Dorian regarded her in silent contemplation for several long moments. "You have changed a great deal from that shy young woman I first met three months ago."

"For the better, I hope."

"That remains to be seen."

"Enough." Rain crossed his arms. "We're wasting time. We came with important news, Dorian, and delayed an even more important visit of our own to do so. But given the unrest in your court and your concerns about your mate, it seems prudent that we share what we know only with those free of Mage Marks. Starting with you."

"What?" Dorian regarded him with fresh affront. "You're saying you want to weave the forbidden magic on me now?"

"Aiyali," Rain confirmed. "On you and everyone else who will be privy to the information we bring. We cannot risk revealing what we know to anyone who might be Mage-claimed, lest word get back to the Eld. That is why we came in person to deliver our news."

"I am not Mage-claimed, I can assure you."

"No disrespect, but your assurances aren't enough. You could bear Marks and not know it, just as Ellysetta did. Gaelen's Azrahn weave is the only way to be sure."

"Rain, please.» Ellysetta laid a hand on his arm. His brusqueness was only making Dorian dig in his heels. Kings didn't take commands from others well. Aloud, to Dorian, she said, "Your Majesty, my best friend's mother sent her daughter and bond son to their deaths because the Mages owned her soul. Teska, please, the weave won't harm you, but not knowing could kill us all. I'll even have Gaelen spin the weave on me, so you can see for yourself. She turned to motion the former dahl’reisen to her side..

"With your permission, kem’jita’taikonos?" Gaelen said with a bow to his twin sister Marikah's royal descendant.

"Either you trust us or you don't," Rain snapped when Dorian didn't respond. "Make up your mind."

The king closed his eyes and splayed one hand across his forehead in a gesture of weary despair. A moment later, he muttered, "Gods save us all," then opened his eyes and nodded. "Fine. Do it. If you've fallen to Darkness, the rest of us are as good as dead anyway."

Rain gestured and the quintet leapt into action, spinning a ten-fold weave around the room to keep the distinctive magical signature of Azrahn from escaping the room. No need to either alarm Adrial and Rowan, who were still hiding in the city, or tip their hand to any Mages who might be nearby.

"Mage Marks are invisible and undetectable except in the presence of Azrahn," Gaelen explained. "Then they appear as a pattern of shadows over the heart of the Marked person." He lifted a hand and summoned a small, spiraling swirl of the forbidden magic into his cupped palm.

Ellysetta shivered as Gaelen's eyes went black and the icy, too-sweet taste of Azrahn filled her mouth. The skin over her heart began to throb. She tossed her hair over her shoulder and tugged at the neckline of her gown to reveal the four Marks lying like a ring of bruises on the shining white skin of her left breast.

"Sweet Lord of Light," Dorian breathed.

Gaelen's weave winked out.

"How badly are you compromised?"

"It is manageable for now," she assured him, "but just to be safe, I will not be joining you when you discuss matters of military importance."

“King Dorian," Rain said, "you have seen what the weave entails. Will you allow us to check you for Mage Marks?"

"Yes, of course," the king agreed. His hands went to his neatly tied neckcloth. He bared his chest to Gaelen's weave, and was soon discovered free of Marks.

"Your Majesty," Ellysetta said, "I will take my leave of you now. Though we will not be here long, may I trouble you for the use of a suite during our stay?"

"Of course." Dorian tugged on a bellpull by his desk, and a moment later the office door opened to reveal his Steward of Affairs. "Davris, please show the Feyreisa to the blue suite."

"Of course, Your Majesty.” The steward executed a deep court bow. "My Lady Feyreisa, if you would please follow me?"

Leaving Gaelen to continue checking Celierian nobles for Mage Marks, Ellysetta quit the room. The rest of her quintet and the Fire master selected to take Gaelen's place went with her.

As the door closed behind her, she heard Rain say, "Call your Great Lords, King Dorian... starting with whomever you trust most from holdings here, and here, and here."

Surrounded by her quintet and two dozen lu'tan, Ellysetta followed the king's steward from one opulent, gilded corridor to another until they reached the palace wing reserved for visiting dignitaries. The carved double doors opened to a richly appointed three-room suite decorated in Celierian Hue, creamy white, and lustrous gold. The quintet made short work of inspecting the suite and weaving privacy and protection upon all three rooms before rejoining Ellysetta in the main salon.

"You should rest," Bel told Ellysetta. "This business with King Dorian will probably take most of the day."

She gave him a wan smile. "I'll sleep later, when we leave Celieria City." She was tired. Even with Gaelen's addition to the protection weaves, she'd been too afraid to sleep deeply for fear of dreaming some new horror, but she wasn't about to sleep here. An unsettling undercurrent in. the palace set her nerves on edge.

Ellysetta leaned back against a pile of plump pillows, closed her eyes, and tried to relax, but her rest was soon interrupted by an unexpected visitor.