“I doubt that will be any different now.” A surprising note of kindness gentled Hawksheart’s voice. “You were born to be a world changer. It is not an easy path to walk; nor, as your mate pointed out, is it one without great suffering and sacrifice.” He took a step forward, arms outstretched as if he meant to take her hands, but Rain and the quintet closed ranks again. The Elf king stopped in his tracks. “The question, Ellysetta Erimea, is not whether you will change the world, but whether you will change it for the good.”
“How can you doubt?” Rain growled. “You have only to look at her to see she is bright and shining.”
“Elvish eyes see differently from Fey,” Hawksheart answered mildly. “Your truemate’s Song is neither simple nor certain. She holds within her the potential for great good as well as for the greatest evil this world has ever seen. She is a vessel of the gods the likes of which has not been seen since the Time Before Memory. Not even Grandfather has ever spoken of her except to say she was coming and that the Lord of Valorian must look for her arrival. Make no mistake, Tairen Soul, the fate of the world lies in the balance, and your mate will determine which way the scales tip.”
“I have already said I will choose death before I allow myself to fall to Darkness,” Ellysetta told him. “The tairen will see to it. I have their oaths.”
“Bayas. Those are possible end notes of your Song, and they still shine brightly, which means they may yet come to pass. But there are many different verses that lead to other possibilities, and they are the ones I hope to see more clearly. If you will consent to look in the mirror.”
Rain put a hand on Ellysetta’s shoulder. “If she consents, will you commit Elvia to join us in our fight against the Eld?”
Gold-tipped lashes shuttered the Elf king’s piercing eyes. “I cannot. If Elvia joins you now, the fate you fear most will come to pass.”
“All will be lost if youdon’thelp us,” Rain countered. “We cannot win against the Eld alone.”
“I agree you cannot, but if the Elves enter the coming battle, the High Mage will complete his claiming of yourshei’tani—and that will mean the end of all Light in this world. I have seen this in every variation of her Song. It is a certainty, not a possibility. The Elves must not fight. It would seal the doom of us all.”
Ellysetta half turned towards Rain, instinctively seeking the shelter of his arms.
“Explain. How would your aid in this war ensure her Mage-claiming?” Rain persisted. He didn’t even ask how the Elf king knew she was Mage Marked. Elves Saw too much—about everything.
“She will not take the journey she must if the Elves come to your aid. That is all I can say. If I reveal more, the outcome might be equally as devastating.”
“Do not toy with us.” Rain’s fingers itched to pull his blades from their sheaths, but he kept his hands firmly at his sides. “Forgive my bluntness, Lord Galad, but if you want Ellysetta to help you better See her Song in the Dance, you need to offer us something in return. And what she needs now is help to rid herself of her Mage Marks and complete our bond. What I need now are swords and bows and warriors to wield them.”
“There are only two ways to remove her Marks—either complete your bond or kill the Mage who Marked her. As for military aid, you have already been receiving that, whether you know it or not—or did you think the Feraz were going to sit idle in this new Mage War?”
Rain drew up short. “The Feraz?”
“Have been harrying my southern borders for months now.”
“Ambassador Brightwing said nothing of it when we met in Celieria City.”
“And I would say nothing now, except you are determined to think the worst of me.” Hawksheart pinched the bridge of his nose in a weary gesture. “Believe me, Tairen Soul, I will give what aid I can when I know my interference will not send your mate’s Song down the path of destruction. How to help is what I’ve been trying to See since the day I first Saw her Song as a boy—and lest you forget, I dispatched Brightwing to Celieria City to offer you that help the day I learned that her Song had begun, the day a Celierian maiden called a tairen from the sky.”
Rain grew suddenly still. “That day in Tehlas, when you told my father I called a Song in the Dance, did you also know that I would have a truemate—and that she would be the one you’d been waiting for?”
The Elf’s expression grew shuttered, but he admitted the truth. “I Saw it before you were born.”
“You knew that I would scorch the world.”
“I knew. That Song was certain long before you were born.”
Anger simmered in his heart. “So you knew Sariel would die?”
“Your truemate could never have called your soul if you were still bound to Sariel.”
“And you just stood by and let it all happen?”
“Stood by?” For the first time, anger sparked in the Elf king’s eyes. “My people fought beside yours in every battle and died by the tens of thousands—many by your flame—which I and many of those who perished had Seen before it happened. Loved ones I had known for millennia surrendered their immortal lives to help the Fey hold the Shadow at bay, but some things, Rain Worldscorcher, we could not prevent. Some things had to unfold exactly as they did because the gods willed it so.”
“The gods,” Rain spat. “You mean that flaming Dance of yours.”
“Of course I mean the Dance!” Hawksheart exclaimed. “The Dance is the will of the gods, and our ability to See it was the gift entrusted to the first Elf, Taliesin Silvereye, when the gods fashioned our peoples from the stars. You Fey are the champions of Light, the chosen swords of the gods in the fight against the Dark. We Elves are the beacons, born to guide and aid you.”
“Guide us? If the Mage Wars were the outcome of your guidance, the Fey can scorching well do without it!”
“And yet, here you are, seeking my help and guidance.”
