Rain's expression lost its fury. A man protecting his daughter was something any Fey understood all too well. "Agreed." He turned back to the queen. "I believe now your Celierian laws are satisfied. Ellysetta's father has given me the right to offer payment on his behalf. The Brodsons have accepted it. The betrothal is broken.”

Seeing Ellysetta about to slip from his grasp, Den jumped to his feet and shouted, "She's mine! She bears my mark! She accepted it willingly! Ask her parents! She never tried to stop me, never called out for help.”

A feral growl rumbled ominously from the Feyreisen's throat. He bared his teeth, his eyes flashing hot with power and rage. The guards along the walls snapped to tense alertness. "She called to me. I felt her terror, her fear, her outrage across hundreds of miles. Willing? You attacked her in her own home, took advantage of her innocence and her ignorance of your mating rituals to put your filthy mark on her and lay claim to her against her will. You did not know she was my shei'tani. It is the only reason you still draw breath.”

"My Lord Feyreisen!" The king snapped. "You will not threaten Our subjects in Our presence.”

Rain's head whipped around. The torches on the wall flared violently, making the crowd gasp. "Then your subjects had best not lay claim to the Tairen Soul's mate," he hissed. It was not a ruler, not a man of peace, who looked out from Rain's face, but a fierce predator, barely caged. No one in Celieria had seen a Tairen Soul in a thousand years, and no one—not even the king, with his Fey blood—had understood what they were dealing with. Ellie couldn't help feeling both fear and a thrill of excitement at the display of primitive possessiveness. His savagery, which should have frightened her witless, made her feel protected instead. She had never known what it was to be wanted so badly by anyone, had never dreamed such a thing could happen to her. A tide of longing swept over her, drowning out her fear of magic, her nightmares, even Selianne's warning not to let the Fey control her mind.

She looked at Rain's hands, now clenched into tight fists. She remembered the feel of them sliding into her hair, remembered the closeness of his arms pulling her tight, the way his voice had poured over her like honeyed cream as he spoke the Fey words of shei'tanitsa claiming, Ver reisa ku'chae. Kern surah, shei'tani. Your soul calls out. Mine answers, beloved. She remembered the warmth and security she had felt with the sound of his heart beating in her ear. Heat bloomed in her br**sts and belly, a tingling heat that made her skin feel two sizes too small.

Rain drew a hissing breath, and his eyes, glowing like beacons, fastened on her face. Need, hot and urgent, rolled over her, scorching her, bringing every nerve in her body to quivering life. She could almost feel his desire, like hands, stroking her through the fabric of her gown, touching the aching tightness of her br**sts, the liquid heat gathering in her loins. Her breath came very fast, and a fine trembling started in her belly, radiating outward. "Dear gods," she whispered, her eyes starting to lose focus. What was happening to her? "Dear gods.”

Then he was there, his strong hands drawing her up against his chest, his arms enfolding her. His cape swirled about her, hiding her from the hundreds of prying eyes surrounding them. She leaned into his strength, pressing her hot face against his throat. Her arms linked around his waist and clung tight, as his head bent to her and his lips rained searing kisses and a storm of passionate Feyan words in her hair.

"You are mine.”

The fierce claim sent another bout of shudders rippled through her. All she could do was cling to him and whisper brokenly, "Yes. Yes.”

Rain's head shot up in savage triumph. "She is mine," he growled, his narrowed gaze spearing the onlookers with naked threat, a lethal promise of death to anyone fool enough IF to try to take Ellysetta Baristani from him.

The scorching heat of the Tairen Soul's desire for his mate was palpable, and his primitive claiming of her raised the temperature of the room several degrees higher. In the gallery, breathless, corseted ladies swooned by the dozens. On the dais, the king swallowed and ran a finger under the suddenly too-tight neck of his tunic, while the queen shifted restlessly on her throne and fanned her face, muttering, "Good sweet Lord of Light”

King Dorian cleared his throat. "It would indeed seem that you and Mistress Baristani are in accord on the subject, My Lord Feyreisen, and this court has heard all it needs to hear." His face settled into a stern expression and he leveled a hard gaze on the butcher's son. "Den Brodson, you claimed the girl by marking her without her consent or knowledge, and when the king of the Fey also claimed her, you filed a petition in the hopes that our court administrators would not yet have heard the name of Ellysetta Baristani and would make your claim binding before anyone was the wiser. You sought to deny the Tairen Soul his truemate through legal maneuvering.”

Den opened his mouth to object, but the king's hand slashed up in a curt gesture that silenced the objection before Den gave it voice.

"If Ellysetta Baristani were being claimed by the Feyreisen against her will—if he threatened her in any way—then I might very well refuse the Fey king his mate and face the consequences of that decision, whatever those might be. But you, Den Brodson, not the Tairen Soul, are the one who has molested the girl, claimed her against her will, threatened her family, and tried to manipulate this court in order to force her to your will. I will not—now or ever—plunge Celieria into war in order to support the questionable claim of an unquestionable bully.”