“Seledos!” Lord Swan exclaimed. “But that’s less than a month from now! I doubt half the kingdoms could send their armies in time.”
“That is why a dozen fast ships will set sail within the bell carrying Fey Water and Air masters who can help speed the arrival of all allied troops,” Dorian said. “And that is why I have summoned you, my lords. You either have estates directly in the path of the anticipated Eld invasion routes, or you have military expertise that is essential to planning the best defense against this invasion.”
“This is a matter that requires the attention of as many of the council as are still present in the city,” one of the lords said. “Certainly all of the Twenty. Where are Great Lords Sebourne and Ponsonney?”
“Excluding them was my decision,” Dorian admitted. “I doubted Sebourne or Ponsonney would have submitted to a test for Mage Marks, which means they would not have been privy to the information the Tairen Soul just shared with you. Nor should you share what you now know with them. We will come up with our plan. We will deploy troops according to that plan. But the intelligence we have and where it came from are secrets that cannot leave this room. Is that understood? Nor shall any details of our plan be discussed with anyone who has not been verified clean of Mage Marks—not even members of your own family. Not for any reason.”
He let his gaze move slowly from lord to lord, hoping to impress upon them his sincerity while also looking for signs of dissent. Finding none of the latter, he said, “Very good. My lords, we are at war. We must accept the possibility that some of our own nobles may have been compromised by the Eld, and we must guard sensitive intelligence against all possible leaks. Do not even discuss it with your wives.”
He drew a breath. “And speaking of wives, the earlier interruption was Lord Hewen, bringing me news of the queen. I’m afraid I must call a brief recess so that I may attend her. Those of you whose wives have also been ill this week might wish to do the same. We meet back here within the bell to plan the defense of Celieria against impending attack.”
“King Dorian?” As the other lords filed out of the main chamber door, the Tairen Soul followed him to his private exit at the back. “Nothing amiss, I hope? The queen—”
“Is fine,” Dorian assured him. “In excellent health, as a matter of fact.” He spread his hands. “It seems the sickness sweeping through the courts is not a contagion, but rather a harbinger of good tidings. The queen is with child.”
The Tairen Soul smiled, and the expression changed him from dangerous warrior to approachable friend in an instant. “Mioralas,” he said, and there was no doubting his sincere joy. “Blessings of the Fey upon your wife and child.”
“Yes…well…I believe those blessings have already borne fruit for the queen and me—and for every other head of a noble Celierian House who attended that memorable banquet three months ago.”
The Tairen Soul’s smile froze on his face.
“Yes,” Dorian said. “It seems your truemate spun much more than seven bells of inescapable desire in that weave of hers. Every woman who attended that dinner—from blushing young brides to grandmothers whose wombs long ago lost their fruitfulness—is now with child.”
“Pregnant.” Primage Gethen Nour, known to the Celierian court as the newly invested Lord Bolor, stared at Jiarine Montevero in disbelief, then began to pace the luxurious confines of her palace suite. “The queen is pregnant?”
“As are all the ladies who have fallen ill this last week, master,” Jiarine confirmed.
His cold brown eyes pierced her. “Including you.”
Jiarine’s skin went pale. Her lashes dropped to shutter her eyes, a gesture of subservience that was more a matter of self-preservation. “Ta, including me, though it should not have been possible.” A visit to a butcher of a hearth witch after an ill-conceived childhood dalliance had seen to that. And years of bastard-free mating with Master Manza—the handsome Elden Sulimage to whom she’d traded her soul—had confirmed it.
“Well.”
She hazarded a glance up, to find Master Nour tapping his lip with his forefinger and watching her with a calculating gleam in his eye.
“Well,” he said again, “this does bear some thought.” Then he turned on his heel and began pacing again. “I am disappointed that you were not able to get the queen to drink my potion. Now more than ever.”
“Forgive my failure, master,” Jiarine murmured. A quick stab of vengeful satisfaction flashed before she could squelch it. Master Manza wouldn’t have failed. Master Manza had earned Queen Annoura’s trust in a way Nour never would. Master Manza had not turned the queen quickly enough, and the High Mage of Eld had sent Nour to replace him. Jiarine wondered how long it would be before Nour found himself replaced as well. Not too much longer, she hoped. Nour was a sick, sadisticrultshart, and had he been the Mage who approached her in her youth, she would never have surrendered her soul.
Nour’s eyes narrowed. “Your thoughts betray you,umagi. I see another lesson in obedience is in order.”
Jiarine broke into a clammy sweat as the blood drained from her face.
At the sight of her distress, Nour’s lips curled in a cruel smile. “Never fear, my dear. SadisticrultshartI may be, but I promise none of what I have in mind will damage your child.”
“Pregnant?” Ellysetta stared at Rain in stunned disbelief. “All of them?”
“Every last one,shei’tani. From young wives to women well past their childbearing years. You spun fertility even where it no longer existed.”
“Bright Lord save me.”
The corner of his mouth lifted, lavender eyes warm as he brushed a curling strand of hair back from her temple. “I think it’s clear he sentyouto saveus,kem’san. The Fey prayed for fertility and the gods sent us ashei’dalinwho can spin life into even a barren womb.” He stepped back and drew her with him. “Come. The king has gone to see his queen, and he’s asked us to visit her and offer healing.”
She hung back. “Do you think that’s wise? The queen has never been fond of the Fey—or of me—and to intrude upon her now, when she has just discovered what I did to her…”
“What you did was a blessing, not harm, whether she sees it that way now or not. And it is because of the child that Dorian is now so determined to have Gaelen test her before we leave. The possibility of a Mage’s puppet sitting on the throne of Celieria…”
Ellysetta shuddered. When Rain started for the door, she followed without protest, but as they waited for the quintet to precede them out of the suite, she asked, “What will we do, Rain, if the queen is already fully claimed?”
