The Mage drew upon her fears, her moments of rage and savagery, showing them to her, forcing her to relive them. Reminding her of the terrible things she was capable of doing—of the things she had done. Despair swamped her. He was right.

«Nei, shei’tani,» Rain’s voice sounded in the Well, much stronger than it had before. «Do not listen to him. You are bright and shining. What you do, you do for love, to protect the ones you love. That is not evil. And you are loved in return, so very much. Can’t you hear them all calling? Can’t you feel their love? They know who you are. They know what you can do. And they love you, as I do.»

The muffled voices became clearer. She heard her parents, calling to her. Her quintet. Kieran and Kiel. Lorelle. Lillis was sobbing, and crying, «Mama said let love be your guide, Ellie, not fear. Love, Ellie, not fear! All magic comes from the gods.»

«Listen to them, shei’tani. Fight for them, for yourself. Fight for me. Live for me, beloved. I thought my soul was darkened beyond redemption, but you proved to me that was not so. Let me do the same for you. Ver reisa ku’chae. Kem surah, shei’tani. Remember what the Elf queen said. You are leinah thaniel. You choose your fate. Choose me, shei’tani. Love me enough to let go of your fear.»

Once before, in Elvia, as she lay in Rain’s arms, she’d had the strange feeling that Rain—even unarmed and un-armored—was her living shield against the Dark. Not her lu’tan, not Hawksheart’s Sentinel blooms, not Rain’s steel or even the devastating power of his tairen flame. Rain, himself.

Now she realized how right she’d been. He was her armor. He was her Light. Just as she was his. With him by her side, his soul joined with hers, no force in the heavens or the earth or even the darkest depths of the Seven Hells was stronger. With him, through him, she was the being the Elves called her: Erimea, Hope’s Light, the power that shone brightest when Darkness reached its peak.

The High Mage of Eld might have made her what she was, but that did not mean she had to fulfill his purpose.

Desperately, she reached for every ounce of power she could summon—not just from the vast Source that welled inside her, but from every loved one, every lu’tan, every person with whom she shared a connection. She channeled that power, not through the body chained in the physical world but through her soul deep within the Well.

There was Darkness in her. She could not deny it. But there was Darkness in Rain, too, and it didn’t make him evil. It didn’t make him less worthy of love. All magic comes from the gods.

She let the Light fill her and released her fear. For Rain’s sake, she forced herself to face everything in her own soul, the gentleness of the shei’dalin, the savagery of the tairen, the Light and the Darkness. She confronted it, accepted it. And then she threw open her soul to Rain and let him in without shame, without reservation, without fear. «I do choose you, shei’tan. In this life and every life to come. Ver reisa ku’chae. Kem surah, shei’tan.»

And the blazing strength that was Rain and his love, filled her, tearing through the shadows of her fear. She heard the shrill cry as the darkness that was Vadim Maur lost its grip on her soul.

The broken bond renewed, and with it came a new thread, stronger than all the rest, a bond thread forged of Azrahn and shei’dalin’s love, strength and gentleness, plaited tight together, blazing with power and strength.

Their joined souls, Light and Dark, soared out of the Well, and in the heart of Boura Fell, their bodies lit up like candle lamps. Their friends and family stepped back as the light grew brighter and brighter, suffusing them with more power than even a Fey body could contain. Their eyes opened, blazing like stars.

«Go, friends. Free the others. Go quickly.»

A golden gray mist surrounded Rain and Ellysetta both, enveloping their bodies in magic, saturating their skin, their breath, their bones… filling them until the vast magic already brimming in every cell of their bodies overflowed and merged. Their forms dissolved on an explosion of pain and bliss. Together, the powerful force that was Rain and the brilliant energy that was Ellysetta Changed.

What emerged from the transforming mist, however, was not two tairen but one. A creature of pure Light, as blinding as the Great Sun.

The great tairen’s roar was a thunderclap that rocked the whole of Boura Fell.

“Hear us, Mages of Eld!” it cried, and its voice was male and female, tairen and Fey, Rain and Ellysetta, inextricably and forever intertwined, singing a Song so bright the notes illuminated the darkest corners of Boura Fell. “For all those defenseless before your evil, we have come. We are Wrath, the Rage of the living. We are Vengeance, the fury of the dead. We are the Light that will stand forever against your Darkness!” Blazing tairen wings spread wide. “We are Freedom, the hammer that breaks all chains!”

The creature’s massive head drew back, jaws agape as fire like the bursting of a giant star spewed from its throat. Rivers of Light swirled around the tairen, spinning faster and faster as the tairen grew ever brighter. The Light expanded in a fiery ball, searing the darkness of Boura Fell, burning away the millennia of pain and evil and anguish. Sel’dor melted. Walls and floors turned to brittle char and blew away in the hot, fiery wind of the Light tairen’s breath.

Scores of Mages tried to rally a defense, casting Mage Fire and rapid spells at the blazing tairen, but their Fire and their magic and then their bodies dissolved into the consuming expanse of Light.