The arrow slammed into her breast with enough force to propel her backward. She lay on the ground, staring up, breathless and dazed, as the top of a nearby tree crashed down upon her.

The Fading Lands ~ Dharsa

“Why did Kieran and Kiel have to leave again? I’m worried, Lorelle. I’ve got a bad feeling. Like maybe we’ll never see them again.”

Lillis frowned as she rolled the small jingle ball across the beautifully woven carpet in the center of the even-more-beautiful bedroom she and Lorelle had been assigned in the Fey palace. The twin golden bells tied to the pretty white stone at the center of the mesh ball chimed merrily as the ball rolled. The same man who had given Lillis and Lorelle their kittens had also given them the jingle balls. Though most had been crushed by their fall on the mountain, this one had miraculously survived.

Snowfoot, her kitten, pounced on the ball and batted it between his small paws with pure, kittenish delight, and while normally that would make Lillis laugh and want to cuddle her adorable pet, at the moment she barely even noticed the kitten’s antics. Her mind was somewhere else. Somewhere troubling.

Lorelle scowled. “Honestly, Lillis, what’s wrong with you? We’re here in a beautiful, Fey-tale palace, in a beautiful, Fey-tale room. Papa’s here, and happier than I’ve seen him in ages—did you see that workshop Lord Dax had set up for him? When this war is over, Ellie and Rain and Kieran and Kiel and Bel and everybody are going to come home, and we’ll all be happier than ever.”

“I’m just worried, that’s all.”

Lorelle jumped up. “Well, don’t be! Kiel and Kieran are going to be fine. They are!” She stamped a foot for emphasis. She stalked over to the arched doorway leading to the balcony outside their room and stood beside the sheer drape billowing gently in the breeze. Her arms crossed over her thin chest. “We’re all going to be fine,” she insisted again, as if to convince herself as much as Lillis.

A knock on the door made them both turn.

“Come in,” Lillis called.

The crystal doorknob turned, and the door pushed inward. A beautiful Fey lady—was there any other kind?—stood on the threshold. She had lovely long, black hair hanging in ringlets down her back, and the prettiest eyes Lillis had ever seen, deep blue-green and as bright as gems. She looked like she’d stepped from the pages of a Fey tale, clad in a gown of flowing green fabric embroidered with tiny golden leaves, flowers, and birds.

“Hello,” Lillis greeted. “Who are you?”

“My name is Tealah. I was—am—a friend of your sister, the Feyreisa.”

With a spurt of sudden eagerness, Lillis clambered to her feet. “You know Ellie?”

“Ellie.” For a moment Tealah looked confused. “Ah, you mean Ellysetta Feyreisa. Aiyah. We spent many bells together when she was here. I am the Keeper of the Hall of Scrolls, and she liked to read very much.” Slender black brows arched in inquiry. “Do you girls like to read, too?”

“I do.” Lillis cast a despairing glance over her shoulder at her twin. “Lorelle prefers to play Pirates and Damsels.”

“That’s not true.” Lorelle uncrossed her arms to put her hands on her hips. “I like to read. I just don’t like to read all those mushy lovey-lovey stories you like.”

“She likes reading about sword fights,” Lillis said with a sigh. “And about all the battles in the Mage Wars. As long as there’s blood and violence, and someone dies, she’s happy.”

“I see.” With a smile that suddenly looked a little nervous, Tealah said, “Well, I thought perhaps you might like to spend some time with me today at the Hall of Scrolls. I’m sure we can find something to… ah… entertain both of you.”

Lillis snatched up Snowfoot, and a flailing paw sent the jingle-ball rolling. “Can we bring our kittens?”

Tealah looked from Lillis to Lorelle, who had bent to pick up Pounce. The twins both smiled as sweet and innocent as young Lightmaidens and made their eyes very large and pleading.

“I… I suppose so.” Tealah nodded. “Aiyah, why not?”

Twin smiles beamed bright as the Great Sun. Clutching their kittens to their chests, the girls skipped out of their bedroom, out of the palace, and down the hillside as Tealah led the way to the Hall of Scrolls.

In their bedroom, the small jingle ball with its white stone came to rest out of sight beneath a large chest of drawers.

Celieria ~ Verlaine Forest

“We’re surrounded.” Farel delivered the news without a hint of emotion. They’d been on the run all night and into the morning. Several more Walls of Steel had stood—and perished—but the Mages and Mharog kept coming.

Rain’s arms tightened around Ellysetta. She’d sensed the opening of the Well half a bell ago, and Farel’s scouts had traced the sickly sweet odor of Azrahn back to four portals ringing their current position. “So we make our stand here,” Rain said.

“Nei. We’re only thirty miles from the forest’s edge. The reinforcements I sent for are attempting to flank the Eld blocking our path. Our best hope is to push forward.” His fingers closed around the hilts of his meicha in a tight grip. “Sieks’ta. I thought traveling through the Verlaine was the safest route, but it seems I’ve only endangered your lives by slowing our escape.”

“You owe us no apology,” Ellysetta said. “If not for you, we’d already either be dead or prisoners of the High Mage.”