Queen of Song and Souls (20 page)

As quickly as the unpleasant sensation came, it faded. She finished her own weave, erasing Annoura's nausea and fatigue and replenishing her flagging strength. As her weave sank into Annoura's body, a sudden reactive spark of power made her jump in surprise. She sent a flickering tendril of Spirit into Annoura's womb and smiled at the sudden flood of wordless images and sensations that flowed into her. No matter how antagonistic Annoura was, her baby responded to Ellysetta's presence with instinctive welcome, squirming with happiness and soaking up the warmth of her magic with innocent joy... returning bright little sparks of its own nascent power.

The child possessed magic, and
not
some weak, watered-down version of it either. Strong magic ... already well developed: green Earth, red Fire, lavender Spirit... and a distinct cool black thread of shadowy Azrahn, Ellysetta flinched away from the dark magic, only to freeze in guilt when the baby's joy turned to fright and forlorn confusion at her sudden abandonment. The baby was not to blame for what magic it possessed.
"Las, kaidin, las. Peace, little one.»
She soothed the child with flows of warmth and love and spun a small weave of comfort before withdrawing again.

«The
queen is unMarked,»
Gaelen announced on a private weave. The sudden, relieved slump of Dorian's shoulders told Ellysetta that he'd spun the same information to the king.

"
Mioralas
, Your Majesties," Ellysetta said. "Your son is healthy and strong. May he bring you much joy."

"A son." Dorian took Annoura's hand and smiled with genuine happiness. "Another son. Thank you, Lady Ellysetta. For everything."

"Sha vel'mei,
King Dorian." Ellysetta glanced at the queen, but Annoura pressed her lips into a tight line and turned her head to stare pointedly at the far wall. With determined graciousness, Ellysetta said, "Blessing of the Light upon you, Queen Annoura. I wish you and your family much joy." She touched her fingers to Rain's wrist.

Rain inclined his head. "We will take our leave of you now. I am sure there is much for you to discuss.
Miora felah ti'vos."

Leaving the king and his wife to their privacy, the Fey departed. Ellysetta waited until the door of Annoura's suite closed behind them before saying, "Annoura is right, Rain. If we use our magic to get what we want, how are we any different from the Eld?"

Rain looked taken aback. "
Nei
, she isn't right at all," he answered quickly. "She's angry and out of sorts and looking for someone to blame. We Fey live by a strict code of honor precisely because we don't want to end up like the Eld. We don't use our magic to conquer and enslave as they do."

"And yet Fey think nothing of spinning Spirit to send mortals on their way, or hide amongst them undetected, or read their minds and emotions to better control them."

"We aren't using our magic to manipulate Celierians. We're using it to protect them."

She gave a humorless laugh. "Have you ever stopped to ask if they wanted that protection? Mortals aren't children, Rain. They may not live thousands of years or wield magic, but they still have a right to decide their own lives."

"And Fey do not lie, yet mortals do at will," he countered. "Does that make them evil because they use a talent we do not possess in order to manipulate and control us? Do not be foolish, Ellysetta. They are neither so innocent nor such victims as you are making them out to be." He regarded her with a mix of exasperation and concern. "I thought you'd gotten past your fear and distrust of magic, Ellysetta. I thought you had accepted it."

"I have, but that doesn't negate my concern about the ways magic can be misused."

"Aiyah,
it
can
be misused, but do not forget all the many ways it can be used to help people as well. Such as the healing you just did. And the way you saved that boy Aartys's life in Orest."

Ellysetta's gaze fell to the floor. He was right, of course, but Queen Annoura's accusation had hit a nerve, and what Ellysetta had discovered about the queen's unborn child had only increased her guilt. "The child wields magic, Rain. A very strong gift, if I'm not mistaken.
^”

"Is that what this is about?" Her
shei’tan
didn't look as shocked or as worried as she was. "Ellysetta, King Dorian has magic, and so does the prince. They are descended from the vol Serranis line, after all."

"He possesses Azrahn," she clarified. "The queen couldn't have children, but my weave made her pregnant, and now she's carrying a child gifted in Azrahn."

"I doubt there is cause for alarm. You've seen Gaelen wield Azrahn. It stands to reason descendants of his sister's line might also possess at least some small degree of it."

She frowned. She couldn't believe he was taking this so calmly. "I don't think what I sensed was a low-level talent. It felt very strong to come from such a tiny baby."

"Rain is right to tell you not to be alarmed," Gaelen interjected, "Much as some Fey would like to believe otherwise, Azrahn is not inherently evil. It's just a Mystic, like Spirit. In fact, I believe many of our most magically gifted warriors also possess a strong talent in Azrahn. It's certainly the case among the
dahl’reisen
."

"Which may explain why they're
dahl’reisen
," Tajik muttered, ostensibly to Gil but loud enough for the rest of them to hear.

Gaelen narrowed his eyes at the red-haired Fire master. "And where do you think
dahl’reisen
come from, vel Sibboreh? You think they pop up like mush-balls in a fellroot bog?
Nei,
they were born Fey, which means more than a few Fey possess strong talent in Azrahn. Just because the
chatok
refuse to test for it doesn't mean it isn't there."

"Setah,"
Rain rumbled. "Dorian's lords will reconvene soon. Bel and Tajik, I want you to join us. There are no military minds I trust more than yours. With Gaelen's knowledge of the north, and yours of battle tactics, we can at least give these Celierians a fighting chance until the allies arrive. Call the warriors from Ellysetta's secondary quintet to replace you while you are away." He leveled a commanding eye on Ellysetta. "And you,
shei'tani,
stop worrying. Annoura's child is a miracle, not a monster. Training will teach him to control whatever gifts he has. You should go back to the suite and try to rest."

She gave him a wan smile. "I would be afraid to close my eyes without you there. I think I'll visit the other ladies who are ill, and offer healing. It's the least I can do," she added to forestall his objection, "since I am responsible for their condition." And it would give her the opportunity to see how many other children conceived through her weave also possessed Azrahn.

Rain didn't like it, but in the end Ellysetta had her way. He, Tajik, Bel, and Gaelen went to meet with Dorian's war council while Ellysetta and her
lu’tan
paid a call on the sick noblewomen.

Several of the ladies turned them away on the doorstep, but quite a few did not. For those who received her, Ellysetta spun healing weaves to calm their stomachs and did what she could to bolster the strength and health of the more elderly among them.

But rather than putting her mind at ease, the visits only increased her concern. Because every pregnant woman's unborn child was a son gifted with powerful magic—including a distinct and potent spark of Azrahn.

The proof was irrefutable, the evidence too overwhelming to be mere coincidence. She, Ellysetta Baristani, had done far more than merely cause barren wombs to bear fruit once more.

She had created magical children arid given each of them the ability to spin Azrahn.

Just as the High Mage of Eld had done when he had created her.

"Well, something must have happened during our break," Cannevar Barrial murmured in a quiet aside to Rain. "I've never seen Lord Harrod so distracted." The war council had reconvened. Prince Dorian was reviewing the defenses of Celieria City, and more than once he had to call a dazed older Lord back to attention.

Rain glanced across the room at the elderly Great Lord Harrod, a former admiral of the king's navy and lord of King's Point. He was clearly suffering from the same shock as his fellow lords who had just discovered their impending fatherhood. "I suppose learning your sixty-year-old wife is with child can do that to even the most focused of mortals."

Cann's jaw dropped. "Learning what?"

"Ah, that's right. You came in after I did." The shocked announcements and congratulations had already ended before Lord Barrial returned from the war council's break. "Lady Harrod is pregnant." Rain nodded at the assembled lords. "All their wives are—as is any woman who was at that dinner when Ellysetta spun her weave." He gave Lord Barrial a rueful smile. "It seems my
shei'tani's
weave was more potent than we realized."

"All of the ladies are—" Lord Barrial's voice broke off and his face turned to stone. "Will you excuse me?" Not waiting for an answer, he strode out of the council chamber.

As the door closed, Rain winced in sudden understanding. Barrial's wife had died years ago, but he hadn't escaped Ellysetta's weave. Nor had Thea Trubol, the unmarried noblewoman who'd been partnered with him for dinner that night. And apparently Lady Thea either didn't yet know or hadn't yet broken the news of her condition to Lord Barrial.

Poor Cann. First his daughter Talisa had recognized Adrial as her truemate scarcely a month after her marriage to Lord Sebourne's heir, and now this. His friendship with the Fey had not served his family kindly of late.

Two familiar warriors were waiting in the palace suite when Ellysetta returned from her visits with the noble ladies of Celieria. Dark haired, dark eyed, and so alike in appearance they could be twins, they turned to face the opening door when she entered, and the sight of them—unexpected and dearer than she'd known until this moment—shoved her troubled thoughts to the back of her mind.

"Rowan! Adrial!" Joy burst from her heart, and she ran across the room to fling herself into first one pair of arms, then another. "Oh, my friends!
Mioralas
,
kem'mareskia,
I am so very glad to see you both." She pulled back, then laughed, and hugged and kissed them both again.

"If I didn't know better, 'Jonn," Gil quipped dryly, "I’d say she was happy to see them."

"Only a little." Rijonn gave a laugh that sounded more like the rumble of shifting earth.

Ellysetta beamed. "I refuse to pretend any joy less than I feel. These two lived with my family for weeks before Rain and I married. They are beloved friends, and I have missed them greatly." Emotion misted her eyes. Rowan and Adrial had been with her when she still had a family, and seeing them was like having a little piece of Mama, Papa, Lillis, and Lorelle back in her life. Smiling through the tears, she cradled their faces in her hands and kissed them both again until even brash Rowan's ears turned pink.

"No offense, Ellysetta," Rowan muttered, "but please stop that before Rain arrives. I'm only eleven hundred. Far too young to die."

She laughed and relented, settling for dragging them both towards the cushioned settee. "Come. Sit. Tell me everything. How have you been? How is Talisa? How are you both holding up? Oh, and have you met Gil and Rijonn?"

The brothers shared a dazed look as she bombarded them with her questions, but when she mentioned Gil and Rijonn, Rowan and Adrial glanced in their direction, then suddenly jumped to their feet and stood with spines stiff as pikes.

"Chakai
vel Jendahr,
Chakai
vel Ahrimor." Rowan executed a shallow bow with crisp military precision. "It is an honor to meet you both." Beside him, Adrial bowed with equal precision.

"So you do know each other," Ellysetta said.

"We have never met," Gil said.

"Only by reputation," Rowan said at the same time. "These are the heroes of Mowbren Glarn, one of the fiercest battles of the Mage Wars."

"All were heroes that day," Gil said, and the silver stars in his eyes dimmed until his irises were almost pure black. "We just happened to be among the few to survive it."

"The few who did survive owe their lives to you. Your weaves from that day have been taught at the academy ever since." Rowan frowned. "But I thought you were both
rasa. ..."

"We were," Rijonn said.

"Then how—" Rowan broke off. Both he and Adrial turned to look at Ellysetta. "Ah."

"She restored the souls of three hundred rasa at the warcastle of
chakai,"
Gil said. "We were among them and serve her now as
lu'tan
and masters in her primary quintet."

"Aiyah, well …" Ellysetta cleared her throat and quickly introduced the other
lu'tan
in the room.

"Where are Rain and Bel?" Rowan asked. "Is vel Serranis still with you?”

"Rain and Bel are with the king, discussing the defense of Celieria. And,
aiyah,
Gaelen is with them." She leaned over to take Adrial's hand. "How are you, really, Adrial?" Even as she asked, she spun a weave of healing and strength to bolster his flagging spirits. The last months had taken a toll on him.

He smiled, but his eyes remained dark, melancholy brown pools. "As well as a Fey can be, under the circumstances. Rowan has been my rock."

"There is no hope of Talisa leaving her husband?"

Adrial's gaze dropped.