Queen of Song and Souls (19 page)

These, however, did.

"Thank you, Lord Hewen." Dorian managed to speak with some semblance of normalcy. "I appreciate your taking the time to deliver these welcome tidings in person."

"It is my greatest pleasure, Sire." The doctor bowed. "This is nothing short of a miracle, Sire. A miracle straight from the hands of the gods."

"Straight from the hands of someone, that's certain," Dorian muttered beneath his breath.

The physician frowned. "I beg your pardon. Your Majesty?”

“Nothing, Lord Hewen. Would you please instruct Davis to tell the queen I will see her soon? Thank you." Not waiting for the physician to depart, Dorian slipped back into the adjoining room where Rain Tairen Soul was just informing the gathered lords about the Mage's Army of Darkness and the planned targets of their main attacks.

"The army that reshaped the world?" one of the lords repeated in a disbelieving tone. "But Celieria's greatest historians and military experts have long dismissed those accounts as myth."

"Then Celieria's greatest historians and military experts were wrong," Rain replied bluntly. "Too many ancient Fey scrolls speak of the Hand of Shadow who created the Army of Darkness and nearly destroyed the world. Many of the details have been lost over the millennia, but we know his defeat ushered in the First Age. Apparently, this new High Mage intends to bring those ancient legends back to life."

"The Army of Darkness was said to be hundreds of thousands strong."

"Millions."

Lord Barrial's expression went grim and hard as stone. "Even if we put a sword in the hand of every Celierian from boy to elder, the entire kingdom doesn't hold enough men to face such numbers."

"No one kingdom does, nor ever has," Rain agreed. "Not even the Fading Lands. Which means we need allies— including as many of the magical races as we can convince to join us. That is why the Feyreisa and I will be traveling to Danael and Elvia once we're done here. Hawksheart rebuffed our last request for aid, but we'll do everything in our power to change his mind." Dorian stepped farther into the room and cleared his throat. "I dispatched ambassadors to the mortal kings weeks ago. They are already in negotiations with twelve potential allies."

"Time is of the essence," Rain said. "According to the information we obtained, the Eld strike Celieria on the first day of Seledos—by land at Kreppes and by sea here in Celieria City."

"Seledos!" Lord Swan exclaimed. "But that's less than a month from now! I doubt half the kingdoms could send their armies in time."

"That is why a dozen fast ships will set sail within the bell carrying Fey Water and Air masters who can help speed the arrival of all allied troops," Dorian said. "And that is why I have summoned you, my lords. You either have estates directly in the path of the anticipated Eld invasion routes, or you have military expertise that is essential to planning the best defense against this invasion."

"This is a matter that requires the attention of as many of the council as are still present in the city," one of the lords said. "Certainly all of the Twenty. Where are Great Lords Sebourne and Ponsonney?”

"Excluding them was my decision," Dorian admitted. "I doubted Sebourne or Ponsonney would have submitted to a test for Mage Marks, which means they would not have been privy to the information the Tairen Soul just shared with you. Nor should you share what you now know with them. We will come up with our plan. We will deploy troops according to that plan. But the intelligence we have and where it came from are secrets that cannot leave this room. Is that understood? Nor shall any details of our plan be discussed with anyone who has not been verified clean of Mage Marks—not even members of your own family. Not for any reason."

He let his gaze move slowly from lord to lord, hoping to impress upon them his sincerity while also looking for signs of dissent. Finding none of the latter, he said, "Very good. My lords, we are at war. We must accept the possibility that some of our own nobles may have been compromised by the Eld, and we must guard sensitive intelligence against all possible leaks. Do not even discuss it with your wives."

He drew a breath. "And speaking of wives, the earlier interruption was Lord Hewen, bringing me news of the queen. I'm afraid I must call a brief recess so that I may attend her. Those of you whose wives have also been ill this week might wish to do the same. We meet back here within the bell to plan the defense of Celieria against impending attack."

"King Dorian?" As the other lords filed out of the main chamber door, the Tairen Soul followed him to his private exit at the back. "Nothing amiss, I hope? The queen—"

"Is fine," Dorian assured him. "In excellent health, as a matter of fact." He spread his hands. "It seems the sickness sweeping through the courts is not a contagion, but rather a harbinger of good tidings. The queen is with child."

The Tairen Soul smiled, and the expression changed him from dangerous warrior to approachable friend in an instant. "
Mioralas
," he said, and there was no doubting his sincere joy. "Blessings of the Fey upon your wife and child."

"Yes ... well... I believe those blessings have already borne fruit for the queen and me—and for every other head of a noble Celierian House who attended that memorable banquet three months ago."

The Tairen Soul's smile froze on his face.

"Yes," Dorian said. "It seems your truemate spun much more than seven bells of inescapable desire in that weave of hers. Every woman who attended that dinner—from blushing young brides to grandmothers whose wombs long ago lost their fruitfulness—is now with child."

"Pregnant." Primage Gethen Nour, known to the Celierian court as the newly invested Lord Bolor, stared at Jiarine Montevero in disbelief, then began to pace the luxurious confines of her palace suite. "The queen is pregnant?"

"As are all the ladies who have fallen ill this last week, master," Jiarine confirmed.

His cold brown eyes pierced her. "Including you."

Jiarine's skin went pale. Her lashes dropped to shutter her eyes, a gesture of subservience that was more a matter of self-preservation. "To, including me, though it should not have been possible." A visit to a butcher of a hearth witch after an ill-conceived childhood dalliance had seen to that. And years of bastard-free mating with Master Mania — the handsome Elden Sulimage to whom she'd traded her soul— had confirmed it.

"Well."

She hazarded a glance up, to find Master Nour tapping his lip with his forefinger and watching her with a calculating gleam in his eye.

"Well," he said again, "this does bear some thought." Then he turned on his heel and began pacing again. "I am disappointed that you were not able to get the queen to drink my potion. Now more than ever."

"Forgive my failure, master," Jiarine murmured. A quick stab of vengeful satisfaction flashed before she could squelch it. Master Manza wouldn't have failed. Master Manza had earned Queen Annoura's trust in a way Nour never would. Master Manza had not turned the queen quickly enough, and the High Mage of Eld had sent Nour to replace him. Jiarine wondered how long it would be before Nour found himself replaced as well. Not too much longer, she hoped. Nour was a sick, sadistic
rultshart,
and had he been the Mage who approached her in her youth, she would never have surrendered her soul.

Nour's eyes narrowed.
^”
Your thoughts betray you,
umagi
. I see another lesson in obedience is in order."

Jiarine broke into a clammy sweat as the blood drained from her face.

At the sight of her distress, Nour's lips curled in a cruel smile. "Never fear, my dear. Sadistic
rultshart
I may be, but I promise none of what I have in mind will damage your child."

"Pregnant?" Ellysetta stared at Rain in stunned disbelief. "All of them?"

"Every last one,
shei'tani
. From young wives to women well past their childbearing years. You spun fertility even where it no longer existed."

"Bright Lord save me."

The corner of his mouth lifted, lavender eyes warm as he brushed a curling strand of hair back from her temple. "I think it's clear he sent you to save
us
,
kem'san.
The Fey prayed for fertility and the gods sent us a
shei'dalin
who can spin life into even a barren womb." He stepped back and drew her with him. "Come. The king has gone to see his queen, and he's asked us to visit her and offer healing."

She hung back. "Do you think that's wise? The queen has never been fond of the Fey—or of me—and to intrude upon her now, when she has just discovered what I did to her..."

"What you did was a blessing, not harm, whether she sees it that way now or not. And it is because of the child that Dorian is now so determined to have Gaelen test her before we leave. The possibility of a Mage's puppet sitting on the throne of Celieria ..."

Ellysetta shuddered. When Rain started for the door, she followed without protest, but as they waited for the quintet to precede them out of the suite, she asked, "What will we do, Rain, if the queen is already fully claimed?"

Rain's mouth went grim and his eyes met hers with stony resolve. Ellysetta swallowed and pressed a hand against her chest to still the sudden pounding of her heart.

Dorian was standing at his wife's bedside when the Fey entered the queen's apartments, and the tension between them charged the atmosphere like an electric storm. Pale and wan, Queen Annoura sat against a wall of pillows like a brittle doll, her lips pressed tightly together as if it were all she could do to hold back a torrent of angry words. Beside her, Dorian exuded an unhappy mix of vexation, disappointment, and dogged determination.

Theirs was not the reaction of a happy couple overjoyed to discover they were having a child.

Guilt stabbed Ellysetta hard, and she hung back in the doorway. «
Oh, Rain, this is not how things should be. A baby should be cause for joy, not anger. How can I make this right?»

"There
is nothing for you to put right, shei'tani. You gave them the greatest gift of all—the gift of new life. How Annoura chooses
to receive that gift is her decision, not yours.
You are not to blame
for her unhappiness.»

Ellysetta doubted Annoura would agree with him. Animosity emanated from her like an acid fog, searing Ellysetta's empathic senses with such bitter resentment it made her skin ache.

"My Lord Feyreisen, My Lady Feyreisa, please, come in." With a determined smile that looked more like a grimace pasted on his face, Dorian waved for them to approach the queen's bed. "I was just telling the queen how much better she will feel once your healing weave calms her stomach."

Rain approached the bed, leaving Ellysetta little choice but to follow. She fought to keep her fingers flat against Rain's wrist when what she truly wanted was to grab his hand and squeeze tight. "Your Majesties." She forced herself to smile at Annoura with as much warmth as she could muster. "The Feyreisen and I offer you the felicitations of the Fey and congratulate you on your wonderful news. May your coming child be a radiant Light in your life and bring you both much joy."

The queen turned her head away as if Ellysetta had not spoken. Dorian's lips tightened, but his voice was smooth as silk when he said, "Thank you, Lady Ellysetta. My queen and I long since gave up hope of having a second child. This pregnancy is a blessing indeed, as I'm sure the queen will agree when she is feeling more herself."

Ellysetta moistened her lips and took a hesitant step towards the bed. "Queen Annoura, I do regret intruding upon your privacy when you are not feeling your best, but the weave the king asked me to spin should set you back to rights immediately. I promise there will be no adverse effects to the child."

Annoura made a rude noise and slanted a sour look in Ellysetta's direction. "Considering the unnatural way this child was conceived, it's rather pointless to worry what effect magic might have now, don't you chink?"

"Annoura." King Dorian's hands knotted.

"What?" the queen spat. "I agreed to let her heal me as you commanded, but that doesn't mean I must pretend to like it." She turned to sneer at Ellysetta and Rain. "You Fey. You act so righteous, so noble. But you're no better than the Eld. You manipulate our minds, our bodies, just as you claim they do. You spin your weaves, and we dance to your commands like puppets on strings."

"Annoura!"
Dorian roared. "That's enough!"

The queen clamped her lips in a tight line, crossed her arms, and subsided into glaring silence while her husband struggled visibly to control his temper.

"Spin your weave, Lady Ellysetta," he commanded in a clipped voice.

Annoura's vitriol left Ellysetta shaken, especially because of the uncomfortable thread of truth in her accusations. Ellysetta
had
controlled the queen's mind and the queen's body with magic. She hadn't meant to do it, but she'd done it nonetheless.

«
Shei'tani
.» Rain's soft murmur prodded her to action.

Ellysetta flicked a glance at Gaelen as she summoned her power. Green Earth came to her call in a generous swell, shimmering with the rich golden radiance of
shei'dalin's
love. She guided the threads into a now-familiar healing pattern and held her hands over Annoura's body. As the fine web of healing spun out from her palms, she added a puff of Air that blew the hair back off Annoura's face and made the filmy edges of her wrap flutter back to bare the skin over her heart. A familiar, sickly sweet chill bloomed behind her, making her back teeth ache and the hairs rise on the back of her neck. Gaelen was spinning his Azrahn.