man’s army. The dark promise of what was yet to come.
“You’ll kill them, girl. You’ll kill them all. It’s what you were born for.”
Something brushed against her ankle. She looked down and found Rain lying on the ground at her feet, his throat and chest slashed open, his eyes milky and dead. A crow perched on his head. The dark wings flapped and covered his face like some hideous shroud, brushing against her ankle again as the bird bent to peck at one dead eye.
It was too much.
The scream ripped from her, the sound a shriek of anguish and despair.
“Get away from him! Don’t touch him!” She flung herself at Rain’s body, tearing in hysterical revulsion at the birds and vermin feasting on him. Fury gathered inside her and pulsed in a fierce, hot blast of rage. The rats and crows burst into flame. “Liar! Foul, evil liar! I’d die before hurting the people I love!”
A hand clamped hard around her throat. The Shadow Manwho had been on the hillside just a moment ago now stood before her, shrouded in black, his face hidden by the deep hood of his cloak. Ice froze her blood in her veins.
“Bright Lord save me,” she whispered, more from instinct than hope, knowing it was already much too late. She’d given herself away, revealed herself to him.
Worse, she’d revealed her magic.
The Shadow Man laughed, the sound triumphant. “The Bright Lord doesn’t live here, girl. And he wouldn’t save you even if he did.” Her tormentor threw back his hood, and Ellysetta cried out in denial. Instead of the monstrous visage she’d always expected, her own face stared back at her, pale and ravaged, with twin black pits—bottomless and flickering with red lights—where her eyes should have been.
“I see you...Ellysetta.” The voice came out of her own mouth, but the sound was a familiar, malevolent hiss. “You can’t hide from me any longer.” The cloaked Ellysetta lifted a wavy black blade and sent it plunging towards her heart.
“No!” She shrieked and threw her hands up. The savage thing inside her howled with wrath. Fire boiled from her hands in voracious incendiary clouds. The cloaked Ellysetta shrieked in agony as the flames enveloped her.
Hot wind blew across Rain’s face. He stared with dazed incomprehension at the flames leaping all around him as pella trees crackled and burned. The sand at his feet smoked and shattered as a wave tumbled over molten glass. Some small part of his mind registered the memory of furious heat rolling through him, but all that remained now was fear.
“Ellysetta.” Oh, gods.«Ellysetta!»
No answer.
«Ravel! Fey! Ti’Feyreisa! Ti’Feyreisa!»Rain sprang into the sky, shooting high over the trees in a stream of sparkling gray mist that solidified instantly in tairen form. Air-powered windfilled his wings. He wheeled west towards the glow of Celieria City in the distance. A command barked on a dagger of Spirit sent the Fey rushing to reinforce the protective weaves around Ellysetta’s home, and check on his truemate. Something had attacked her, but none of them had sensed it.
«She is here. She is unharmed,»Ravel called back,«but hurry.»
Rain streaked across the sky, covering the miles in a handful of chimes. He reached the Baristani house and arrowed out of the sky, Changing as he descended. The Fey hurried to pull down their weaves to grant him access, but those threads they didn’t have time to unmake shredded before him, curling back from the buffeting force of his power as he streamed through Ellysetta’s bedroom window and reclaimed Fey form at her side.
She sat huddled on her bed, pressed into the corner, eyes squeezed shut, her body racked with violent shudders. Her fists were clenched, her arms crossed protectively over her head and chest as if to ward off an attack. Ravel and her parents stood beside her, distraught and helpless. Her room was a shambles, her mirror shattered and smoking, the walls shredded as if great razor-sharp claws had sliced through the wood and plaster in a rage and scorched as if by sudden searing flame.
“She was like this when I came in,” Ravel said. “She won’t let any of us near her.”
“What have you done to her?” Lauriana burst out. “What have you done that sleep would bring such torments?”
“Laurie, shh.” Sol tried to calm his wife, but she batted him away.
“No, Sol! I won’t hush. I’ve held my silence too long already! I told you this was a mistake. We were meant to protect her from magic, and instead we’ve flung her back into its teeth! Her nightmares have returned, Sol. Because ofthem.” She jabbed an accusing finger in Rain and Ravel’s direction. “You can’t deny it any longer! And you know where it’s going to lead!”
Ignoring her, Rain knelt on the floor beside Ellysetta and laidhis hand on her shoulder. She cried out and tried to fling herself away, but he caught her and held tight as she struggled against him. Her skin was cold as ice. “Shei’tani. Ellysetta.Las, las, kem’san.Ke sha taris. Ke sha avel vo.I am here. I am with you.” He held her close, rocking her, whispering a soothing litany of words into her ears while in silence his heart swore bitter vengeance against the monster who had visited this torment upon her.
The convulsive shudders racking her slender form gradually diminished. “Rain?” Her eyes opened, then flooded with tears when she saw him. She flung her arms round his body to clutch him tight and buried her face against the bare skin of his throat. “Oh, Rain. You’re alive. Oh, thank the gods.” Wrenching sobs shook her.
Though her grief tore at his heart, his eyes closed with relief. She was safe and unharmed. She was whole and in his arms, where she belonged. “I’m here,shei’tani.”
“Hold me,” she whispered. “Hold me and don’t let me go. I’m cold, so cold.”
His arms tightened, pulling her closer, wrapping around her as if with his body alone he could shield her from whatever evil hunted her.
“Ellie!” Lauriana rushed forward, hands outstretched, but as she neared, Ellysetta flinched away, burrowing deeper into Rain’s arms. Desperation flooded his senses.
