"I'm sorry," she apologized quickly. "I didn't mean to insult you. I just don't understand how you know." She bit her lip. "How can you know? How can you be sure?”

"I am sure." The finality of his tone signaled an end to the discussion.

Ellie subsided into silence for all of five seconds, before the question struggling inside her burst free. "How is it different from what you felt for Lady Sariel?”

Rain gave her an exasperated look. He obviously wasn't used to people who insisted on continuing a discussion once he had indicated he was done with the subject. "Comparing the two is like comparing the Great Sun and the Mother moon. They both shine light on the world, but one is the light itself and the other is a reflection.”

"Oh" She frowned. So which was she, the light or the reflection?

"The sun, Ellysetta. You are the sun.”

She eyed him suspiciously. "I thought you said you couldn't read my mind.”

"And so I cannot. But I would be a foolish man indeed not to know what question would come next once I compared my feelings for you and Sariel to the sun and the moon." His mouth twisted in a wry smile. "Women have not changed that much in a thousand years.”

Did he really expect her to believe that she, a stranger he’d only met a few days ago, was the sun while Sariel, the woman for whom he'd scorched the world, was the moon?

"Please don't lie to flatter my vanity," she told him in a low voice. "I'd rather have the truth, no matter how harsh the sting that comes with it.”

His anger was instant and palpable. "I do not lie, Ellysetta," he snapped. "Especially not to you”

She flinched but refused to back down. "I am young, My Lord Feyreisen, and ignorant—and even foolish at times—but I am not such a silly pacheeta as to believe you love me even the tiniest bit as much as you loved Lady Sariel. How could you? You barely know me.”

Rain's face cleared and he shook his head. "We are talking at cross-purposes. You speak of love, while I speak of something far greater. You are my shei'tani, the other half of my soul. It is a bonding so deep I could never hope to deny it, even if that was my desire. Feelings of the heart are nothing compared to that”

A few days ago, his words would have left her swooning with daydreams of love and romance. Now, however, all she could think of was not what he had said, but rather what he had left unsaid. When you wager with tairen, take care with your words. Rain Tairen Soul might not lie, but that didn't stop him from dancing around the truth. Had he said he loved her? No. Had he said he wanted her? No. On the contrary, he said quite clearly he had to claim her even if he didn't want her.

"Somehow, I have upset you," he said, frowning. "This was not my intention.”

"No. You haven't upset me." He wasn't the only one who could dance around words. Rain hadn't upset her. She'd done that herself by hoping her silly fantasy of absolute love, spawned by the stirring poetry of his countrymen, might actually come true.

Ellie stared hard at her clenched hands. She'd asked the gods for someone, anyone but Den, and they'd answered by sending her Rain Tairen Soul. She hadn't asked them for true love. She needed to learn how to be thankful for what graces she received, rather than yearning for those unbestowed. She had Rain and his devotion. She could live without his love.

She looked up into Rain's beautiful face and smiled with determined good humor. "I'm fine, really," she assured him. "I'm more fortunate than I ever thought possible."

"Can we do that again?" Ellie asked as she and Rain walked home through the streets of Celieria, ringed once more by her Fey guard. "Soon?" They had flown all afternoon, would have flown longer had they not promised her parents they would return before sunset.

"Aiyah," Rain replied. "If it is your wish.”

"I wish," she told him fervently.

His eyes crinkled at the corners. "Then we will do it again." He grimaced ever so slightly. "With your parents' permission, of course.”

"Of course." Ellie smiled. The Tairen Soul chafed at the restraint, but she was pleased that he cared enough to honor her parents and her country's customs. "And thank you.”

His gaze was tender, as was the faint hint of a curve on his lips. "Sha vel'mei, shei'tani.”

The Baristani household, when they returned, was in chaos. Ellie couldn't believe her eyes. Gaily wrapped packages sat on every available surface, while others lay tossed on the floor with their ribbons and paper ripped and tangled. Dress pattern books lay scattered on the settee, several of them open. Shoe boxes, with their contents spilling out, were jumbled beside a lamp table. Swatches of fabric and lace dangled from the back of a chair and made a haphazard path across the floor. The smell of something burning emanated from the kitchen.

Apprehension clutched at Ellie, and she felt Rain stiffen at her side. Drawing blades with a quiet hiss, the quintet of Fey warriors fanned out quickly and silently, like dark shadows whispering through the house. Rain gestured, and light surrounded Ellie.

"Mama?" Ellie called.

"Just a chime!" Lauriana's voice shouted from the kitchen. There was a sound of muffled cursing, then something banged, and Ellie heard the sizzle of water hitting a hot surface.

"I've burned the dinner rolls." Lauriana appeared in the doorway to the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron and scowling. "What in the name of … ?" The scowl darkened and her fists planted themselves on her hips as she surveyed the destruction in the room. "Lillis!" she yelled. "Lillis Angelisa Baristani, come here this instant!”