She passed a hand across her leathers, and her palm blazed with green Earth. One of the steel studs in her armor melted and re-formed as a razor-sharp black Fey'cha that she slammed towards him.

Rooted to the ground, his power pouring into her like light feeding the endless hunger of a dark star, he couldn't lift a finger in his defense. He couldn't even move to dodge the blow.

He could only whisper, "Ellysetta, nei!" as the knife plunged towards his chest.

Deep in the black heart of Boura Fell, Shan howled as the feel of a knife sinking into an unprotected chest reverberated through his soul.

The connection with his daughter shattered.

Elvia ~ Navahele

Ellysetta watched Bel's eyes go wide and heard his breath leave his lungs on a stunned gasp.

The face before her had been Vadim Maur's. She was certain of it. Only it had changed at the last moment to Bel's.

She shrieked in horror and denial, feeling the dagger tear through skin and bone to pierce the beating heart beneath as if the blade had ripped through her own chest.

In the same instant, a wall of heat and stone slammed into her side and swept her off her feet. The black Fey'cha flew from her hand and went skittering across the glossy, timeworn surface of the chamber floor. Behind her, the veil of suspended water abruptly splashed back into the mirror pool like a lead curtain suddenly released from its anchors. The spray of chilly droplets spattered across Ellysetta's face.

She was screaming ... screaming ... screaming. Death crouched at the periphery of her senses, grinning with malice while voices howled in a savage chorus of fear and agony.

Burn! Destroy! Scorch the world! Flame them all!

Yes! Yes! A terrible, dark, hungry part of Ellysetta's soul howled with dreadful eagerness. She'd killed before. She knew the taste of blood and death, remembered the searing thrill of slaughtering a hated enemy. When Mama died, the ones who'd killed her had paid in blood and screams, and their dying wails had sung through Ellysetta's veins like a visceral symphony.

Something held her captive, pinned to the floor. Her arms flailed, fingers curving into claws. The power rose inside her with wild demand, burning, boiling, tearing at her body with brutal hands until she shrieked with pain and madness.

Ellysetta!

The force inside her was too great for her body to contain. The need to rend and destroy clamored for freedom. Why else had she been born with such power if not to rain death and destruction upon the ones who'd hurt those she loved?

"Ellysetta!" «Shei’tani» In voice and in Spirit and through the powerful bond threads that even now tied so much of her soul to Rain's, the sound of his call broke through her madness.

Those were his arms wrapped around her, his body pressed tight against hers, pinning her to the ground, yes, but covering her with a mate's protective care as well. His hair, smelling like spring rain and shared secrets, fell across her face in warm, silky streamers as his cheek pressed against hers and his lips murmured entreaties of peace and love against her skin.

Sanity returned in a rush. Her eyes flew open and she dragged air into her lungs on a sob.

"Rain?" Shaking hands traced the familiar curve of his head and spine. Fingers dug into the beloved bulwark of strong shoulders, clinging with desperate fear. "Oh, Rain." Tears gathered, hot and burning, and her throat closed up as if clutched in the strangling grip of a tight fist. «Oh, Rain . . . What have I done? Bel ...»

"Shh... las, kem’reisa... he is unharmed."

«I stabbed him. I stabbed him through the heart. I felt it.»

«Nei,» he soothed. «I reached you in time. You didn't hurt him. Your blade didn't even break his skin.»

Her eyes closed and tears of relief spilled down her cheeks. Though the sensation of her knife plunging into Bel's chest and piercing his heart had been so vivid. Rain would never lie. Especially not to her. Bel was unhurt. She hadn't slain him after all.

"Beylah sallan. Beylah sallan." She wept. Her arms curled tight around Rain's neck, and she burrowed close. The frightened, timid Ellie-the-woodcarver's-daughter part of her soul yearned to dive inside his skin and live there, surrounded by him, part of him, kept safe from the world and the world kept safe from her; but after a few moments of comfort, the fiercer instincts of Ellysetta Feyreisa surged to the fore and forced her to pull away from the comfort of Rain's embrace, forced her to make sense of what had just happened.

The moment she lifted her head, Gaelen was there, hand outstretched, to help her to her feet.

Bel, visibly shaken but otherwise unharmed, was half a step behind him.

Ellysetta took one look at Bel, flung her arms around him, and burst into fresh tears. "Sieks’ta, kem'maresk. Forgive me. I don't know what happened. I would never hurt you."

He pulled back and met her eyes soberly. There is nothing to forgive, kem'falla. My life is yours. My death is yours, too, should you ever require it."

His simple, unequivocal acceptance nearly broke her heart.

"What happened?" Gaelen interrupted. "When you touched the mirror, what happened to you? To Lord Shan?"

"I..." She glanced back at Rain and reached for his hand instinctively. The warm strength of his fingers closed around hers, and fresh vitality infused her flagging courage. "I don't know. I can't explain it. It's as if the moment I touched the mirror, I was suddenly there, with my... with Lord v'En Celay ... as if I were a part of him."