Ellysetta regarded the smooth wood of the tree's interior with wide eyes. "This tree really is alive ... like a person."

"Bayas, Ellysetta Erimea. The Sentinels, especially, are intelligent—and deadly when roused. Grandfather was simply giving your quintet a polite warning. Had they truly threatened him or me, he would have slain everyone in this chamber in a matter of moments."

The warriors tried to hide their unease, but Rain saw several of them flicking suspicious glances at the tree walls. When Rijonn thought no one was looking, he gave the wooden floor a thump with the toe of his boot. The floor thumped him back—hard enough that the great Fey jumped and nearly lost his balance. Gil gave his friend a withering glance.

Hawksheart ignored them both. "Ellysetta Erimea, will you look in my mirror?"

She wet her lips. "What will I see? Because I've looked into oracles before, and they've never shown anything pleasant,"

"I doubt that will be any different now." A surprising note of kindness gentled Hawksheart's voice. "You were born to be a world changer. It is not an easy path to walk; nor, as your mate pointed out, is it one without great suffering and sacrifice." He took a step forward, arms outstretched as if he meant to take her hands, but Rain and the quintet closed ranks again. The Elf king stopped in his tracks. "The question, Ellysetta Erimea, is not whether you will change the world, but whether you will change it for the good."

"How can you doubt?" Rain growled. "You have only to look at her to see she is bright and shining."

"Elvish eyes see differently from Fey," Hawksheart answered mildly. "Your truemate's Song is neither simple nor certain. She holds within her the potential for great good as well as for the greatest evil this world has ever seen. She is a vessel of the gods the likes of which has not been seen since the Time Before Memory. Not even Grandfather has ever spoken of her except to say she was coming and that the Lord of Valorian must look for her arrival. Make no mistake, Tairen Soul, the fate of the world lies in the balance, and your mate will determine which way the scales tip."

"I have already said I will choose death before I allow myself to fall to Darkness," Ellysetta told him. "The tairen will see to it. I have their oaths."

"Bayas. Those are possible end notes of your Song, and they still shine brightly, which means they may yet come to pass. But there are many different verses that lead to other possibilities, and they are the ones I hope to see more clearly. If you will consent to look in the mirror.”

Rain put a hand on Ellysetta's shoulder. "If she consents, will you commit Elvia to join us in our fight against the Eld?"

Gold-tipped lashes shuttered the Elf king's piercing eyes. "I cannot. If Elvia joins you now, the fate you fear most will come to pass."

"All will be lost if you don't help us," Rain countered. "We cannot win against the Eld alone."

"I agree you cannot, but if the Elves enter the coming battle, the High Mage will complete his claiming of your shei'tani—and that will mean the end of all Light in this world. I have seen this in every variation of her Song. It is a certainty, not a possibility. The Elves must not fight. It would seal the doom of us all."

Ellysetta half turned towards Rain, instinctively seeking the shelter of his arms.

"Explain. How would your aid in this war ensure her Mage-claiming?" Rain persisted. He didn't even ask how the Elf king knew she was Mage Marked. Elves Saw too much— about everything.

"She will not take the journey she must if the Elves come to your aid. That is all I can say. If I reveal more, the outcome might be equally as devastating."

"Do not toy with us." Rain's fingers itched to pull his blades from their sheaths, but he kept his hands firmly at his sides. "Forgive my bluntness, Lord Galad, but if you want Ellysetta to help you better See her Song in the Dance, you need to offer us something in return. And what she needs now is help to rid herself of her Mage Marks and complete our bond. What I need now are swords and bows and warriors to wield them."

"There are only two ways to remove her Marks—either complete your bond or kill the Mage who Marked her. As for military aid, you have already been receiving that, whether you know it or not—or did you think the Feraz were going to sit idle in this new Mage War?"

Rain drew up short. 'The Feraz?"

"Have been harrying my southern borders for months now."

"Ambassador Brightwing said nothing of it when we met in Celieria City."

"And I would say nothing now, except you are determined to think the worst of me." Hawksheart pinched the bridge of his nose in a weary gesture. "Believe me, Tairen Soul, I will give what aid I can when I know my interference will not send your mate's Song down the path of destruction. How to help is what I've been trying to See since the day I first Saw her Song as a boy—and lest you forget, I dispatched Brightwing to Celieria City to offer you that help the day I learned that her Song had begun, the day a Celierian maiden called a tairen from the sky."

Rain grew suddenly still. "That day in Tehlas, when you told my father I called a Song in the Dance, did you also know that I would have a truemate—and that she would be the one you'd been waiting for?"

The Elfs expression grew shuttered, but he admitted the truth. "I Saw it before you were born."

"You knew that I would scorch the world."