She rode him, her silken hips rising and falling, her inner muscles clasping him so tight each movement was an agony of delight. His weave surged around her and he gave himself up to hers. Nothing else in the world existed except him and her, and this breathless dance of Spirit that grew faster and wilder, until pleasure shattered them both and their cries merged with the rhythmic crash of the surf tumbling across the sands of Great Bay.

"I don't know what came over me," Ellysetta muttered yet again as she and Rain alit in the cobbled courtyard at the back of her family's home. The hot blush in her cheeks hadn't faded since they'd left Great Bay.

"I don't know either, but I hope it comes over you again. Soon." Rain grinned and dodged her slap with a warrior's rapid reflexes.

His grin faded quickly when he caught sight of Bel standing grim and silent in the back doorway of her parents’ small home. The look in Bel's eyes was one Rain recognized, and it never boded well.

"Ellysetta." Rain lifted her hand and pressed a quick kiss in her palm. "Give me a moment, shei’tani. I'll be in shortly.”

She frowned at them both, realizing something was up, but then nodded and stepped past him into the house.

When she was gone, Bel spun a quick privacy weave. "I've heard from the quintet we sent to Norban. They found Sian and Torel's steel, along with scores of barbed sel'dor arrows, scattered over what was obviously a battlefield.”

Rain's mouth tightened. The news wasn't unexpected-they'd already presumed the worst-but the sel'dor arrows .. . Barbed sel'dor arrows had been the Eld soldier's weapon of choice against Fey for millennia. "Has Dorian been informed?”

"Marissya brought him the news a bell ago. He says it's not enough proof to act. That anyone could have made the arrows-or even dug them up from an ancient battlefield.”

Anger and frustration curled in Rain's belly. Dorian was determined not to see the truth before him-as if by ignoring the signs of the growing Eld threat, he could make it simply go away.

"There's more," Bel said. His face was grim. Whatever more there was, it wasn't good.

"Tell me.”

"One of the men they were seen talking to in Norban-a pubkeeper-is missing, too, and is now presumed dead. Sebourne's already calling for an investigation of the Fey.”

Rain closed his eyes. That was all they needed. More weapons in Lord Sebourne's anti-Fey arsenal.

"That's not the worst of it, Rain. Our warriors found another Fey'cha where Sian and Torel were slain. A red blade, bearing the mark of Gaelen vel Serranis.”

"Does Sebourne know that?”

"Nei, thank the gods. None know but our warriors. I told them to destroy it.”

Vel Serranis. Again. Had the dahl'reisen slipped so far down the Dark Path that he'd thrown in with the greatest enemy of the Fey? Had he slain all those Celierian in the north, murdered Sian and Torel, and sent that boy to stab Ellysetta after all? Rain's heart clutched at the thought.

Gods help Celieria and the Fading Lands if the dahl'reisen and the Mages had joined forces. And gods curse Rain for an unworthy fool if he didn't get Ellysetta and Marissya both out of Celieria and to the safety of the Fading Lands without further delay.

"Thank you, Bel." Rain dispersed Bel's weave and went inside, heading immediately to Ellysetta's side.

Sensing his turmoil, she brushed her fingers across the back of his hand. Tendrils of peace and concern wafted over him. "What is it, Rain?”

He stroked her fingers with his own and lifted them to his lips for a kiss. "Do you trust me, Ellysetta? To do what is best for you and your family?”

She searched his gaze, then nodded. "Yes, of course I do, Rain.”

"Then there is a thing I would ask of your father, but I want your approval first."

"I wish to be released from my pledge to wed Ellysetta next week, so we may instead wed tomorrow, after the completion of the Bride's Blessing." Rain announced the request baldly as he, Ellysetta, and her parents sat at the small Baristani kitchen table. Bel and the rest of the quintet had taken the twins into the parlor to occupy them with unwrapping the last few dozen wedding presents and give Rain a measure of privacy for his discussion.

"Tomorrow?" Lauriana protested. "You can't possibly be serious!”

Sol frowned in sharp concern. "Why the hurry?”

Rain glanced down at his hands. His fingers flexed, wanting to wrap around the comforting grip of sharp Fey steel and confront the faceless danger he'd sensed for so long. "At twelfth bell tomorrow, Celieria's Council of Lords will convene for the final debate and vote to open the northern border to Eld. You know I've been working all week to prevent that from happening, but unless half a dozen lords change their minds or the king invokes primus-neither of which is likely-we know the vote will pass.

I want Ellysetta out of the city and on her way to safety before the sun sets on a Celieria that welcomes Mages within its borders.”

"Safety?" Lauriana challenged. "You think we're foolish enough to believe that's what waits for her in the Fading Lands?”

"More safety there than here," Rain said.

"That's a matter of opinion.”

"Madame Baristani, have you forgotten that someone tried to kill your daughter last week-or that something attacked her through her dreams just four nights past?”

"You Fey are magical creatures. Who's to say you didn't stage both attacks just to convince us Ellie's in danger?"