“Welcome back, my dear,” he said. “And how is your lover today?”
Celieria ~ Norban
Rain, Ellysetta, and thelu’tanhad stopped just south of the woodland hamelet of Norban to rest and eat. They’d been running since before dawn, trying to reach Kreppes by midday. As they rested, Gaelen and the rest of the quintet worked with Ellysetta to improve her battle skills and adjust her aim to fit her own body’s reach and height rather than her father’s.
At her side, Bel’s body went taut and his eyes turned hazy as someone directed a Spirit weave his way. A moment later, he blinked and his eyes turned back to their usual pure, clear cobalt. They were filled with concern like nothing Ellysetta had ever seen before.
“Bel?” she asked, straightening from her throwing crouch, Fey’cha gripped loosely in her hand. “What is it?”
But he had already pivoted on one heel and was marching across the short distance to Rain. A moment later, Rain called, “Fey! Prepare to depart!” and his tone was so clipped and grim, Ellysetta knew something was very, very wrong.
At once, she spoke the word that returned her steel to its sheaths, and ran to his side. All around the small clearing, herlu’tandid the same. Within moments, she was soaring over Greatwood Forest on Rain’s back while the dark shadow of her Fey warriors raced across the ground below. Only then did she ask, “What is it, Rain?”
With bleak, blunt honesty, he told her. “Adrial’s presence has been discovered by Talisa’s husband. The Sebournes are calling for his execution.”
Celieria ~ North of Greatwood
“Have you gone mad, Talisa? Have you lost all sense? Do you comprehend even the tiniest fraction of the gravity of your situation?”
Talisa clenched her hands at her waist as her father paced the confines of the king’s tent like a caged wolf and railed against her stupidity.
A smallsel’dorring had been her downfall. Lord Sebourne, who had been growing increasingly suspicious of the Fey as they neared the borders, had given the ring to his son as a protection against Fey magic. When Colum had caressed what he thought was his sleeping wife, the ring had passed through her shoulder, revealing her to be a Spirit weave.
Her quintet was now bound insel’dorand under heavy guard. Two score King’s Guard had ridden into Greatwood in search of Adrial and his brother. Colum had tried to drag Talisa off to his family’s estate at Dunbarrow—insisting that only on Sebourne land would he and his family be safe from the threat of Fey retaliation—but her father had put a stop to that by going to the king. She’d been taken out of Colum’s custody and caged here, under guard, until Adrial was found and brought to the king for inquisition.
“Da…I—”
“No.” He cut her off with a slash of his hand. “Don’t say anything. Just listen. You are not some farmer’s wench who can tumble half the stable lads in her village without harm to any reputation but her own. You are the daughter of the Great House Barrial. Wed to the heir of another Great House. Third in rank to a princess of Celieria. When you commit adultery, it’s a matter of consequence! When you commit adultery with an envoy from another nation, it’s a matter of state! And when you compound your adultery with the manipulation of your husband’s mind in direct violation of the Fey-Celierian alliance, you turn your lust into a crime punishable by death. Colum and Sebourne have already demanded the heads of vel Arquinas and every warrior involved in his deception. And I can’t say I disagree.”
All the blood leached from her face. “Da!” She gaped at her father in genuine shock. She couldn’t believe her ears. He’d always been a friend of the Fey—always! “How can you say that?Imade the choice to go with Adrial. I’m the one who betrayed Colum. Adrial’s not to blame for what I’ve done.”
Cann bared his teeth in a snarl. “Is he not?He brought dishonor to my House and House Sebourne. He lured my daughter from her marriage vows. He used his magic to trick and manipulate mortals incapable of seeing through his illusions. I am not blind to your fault in this, Talisa, but you are a love-drunk twenty-five-year-old mortal. He is an immortal who has walked the earth for gods know how many centuries. He has long been man enough to know the difference between right and wrong and to discipline his passions and avoid the misuse of his magic.”
“I’m not some innocent victim, Da, and I won’t let you pretend that I am. I went because Ilovehim, Da. I’ve loved him all my life. How can you not understand that?”
“What about your duty? What about honoring your vows? Did you think of anyone besides yourself? Your family? Your brothers? Your country, for the Haven’s sake!”
Her spine stiffened. “How dare you accuse me of that? What do you think brought me back?” She flung up her hands in outrage. “If I hadn’t honored my vows, I would have run away with Adrial months ago. If not for myduty”—she spat the word like a curse—“I never would have married Colum in the first place! I don’t love him—I never have and never will. So don’t talk to me about duty! If I hadn’t wed out of duty to my family, I would have been free when Adrial came! I would have had a chance to be happy. You remember what happiness is, don’t you, Da? It’s what you had with Mum. That’s what I wanted to have. It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
Her father’s cheeks went ruddy, and with a muffled curse he spun away and thrust a large hand through his hair. “Flames scorch it,” he swore. He cast an agonized look over his shoulder. “Do you think I ever wanted anything less than happiness for you? But some things, once done, can’t be undone. Oaths, once given, can’t be rescinded. Honor is all we have, Talisa. Without it, we’re nothing.”
Tears shimmered in his eyes. “Do you think you’re the only person ever to be trapped in a loveless marriage? Your mum was the sun, moons, and stars to me. When she died, it was like I’d lost half my soul. Every day I fought just to keep the blade from my own throat. I forced myself to go on because my children deserved a father. Now there’s a woman in Celieria City carrying my child in her belly because the Feyreisa spun a weave I couldn’t protect myself against. And though I don’t love her and never shall, we wed by proxy two days ago so my child would have my name and all the protection that goes with it. And I will honor her as my wife, and be faithful to my oath, even though I’ll never love her. And I will keep the blade from my throat still, every day, because she deserves a husband and the child we made deserves a father. Honor is what makes us worthy of love, Tallie. In that, I agree with the Fey. And every day I live with honor is a day I honor your mother and the love we shared.”
Talisa’s face crumpled and the tears she’d been battling all morning spilled over. “Oh, Da.”
At the sight of her tears, all of her father’s anger melted. The hard-eyed stranger disappeared and he became once more the warm, loving father she’d always turned to in times of trouble. His arms opened, and she rushed into them.
“Oh, Da, what am I going to do?”
He tilted his head against hers. “I don’t know, Tallie. I just don’t know.”
A sound at the entrance of the tent made them turn. The tent flaps parted and Luce, one of Talisa’s brothers, ducked inside. “They’ve found vel Arquinas and his brother. The King’s Guard are bringing them in now.”
“Adrial vel Arquinas, you stand accused of violating the king’s justice, manipulating mortal minds by magic, violating the Fey-Celierian treaty, adultery against a lord of the realm, conspiracy to commit adultery against a lord of the realm, spying upon a lord of the realm by means of magic, defrauding a lord of the realm by means of magic, controlling the actions of a lord of the realm by means of magic, unlawful theft by means of magic….”
The litany of the charges against Adrial continued on for nearly three chimes. In their determination to see him executed, the Sebournes had charged him, his brother, and Talisa’s quintet with every possible crime and variation of a crime they could think of.
At Talisa’s urging, her father had done everything he could to delay the inquisition. The Feyreisen and his mate were on their way, and he had insisted that the judgment of Adrial wait until the Feyreisa arrived to Truthspeak him. Lord Sebourne flew into a rage at the mere suggestion.
