Once Rain had shared Hawksheart's warning that the battle would begin on the morrow, the king and his army had broken camp and continued their northward trek. A bitter Lord Sebourne had gathered his men and ridden off towards Moreland. Only Cannevar Barrial and his sons remained with the Fey to tend the bodies of Adrial and Talisa.

They garbed the pair in snowy white as a symbol of their ascent into the Light and laid the couple side by side on a crystal bier fashioned by the Earth masters. When all the songs were sung, and Cannevar and his sons had said their last goodbyes, the Fey gathered around the truemates' bier and summoned a dense weave of magic that settled over the bodies like a blanket of light. The weave flared bright and when it faded, nothing remained of Adrial and Talisa except a single, sparkling cabochon crystal. Adrial's sorreisu kiyr.

"Three lives needlessly lost." Anger mixed with the terrible grief in Ellysetta's heart. Her hands clenched in fists at her sides. "I failed them. I should have been able to save them."

Standing beside her, Rain shook his head. "It was too late, shei'tani. There was nothing you could have done. Nothing anyone could have done. They had already passed beyond the Veil."

"But—"

"Nei. No buts." He brushed silencing fingers across her lips. "Not all battles can be won. Not all lives can be saved. And no matter how we wish it, not all songs end in joy."

She frowned and tilted her head back to look up at him. "Will ours?"

"I pray so." Somber acceptance darkened his eyes, and he stroked her cheek in a light caress. "But even if we do not find joy in this lifetime, we will be born again to love once more. That much, I believe without question. In this lifetime, or the next, or even the lifetime after that, our souls will be one ... as will Adrial's and Talisa's."

She nodded and leaned her head against his shoulder, letting the tumultuous roil of anger and grief drain from her. In its wake bloomed a small bud of infant hope that no matter what happened in this life, joy would ultimately be theirs, as it would for Adrial and Talisa.

"Come, my friends," Rain said a few chimes later. "When the battle begins, King Dorian will need us." Together, the Barrials and the Fey left the scene of their tragic loss and travelled the remaining distance to Kreppes.

By the time they reached the fortified stone keep perched on a mountain overlooking the Heras River, night had fallen. As the quiet whoosh of Rain's wings carried them forward, Ellysetta swept her gaze across the darkened horizon. A small light, noticeable for its surprising brightness, sparkled low on the horizon. The sight made her heart skip a beat.

Erimea—or as the Celierians called her, Selena, Shadow's Light—was shining in the sky over Eld.