Her fingertips brushed across the final image on the page, Adrial's hope for them: a shining city of white and gold rising from forested hills, and two tiny figures embracing before they entered the verdant paradise.

"Oh, Adrial" She flung herself into his arms and fused her lips to his, pouring every desperate ounce of the love and longing she felt into her kiss. How was she ever going to live a single day—let alone a whole lifetime—without the taste of him on her lips, the feel of his arms holding her close, the rush of emotion that shot through her when his skin pressed against hers?

"I love you," she sobbed against his lips, pulling back to feather desperate kisses across his face, the hard curve of his jaw, his cheek, his ear. "Dear gods, I love you so much."

His arms wrapped tight around her, and for one last chime, they shared a final, passionate embrace that would have to last a lifetime. When at last she pulled away, she cast a tearful glance at the silent, stone-faced shadow of Adrial's brother, Rowan. "Take care of him for me," she begged "Keep him safe." And to Adrial, "I will come for you, beloved. Ho matter how long it takes, no matter how many years I must wait to be free, I will come to you. I swear it."

Unable to bear the agony of their parting a moment longer, she spun away. Her quintet wove invisibility to hide their presence, and they hurried out of the forest towards the shadowy outline of tents that dotted the farmlands just beyond the northern border of Greatwood.

The Great Sun was breaking over the horizon, and soldiers were just beginning to stir as Talisa ducked into the still-dark interior of the tent she shared with Colum.

A cool breeze wafted over her, making her skin prickle. The sound of a match being struck broke the silence, and a dim light flared as the match burst into flame.

Colum was sitting in the corner of the tent, his gray eyes pinned on her, his expression colder than she'd ever seen as he calmly lit the small candle lamp on the camp table beside him.

"Welcome back, my dear," he said. "And how is your lover today?”

Celieria ~ Norban

Rain, Ellysetta, and the lu’tan had stopped just south of the woodland hamelet of Norban to rest and eat. They'd been running since before dawn, trying to reach Kreppes by midday. As they rested, Gaelen and the rest of the quintet worked with Ellysetta to improve her battle skills and adjust her aim to fit her own body's reach and height rather than her father's.

At her side, Bel's body went taut and his eyes turned hazy as someone directed a Spirit weave his way. A moment later, he blinked and his eyes turned back to their usual pure, clear cobalt. They were filled with concern like nothing Ellysetta had ever seen before.

"Bel?" she asked, straightening from her throwing crouch, Fey'cha gripped loosely in her hand. "What is it?"

But he had already pivoted on one heel and was marching across the short distance to Rain. A moment later, Rain called, "Fey! Prepare to depart!" and his tone was so clipped and grim, Ellysetta knew something was very, very wrong.

At once, she spoke the word that returned her steel to its sheaths, and ran to his side. All around the small clearing, her lu'tan did the same. Within moments, she was soaring over Greatwood Forest on Rain's back while the dark shadow of her Fey warriors raced across the ground below. Only then did she ask, "What is it, Rain?"

With bleak, blunt honesty, he told her. "Adrial's presence has been discovered by Talisa's husband. The Sebournes are calling for his execution."

Celieria ~ North of Greatwood

"Have you gone mad, Talisa? Have you lost all sense? Do you comprehend even the tiniest fraction of the gravity of your situation?"

Talisa clenched her hands at her waist as her father paced the confines of the king's tent like a caged wolf and railed against her stupidity.

A small sel'dor ring had been her downfall. Lord Sebourne, who had been growing increasingly suspicious of the Fey as they neared the borders, had given the ring to his son as a protection against Fey magic. When Colum had caressed what he thought was his sleeping wife, the ring had passed through her shoulder, revealing her to be a Spirit weave.

Her quintet was now bound in sel'dor and under heavy guard. Two score King's Guard had ridden into Greatwood in search of Adrial and his brother. Colum had tried to drag Talisa off to his family's estate at Dunbarrow—insisting that only on Sebourne land would he and his family be safe from the threat of Fey retaliation—but her father had put a stop to that by going to the king. She'd been taken out of Colum's custody and caged here, under guard, until Adrial was found and brought to the king for inquisition.

"Da... I—"

"No." He cut her off with a slash of his hand. "Don't say anything. Just listen. You are not some farmer's wench who can tumble half the stable lads in her village without harm to any reputation but her own. You are the daughter of the great House Barrial. Wed to the heir of another great House. Third in rank to a princess of Celieria. When you commit adultery, it's a matter of consequence! When you commit adultery with an envoy from another nation, it's a matter of state! And when you compound your adultery with the manipulation of your husband's mind in direct violation of the Fey-Celierian alliance, you turn your lust into a crime punishable by death. Colum and Sebourne have already demanded the beheading of Arquinas and every warrior involved in his deception. And I can't say I disagree."

All the blood leached from her race. "Da!" She gaped at her father in genuine shock. She couldn't believe her ears. He'd always been a friend of the Fey—always! "How can you say that? I made the choice to go with Adrial. I'm the one who betrayed Colum. Adrial's not to blame for what I've done."