Below him, the wide, long ribbon of the mighty Heras River cut across the landscape like a scar, and beyond that the dark, dense forests of Eld stretched out as far as his tairen eyes could see. It was the first time he'd laid eyes on the land of his enemy in a thousand years.

Bitter memories flooded him. Some his own, some memories he'd never seen before, sung to him on a vibrant new melody of tairen song flowing on the winds from Fey'Bahren.

«Look, Rainier-Eras,» the new song urged. <Look and remember. And learn.”

Vivid, bloody visions filled his mind, despairing visions of the terrible war he'd once fought, and the terrible price not only he but all the tairen and Fey had paid to end it. Devastating grief and loss. The grim determination and staggering sacrifice of so many Fey warriors, shei'dalins, mates, even truemates who'd lost their immortal lives battling the enemy they had mistakenly allowed to grow strong.

The tairen and the Fey had both been decimated in those wars, a blow from which neither race had ever recovered. Of the survivors, thousands more had willingly, selflessly sacrificed themselves again to build the Faering Mists. They'd given their lives ... not just to protect the Fey, as he'd always thought, but to protect him.

He saw it now so clearly in the tairen song that his heart nearly burst from the pain. Despite the consuming darkness in his soul-despite the millions he'd slain when he scorched the world-neither the tairen nor the Fey had reviled him. Instead, they'd died to give him life.

They'd died so he, Rainier-Eras, the last Tairen Soul and the least worthy of them all, would not perish.

Even Ellysetta, who called herself a coward, had faced the terrible blackness of his soul, and offered him what he'd been too craven to give her: acceptance and healing through the quiet, steadfast courage of her love.

«Enough,» he cried to the winds. «I yield. »

The unnatural, tairen-spawned winds died instantly. The skies cleared. «If death is what you seek, it lies before you. We will not keep you from it. If life is your choice, you know where to find it, and you know what you must do.» Sybharukai's final words resonated across the vast distance; then the tairen song, like the winds, fell silent.

Circling the calmed skies near the land of his enemy, Rain made his choice. His wing dipped. His tairen body wheeled north, into Eld.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Ellysetta woke, exhausted, to the faint light of dawn. Still curled in the wing-backed chair. Still alone. No courtship gift lay beside her. No shei’tanitsa awareness warmed her senses. Rain had not returned.

Gaelen and Ellysetta's quintet were waiting for her when she emerged from the bedroom. They regarded her in silence, their Fey eyes full of compassion and remorse.

"Where is he?" she asked.

"We don't know," Bel admitted. "He isn't responding to anyone's calls.”

Her chest felt as if a tight fist were squeezing slowly, inexorably around her heart and lungs. "It's over, then. He isn't coming back.”

"He just needs more time," Kieran suggested. "He'll be back as soon as he starts thinking clearly.”

"Of course he will," Gaelen concurred, "but we can't afford to wait for him. The High Mage is hunting you, kem'falla. You aren't safe here. You must accompany the Fey back to the Fading Lands. It's your only hope of survival.”

"The Fading Lands?" She stared at him as if he'd gone mad. "You made it very clear last night that's the last place I can afford to go. I'm the High Mage's daughter, you said. I bear a Mage Mark. You even planned to kill me to stop me from entering the Fading Lands.”

"That was when I thought you were corrupt. You are not. But you are in grave danger. Rain has left. We must assume the Mages know that by now. They will think to use his absence to their advantage, which means the attack will come soon.”

Ellysetta turned away. At the moment, she didn't care if the Mages attacked. She just wanted the hollow pain in her heart to stop hurting. "My parents agreed to send me to the Fading Lands only on the condition that Rain marry me by Celierian custom in a Celierian church. Well, look around.” She flung out her hands to indicate the room. "Rain's not here. It's hard to have a wedding without a groom.”

"You can wed by proxy," Gaelen answered without hesitation. "It was common practice among kings of old when they took a foreign bride. Belliard will stand for Rain so the wedding can take place today and we can quit the city before the Eld have time to attack in force.”

"Rain wanted the wedding to take place today, in any case," Bel added. "Marissya has the warrant he obtained from the king to ensure the archbishop's compliance.”

She stared at them in sudden understanding. "You've both been planning this all night, haven't you?”

Bel and Gaelen glanced at each other and nodded in unison. "We are bloodsworn to protect you," Bel said. "No matter what happens between you and Rain, the lute'asheiva bonds Gaelen and I both made to you remain. Getting you out of harm's way is our greatest priority.”

She almost started weeping again. What sort of cruel irony was it that Gaelen and Bel would be more steadfast than Rain? "Bel, answer honestly. Do you really think the Fey or the tairen will be safer with the daughter of the High Mage residing in the Fading Lands?”

"Whatever the High Mage is to you makes no difference," Bel answered. "You are the Feyreisa. And your soul is so bright, I cannot believe he could ever use you for evil.”