Magic had definitely been released. Elemental Air magic and a masterful burst of it. But just before the burst of Air, the Tairen Soul had arrived, power radiating from him in a huge, shining, barely controlled aura that had distorted Kolis’s view. And when the Tairen Soul had released blasting weaves of his own, he’d wiped away all hope of tracing the first weave to its source.
The magic had been hers. Kolisknewit had been hers.
But because he hadn’t witnessed the source of the magic with his own senses, he couldn’t be sure. Hehadto be sure. The High Mage wasn’t forgiving of mistakes.
Kolis crushed the now-drained Feraztalisin his hand and threw it down a sewer grate. The small piece of beeswax, wrapped tight with a single flame-colored strand of hair, made a tiny, distant splash as it hit the water below and was carried away.
“I’m sorry I acted so badly,” Ellie whispered for the thousandth time. “I don’t know what came over me. I’m not like that. I don’t get angry. I don’t treat people rudely.”
“Shh,” Rain soothed. “Las, shei’tani.” He stroked her hair and held her close as they sat together on the narrow bed in her room.
After catching Ellie in his arms, Rain had carried her upstairs to her bedroom and then refused to leave her. Lauriana had strenuously objected to his presence on her daughter’s bed, but a hot, dangerous look and a snarling command to hold her tongue or risk having it silenced shut her up. Not the most diplomatic of solutions. She’d turned right around and would have marched out of the house to fetch her husband had Bel not hurried after her to soothe the worst of her maternal outrage. They were still downstairs, Lauriana subjecting Bel to a furious tirade recounting every indignity and offense the Fey had visited upon her family and their good name, but at least she’d left Rain in peace to tend his truemate.
“I didn’t mean to yell at you,” Ellie said again. “I don’t understand why I let them upset me so badly. It was as if there was some terrible, angry force inside me, and it kept growing stronger and stronger, and I kept getting madder and madder.”
“It’s all right, Ellysetta. Those people are gone.” He stroked her cheek. “They won’t be back, except by appointment, and I will be with you when they come.”
Despite the worry and fear coloring her emotions, she smiledagainst his hand. “So you can explode all the windows again if they bother me? Maybe we’d better not have them come to the house. Mama might get tired of cleaning up the glass.”
Rain stilled.
Ellysetta scooted back so she could look at him. “What?”
He met her gaze. “It was not I who destroyed the windows, Ellysetta.”
She blinked. “It wasn’t? Then Bel did it?” She gave a small laugh and shook her head. “I wouldn’t have thought he was the type for such a display.”
“Nei. It was not Bel, nor any other of the Fey.”
Ellysetta’s smooth forehead wrinkled in a confused frown. “Then... who?”
Rain gazed at her steadily, saying nothing.
“No,” she said. “It wasn’t me.”
“You used Air. An incredibly fine yet powerful weave that struck only the windows. Every window.” He saw her glance at the perfectly intact bedroom window. “The warriors repaired them while you were unconscious. But they were all destroyed. Reduced to dust.”
“It wasn’t me,” she insisted. “You must be mistaken.”
“I am not mistaken. There is power in you, Ellysetta. Great power.”
“No.” She dragged her fingers through her hair, tangling the wild curls.
“Why do you fear what is inside you?”
“Why do you keep insisting that I’m magic?”
“Because you are. I’ve seen evidence of it several times now. On the day you called me out of the sky, you used Earth. Not much. It was only a small healing weave, but both Marissya and I sensed it. The night of our betrothal, you wove Spirit on your mother with so much power packed in so fine a weave that even most Fey would not have known they were being influenced, orbeen able to resist. Today, you used Air in a very concentrated and powerful weave. All the Fey sensed it this time.”
“Maybe it was someone else who destroyed the windows,” she suggested. “You think there are Elden Mages in Celieria. Maybe it was one of them.”
Hisshei’taniwas grasping at straws, so eager to deny her power. He still did not understand why she would fear it so. Lauriana’s explanation of all Celierians’ fear of magic-blighted forests didn’t ring true. Ellysetta wasn’t afraid of all magic like her mother; only herownmagic truly frightened her. And Rain could not imagine why that would be so.
“This was no Mage, Ellysetta. I saw the weaves with my own Fey eyes, and they came from you.”
“Must we talk about this now?”
Rain sighed. “Of course not.” He rose, held out a hand, and helped her to her feet. She looked so... lost, so worried. He brushed thick spirals of hair away from her face. “It will be all right, Ellysetta.” And then, because he couldn’t bear not to, he kissed her.
