"This is beautiful." She couldn't stop looking at the lights twinkling in the grass and trees. One of the lights flew closer, and she saw it was a tiny, glowing creature with gossamer wings. Its phosphorescent form shifted and glimmered, leaving an impression of slender limbs and great beauty, and then it darted off, a trill of delicate, crystalline notes trailing in its wake.

"There is a glade like this in the Fading Lands," Rain said. "Near Blade's Point, overlooking the Bay of Flame. When the sun sets, the waters of the bay turn to liquid fire, and the fairy- flies awake and light up the hills just like this. Legend says a great tairen called Lissallukai, the first ever to cast a wing shadow over the Fading Lands, once breathed her fire across the waves of the bay at sunset and sang the magic of this world to life.”

"That's a beautiful story.”

He smiled faintly. "Oh, aiyah, we Fey are known for the beauty of our tales.”

The warm night air swirled over them, fragrant with the verdant lushness of the glade, an intoxicating mix of wildflowers and the fresh scent of the night sea. He turned his head towards her, his long, dark hair draping down around his face like onyx silk. His skin shone with Fey luminescence, a light in the darkness.

"Wilt share with me the joy of your kiss, shei'tani?" A finger brushed across her lip. "Ku'shalah aiyah to nei." Bid me yes or no. "Aiyah," she whispered. His head bent towards her, his mouth touched hers with exquisite lightness, letting her confirm her choice. With a sigh of breath that he drank as if it were the water of life, she parted her lips and melted into his arms.

Up until now, modesty had made her reticent to offer him passion without his first coaxing it from her, but this time she met his desire with hunger of her own. Kiss for kiss, breath for breath, she matched him, and his soul rejoiced. The tairen roared, but Rain held it fast and bound it with flows of steel-clad will.

Ellysetta threaded her fingers through Rain's silky hair and ran them over the smooth, warm leather covering his back. A whisper of frustration snaked through her at the small barrier that stood between her touch and his skin. She brought her hands around to his chest, fretting at the maze of fastenings that kept his tunic closed and kept her hands from touching him. She wasn't bold enough to release the numerous catches, nor to ask him to remove his tunic. Irritation over her own cowardice and thwarted desires made her nip at his ear.

A low, purring growl rumbled in his chest. "Wouldst share more than a kiss, shei'tani?”

"I …" The temptation was great. Heat pooled deep in her belly at the mere thought of it. Her flesh felt hot and swollen, and she could feel the hot, rapid throb of her heart pounding through her veins. "We shouldn't. We're not yet wed.”

He pulled back just far enough to meet her eyes. "Since the moment you called me from the sky, I have been more wed to you than any Celierian who stands before a priest to take a wife." He stroked her lips with his finger. His eyes flared with a slight glow, and invisible lips traced his finger's path, pressing fevered kisses across her skin. He smiled a little as she gasped and her eyelids fluttered down. "But I will not take more than you are willing to give. Besides, your father made me swear a Fey oath that there would be no mating before the marriage.”

Her eyes flew open. "He did what? When did he do that?”

"That first night, after we returned from the river... Why else do you think your parents allow us to spend our courtship bells without a chaperon?" He gave a rueful smile. "He is canny, your father. And protective. Good traits for a father to have”

"You and my father talked about mating … about you and me and …" She sat up and covered her hot cheeks with her hands.

His eyebrows lifted. "Why does this embarrass you? There is nothing more natural than mating. When tairen mate, it is a spectacle of great drama and beauty in the sky. All the Fey within a hundred miles come out to watch. When people mate, it is a bit less spectacular, and certainly more private, but: no less beautiful in its own way.”

"Rain . .

"I can show you.”

She pulled back, shocked. "But you just said Papa made you promise not to. You swore a Fey oath." He couldn't seriously be suggesting he would break his oath?

He shook his head. "I vowed not to mate you. I never said anything about showing you with Spirit what your father has forbidden me in flesh." His eyes were slumberous and filled with masculine satisfaction. "When you wager with tairen …”

. take care with your words." They finished the Fey maxim in concert.

"Well?" he prompted in the brief ensuing silence. "Would you like to know what it is like to mate with this Fey? In all modesty, there are few who can equal my mastery of Spirit. You would not know it was a weave.”

Her cheeks felt as if they were on fire. "I don't think that's the best idea …" She didn't even want to contemplate facing her parents after such a thing.

Rain laughed softly, not offended by her refusal. "Little coward. No mating, then, in any form, just a deeper taste of pleasure." He bent his head again, and his tongue did things to her ear that made all thoughts of her parents fly out of her head. She moaned helplessly, and her eyes squeezed shut as sensation grew to stronger pleasure. "Is that Spirit?”

"Nei, that's just me … do you like it?”

Gods help her. "Too much, I think.”