“Tomorrow?” Lauriana protested. “You can’t possibly be serious!”
Sol frowned in sharp concern. “Why the hurry?”
Rain glanced down at his hands. His fingers flexed, wanting to wrap around the comforting grip of sharp Fey steel and confront the faceless danger he’d sensed for so long. “At twelfth bell tomorrow, Celieria’s Council of Lords will convene for the final debate and vote to open the northern border to Eld. You know I’ve been working all week to prevent that from happening, but unless half a dozen lords change their minds or the king invokesprimus—neither of which is likely—we know the vote will pass. I want Ellysetta out of the city and on her way to safety before the sun sets on a Celieria that welcomes Mages within its borders.”
“Safety?” Lauriana challenged. “You think we’re foolish enough to believe that’s what waits for her in the Fading Lands?”
“More safety there than here,” Rain said.
“That’s a matter of opinion.”
“Madame Baristani, have you forgotten that someone tried to kill your daughter last week—or that something attacked her through her dreams just four nights past?”
“You Fey are magical creatures. Who’s to say you didn’t stage both attacks just to convince us Ellie’s in danger?”
“Mama!” Ellysetta protested.
“Laurie!” Sol scolded at the same time.
Rain’s eyes flashed dangerously. “Do not dare suggest the Feywould ever harm Ellysetta. Every warrior in this city—every warrior in the Fading Lands—would die to spare her the slightest wound. Two already have.”
Sol stared at Rain in shock. “What?”
“I sent two Fey north to find out what they could about Ellysetta’s origins. They were murdered.” He covered Ellysetta’s hand with his own. She’d been upset when he told her the news, but it had helped to convince her of the seriousness of the threat. He hoped her parents would be equally understanding. “I received confirmation of it today when we returned from our courtship bells.”
“Murdered... by whom?”
“We believe it was the Eld, which means if the trade vote passes—as it appears it will—the same folk who murdered my men will have much easier access to Ellysetta and your family.”
Unblinking brown eyes regarded him solemnly. A long moment passed in silence.
“Sol!” Lauriana protested. “You can’t seriously be considering his request.”
“How would you feel, Laurie, if she were hurt—maybe even killed—because we were too selfish to let her go?”
“Will it feel any worse than when we send her to the Fading Lands and she loses her soul to these godless sorcerers because there’s no one there to be her beacon?”
“Mama!”
“Laurie!” Sol stared at her as if she’d grown two heads. “What’s gotten into you? The wedding’s already been agreed to. She’s going to the Fading Lands. The only question is whether she goes tomorrow or a few days after that.”
Lauriana bolted up from her seat at the table and rushed out of the kitchen. Sol gave Rain an apologetic look and followed his wife.
“Mama didn’t mean it,” Ellysetta said. “She’s just been... upset recently.”
Rain sighed. “She never wanted this marriage to happen. She made that clear from the start. I’d just hoped that she would have begun to accept the idea by now.”
“I thought she had, to begin with,” Ellysetta said softly, coming to wrap her arms around him. “But I guess she needs a little more time. After we’re wed, when things calm down enough that we can come back for regular visits, she’ll see for herself that living with the Fey isn’t destroying my soul. She’ll come around then.” When Rain didn’t respond, she drew back to look up at him. “We will come back, won’t we, Rain?”
He hesitated, then said, “I’ve already told you your family will always be welcome in the Fading Lands.”
Her spine went stiff. Her arms dropped away and she stepped back, putting distance between them. “Are you telling me once we leave, I can never return?”
“If the borders are opened to the Eld, it would be too dangerous.”
Her face went stony and inscrutable even as irritation sizzled across his senses. “Well,” she said after several long seconds of silence, “I guess you’d best do everything you can tomorrow to make sure the borders remain closed, then.” Her jaw grew firm. “Because if my family is here, I will be coming back. Whether you like it or not.”
She stepped past him and marched into the other room, heading for the stairs. Unwilling to let her storm off, he followed and grabbed her wrist. Tumultuous emotions—hurt, anger, distrust, even an underlying current of fear—rushed into him as his flesh touched hers.
