“So then youdothink Gaelen’s right?”
“I don’t know what to think.” He stopped and turned to take her arms. “Shei’tani, I can see this troubles you, and I know my reaction earlier is partly to blame. Believe me when I say that any horror you sensed was not directed at you but rather at the idea that the Mages might have discovered how to manipulate truemating.”
“Rain…”
“Here, feel for yourself.” He took her hands in his, and her acute empathic senses—heightened further by theirshei’tanitsabond—could detect his sincerity. “No matter how your soul came into being, it is still the soul—the only soul—that calls to mine. And I would have it no other way.” He brushed a curling tendril of hair back behind her ear.“Ver’reisa ku’chae. Kem surah, shei’tani.”
She did not doubt him. With his skin touching hers, his emotions as clear as words on a page, she could not. Still…
“But what if the next skill I discover isn’t something good, Rain? What if it’s something horrible?”
He gave her a smile so sad it nearly broke her heart. “You’re speaking to the man who scorched the world, Ellysetta. There is little even a Mage could do that is worse than that.”
“Rain…”
He bowed his head and resumed walking. “I do not pretend to understand how or why you can do most of the things you do. I merely accept all that you are, and wait for the day that you can do the same.”
That was the crux of the matter. Rain struggled every day with his guilt at what he’d done, just as she struggled every day with her fear of what she one daymightdo—and not even just what she might do if the Mage claimed her soul. She was beginning to think Mama had been right to fear Ellie’s magic and try to rid her of it.
“And if that day never comes, Rain? If I never can accept what I am?”
“You will. You seek answers to the questions you hesitate to voice—even though you fear what those answers might be. I see it each time you discover some new, unexpected talent.” He reached up to stroke a hand through the thick, unbound curls spilling down her back. “You insist on thinking yourself a coward, when you are braver than any woman I’ve ever known. And though I do not much care for the Elves, there is no one better than Hawksheart to unravel the mysteries of your past and reveal the possibilities of your future.”
“Our future,” she corrected. He’d taken to doing that these last days since the Eld attack…talking about events to come as if he wouldn’t be there to share them with her.
“Our future,” he agreed.For what little time we have left.
“‘What little time we have left’? Why do you keep saying things like that?” When he didn’t answer, she stopped walking. “What’s going on, Rain? I know you’re not thinking of returning to the war without me, because I won’t be left behind. We’re stronger together than we are apart. I thought that was already settled.”
“Ellysetta…shei’tani…”
He reached for her but she brushed his hand away. “Don’t ‘Ellysettashei’tani’me. Talk to me. Tell me the truth.”
“I always tell you the truth.”
“Nei, you don’t. You never lie, but you don’t always tell the whole truth either. You simply don’t talk about things you don’t want me to know.”
He opened his mouth, then wisely shut it again. “I do not want to worry you unnecessarily.”
“Silence when I know something’s wrong worries me more.”
He lowered his eyes. The thick black lashes formed shadows on his cheeks in the moonlight and shielded the lavender glow of his eyes. “We are at war, Ellysetta. Much can happen. I am the Tairen Soul. I will lead each battle, and the Eld will make me their primary target.”
“And none of that is any different than it has been since we left the Fading Lands.”
He sighed. “Something is different.” He gazed out at the river. The crystals lining the riverbed refracted the silvery moonlight, making the water dance with pale rainbows. “Iam different.”
“How so?”
He bent to pluck an oval crystal from the bank and rolled the stone slowly between his fingers.
“Rain?” she prompted.
With a swift flick of his wrist, he sent the crystal skimming across the river’s surface. Each time it touched the water, a splash of bright color lit up and rippled out in concentric rings. When the stone sank, he turned a somber gaze upon her. “The bond madness has begun.”
For a moment, her heart stopped beating. Her mind emptied of all thought, leaving only a disorienting buzzing. The world itself seemed to freeze for several long moments. She swallowed and licked suddenly parched lips. “H-how can you be sure?”
“I am sure.”
