Kieran thrust his hands through his hair and turned in an agitated circle. “I can’t believe you can sit there with a straight face and try to portray the Eld as peace-loving innocents who just want to get along. The Eld hate us. They always have hated us. They want to conquer the world in the name of Seledorn and they know we’re the only ones with the power and the will to stop them! Or, at least, we used to be!”

“Enough!” Tenn rose and held up a silencing hand. “It’s clear you have strong feelings on the matter, young vel Solande, but the decision has been made. The Massan will not commit more precious Fey lives to Rain Tairen Soul’s senseless war of aggression against the Eld.”

Kieran stifled a scream of frustration. Tenn was as stubborn as an Earth master. He’d made his decision, dug in his heels, and the gods could lay waste everything around him before he’d change his position or admit he was wrong.

So be it. But Kieran had no intention of blindly following a council who refused to acknowledge obvious truths.

He turned to the Water master of the Massan, who had always been a level-headed Fey and a warrior his parents had long called friend. “Loris… I know you don’t agree with this any more than Eimar did. The Eld attacked us. They’re the ones who started this war, not Rain. You know Rain is right to confront them. You know the Fey were born to fight the Dark, not hide and hope it will go away. Honorable Fey don’t abandon our friends when they need us most.”

“I said enough,” Tenn growled. The room grew warmer as the Fire master’s temper flared. “Out of deference to your mother, we let you speak. And out of deference to her, I will not punish your youthful intemperance or demand restitution for the insults you have flung in our faces. But this council has work to do, and you have outstayed your welcome here. You will leave now and put a leash on that tongue of yours, or you will spend the next month in bound labor.”

Kieran gave a bitter laugh. “You talk about considering the consequences of your actions. But did it never occur to any of you, that by banishing a Mage-Marked Tairen Soul from the safety of the Fading Lands, you might actually be instrumental in ushering in the very doom you’re so afraid of? Nei? Well, consider this. Rain and Ellysetta were shot down over Eld. They haven’t been heard from since.”

For the first time, he saw the Massan’s rock-headed certainty waver. The first glimmer of genuine doubt—and fear—entered their eyes. Nei, they’d never thought beyond their own shortsighted desire for safety.

“You’d better pray the Eld don’t capture Ellysetta and finish what they started,” Kieran said. “Because if they do, and the Mages gain a Tairen Soul’s power, not even the Mists will save you.”

Celieria ~ Dahl’reisen Village

When Sheyl returned, she carried a blindfold in her hands. “I’m sorry, but I must ask you to put this on,” she told Ellysetta. “We know of your mate’s Marks,” she said to forestall Rain’s objections. “We check everyone who enters this village. The blindfold is a precaution to safeguard the location of our village. With our shields, even four Marks should not be enough for the Mage to use her eyes and ears, but we cannot take the risk.”

“Of course,” Ellysetta said, reaching for the strip of cloth. “Nei, Rain, it’s all right.” She laid a soothing hand on his wrist to calm his rising tension. He did not like the implication that Ellysetta’s mere presence was a threat. “They are right to protect themselves. For all we know, it was my eyes that told the Mages where to open their portals yesterday.”

“It was not.”

“We don’t know that for sure. For the villagers’ sake, I will gladly cover my eyes. Here. Help me put this on.” She lifted the folded cloth over her eyes and turned for Rain to tie the ends together at the back of her head.

“You will want to spin a weave around your mate, Tairen Soul,” Sheyl said when Ellysetta’s blindfold was secure. “The cabin’s weave is shielding her now, but she will lose that protection when she crosses the threshold. Most of the warriors have gone to a different part of the village to spare your mate what pain they can,” Sheyl informed him, “but a goodly number remain. They do not trust you any more than you trust them.”

I am wrong to allow this. Dahl’reisen should not stand within a mile of my shei’tani.

Ellysetta put out a searching hand and felt her way down Rain’s arm to his wrist. He had not sent that thought in Spirit. It had escaped his mind of its own volition. «Las, shei’tan. We owe them our lives—and this is their home. They have far more right to be here than we.» She wove calm and peace upon him to accompany her words. «Weave the shield, and let’s go. Our friends in Orest need us.»

Shamed by his lapse, Rain reinforced the barriers in his mind, then snapped the shield weave around Ellysetta with a burst of magic.

When they stepped across the cabin threshold, the dahl’reisen’s presence struck Ellysetta, piercing through the powerful weave Rain had placed around her. Without the Azrahn, his shield was not half so effective as the dahl’reisen weave around the cabin had been, and he felt the pain hit her like a blow. He gathered her close and grasped her hand, feeding her his strength until she drew a deep breath and nodded.

Sheyl approached, her silvery eyes intent. “There are a few sensitives among us. Mostly they live outside the village, where they cannot feel the dahl’reisen so strongly. If you will permit me, I can summon a villager to add Azrahn to your weave, Feyreisen. It will help her block the pain.”