“So much for my second lesson with Master Fellows.” Ellie forced a weak laugh. She lay on a chaise in Rain’s palace suite, her body tense despite the soothing warmth of Marissya’s expert healing weave and gentle touch. Even the shock of her stabbing had faded in the face of her fear of theshei’dalin.
She imagined herself surrounded by a solid, impenetrable wall of stone and steel, her thoughts and emotions safely barricaded within, but shivers still racked her body and her teeth chattered uncontrollably as the warmth of theshei’dalin’smagic penetrated her flesh.
At last the glow surrounding Marissya’s hands dissipated and she stepped back.
“Will I live?”
A tired smile curved theshei’dalin’slips. “Aiyah, I am glad to report that you will.”
Ellysetta’s eyes narrowed as magic tingled across her skin and she saw a faintly unfocused look enter both Rain’s and Marissya’s eyes. “Speak so I can hear,” she told them. “As I was the one stabbed, I have a right to hear what you are saying.”
“Sieks’ta,” Marissya murmured. “I was telling Rain the blade wasn’t poisoned but there were remnants of a pain suppressant in your blood. The blade was treated with a numbing agent, which explains why you didn’t feel anything even though the boy stabbed so deep he pierced a kidney.” She glanced up at Rain. “It was good you stopped the bleeding as quickly as you did.”
“That boy meant to kill me.” Even though Rain had warned her of such a possibility, it hadn’t seemed real until now.
Rain’s lips thinned. “It appears so,shei’tani.”
A warrior approached. He gave a short, brisk bow and whispered something into Rain’s ears. Rain’s brows drew together in a sudden scowl. Whatever the news, it wasn’t good.
“What is it?” Ellie asked.
“Something has happened,shei’tani, and I must go. Ravel and hischa’korwill see you safely home. Do not leave your home again today no matter what the reason.”
Irritation flashed. He was shunting her aside as if she were a child to be sent to her room while the grown-ups tended to important matters. “Tell me what’s going on, Rain.”
For a moment, she thought he might not answer. And when he did, she almost wished he hadn’t. “Bel has been taken into custody by the King’s men. The boy who attacked you is dead. A dozen witnesses claim to have seen Bel murder him.”
Ellysetta swung her legs over the edge of the chaise and stood. “I’m coming with you.”
“Nei, shei’tani.Your family is worried, and they need to see for themselves that you are unhurt. Ravel will take you to them while Marissya, Dax, and I deal with this.” He raised her face to his and held her gaze steadily. “Go to your family,ajiana.”
“But Bel—”
“Trust me. I will not allow him to come to harm.”
Ellysetta searched his gaze and found resolve and reassurance. “I do trust you,” she said.
His eyes glowed with sudden emotion. The hand beneath her chin slid round to cup her head and draw her closer. He bent his head and took her lips in a kiss that left her breathless.
“Beylah vo, shei’tani. Your words bring joy to this Fey’s heart.” He straightened and met Ravel’s gaze, then the gaze of each member of her secondary quintet. “Guard her well, my brothers.”
“With our lives, Rain,” Ravel replied.
Rain tracked Dorian down to his council chamber, where he was meeting in private session with the twenty Great Lords who between them governed more than half of Celieria.
News of the would-be assassin’s death had traveled through the city faster than magic-fed flames, rousing an astonishing furor. Outside the palace, the Fey reported seeing flurries of inflammatory pamphlets and small mobs of citizens gathering to march on the palace and demand justice for the dead boy, and when one of Dorian’s advisors broke the privacy seal on the council chamber as he stepped briefly outside to request a book of legal precedents, Rain overheard at least half a dozen voices within calling for an inquiry and trial—of Bel.
“My Lord Feyreisen!” the council attendant yelped as Rain brushed past. “You cannot go in there! The Council is in session!”
Rain didn’t spare the man a glance. He threw open the doors to the council chamber and swept inside. Dax and Marissya followed close behind him.
The great round marble chamber, its raised tiers filled with enough velvet-upholstered chairs to seat the two hundred lords of Celieria’s noble houses, was mostly empty. Only the gold and silver thrones of the king and queen and the semicircle of twenty lesser thrones belonging to the heads of the Great Houses were currently occupied.
Dorian and his Great Lords regarded Rain with a mix of shock and affront as he strode towards them across the chamber’s gleaming marble floor. Annoura narrowed her eyes.
“My Lord Feyreisen”—the king’s chief advisor jumped to his feet from his chair behind the king’s throne and rushed forward to block Rain’s advance—“this is highly irregular. I’m afraid I must ask you to leave. This Council is in private session.”
Rain waved an arm, silencing the man and nudging him aside with a single, swift weave. “King Dorian, you are holding thechatokkai—the First General—of the Fading Lands. I have come to demand his release.”
