She looked at Rain and blinked back the tears that sprang to hereyes. “I thought you couldn’t read my mind,” she accused. Her anger was weak, but she grabbed it, not wanting to cry in front of these men who had far more reason for tears than she.
Rain only shook his head. “Your thoughts are plain on your face.”
They managed to open, record, and pack away all of the gifts in the parlor before lunchtime. Lillis and Lorelle returned from their morning’s instruction with Madam Nolen, a widow who supported herself by teaching the local guildmasters’ children basic reading, penmanship, maths, and household management. Ellie reviewed their morning’s work, fed them, then sent them out into the rear garden to play with their kitten so the Fey could do a swift, magical spit-and-polish of the house before Master Fellows arrived.
Lillis and Lorelle weren’t pleased when they realized Ellie would be too busy the next three afternoons to take them to the park, and nothing mollified them until Rain offered to spend a portion of tomorrow’s courtship bells playing Stones with them in the park. The offer transformed their expressions from utter dejection to soaring delight, and the sudden change of emotion made Ellie’s eyes narrow with suspicion.
“I think you’ve just been manipulated,” she told Rain.
He glanced after the girls as they disappeared through the kitchen door, then shrugged. “Ah, well, it pleases me to see them smile. They are young and bright, and their laughter lightens my heart.”
She felt her own heart squeeze a little. Behind that simple statement lay centuries of indescribable torment: the pain he’d shared with her that first night in the museum, the loss of the people he’d loved, and now, as she’d just learned, the suffering from every life he’d ever taken in defense of his people. And yet despite all that, he could still find happiness in making a child smile.
She reached for his hand. Her fingers curled around his, measuring through touch the unyielding strength of his grip. She wastall, but beside him she felt slight. He stood a full head above her. His body, while lean, was hard with muscle, his shoulders broad and squared. He was a man built to hold the weight of the world on his shoulders. And she was a woman just learning how much she longed to lighten his burden.
He stood motionless as she reached up to lay her other hand along the side of his face. “You’re a good man, Rainier vel’En Daris.” She rose up on her toes and pressed her lips to his.
A shudder rippled through him. His free hand slid round her waist, and he started to pull her hard against him, then stopped. Though she could feel the surge of longing in him, the fierce desire to capture and claim, he conquered it. The tairen roared for dominance, but Rain refused to give in. He kissed her with breathtaking passion that left her in no doubt of his desire or need, yet when she broke the embrace and stepped back, he opened his arms and let her go.
He held her stunned gaze with eyes that glowed bright and fierce. “I am not a good man,shei’tani,” he corrected. “I never have been. But for you I will strive to be better.”
She pressed a hand to her lips. He could make her feel so much, so deeply and so quickly it was frightening. Just then, while he’d kissed her, a powerful sensation had moved inside her. She could feel it still, drawing her skin tight, shuddering through her bones as if at any moment they might dissolve.
She took a deep breath and dragged a ragged veil of calm around her, tamping her emotions down until the feeling faded. “I should go freshen up. Master Fellows will be here soon, and I don’t want to embarrass you by looking a mess when he arrives.”
Rain’s brow’s drew together. “You bring pride to this Fey just as you are.”
She laughed ruefully. “Yes, well, be that as it may, we both know the nobility won’t share that view—which is why I spent this morning and last letting the queen’s craftsmasters try to change me into something more acceptable. And why I’m goingupstairs now to freshen up before Master Fellows gets here.” She turned and started for the stairs.
“Ellysetta.” The sudden thread of steel in his voice made her halt and look back. His expression was carved stone. The pupils of his still-glowing eyes had lengthened to slits. “I meant what I said. I have no wish to change you. All this”—he flung out his hand at the mess of fabrics and pattern books still strewn around the main room—“was Marissya and your mother’s idea, to help you feel more at ease among Dorian’s nobles. For myself, I’d proudly take you as you are. Just say the word, and so it will be.”
Her eyes widened. He would do that. He’d take her before the court dressed as a peasant and expect them to treat her like a queen.
And be furious when they didn’t.
“I thought the whole purpose of this Kingsday’s dinner was to win the favor of the lords so they would vote to keep the Eld border closed,” she said.
“And so it is, but any Celierian worthy of Fey regard will appreciate the honor of your presence no matter what your garb.”
Her brows almost disappeared into her hairline. “Oh, truly? You know as well as I do that I don’t dare appear before the court dressed in anything even remotely resembling this.” She waved at her simple skirts and thick-soled boots. “They’d be insulted beyond words, and you’d lose all hope of winning their support.”
She wasn’t sure she believed the Mages had reconstituted their power. Thedahl’reisenmurdering innocent villagers up and down the borders seemed a greater and more obvious threat than anything in Eld. But she knew Rain believed Eld was the true menace. And he needed the support of Celieria’s aristocracy to ensure that his fears did not come to pass. He was already starting off at a disadvantage. No noble—especially Queen Annoura—would easily forgive him for raising a woodcarver’s daughter to the rank of queen.
Rain couldn’t dispute her reasoning, though the flush of angrycolor beneath his pale skin said he wanted to. “Be that as it may,” he snapped, “we’re not talking about the court right now. We’re talking about a servant of the court, the queen’s Master of Graces. I assure you I don’t needhisvote, Ellysetta, and that means you have no cause to put yourself out on his behalf.”
She put her hands on her hips. “No cause except common courtesy and care for my own pride. Master Fellows may look at me and see a peasant, but at least he’ll see a tidy one. And thank you so much for making me admit to such conceit.”
Rain’s brow creased in a bewildered look, as if he could not understand how the conversation had ended here, with her glaring at him for embarrassing her. He shook his head and pinched the ridge between his eyes. “It’s been too long since I’ve been a mate. I had forgotten the two rules.”
“The two rules?” she echoed.
“Aiyah. Sariel taught me.” He held up his index finger. “Rule one: in any dispute between mates, the male is always to blame, even when he is clearly blameless. Rule two”—his middle finger joined the first—“whenever in doubt, refer to rule one.”
The laugh popped out before she could halt it.
His eyes crinkled at the corners. He reached out and brushed the back of his fingers across her cheek in a light caress. “Very well,shei’tani.Tidy yourself for this Master of Graces if that will put you at ease. Have the seamstresses provided you with a court gown yet?”
“No, I was just going to put on my green gown. The maestras haven’t had time to finish anything finer.” She gestured to the bolts of cloth stacked against one wall. “I’m still picking patterns and fabric.”
