Queen of Song and Souls Read online

  That was what had frightened her most. Because if the Mage had sent that dream, his hold on her had become dangerously strong.

  Ellysetta glanced up and found Gaelen watching her. For a moment, she thought he might betray the conversation they’d had back in Orest, but all he said was, “We should get moving. That scream lit our position like a beacon. If the Eld are following us, they know exactly where we are now.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  The Fey continued south at a rapid pace. Rain ran at Ellysetta’s side, and the quintet formed a tight circle around them.

  Gaelen ran at Ellysetta’s left, his long legs crossing the ground in an easy, tireless lope. He didn’t say anything and he didn’t look her way, but his silence was reproach enough.

  When Rain ran ahead to confer with one of the scouts, she sent a private weave to Gaelen. «I can sense your disapproval. You think I should tell him.»

  He didn’t miss a stride. «You said you would.»

  « We’re not even halfway to Celieria City. You agreed to give me until then.»

  «That was before last night.» Ice blue eyes met hers in a brief, piercing look. «Ellysetta, you must tell him. Nothing should have gotten through our shields, but that was no ordinary nightmare and you know it. If it came from the Mage—and, unless you have another explanation, we must assume it did—then our time has run out.»

  She set her eyes on the horizon. «You’re right. I know you’re right.» She should have told Rain the instant she and Gaelen had finished their conversation in Orest, but she’d kept silent for a variety of reasons. She hadn’t wanted to add another burden to the staggering weight of troubles Rain already carried. She hadn’t wanted anything to distract him from reaching Celieria City and warning King Dorian of the impending attacks. And, selfishly, she hadn’t wanted to see the devotion in Rain’s eyes turn to horror, as it surely would.

  She’d been hoping she’d misread the signs, hoping Gaelen was wrong, but after her nightmare, she couldn’t wait any longer. Rain had to know, as did all her lu’tan. The threat was too grave, too dangerous for them all.

  She drew a deep breath and set her jaw. «I’ll tell him today, before we make camp for the night.»

  Shortly after daybreak, they reached the southern edge of the Verlaine Forest and stopped to rest and break their fast. They spread out in the tall, waving grass of an untilled field, keeping low so that only a bird flying overhead would see them. Some merely sat or knelt to rest their legs; some lay down and closed their eyes to catch a few chimes of sleep. All took the time to eat and sip the rejuvenating waters of Orest’s Source-fed lake from their water flasks.

  Ellysetta was tired, but fear of sleep kept her eyes open. Gaelen’s words had left such a churning in her belly, she had no desire to eat the Fey journeycake Rain offered her.

  “You need to eat, shei’tani,” he insisted.

  “I’m not very hungry.”

  “Eat anyway. At least a little. You aren’t accustomed to so much running. And you didn’t get enough sleep last night.” Rain pressed the cake into her hands.

  For his sake, she broke off a corner and put it in her mouth. Like all Fey food, it was delicious, tasting of sugared lemons and buttery cream, light yet surprisingly filling, but it could have been sawdust for all she cared.

  She cast a brooding gaze westward towards the Rhakis mountains. From this distance, the Faering Mists looked like nothing more than a line of clouds hugging the jagged peaks. But somewhere in those Mists, her family was trapped. Papa. Lillis and Lorelle. At the thought of them, her mind filled with a horrible scene from her nightmare. The twins, black fire pits for eyes, their doll-smooth faces streaked with scarlet ribbons of Rain’s blood.

  The journeycake crumbled in her hands. She glanced down in dull dismay at the mess in her lap.

  Rain spun a quick weave of Earth that gathered up the crumbs and formed them back into a solid cake. He set the food aside and took her hands. “What is it, Ellysetta?” He searched her face in concern. “Talk to me.”

  “I’m just thinking of my family.” The evasion slipped from her lips with shameful ease.

  “You will see them again, kem’san.” His expression softened with sympathy. “In fact, there’s probably not a safer place in the world for them to be at the moment. Your father and sisters are innocents. The Mists might hold them for a while, but provided they’re unharmed, they’ll eventually find their way out. I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the gods’ intention all along.”

  “I hadn’t thought of that.”

  The corner of his mouth lifted. “When our bond is complete and your Marks are gone, I promise I will take you into the Mists myself, and we will scour every fingerspan of what lies within until we find your father and sisters and return them to the world.”

  She looked up. “You would do that for me?”

  Sadness darkened his lavender eyes to purple. “Of course I would. It pains me you would think otherwise.”

  She winced. “I didn’t mean it like that, Rain.” She pulled her hands from his and twisted them together, fixing her gaze on her tightly clenched fingers. “Forgive me. I’m very tired. I didn’t sleep well last night even before that dream.”

  He put a hand under her chin and lifted her face with gentle insistence. “Ellysetta, you’ve been troubled since we left Orest. But I can’t help you if you won’t tell me what is wrong.”

  “I know. And I mean to tell you. I just need a little time.” She glanced at Gaelen, who sat nearby, sharpening his blades.

  Rain saw the look and his spine went stiff. He withdrew his hands from hers. “You need time before telling me, but you’ve already discussed your troubles with vel Serranis?” The rise of his tairen rumbled in his voice.

  Ellysetta bit her lip. “It’s not like that. I went to Gaelen in confidence, aiyah, but to ask him for information, not to share it.”

  “What concerns do you have that you cannot share with me?”

  Her shoulders slumped. It was no use. She had to tell him now, whether she was ready or not. “I went to Gaelen yesterday morning for information about my Marks.”

  “What sort of information?”

  She sighed. “We’re outside the Fading Lands, outside whatever protection the Mists might have offered me. I bear four Mage Marks. Two more and the Mage will own my soul.”

  “That won’t happen.” He looked up, his eyes fierce. “I won’t let it.”

  She laid her palm on the side of his face and smiled sadly. “Beloved, if we can’t complete our bond, how could you possibly stop it?” He would die to protect her. Of that, she had no doubt, but it wouldn’t be enough. “The risk is there, whether we want to admit it or not. So I went to Gaelen to ask what I should expect, and what sort of danger I would pose to the rest of you.”

  She motioned Gaelen over, then called the rest of her quintet as well. “Bel, Tajik, Gil, Rijonn, come closer. You four need to hear this, too.”

  When the warriors had gathered, she nodded to Gaelen. “Tell Rain and my cha’kor what happens to people with each successive Mage Mark. Tell them what you told me yesterday.”

  The former dahl’reisen lifted his chin. “As I told the Feyreisa, the first three Marks give the Mage access to the soul only during times of weakness. After that, the fourth and fifth Marks break down the victim’s will and the barriers to his”—Gaelen paused, and a small tic near the spot where his dahl’reisen scar had once edged the corner of his eye made his lashes twitch—“or her—soul and mind.”

  “Tell Rain what will happen to me.”

  Gaelen held Rain’s gaze and revealed the truth with blunt honesty. “With four Marks, she will begin to have thoughts and reactions that are not her own. She must learn to guard her mind because the Mage will be able to sense strong emotions and use them against her. He will use that power to sow doubt and fear, to isolate her from you and all others who would protect her. He will coax her into weaving Azrahn again so he can place more Marks upon her. Afte
r the fifth Mark, it will not be safe to have her witness military planning or be privy to any information we do not want the Mage to know. He will be able to pull it from her and use what she knows to his advantage.”

  With each word that fell from Gaelen’s lips, Ellysetta felt Rain’s temper rise, born of fear for his mate. “There won’t be a fifth Mark,” he interrupted. His eyes had begun to glow, the elongated pupils narrowing to catlike slits.

  Ellysetta laid a hand on his arm. “Let him finish, Rain.”

  “At five Marks,” Gaelen continued, “the Mage will be able to use her senses as extensions of his own. His hold on her is strongest at night and especially in her dreams. That is when Ellysetta will be both the most dangerous and in the most danger, because at those times he will be able to exercise a portion of his power over her. If he gains access to her mind while she is dreaming, he will be able to control her actions. He could command her to come to him, to lay a trap for any of us, even to kill.”

  “When you were with the dahl’reisen, did you ever see that happen?” Ellysetta asked.

  “Only at the beginning. And only a handful of times. We quickly learned how many Marks a dahl’reisen could bear before he became a danger to the rest of us.”

  “How many was that?” Gil asked, his starry black eyes merciless and intent.

  Gaelen glanced at Ellysetta. “Three.”

  Rain’s spine went stiff. “Ellysetta is no danger to us. You will not even let the thought enter your mind. She is the Feyreisa. She was sent here to save the tairen and the Fey. She has sacrificed much to do just that.”

  She put a hand over his. “Las, Rain. Truth doesn’t change just because we don’t like it. It’s better to know the worst that can happen so we can prepare for it.” Even though Gaelen was only repeating what he’d told her yesterday, her heart was fluttering in her chest like a trapped bird, and her palms had gone clammy. “Gaelen, did some of those dahl’reisen become dangerous after the fourth Mark?”

  Gaelen waged a silent, icy battle of wills with Rain before nodding. “Aiyah. After that, we took no chances. Anyone with four Marks died on his own blade—or ours.”

  Rain growled and leapt to his feet. He dragged Ellysetta up with him and shoved her behind him, putting his body and his blades between her and the rest of the quintet. “Try it, vel Serranis, and you will be the one to die. I promise you.”

  “Las, Rain.” Ellysetta tried to spin a soothing weave on him, but he would not be calmed.

  “Nei las,” he snapped. “I scorched the world once to avenge Sariel’s death. I’ll scorch it again before I allow anyone to harm you.”

  “Parei! Stop!” Unmindful of the danger, she grabbed his arm and spun him around to face her. “Don’t even think such a thing. You saw the same vision in the Eye that I did. And that was bad enough…but Rain, when I was in that Mage’s mind yesterday morning, I learned something else. Something worse. The High Mage doesn’t just want to enslave my soul and force me to do his bidding. He means to take over my body.”

  His spine stiffened. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean he intends to live inside me. To become me—or rather, to wear my body and use my magic as his own.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “The Mages manipulate souls, Rain. They aren’t immortal like the Fey. They’re long-lived, but their bodies age and die. So they find a new body—someone young, someone with powerful magical gifts—and then they transfer their soul into that body. They call it ‘incarnating.’ And that’s why the High Mage is so desperate to capture me—he wants to incarnate into my body. That’s why he made me. He doesn’t want to command Tairen Souls to do his bidding—he wants to be a Tairen Soul.”

  Rain reeled back in horror. “The Mage in Orest—you learned all this from him?”

  “Aiyah. And it can’t be allowed to happen. You saw the same vision in the Eye that I did. You know what will happen if the Mage soul-claims me. Death would be by far the kinder end—for all of us.” She met Rain’s gaze. «Steli has already sworn to do it, so you need not.»

  His face crumpled.

  She laid a palm over his heart and sent him all the love in hers. Her lips trembled when his eyes filled with a shimmer of tears. When first he’d flown into her life, he’d been so wounded by loss and full of despair, he had lost the ability to cry. As his shei’tani, she was supposed to bring him joy, but so far it seemed all she’d done was melt his heart enough so he could hurt again.

  «It’s the only way, shei’tan.» She lifted her hands to cup his face, thumbing away his tears. «If we cannot complete our bond, I must die before the Mage completes his claiming. I saw in my nightmare what would happen if we don’t. I saw your death. Felt your soul severed for all eternity from mine. I won’t let that happen. I can’t. Death offers us hope, at least. Not for this life, but for another.»

  «Ellysetta… »

  «Shh. My soul has found yours now. It will not forget. As long as the Mage does not complete his claiming, I will find you again. Whether it takes one lifetime or a thousand, we will be together, just as the gods intended.»

  He bent his head. His arms crushed her to him while his lips touched hers with exquisite tenderness. «Ver reisa ku’chae, Ellysetta. Kem surah, shei’tani. In this life and in every life yet to come.»

  She filled her hands with the silk of his hair and her lungs with the warmth of his breath. «I will hold you to that, shei’tan. Even if I never come to trust myself enough to complete the bond, you I trust without question…and I love you even more than that.» Her mental voice hitched. «But you and I both know, we must prepare for the worst.»

  His forehead touched hers in surrender. «I know. Though every spark of my being cries out against it, I know.»

  When Rain released her, he stepped to the side so she could see Gaelen and the others once more. “The tairen have already promised to ensure I never become that monster the Eye of Truth showed us,” she told them. “But now I need your promises as well. If for some reason, Steli and the tairen cannot see it done, I want your Fey oath that you will. Rain cannot, so the duty falls to you. You will not be breaking your lute’asheiva vow. You will not be harming me. You will be saving me.”

  “We cannot, Ellysetta,” Bel said. “Our souls are bloodsworn to yours. If you died by our hands, we would become Mharog—evil beings so foul even the Mages fear them. We cannot do this. Not even to honor your command.”

  She glanced around the circle at each member of her bloodsworn quintet. One by one, they dropped their eyes until only Bel and Gaelen held her gaze.

  “Vel Jelani is right,” Gaelen said. “No lu’tan can harm you. Not even to save the world.”

  Her shoulders slumped. “Then we must find someone who can—or I must do it myself. I don’t know how much time I have left.”

  Rain’s brows drew together. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean I think the Mage has already begun to influence my thoughts. First with Aartys, then again yesterday with the Mage, and this morning with that nightmare. Gaelen says he should not have been able to reach me through all those shields, but I can’t think of what else could have caused that dream. I think part of him is in me, Rain, whispering to me, just as Gaelen said.”

  Rain went still as stone. He searched her face intently, as if looking for some hint of the Mage’s presence, then said, “The Elves. We will go to the Elves. Hawksheart can see everything that was, is, or ever will be through that infernal Dance of his. If there’s a way for us to complete our bond or rid you of the Mage’s Marks, he’ll know it.”

  “I thought you didn’t trust him.”

  Rain gave a short, bitter laugh. “I don’t, but what choice do we have? You’re already willing to sacrifice your life to save your soul. What greater price could the Elf king demand than that?” He shook his head. “Much as I dislike them, Elves are no friends of the Dark. Celieria will have to wait. We head south, to Navahele.”

  “Rain, nei.” This was e
xactly what she’d been afraid he’d say. “It will take more than a week to get to Elvia and back. Celieria doesn’t have that much time. We must go to Celieria City first to warn King Dorian about the High Mage’s impending attack, then to Danael to ask for their help. After that’s done, we can go to Elvia.”

  His brows climbed up to his hairline. “Are you mad? Ellysetta, you’ve just convinced me I must accept your murder rather than risk your getting a sixth Mark. We go to Elvia first, and that’s the end of it.”

  Ellysetta scowled. “We’ve been over this a hundred times. If Celieria falls, we’ve already lost. We can’t hold out against the Eld alone. We need Celieria and the Danae.”

  “And if you fall to the Mage, you think there will be a different outcome?”

  “You’re being impossible!”

  “And you’re a raving crack-skull if you think for one instant that we’re going to run around the countryside seeking allies while the High Mage freely torments you in your dreams!”

  They glared at each other, sweet murmurs of love and devotion replaced by fiery temper and stubbornness.

  Gaelen cleared his throat. “There is a way to help buffer her from the Mage. Something we have not tried yet.”

  “And what is that?” Rain snapped.

  “Let me add Azrahn to her shields. It isn’t a permanent solution, but it should buy us enough time to take our news to Celieria and still reach Navahele before the worst comes to pass.”

  Rain’s teeth came together with an audible click. His jaw worked, as if the mere thought left a foul taste in his mouth. “Spit and scorch me.” He threw up his hands. “Fine. Do it. I’ve already blackened my honor beyond repair. What’s one more stain upon it?” He glared at Ellysetta and thrust a finger in her face. “One day, Ellysetta. One day in Celieria City. Then we leave for Elvia, no matter what.”

  “Danael first, then Elvia. There’s no sense crossing the entire continent three times,” she pointed out when Rain opened his mouth to object. “Besides, if we go to Elvia first, the Danae will be too late to help even if they do agree to fight.”