Ellysetta watched the steel flashing in his fingers. The blade was a mere blur now.

"The mentors of the Warriors' Academy are masters of magic as well as war. They are our most skilled teachers—and all of them are mated, which will make it easier for me to allow them close to you." He caught the black Fey'cha in midspin and returned it to its sheath. "I will ask one of them to be your chatok and teach you the ways of Fey magic."

"You want a warrior to teach me to wield my magic."

His eyes lifted, and Ellysetta's mouth went suddenly dry. Thick black lashes framed gleaming pale purple irises that were just beginning to glow. Instantly she was reminded of his expression when he'd stood beside her in Chakai as she healed the rasa.

"Want? Nei. But it's what you need. He stared down at the table, where his thumbnail had just dug a deep groove into the finish. A muscle ticked in his jaw. Green Earth flared briefly, and the groove filled back in. "If our bond were complete, I would teach you myself, but it is not." His shoulder lifted and fell. "If there were another Tairen Soul, I would ask him, but there is not. It must be a chatok from the Academy. They are the only ones who can teach you what you need to know."

She leaned across the table and put her hands on his. "There is no need for you to torment yourself, Rain. You are my shei'tan, the man I dreamed of all my life. My heart has no room for another."

"When it comes to some things, shei'tani, tairen do not listen to reason."

"Do they not?" She slipped out of her chair and sat on his lap, looping her arms casually around his neck. "Perhaps they just need convincing."

She smiled as the tense brackets around his mouth eased and the glow of his eyes grew more pronounced—and much warmer.

"Perhaps you're right," he purred. "Why don't you try it and see?"

Chapter twelve

The slopes of Fey'Bahren run dark with the blood of enemies,fools, and prey.

Ancient Fey Maxim

The Fading Lands ~ Fey'Bahren

Ellysetta woke with a yawning stretch, smiling at the pleasant tug of muscle and the warmth of Rain's body stretched out beside her. She rolled against him, burying her face in his hair and breathing deep to take his scent into her lungs. She would never tire of waking beside him, skin-to-skin, knowing this was where she belonged.

After their meal, they'd retired to Rain's bedchamber to make love with breathtaking intensity before falling into deep, exhausted, and blessedly dreamless sleep. Now Ellysetta was awake and refreshed, and rapidly discovering that Fey males weren't the only ones to harbor insatiable desire for their mates.

She slid a leg up over his and slipped an arm around his waist. Her fingers traced the steely ripples of his abdomen and moved up across his chest, and she smiled against the soft skin of his neck as one flat male nipple hardened beneath her fingertips. "Mmm." She stroked the small nub and nuzzled his ear. "Are you well rested, shei'tan?" Her hand trailed back down his ribs to his hips to stroke a far more interesting bit of hardening male flesh. Her smile grew wider. "Ah, I see that you are."

She squealed with laughter as he turned in one quick burst of motion and rolled her on her back, pinning her to the bed. "Feeling bold?" he growled. He lowered his head, and his silky black hair fell in dark veils around them, casting his face in shadow so that the glow of his eyes seemed more intense.

"You don't like it?"

White teeth flashed. "I never said that." His lips took hers in a deep, passionate kiss, not releasing her until her pulse was racing, her nails were scoring his back, and her lungs were gasping for air. "This Fey loves bold. Bold is good."

She closed her eyes as his lips tracked down her throat to her br**sts. Moist heat closed around one sensitive tip while warm fingers worked their seductive magic on the other. "Very good," she groaned. Her legs wrapped around him, heels pressing against the tight curve of his bu**ocks, urging him upwards. Much as she loved his hands, his lips, his magic upon her, what she wanted was him, inside her where he belonged, completing her. She never felt so whole as she did when their bodies were united, their souls so close she could almost reach out and grasp those elusive, final threads of their bond.

A rumbling purr rolled across her skin, and a puff of warm, richly scented air swirled around her. «Fine, strong mating is good. Rainier-Eras and Ellysetta-kitling will hatch many kitlings for the pride.»

The happy, purring voice—definitely not Rain's—hit Ellysetta like a bucket of frigid water. Her eyes flew open, and she found herself staring straight up into very large, very glowing, very curious blue tairen eyes.

"Ahhh!" Ellie shrieked, and shoved Rain away from her with such force he tumbled off the edge of the bed and hit the rock floor with a thud. She snatched fistfuls of furred coverlets and silky sheets and yanked them up in a desperate attempt to cover herself.

"Good sweet Lord of Light!" she exclaimed, staring at the white tairen in mortification. "What are you doing here? Have you never heard of knocking?"

Steli snorted and sat back on her haunches. A miffed growl rumbled in her chest, and her tail whipped against the chamber wall, making little flakes of rock fall to the floor. «What is "knocking"?»

Rain, naked and utterly unashamed, stood up and rubbed his bruised hindquarters. He fixed Steli with a disgruntled look. "Ellysetta-Feyreisa means Steli-chakai should sing greetings before entering the sleeping lair of the Feyreisen and his mate."