When her teeth began to chatter, Rain wrapped his arms around her and shared the heat of his body to ward away the cold. Together, they floated in the salty bay, Rain’s face pressed against hers, as they watched the Great Sun sink towards the horizon.
The moment the huge, glowing orange ball of the Great Sun touched the horizon, the waters of the bay lit up as if they’d caught fire. Across the vast expanse, dolphins and whales brokethe surface of the waves to watch the sun’s descent and dance on the fiery waves.
“It truly is magic,” Ellysetta whispered as tingling warmth and breathtaking wonder washed over her.
“Aiyah.Every night, so long as the Fading Lands still live, this is Lissallukai’s great and lasting gift to this world: a moment of pure magic to celebrate the greatest magic of all.”
Enchanted, Ellysetta turned to Rain, her body bobbing and sliding against him in the rhythmic rock of the waves. “What greatest magic?”
“Life, Ellysetta.” His hands slid up to cup her face and carry her lips to his. “And love.”
Her arms wound about his neck, holding him close. All the world around them burned with the cooling fire of the setting sun, while between Rain and Ellysetta the now familiar flame of passion ignited.
“Aiyah,” she murmured against his lips. “The greatest magic.”
Chapter Eighteen
There was a time so long ago
When warriors side by side,
We fought the Dark with sword and bow
With strength and burning pride.
Now ghosts remain in Shadow’s scorn
Imprisoned not by will
Soon in time the child is born
And stolen to the hills
From the poem “Shei’tanitsa Reign”
by Lady Flarien diChanis
In the dimming twilight after the Great Sun had disappeared below the horizon, Rain and Ellysetta swam back to the shore where their boat was moored. He dug two long lengths of absorbent cloth from a basket in the boat and handed one to her.
She wrapped the cloth around herself. The air was much warmer than the bay had been, and her shivering quickly faded. “What now?”
“Now we make our bower so we may sleep beneath the light of the fairy-flies and dream of our soul’s true purpose. Look.” He pointed to the forests nearby. “They are waking.” Sure enough, in the dark forests at the volcano’s base, tiny lights were flickering.
He led the way into the forest. His bare Fey skin glowed faintly silver in the darkness and made him easy to follow as he picked his way down a narrow pronghorn trail through the dense brush and soaring trees.
“Here.” The trail opened to a small glen at the base of the nearest volcano. “This will do.” The glen was little more than a bare space in the forest where the rock lay too close beneath the fern-covered ground for trees to grow. A waterfall streaming down the side of the volcano had formed a small pool at one side of the glen. “Come,shei’tani.” Rain unwrapped the cloth from about his waist and snapped it out to its full length, lowering it over a dense bed of ferns. “Time for sleeping.” One black brow arched, and his lavender eyes began to glow. “Or other things.”
Smiling, she went to him and offered no protest as he tugged free the end of her wrap and let the cloth slip from her naked, gleaming body. Her hair spilled down her back and over her shoulders, framing her small, round breasts with vivid licks of flame and curling down her back to brush the swell of slender hips.
Sunset on the Bay of Flame was indeed great and powerful magic. Without a doubt, something had changed in her tonight as she’d swum in the flame-kissed waters set afire by the setting sun. For the first time she stood naked before him and was not the least bit ashamed. Instead, her veins hummed with nascent womanly power.
She reached up to cup his face in her hands. “Do you love me, Rain?”
“More than I knew it was possible to love. All the stars will fall from the heavens before I ever stop.”
His truth was pure and absolute. So unswerving there was no hint of doubt in him. She took a deep breath, dazzled by his utter devotion to her.
He had told her he must go to war to become a king worthy of his crown and a Fey worthy of his truemate’s bond, but the truth was, he was already so much more than she deserved.
