Worse, she’d endangered Marissya.
She raised hollow, stricken eyes to Rain. “He was here. When I tried to heal Marissya, he was here.”
Rain froze. “The High Mage? You sensed him here in the lair?” Five-fold weaves sprang up instantly around them, humming with raw power.
“You don’t need those. He’s already gone again.” Her voice thickened. Tears were gathering as shock gave way to devastation.
Rain’s shields stayed put. He dropped to his knees beside Ellysetta and grasped her upper arms. “Talk to me,shei’tani.” Fear rode just below his surface fierceness. “Is the High Mage the one killing the kitlings?”
“I don’t know. If he is, he’s somehow masking his presence. I didn’t sense him at all until I touched Marissya.” She bit her lip. “I think he might have—” Her throat clamped tight, as if all her body were fighting to keep from giving the terrible words voice. She forced herself to speak. “I think he might have used me as some sort of conduit to attack her.”
She braced herself for pain, half expecting Rain to pull back in horror.
Instead, after one brief, shocked moment, he enfolded her in his arms. “Not possible,shei’tani. Even if he could use your Mage Marks to attack another Fey, Marissya is truemated. The bond secures her soul from any possibility of corruption. No Mage can ever harm her except through direct physical assault.”
“Maybe that’s what he was doing, then. Maybe he somehow twisted my magic—”
“Las.You’re letting fear torment you.” He brushed her hair back and held her gaze with unwavering reassurance. “You bear two Marks, Ellysetta. Gaelen has already assured us two Marks do not give the Mage enough power to control you against your will.”
She wanted to believe him. She wanted it so badly her belly ached. “But he was here. If he wasn’t attacking Marissya, then what was he—” Her voice broke off. She remembered Marissya doubling over, her arms wrapped around her still-flat belly. “The baby. Marissya’s baby isn’t protected by a truemate bond.”
She and Rain stared at each other, paralyzed by horror until Marissya uttered a soft groan that sent them both racing to her side. Blue eyes fluttered open, and her brow creased in confusion when she saw the two of them hovering over her. “Rain? Ellysetta?”
“How are you feeling,kem’mareska? Can you sit?” Rain put a hand behind her back and helped her up.
“Of course. I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“You collapsed. Don’t you remember?”
“I—” Theshei’dalinput a hand to her head.
“Marissya,” Ellysetta interrupted. She understood that Rain was trying to find a gentle way to pose the question, but some things a mother deserved to know immediately, without coddling. “Marissya, check your baby.”
Fear drained the light from Marissya’s skin, leaving her pale and shaken. “My baby?”
Ellysetta grabbed her hands and laid them flat on her belly. “Teska!Check him now. Is he healthy? Look closely.” Her heart rose up in her throat and stayed there, pounding like a blacksmith’s hammer, as theshei’dalinspun the weave and directed it inside her own body. “Well? Is he unharmed?”
Tears sparkled on Marissya’s lashes, catching the glow of thefirelight. “He’s fine.” Her mouth curved into a trembling smile. “Beylah sallan, he is healthy and well.” She gave a soft sob of relief, then fought to regain her composure. “What is this all about?”
After a brief prayer of thanks, Rain helped theshei’dalinto her feet. “Ellysetta sensed the High Mage when she healed you. She feared he might have used her as some sort of conduit to attack you while you were trying to heal the kitlings.”
“The High Mage.” Theshei’dalin’s eyes widened. “But that’s not possible. Dax and I are bonded truemates. The High Mage couldn’t access my soul no matter how he might try. No Mage can.”
“Aiyah, but as she reminded me, your child is not truemated.”
Marissya’s arms curved around her belly in an instinctive gesture of maternal protection. “But... the High Mage can’t just Mark whomever he chooses. There has to be a connection.”
“I bear two Mage Marks,” Ellysetta reminded her grimly. “I may have been the unwitting connection.” She glanced away from the horror in Marissya’s eyes. “Gaelen should check the child for Mage Marks when we return to Dharsa.”
“Nei, he cannot.” Rain held up a silencing hand when she started to object. “We’re in the Fading Lands now, Ellysetta. What leeway I granted him in Celieria, I cannot grant him here. Weaving Azrahn, even to check for Mage Marks, is a banishing offense.”
Before she could argue, Sybharukai moved closer, her green eyes whirling.«The pride must sing the Fire Song.»
Ellysetta glanced around. She’d been so caught up in her worry over Marissya and the High Mage, she’d blocked out the fierce grief of the pride. All around them, the gathered tairen were almost wild with distress over the loss of yet another kitling.
“Should I take Marissya out of the lair?” Rain asked.
Sybharukai’s ears twitched.«She may stay. Her kitling should hear our song. But Ellysetta-kitling and the mother-kin should take shelter on the upper ledges, as before.»
