He bowed. “I will build a privacy shield around you both. You may walk and speak freely to one another without worry that others will hear.” He raised his hands, and threads of faintly glowing white and lavender magic spun out from his fingertips. Ellie felt a soft, cool wind swirl around her. It smelled of springtime, full of sweet rain and crisp morning air. As it closed about her, she felt a strangely light and tranquil silence enter her mind, as if a pressure she’d never realized existed had been lifted.
Selianne stared at Ellie. “You can feel their magic, can’t you?”
Ellie raised her brows. “Can’t you?”
“No. I know he’s weaving magic, because he said so and his hands are glowing a little more, but even knowing it’s there, I can’t sense it.” She lifted shaking hands to her mouth and turned away. “Dear gods. I can’t believe you brought them with you, Fey oath or not.”
“I’m sorry, Sel. It was either that or not come at all, and your note sounded so frightened. I did the best I could.”
“I know. I’m sorry that I sounded ungrateful. I do appreciate your coming, and at least you didn’t bring...him... with you.” She jerked her chin towards one of the paintings of Rain Tairen Soul. “It’s bad enough that he’s here in the city—but to have him claim you. What happens when he finds out about my mother?”
Ellie clasped Selianne’s hands. “He’s not going to find out,” she vowed, staring earnestly into her friend’s terrified blue eyes. “I won’t let him. I’ll lock the memory away so deep inside me, he won’t be able to find it, and we’ll just stay away from each other until he’s gone. Do you hear me? Everything’s going to be all right.” She filled her voice with conviction, and kept her hands clasped tight around Selianne’s cold fingers until her friend’s terror began to abate.
After several moments, the reassurance seemed to sink in. Selianne nodded and drew a deep breath. “All right. Good plan. We’ll avoid each other until he’s gone.” Releasing Ellie’s hands, she let out a shaky laugh. “How soon will that be? And is there anything you can do to hurry it up?”
Ellie laughed too. “You sound like Mama.”
“I knew there was a reason I loved her so much.” Selianne flashed a brief grin, then shook her head again. “I just can’t believe it, Ellysetta. There must be Fey blood in you from somewhere.” Her blond brows rose. “Maybe you’re the child of adahl’reisen.”
“Maybe I’m the child of Celierians and I’m just sensitive to magic because I come from the north,” Ellie answered repressively. She took Selianne’s arm and began to walk with her away from the Fey. “What excuse did you give Gerwyn to leave the house so late at night?”
“He thinks I’m with the Ladies of Light, planning the Sun Festival.”
“What will he do when he finds out you’re not?”
“He won’t. I actually was with the Ladies tonight. I just stopped here on my way home.” Selianne waved a dismissive hand. “Enough about that. Tell me everything.”
Ellie tried to recap the day’s tumultuous events quickly, but Selianne insisted on details. Soon the whole emotion-filled tale came pouring out: Den’s attack the previous night, the fire cage and Rain Tairen Soul’s claiming of her, the shattering news of Ellie’s betrothal this evening.
“Oh, that sneaking, conniving, rotten little maggot,” Selianne breathed when Ellie told her about Den’s assault and showed her the mark on her neck. “But I thought the mark had to be someplace...” She broke off, blushing.
“I know, so did I, but apparently it’s the mark, not the location, that’s important.”
“Surely your parents wouldn’t really make you marry him?”
“They’ve already signed the betrothal papers, and they won’t break the contract for fear of how it would hurt the family andPapa’s business. And now that Rain Tairen Soul did what he did, I think Mama is even more determined to see me wed to Den. She’s afraid of the Fey and their magic. She hasn’t said as much, but I think she’d rather marry me off to old Master Weazman than see me wed to a Fey.” The ancient, toothless old Gilding Master was known as much for his lechery as for his exquisite work with precious metals.
“Well, put that way, I admit I understand her concern. The Fey are a frightening, secretive lot. And we all know what they’re capable of.”
Ellie stiffened. “The same can be said of several other races I could name, Selianne.”
Selianne gave her a reproachful look. “There’s no need to get personal, Ellysetta.”
“Sorry.” Ellie blew out a breath. “I’m a bit on edge.” She rubbed her arms and the back of her neck to massage away the faint tension gathering there.
“Be honest, Ell. Do you really think Den or your parents stand a chance of defying the Tairen Soul? What’s to stop him from just breathing a little tairen flame on Den? Problem solved. Betrothal broken.”
The same thought had occurred to Ellysetta earlier, when Papa had told her that he would not break the betrothal. She’d instantly dismissed it, though the possibility still nagged at her. “He wouldn’t do that. That’s not honorable.”
“And flaming millions of people was?”
It always came back to that whenever Selianne and Ellie discussed Rain Tairen Soul or the Fey. It was the one constant bone of contention in an otherwise flawless friendship.
“That was war, and the Mages had just killed his mate. He went mad for a while from a documented Fey phenomenon called the Wilding Rage. Gaelen vel Serranis experienced the same thing when his sister was murdered. We’ve had this discussion a hundred times.”
“It was murder, Ellie. In both cases. No matter how you try to pretty it up.”
“It was vengeance. The Eld murdered Gaelen’s sister—that was true murder. She’d done nothing to provoke them. The Eld murdered Sariel—an unarmed woman healing the wounded on a battlefield—hoping to destroy Rain Tairen Soul. Well, in both cases, the Eld got more than they bargained for, didn’t they?” She rubbed at the tension in her neck and arms again.
