"You didn't answer my question.”

"You did not ask the right question," he replied. "Would the Fading Lands be safer with the daughter of the High Mage living within? Perhaps not. But would our queen be safer with the power of the Fey, the tairen, and the Faering Mists standing between her and those who seek her harm? The answer to that question is now and always will be aiyah.”

There was certainty in his shining gaze, no doubt at all. She looked away. "I need to go home. I need to be with my family. I'll give you my answer after I've spoken with them.”

Her quintet and Gaelen exchanged glances, then nodded. "We will take you."

Whatever hope Ellysetta harbored for parental comfort shriveled the moment she reached her family home. Her parents were waiting by the door, their faces drawn tight with more anger and disapproval than she'd ever seen.

"What have you to say for yourself?" Lauriana snapped the moment Ellysetta crossed the threshold. Fists planted firmly on her hips, she glared at her daughter. Beside her, Sol stood puffing rapidly on his pipe, a sure sign of his agitation.

"Mama?”

"Gone all night, doing gods only know what.”

Ellysetta had spent the night in torment because she was the soul-cursed daughter of the High Mage, and Mama was worried about the appearance of impropriety? She would have laughed if she weren't so close to crying.

"Mama, please. You're upset for no reason. There was a .. disturbance last night, and Rain thought I would be safer spending the night in the palace. Didn't you get my note?”

"Upset for no reason, she says," her mother growled. "An unmarried girl hies off to the palace to spend the night with a man, but her parents have no cause to be upset. Is this how we raised you? To act the slut for an immortal with a pretty face?”

"Mama!" She couldn't have been more shocked if her mother had slapped her across the face. Never had Ellysetta heard her mother voice such an ugly accusation, let alone aim it at her.

"Madame Baristani-" Bel began.

"Silence!" Lauriana's roar cut them both off. She turned the full force of her fury on Bel. "You Fey have no comprehension of decency. You've tarnished our daughter's reputation beyond repair! No decent man would have her now.”

Bel stiffened, and Lauriana was angry enough to be pleased he was insulted. Ever since their arrival, these Fey had trampled on Celierian customs and honors, bit by insidious bit tearing away the lifetime of moral lessons Lauriana and Sol had worked so hard to instill in Ellysetta. Seducing her with their evil magic ways and deadly beauty. Endangering her soul.

"Nothing happened, Mama," Ellie said. "Rain wasn't even there-he left almost immediately after bringing me back to the palace.”

"You were seen, Ellie!" her mother exclaimed. "You were seen entering the Fey king's suite at night in nothing but your nightgown! Look me and your father in the eye and tell us the Tairen Soul hasn't mated you, tell us he hasn't started you using magic. Tell us you've kept to the vows of your Concordia!”

Ellie went pale, then flushed bright, betraying pink.

Sol stiffened at Lauriana's side. "He promised me ... he swore a Fey oath-”

"It wasn't like that," Ellie protested quickly. "Rain kept his oath. He swore to you he wouldn't mate with me, and he hasn't-not really-and the magic was just little things. He was trying to teach me to how to control my magic. We just-”

"You need not explain nor apologize for anything, kem’falla. You have done nothing wrong." An unfamiliar Fey with piercing pale blue eyes stepped close to Ellysetta, towering over her in a manner that radiated protective devotion. But the moment he shifted his attention from Ellysetta to Lauriana, his entire demeanor became one of palpable threat. He stabbed her with a look of such coldness, she actually felt the blood chill in her veins.

"There are none who could guard your daughter's honor better than the Fey," he stated in a voice dripping with disdain. "Even were that not so, she is meant for greatness, not for playing broodmare to a mortal or being shamed by filthy minds too blind to see her brightness”

Lauriana stepped closer to Sol and instinctively clutched his arm. "Who are you?”

"My name," the man said coldly, "is Gaelen vel Serranis.”

Lauriana had never paid much attention to Fey tales, but every Celierian knew the terrible history of Gaelen vel Serranis. "The Dark Lord?" Her tone rose, ending on a shrill note that made more than one of the Fey wince. She speared Ellie with a horrified look. "You brought the Dark Lord into my home?”

"Mama-”

"Madame Baristani-" Bel began.

"Out!" She pointed a shaking finger towards the door. "Get out of my house! You gods-cursed Fey sorcerers have put your last foot across my threshold. First it was magic, then demons and dead men and the ruination of my daughter's reputation. And now you dare to bring the Dark Lord himself into my family's home? I will not stand for it!”

"Mama, please!" Ellysetta held out beseeching hands. Never once in her life had she seen her mother in such a fury. Or so close to hysteria.

"Don't you `Mama' me! I want these Fey out of my house. And gone from my doorstep. This instant!”

"Madame Baristani, it is too dangerous to leave you without any protection," Bel tried again. "The Elden Mages have-"