«Mmm,» Steli confirmed. «Fey-kin tells Fahreeta she so pretty, so brave, sooooo beautiful. Fahreeta likes the Fey-kin now. Says she and Torasul will stay, and she will talk to the Fey-kin. She even lets the Fey-kin pet her fur and purrs to him all the time.» Blue eyes gleamed with sly humor. «To-rasul likes the Fey-kin not so much.»

“Oh dear,” Ellysetta said. She didn’t need the perfectly rendered picture of one very large, very cranky Torasul to know what that meant.

Fahreeta was a flirt of tairen proportions. Sleek and beautiful and well aware of it. Her mate, Torasul, had more than a tairen’s supply of patience—which was good, else his mate’s constant teasing would drive him mad—but, as the Water master Loris v’En Mahr occasionally reminded his own whirlwind of a mate, even the vastest of seas eventually broke upon the shore.

«Not worry. Steli warned the Fey-kin not to pet Fahreeta so much else maybe Torasul decide the Fey-kin looks tasty-tasty.» She snickered and sang an image of Dev Teleos’s face as Steli explained that Fahreeta’s mate might eat him in a fit of tairen jealousy.

Rain frowned in concern. “Lord Teleos does not understand pride ways. Perhaps I should sing to Sybharukai and ask her to send other tairen to Orest,” he suggested. “Just in case Torasul loses his temper.”

Huah Huah. The other two tairen fell on the lair floor, rolling on their backs, their great bodies shaking with laughter. The bright, vivid tones of tairen speech filled the lair, so richly vibrant the sounds actually shimmered gold and silver in the air. «This is a very good joke, Steli-chakai. Rainier-Eras so worried. He thinks Torasul will really eat the Fey-kin.» Tairen tails swirled and twined together, and large paws batted the air.

“This is a joke?” Rain arched a brow and his arms crossed over his chest. “You are joking?”

Huahuahuahuah. Steli’s eyes squeezed shut, and her head bobbed up and down as wheezing snickers escaped through her nose. «So good joke. So good.»

Ellysetta clapped a hand over her mouth to hide her rapidly widening grin. “Oh, you wicked cat!” she exclaimed, then ruined the scold with an irrepressible laugh.

«You need to move now, shei’tani.» The command, sent on tight weave of Spirit, came with a tug of Air that pulled her away from Steli’s side.

As soon as she was clear, Rain sprang. The sparkling gray mist of the Change billowed out.

“Mraawwrrr!” Steli squawked and tried to scramble away, but she couldn’t move quickly enough to avoid Rain’s pounce.

Black and white tairen, limbs tangled, wings tucked tight against their bodies, rolled across the floor of the small lair, wrestling for supremacy. The other two tairen, still laughing, scooted to one side and watched with eager amusement, occasionally dodging to miss a flailing limb or tail as necessary.

Finally, Rain had Steli pinned, his fangs clamped around the back of her neck. Instantly, he released her, roared his victory, then padded over to Ellysetta’s side, chuffing and blowing smoke in smug triumph. Steli hopped to her feet, sniffed, and went off to a corner of the lair to groom her ruffled fur.

«So what is the truth of the matter, Steli-chakai?» Rain asked. «Did Fahreeta truly agree to speak with Lord Teleos for the pride?»

«Oh, yes. And the Fey-kin did tell Fahreeta she so beautiful. And he did pet, and she does purr. But Torasul not jealous. Jealous of two-leg? Even Fey-kin?» She snorted and shook her head, clearly finding the entire idea absurd.

Abruptly, Steli’s mouth opened wide, fangs gleaming, pink tongue curling in an enormous yawn. «Steli is tired. Long flight from Orest. Needs sleep. Rainier-Eras and Ellysetta-kitling stay with the pride.»

It was less a question than a command from the First Blade of the Fey’Bahren pride, and Rain agreed.

«Aiyah, Steli-chakai. We will stay with the pride.»

In Fey’Bahren, the tairen frequently slept apart from one another, but here, in this new lair that had no volcanic heart to warm its stones, they piled together in a nest of fur, wings, and limbs, sharing body heat and the comfort of the pride. At the center of the nest, sandwiched on a bed of soft fur between Steli and Rain, Ellysetta slept, too, and even without Lord Galad’s Sentinel blooms, she only dreamed good, happy tairen dreams of hunting and flying and life enveloped by the tight-knit love and security of the pride.

CHAPTER FIVE

Eld ~ Boura Fell

1st day of Seledos

Shrouded in the luxurious folds of his purple robe of office, High Mage Vadim Maur sat on the imposing throne of Eld, his body cradled in the cupped black hands of Seledorn, Lord of Shadows, whose colossal body, graven in sel’dor ore, towered over him like the vengeful god he was. Massive black dragon wings, the carved stone polished to a glossy sheen, soared up from the god’s back and curved forward to form a great, dark protective dome over the Mage’s throne. The symbolism of the throne was clear: Seledorn cradled the High Mage in his hands and sheltered him in the haven of the god’s divine might.

The sentiment was one in need of reinforcement. Vadim’s spies in the Council and the Mage Halls had carried back the whispers that had begun to circulate among the Mages in the days since his incarnation. As gifted a Mage as Nour had been, there were a handful of others who possessed a greater command of Azrahn, and with Vadim now inhabiting Nour’s body, those Mages had begun planning to overthrow him.

But the Mages were greatly mistaken if they believed Nour’s limitations had lessened Vadim’s ability to hold on to power. He was still Vadim Maur, the greatest High Mage in the history of Eld. He was the High Mage who had engineered his own Tairen Soul after centuries of breeding and experimentation.