“And three people are dead because we let Adrial stay with his shei’tani and hide his presence from the Celierians. And now, though you’ve been told we must both face the High Mage together, you want to send me away and ensure our defeat.”

“You are twisting the facts. I want to keep you alive! How is that so wrong?”

She sat up and put her arms around him. “I don’t want to die, Rain. But I won’t be sent away so you can sacrifice yourself. You need me.” She stroked her fingers through his hair, smoothing the long strands back from his beautiful face. The bond madness was upon him. He fought it every moment of the day, and without her close by, the battle was more difficult. “And I need you, just as much.”

The last three weeks, they’d been each other’s constant companions, never apart for more than a few chimes, and tonight, when he met with his generals while she went to heal Rowan, she’d felt his absence acutely. She’d come to rely on the strength she drew from him when he was near, just as she’d come to rely on Lord Hawksheart’s magical circlet of yellow Sentinel blooms to keep the Mage out of her dreams when she slept. Just this last bell apart from Rain had left her feeling stretched thin. She’d found herself constantly reaching for him through their bond threads, drawing his emotions to her and soothing him with her own. Needing to know that he was close, that he was well, that she was not alone.

It frightened her, a little, how much she needed him.

“Sending me away won’t save me, Rain. Without you to keep me strong, it’s only a matter of time before the High Mage claims my soul.” She already bore four of the six Mage Marks needed to enslave a soul, shadowy bruises upon the skin over her heart, invisible except in the presence of the forbidden Dark magic, Azrahn. Two more Marks, and she would be lost forever. “You know that, even if you want to deny it.”

His face crumpled. “I can’t lose you.”

“And that’s why you can’t send me away. Because the only way you could ever truly lose me is if the Mage claims my soul. Besides,” she added softly, “if you sent me away, where would I go? You’re the only family I have left.”

Ellysetta was, essentially, an orphan. Mama—Lauriana Baristani, her adoptive mother—had been killed by the Eld. Papa and her two sisters, Lillis and Lorelle, were lost in the magical fog of the Faering Mists. Her Fey parents, Shan and Elfeya v’En Celay, whom she had never met, were prisoners of the High Mage of Eld, and had been for the last thousand years. Except for Rain, she had no other kin.

His head bowed. Shei’tani. The word escaped his battered mind, filled with sorrow and despair. “I need to keep you safe.”

“The safest place for me is at your side. Whatever happens, we face it together.”

His eyes closed and he nodded. “Doreh shabeila de.” So shall it be. She pulled him close, stroking his hair and back, and he kissed her tenderly. But when tenderness blossomed to passion, and he would have borne her down upon the bed, she stopped him.

“If this is to be our last night together, shei’tan, I don’t want to spend it here, in a strange room in a cold castle on the borders.”

His brows rose. “Then where would you have us go?”

“To the Fading Lands.” When he frowned in confusion, she lifted a hand. The lavender glow of Spirit, the magic of thought and illusion, gathered in her palm. “I want to spend our last night in Dharsa, with our friends and family around us and the tairen singing from the rooftops and the scent of Amarynth in the air.”

Rain’s lips curved in understanding. “I think, between the two of us, we can arrange that.” His weave joined her own, threads merging and spilling out across the room. The walls, the bed, all of Celieria faded away, replaced by the perfect beauty of Dharsa and the gardens near the golden Hall of Tairen. Faerilas, the magic-infused waters of the Fading Lands, burbled in exquisite marble fountains, and the air was redolent with the scents of jasmine, honey-blossom, and Amarynth, the flower of life. The Fey were singing, the music rising into a soft evening sky. Fairy flies winked and glittered amidst the flowers and trees.

And there, standing in the great marble arches, stood Ellysetta’s family. Mama and Papa and the twins. Her Fey parents, Shan and Elfeya, healthy and whole and free, their faces alight with love. Kieran and Kiel, Adrial and Talisa, and Rain’s parents, Rajahl and Kiaria. Even sweet, shy, gentle Sariel, Rain’s first love, was there, dancing the Felah Baruk with the joyful Fey maidens and fierce-eyed Fey.

Rain and Ellysetta joined them. They danced and they sang, and as the night deepened, they walked out into the perfumed gardens and made love beneath the stars.

And overhead, the sky was filled with tairen.

And the world was filled with joy.

The Faering Mists

Lillis Baristani had never been happier in her life. She didn’t know if she’d died and gone to the Haven of Light or if the Faering Mists was a magical place where dreams came true. Either way, she never wanted to leave. Mama, who died in the Cathedral of Light this summer, was here. And Lillis spent every day glued to her side, sitting beside her on a wooden swing in the misty garden, cooking and laughing with her in the kitchen, lying with her head in Mama’s lap as Mama read to her at night. Everything she’d missed since Mama had died. Everything she’d wished she could do again.

Every moment seemed perfect, enchanted. And Mama was even more wonderful than Lillis could ever remember her being. It was as if whatever had happened that day in the Cathedral of Light had changed Mama, stripping her of the fear and disapproval that had so often darkened her eyes.