"What choice do I have? Colum is my husband, and he has said we must return to our home."

"Your home is with me."

Her lips trembled. The fingers stroking his face trembled, too. "No. It isn't. Though I wish with all my heart it were."

He caught her hand and pressed a kiss into her palm. "Say the word, Talisa, and I will make it so. Ramiel—the Fey who serves as Spirit master of your quintet—can spin a weave to change diSebourne's mind so that he will agree to let you go."

"That sort of weave is forbidden. If you were caught, the penalty would be death!"

"Then I would take care they didn't catch me." His grip tightened. "Teska, shei'tani, let me set you free."

The lure was so powerful, so tempting. But before she could open her mouth and damn herself, she saw her father's face and heard once more his sober lecture on the inviolability of a Barrial's vow and the dangerous political explosion that would ensue if the wife of Great Lord Sebourne's heir ran off with a Fey warrior. She turned her head away, closing her eyes to block out the sight of Adrial's beloved face. "I can't. He's not just some common man, Adrial. He's the heir of a Great Lord, and his father already hates the Fey. You saw it yourself this summer. If I left with you, Lord Sebourne would plunge this country into civil war. Celieria can't be divided that way right now."

"No one needs to know. If Ramiel spins the weave, they'll all think it's Colum's idea."

"Lord Sebourne would know... and so would I." She bowed her head and stared at her tightly clasped hands. "When I married Colum, I swore an oath before the gods that bound my life to his. I cannot forsake my vow."

"He has already forsaken it. Did he not vow to care for you and keep you from harm? Yet he lifted his hand against you. If we had not been here, he would have struck you."

"He was upset."

"He would have struck you," Adrial repeated. The thickly lashed eyes that could be so meltingly warm were hard as polished stones. "If he had, I would have killed him for it."

She pressed her fingers to his lips to silence him. "Don't say such things. Don't even think them."

"There is nothing I would not do to keep you safe, shei'tani. No Celierian law I would not break, no enemy I would not kill. Wed to this mortal you may be, but I will not let him touch you. I cannot."

With those words, Colum's strangely accommodating behavior these last weeks suddenly made sense. She drew back, covering her mouth with a hand to stifle her shocked gasp. "You're the reason he hasn't pressed me to come to his bed. Oh, Adrial, what have you done?"

"I did what I had to do." Adrial gripped her arms. "You are my mate, my shei’tani, and our bond is not complete. If he touched you, I would kill him. Since both you and Rain made me swear not to do so, I had no choice but to make certain he never laid a hand on you."

"Bright Lord save me." Talisa began to pace. "You spun a weave on him." When she drew near Colum, who now lay senseless in a heap on a nearby chaise, she gave a small, choked cry and whirled away to pace in the opposite direction. Around the room, Adrial's brother and the other five Fey watched her in silence. "Oh, gods, if anyone suspects—if they find out—you'll be executed."

Adrial rose to follow her. 'Talisa ..."

"No!" She spun to face him and raised her hand. "I'm his wife, Adrial. His wife!"

"And you're my truemate!" he retorted. "DiSebourne can get another wife. Mortals often do. There is no other mate for me but you, and never shall be."

"Adrial..." A sudden commotion outside the library doors made Talisa break off. She blanched at the sound of familiar male voices calling her name. "Oh, dear gods. My father and brothers are here. Lord Sebourne is with them. Quickly, you've got to leave! They can't find you here!" She whirled and started to race across the room, only to stop in a spurt of panic. "Wait! What about Colum? You can't leave him like this."

Adrial turned his head and rapped out, "Ramiel." The Spirit master moved to Colum's side, and Talisa saw his hands and eyes begin to glow.

'Talisa?" Her father's voice called just outside the library doors. The crystal doorknobs began to turn.

"Go!" she cried softly. "Hurry!" Tiny sparks of electricity raced across her skin, raising the hairs on her arms. Adrial and the Fey shimmered into invisibility just as the library doors swung inward.

"DiSebourne!" Talisa's father stormed into the room and made a beeline for her husband, who had risen to his feet and was rubbing his temples. "What's this I hear about you planning to take my daughter to the borders? Have you lost what sense the gods gave you? There's a war on, man!"

Colum turned, his brow knit in confusion. "Lord Barrial? Father?"

"Stay out of this, Barrial," Lord Sebourne snapped. "You've done enough interfering as it is. She's a Sebourne now, and Sebourne wives go where their husbands guide them. Colum is going home to our estate to help oversee its defenses—and his bride will accompany him!"

Talisa's father whirled on his neighbor. His lips drew back in a snarl, and in that moment, he looked every bit like the wild wolf that dominated the Barrial coat of arms, "You will not endanger my daughter's life just so your son can feel like a man in control of his wife. If he possessed an ounce of regard for her safety, he would insist she remain here, as far away from the conflict as possible."