"How badly?" Vadim asked again. If the Sulimage had slain her … The temperature in the room grew notably colder. A tell of his own, but one he allowed himself to reveal. Showing fear was a weakness. Inducing it was something quite different.

The sudden chill had the desired effect. Kolis's reply spilled from him in a rush. "My umagi struck her more deeply than he should have, but the Tairen Soul was with her. She was healed and had been returned to her home before I left. There was no lasting damage to her, and my umagi paid for his mistake with his life.”

"But now you have raised suspicions.”

"The suspicions were already there, master. The Tairen Soul has sensed our growing strength.”

Vadim's brows drew together. "Impossible. We are warded by sel'dor, witchery and magecraft. No hint of our existence should be felt by any Fey" He'd tested the wards on many subjects over the centuries. There was no doubt as to their effectiveness.

Kolis did not back down. "Possible or not, master, the Tairen Soul has Dorian half convinced the Mages have regained power in Eld.”

The Sulimage had regained his color. He was telling the truth—at least insofar as he knew It made no sense. Vadim had tested the shields of Boura Fell and the other Mage holds often enough throughout the years to be certain of their efficacy. Had the Tairen Soul truly sensed the growing Mage power in Eld, or was he merely passing off suspicion as fact in an effort to revitalize his faltering alliance with Celieria? The former was a troubling concern, the latter an encouraging sign of weakness but still an unwelcome development. They had been making such excellent progress these last few years.

"Do not let the Tairen Soul trick you into acting rashly," Vadim warned. "Overt hostilities now will undermine decades of careful planning." The girl might yet prove prize enough to capture even at the cost of revealing their existence, but failing that, he still had many months of preparation to complete before he was ready to move openly against Celieria. He pinned his apprentice with a cold stare. "I would not kindly view the ruination of those plans.”

"My every effort has been designed to turn suspicion away from us, master." Kolis related how he'd arranged for the Fey to find vel Serranis's blade on the dead boy, and how he'd used the boy's death to accuse the Fey of murder. "The warrior was released, but the seed of doubt has been sown. Already it is taking root. Our efforts to make the mortals fear Fey power are working.”

"But not well enough yet to countenance haste," Vadim cautioned. "Patience must be our watchword." Much as he longed to conquer Celieria, such things took time. The world was full of useful fools; the trick was cultivating the right ones … and carefully encouraging them to usher in their own destruction. "How go your efforts to turn Celieria's queen?”

Kolis's eyes flickered. He drew a breath. "Not as well as I'd hoped, master. She's proving much more resistant than I'd expected. As proud and power-hungry as she is, I thought she would be an easier mark.”

The failure didn't please Vadim, but Kolis's honest admission of it did. "Kin of the Fey don't wed easy marks, young Mage. There may not be a shei'tanitsa bond between them, but it's as close as a mortal bond can come. She loves her husband. Make her doubt that love, and you will break its hold on her.”

The Sulimage bowed. "You are wise in all things, master.”

"As will you be, in time, Kolis." Of all the apprentice Mages who had served him over the years, Kolis was the one most like him. Powerful, inventive, hungry for advancement and conquest. One day, Vadim might have to kill him. For now, however, he had proved more useful than most veteran Primages with a host of jewels on their sashes. "Continue your efforts to discredit the Fey, make it difficult for the nobles to support them. I want those borders open. When we control Celieria from the inside and have isolated the Fading Lands from her allies, then we will strike. As powerful as the Fey are, they cannot stand alone against us”

"And the girl, master?”

Vadim held the Mage blade up to his nose and breathed in as if he could detect her scent still clinging to the metal. "You have not seen proof of strong magic?”

"Not enough to be certain.”

"Then continue testing her. If she is what I suspect, her existence changes everything." He wrapped the blade carefully in a silk scarf and set it on his desk. "Dorian and his queen are hosting a dinner for their Fey guests tomorrow, are they not?”

"Yes, master, they are.”

"Good. Come, and let's discuss what I would like you to do."

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Ellie's pillow smelled like Rain. She turned and pressed it to her face, remembering the scent and feel of his skin pressed close to hers. He'd brought her home last night, then scandalized her by sneaking in through her bedroom window after her parents went to bed. Despite her halfhearted efforts to shoo him out, he'd stayed long past a decent bell, lying with her on her narrow bed, holding her close. They'd talked in quiet whispers about everything and nothing: their childhoods, their parents, Rain's life before the Wars. She'd even come close to telling him about her childhood exorcism and the terrors that still haunted her, but fear of replacing that shining, affectionate light in his eyes with suspicion and horror had kept her silent.

Finally, regretfully, he'd left her a few bells before dawn. Not long after he'd left, weariness had tugged her eyes closed, but for the first time in over a week, no nightmare plagued her, as if Rain's presence had kept her troubling dreams away.