Once, that would have alarmed her. To be so… naked. So utterly vulnerable, even to him. Now, it filled her with joy, a warm, radiant happiness like a sun shining forever in her soul.

She smiled into his eyes, loving him with a completeness she’d never dreamed possible. There was no part of her that did not belong to him, no part of him that did not belong to her. They were now one soul, shared between two bodies. One soul existing in a state of grace so perfect, so complete, it was as close to feeling the hand of the gods as a living creature could experience.

Her fingers traced the smooth, proud lines of his face and neck, caressed the breadth of his shoulders, marveling at the softness of the Fey skin that covered such indomitable strength. “You are my strength, shei’tan.”

“And so I will be for all eternity, Ellysetta shei’tani.” He caught her hand and pressed a smiling kiss into her palm. The tip of his tongue touched her skin in a small, catlike lick. The glow kindling in his eyes turned the tiny, feline caress into an erotic promise. “Wilt thou join thy beloved, shei’tani?”

Her lips curved, lashes lowering in a simmering look. “Always, shei’tan.”

His mouth touched hers, and heat bloomed in instantaneous response. She arched against him, purring in her throat as his hands smoothed down the sides of her body and tracked trails of fire and longing in their wake.

“Mrowr?”

A rush of cold air swept into the protected warmth of the shellabah. Ellysetta’s eyes flashed open, as a familiar voice sang, «No, no, kitling. When the Feyreisa and Feyreisen are mating they like ‘privacy.’ You must knock before entering their lair.»

She and Rain groaned together and turned towards the purple silk drapes—one of which now sported the face of an inquisitive tairen kitling poking through at the bottom. “Mrowr?” Hallah said again, twitching her black ears.

«Knocking! Knocking!» three kitling voices chimed with delighted exuberance. Hallah squawked as the silk drape over her head ripped from its moorings and three kitlings tumbled into the shellabah on top of her. Fuzzy and adorable, their wings still sporting downy fur, Letah, Sharrah, and Miauren clambered to their feet, and promptly lost all interest in Steli’s lessons about knocking in favor of chasing the pretty, fluttery purple thing now tangled in their wings and tails.

Watching them, Steli purred in maternal contentment then told Ellysetta and Rain, “Steli is teaching the kitlings to do knocking.”

“So we see,” Rain said drily. “Thank you so much, Stelichakai”

Steli snickered, twitched her nose, then gave a great, feline yawn and fluttered her wings. «Hunting tomorrow.»

“Somewhere other than here, I hope.” Ellysetta sat up, spinning a gown to cover herself.

«Hunting?» The kitlings stopped chasing the silk drape and perked up. «Pouncing!»

Pouncing was apparently a lesson Steli had already taught, because all four kitlings immediately began hunkering down, growling in their throat, then leaping at one another, crying. «Pounce! Pounce! Pounce!»

Ellysetta squealed and leaped out of the way as Sharra came tumbling past, crashing into the chaise and sending it skittering across the shellabah’s warmed marble floors.

«Very good pouncing, kitlings,» Steli purred in approval. «But be careful of the pride-kin. In this form, they break.»

«Sorry, sorry,» Sharra mumbled, then she growled and threw herself on her siblings again.

As Ellysetta laughed and rolled her eyes, a second interruption ended any hope of shooing out the tairen and returning to the peace and privacy she and Rain had been enjoying since returning to the Fading Lands.

A private Spirit weave arrived from Dharsa. «Rain? Ellysetta?»

«Marissya?» Rain answered instantly, all humor wiped away by concern. Marissya would not have intruded except for good reason. «What is it? What’s wrong?»

«Neitha,» she assured him. «Nothing is wrong. But we have found something in the Hall of Scrolls. I think you both should come.»

The Fading Lands ~ Dharsa

The Hall of Scrolls had been badly damaged in the attack on Dharsa, but its Keeper, Tealah vol Jianas, had insisted that all homes and the palace be restored before the Fey diverted any of their efforts to repairing the Hall. Consequently, it was only now, a full week after the battle, that the rubble was cleared. And in doing so, the Fey had uncovered a secret stair that had been hidden behind a thick, solid wall of stone.

At the sight of the broken rock and the gaping, jagged edges of the dark hole that led down below the Hall, the hairs on the back of Ellysetta’s neck stood up. Her hand reached for Rain’s.

“There is a mirror down there,” she said. “Like the Mirrors of Inquiry here in the Hall.” All but a few of those Mirrors now lay smashed and shattered in the rubble.

Marissya looked at her in surprise. “Aiyah, there is a mirror. But how did you know? “

“I have seen it before. In my dreams.” She released Rain’s hand and ducked into the jagged doorway, summoning a ball of Fire to light her way. The stair curved down into a small, windowless stone chamber beneath the Hall of Scrolls, and there, in the center of the room, just like her dreams, sat the dark, oval mirror perched on a stone column.

As she approached it, the mirror began to glow a phosphorescent blue, and a face appeared in the center of the glowing light. Blond hair billowed gently around the stern, Fey-beautiful masculine face from her dreams. Green eyes shone like stars. The mouth opened, and a voice spoke, deep and resonant.