«I must feed. You will be safe here. Speak the command “lissi” to light the lamps.»That was all he said, the first words he’d spoken to her since leaving Chakai. His voice was a ragged thread of sound. Then he was gone.
“Rain!” she called after him.«Rain!»
«Light the lamps, Ellysetta, and go to the hall. I will join you as soon as I am done.»In the distance, Rain’s tairen roar broke the silence, followed by the frightened squeal of whatever unfortunate creature had caught his predator’s eye.
A shudder rippled through her, but it wasn’t caused by fear or squeamishness. The primal sound of the hunt had sent hot energy rushing through her veins. Her muscles tensed. She could picture Rain in her mind, wings spread wide, fangs dripping with the blood of his kill, a powerful, deadly predator. Inside, her own still-restless tairen growled with a hungry bloodlust that made her pulse race and her breath come fast and shallow.
“Lissi!” she called out, hoping to dispel the disquieting sensation. She dragged the folds of her cloak closer around her and took a hurried step forward, towards the soft lights that bloomed in the darkness.
Worry turned to wonder as she drew closer and discovered theabandoned city that emerged from the deep shadows of the forest, lit with a silvery glow. Steadying herself with a palm against the trunk of a nearby tree, Ellysetta let her stunned gaze sweep across the luminous forest treasure.
«Rain, what is this place?»
In the distance, she heard another terrified squeal, followed moments later by a tairen’s roar.«It was called Elverial.»His Spirit voice throbbed with dark, dangerous tairen notes.
Elverial. The valley of the Elves. The name seemed entirely appropriate. The city was nestled in a deep valley between two peaks of the Silvermist range, and the buildings seemed as much a part of the forest as the trees themselves, rising from the ground in muted shades of green and brown and silvery stone, curling around the living trunks of ancient trees and flowing in graceful levels up the steep rise of the mountainside.
The place looked so Elvish, she was half expecting some point-eared bowmaster to leap down from the tree branches overhead and challenge her presence, but if the Elves had indeed ever dwelled here, they had left long ago. Stone walkways led across the leaf-scattered forest floor, and statues darkened by years of neglect stood silent, melancholy guard in gardens reclaimed by the untamed beauty of nature.
A large building she assumed was the hall Rain had mentioned rose from the forest nearby, and Ellysetta followed the nearest pathway, now barely more than a trail of broken stones leading through meadows of ivy and ferns. She climbed a short stairway and passed through the open, arching doorway leading to the interior of the hall.
Within, the hall was beautiful and otherworldly, as peaceful a place as she’d ever seen. Her gasp of wonder became a deep, luxurious breath, brisk with the cool, fresh air of the forest and the tang of mist from the mountain streams tumbling down nearby waterfalls.
Overhead, fire glowed soft in silvery chandeliers shaped likeblossoming vines. Soaring, open arches brought the forest into the hall, where the muted green, brown, and gold forest tones merged harmoniously with touches of color—deep purples, rich blues, and occasional bright flashes of buttery yellow and crisp crimson. A mix of Feyan script and Elvish runes scrolled in graceful whorls along the arched doorways and up the stone columns that had been carved to look like tree trunks rising from the floor, their branches holding aloft the vaulted ceiling. Tapestries and elegant furnishings still filled the empty hall, as if some caretaker or protection weave had kept away the ravages of time.
“This was my mother’s birthplace.”
She felt the sudden burst of Rain’s Change only instants before he spoke, and she turned, heart racing, to find him standing in the doorway of the hall. Magic glowed bright around his tall Fey form, his eyes still more tairen than Fey, and despite the serenity of their surroundings, she felt her own tairen shift and tense in response.
“After I returned to sanity, I would come here from time to time, seeking peace and solitude.” He had finished his hunt, but tension still swirled around him—as did a hunger his hunt had not assuaged.
Her mouth went dry. “And did you find it?” She cleared her throat. “The peace you sought?”
“A measure of it.” He began to walk towards her, his steps long and deliberate, his face a gleaming pale mask that appeared carved from Silverstone, his eyes searing jewels. “More so than tonight.”
Her heart slammed against her ribs, and despite herself, she took several steps back. A wall covered with a tapestry depicting elves at the hunt stopped her retreat. “Rain, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize what I was doing to you... what toll my healing therasawould take on you.”
He reached her, stopping with only the barest handspan between them, not touching her, but so close she could feel the swirling heat emanating from him, the tingle of great magic scarcely contained by his flesh.
“Do not blame yourself. You made your choice, and I made mine.” His voice was a low scrape of sound that combined with the steady, burning gaze of his eyes and the electric throb of his magic to make her tremble from head to toe. “I could have stopped you or simply taken you away from Chakai to a place where you could no longer feel therasa’s pain.”
She wet her lips. The answering throb of her own magic was rising again, quick and hot. “Why didn’t you?”
“You needed to save themfromdeath. I needed to save themforit. When the Eld strike, I will need every Fey blade I can find to defend the Fading Lands.” He put his hands on either side of her head, palms flat against the wall. “I also knew you would not easily have forgiven me for stopping you. You already trusted me so little you felt the need to sneak from our bed. There are enough obstacles in the path of our bond without creating more.”
“I...” Her voice trailed off. What could she say?
“So I allowed you to do what you felt you must, Ellysetta. I knew the price of my choice, and I paid it.” His head lowered, his glowing eyes fixed upon her, holding her captive. “But there was a price for your choice too,shei’tani, and that must be paid as well.”
A strand of his hair slipped free of his shoulder to brush her cheek, and the ends of it tickled the top of her left breast. Her womb clenched tight, sending a bolt of pleasure shuddering through her. Just that one tiny touch and she was ready to explode.
She swallowed hard. “P-price?”
“They touched you. Fey after Fey, unbonded males.” The edge of his lip curled up, baring the white gleam of teeth. “You let them put their hands upon you, their scent upon you.”
All the air evaporated from her lungs. “I-I...”
“I’ve done all I can to exhaust the tairen and drain myself of magic, but I can wait no longer.” His pupils narrowed to slits, thendisappeared entirely, and his eyes began to whirl with tairen radiance. “We will wait no longer.”
