As the servants carried the child away, sudden weariness fell upon the High Mage like hundredweights. He sagged and only kept from falling by grabbing hold of the nearest servant.

Vadim fought back a wave of dizziness and nausea. He thought he'd escaped the searing lash of Ellysetta Baristani's magic, but apparently he hadn't evaded it all.

The servant helped him to a cushioned chaise in the next room and began to tend him, washing the blood from his hands. He allowed their assistance without protest. Only his own umagi, the ones he owned utterly, were allowed to enter this room and tend him when he was at his most vulnerable. There was no thought in their minds, no desire in their souls, that he had not put there himself. They would plunge a knife into their own hearts if he commanded it.

"Fetch Elfeya," he ordered. He didn't have the strength to climb the stairs, and he couldn't risk being seen in such a weakened condition. "Bring her to me. Quickly. And make certain no one sees you."

The Fading Lands ~ Fey'Bahren

Ellysetta sat slumped against the lifeless, silent shell, stunned by searing grief. Night after night, for weeks now, she'd flown to the lair to sing to the kitlings. She knew every note and measure of each infant tairen's song, knew the happy patter of each small heart and the little sounds the kitlings made when they sensed her approach. They'd loved her, trusted her.

And she'd failed them.

Worse, she'd endangered Marissya.

She raised hollow, stricken eyes to Rain. "He was here. When I tried to heal Marissya, he was here."

Rain froze. "The High Mage? You sensed him here in the lair?" Five-fold weaves sprang up instantly around them, humming with raw power.

"You don't need those. He's already gone again." Her voice thickened. Tears were gathering as shock gave way to devastation.

Rain's shields stayed put. He dropped to his knees beside Ellysetta and grasped her upper arms. "Talk to me, shei'tani." Fear rode just below his surface fierceness. "Is the High Mage the one killing the kitlings?"

"I don't know. If he is, he's somehow masking his presence. I didn't sense him at all until I touched Marissya." She bit her lip. "I think he might have—" Her throat clamped tight, as if all her body were fighting to keep from giving the terrible words voice. She forced herself to speak. "I think he might have used me as some sort of conduit to attack her."

She braced herself for pain, half expecting Rain to pull back in horror.

Instead, after one brief, shocked moment, he enfolded her in his arms. "Not possible, shei'tani. Even if he could use your Mage Marks to attack another Fey, Marissya is truemated. The bond secures her soul from any possibility of corruption. No Mage can ever harm her except through direct physical assault."

"Maybe that's what he was doing, then. Maybe he somehow twisted my magic—"

"Las. You're letting fear torment you." He brushed her hair back and held her gaze with unwavering reassurance. "You bear two Marks, Ellysetta. Gaelen has already assured us two Marks do not give the Mage enough power to control you against your will."

She wanted to believe him. She wanted it so badly her belly ached. "But he was here. If he wasn't attacking Marissya, then what was he—" Her voice broke off. She remembered Marissya doubling over, her arms wrapped around her still-flat belly. "The baby. Marissya's baby isn't protected by a truemate bond."

She and Rain stared at each other, paralyzed by horror until Marissya uttered a soft groan that sent them both racing to her side. Blue eyes fluttered open, and her brow creased in confusion when she saw the two of them hovering over her. "Rain? Ellysetta?"

"How are you feeling, kem'mareska? Can you sit?" Rain put a hand behind her back and helped her up.

"Of course. I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

"You collapsed. Don't you remember?"

"I—" The shei'dalin put a hand to her head.

"Marissya," Ellysetta interrupted. She understood that Rain was trying to find a gentle way to pose the question, but some things a mother deserved to know immediately, without coddling. "Marissya, check your baby."

Fear drained the light from Marissya's skin, leaving her pale and shaken. "My baby?"

Ellysetta grabbed her hands and laid them flat on her belly. "Teska! Check him now. Is he healthy? Look closely." Her heart rose up in her throat and stayed there, pounding like a blacksmith's hammer, as the shei'dalin spun the weave and directed it inside her own body. "Well? Is he unharmed?"

Tears sparkled on Marissya's lashes, catching the glow of the firelight. "He's fine." Her mouth curved into a trembling smile. "Beylah sallan, he is healthy and well." She gave a soft sob of relief, then fought to regain her composure. "What is this all about?"

After a brief prayer of thanks, Rain helped the shei'dalin to her feet. "Ellysetta sensed the High Mage when she healed you. She feared he might have used her as some sort of conduit to attack you while you were trying to heal the kitlings."

"The High Mage." The shei'dalins eyes widened. "But that's not possible. Dax and I are bonded truemates. The High Mage couldn't access my soul no matter how he might try. No Mage can."

"Aiyah, but as she reminded me, your child is not truemated."

Marissya's arms curved around her belly in an instinctive gesture of maternal protection. "But…the High Mage can't just Mark whomever he chooses. There has to be a connection."