She gave a quick, fanning wave, marshaled her thoughts, and hurried out of the cathedral into the bright sunlight where Rain stood waiting on the manicured lawn.

"Did you miss me so much?" she asked, a teasing smile on her face.

"Have I been such a poor suitor that you must ask?" His teeth flashed in a smoldering smile, and his voice lowered to a throaty purr. "I shall endeavor to do better.”

Oh, my. She knew that look, that tone. Her cheeks flushed scarlet.

He laughed softly and moved close so that his body almost touched hers, but didn't; energy zinged between them all the same. Teasing her.

Her eyes narrowed. Two could play that game. He'd even taught her how Mindful of being in a public place, she didn't use her hands. She just closed her eyes, concentrated, and sent her essence rolling over in him in pulsating waves. His breath hissed on a sharp intake, and she smiled in satisfaction as she felt the rewarding stun to his senses.

When he caught his breath, he regarded her with glowing, half-closed eyes. "If I'm very, very good, shei’tani, will you do that again when we're alone?”

She laughed. Without a care for their public location or the worshipers walking past them, she flung her arms around his neck and kissed him soundly.

The teasing passion in his eyes softened to a different, more tender emotion, one that made her heart skip a beat. His hand trailed down the side of her face, brushing back spiraling tendrils of hair. "Come, shei’tani, dance the skies with your mate.”

He didn't escort her outside beyond the city walls as he usually did. Instead, he Changed right there on the cathedral lawn, much to the outrage of the priests who saw him. Ellysetta barely noticed. She settled into place on Rain's back and together they sprang into the sky.

"You see what I mean, Your Grace?" Lauriana pointed out the window at the disappearing shadow of the Fey king's tairen form. "He calls his magic right here, on holy ground, with no respect for our beliefs or our ways. He's encouraging Ellie to try magic as well. I'm sure of it. She's so in love with him, she'll do anything to please him. I fear that in time she'd even turn her back on the Bright Path if he asked it of her.”

Greatfather Tivrest turned away from the window and paced across his private office, his brows drawn together in an expression that was half scowl, half thoughtful deliberation. "It is perhaps providential, Madame Baristani, that you came to me today to discuss your fears." He glanced up, apparently having come to some sort of decision. "Will you follow me, please?”

He lit an oil lamp from his desk and led her to a small, windowless room adjoining his office. Long velvet drapes hung from floor to ceiling to ward off the chill of the ancient stone walls, and a small altar sat in one corner, its stone surface cluttered with dozens of red candles. The room still smelled of smoke and sago flowers as if someone had been burning those altar candles only recently.

Moving to the left wall, he parted the drapes to reveal a small metal door that he proceeded to unlock with a key he pulled from a pocket inside his robes. The door swung inward, opening to a narrow, curving stone stairway. A dim glow of light shone up from the darkness below.

"You are not the first to approach me this morning concerned about the safety of your daughter's soul," he said as they descended. "Three brothers from the north came to see me as well." The stairs opened up to a small room furnished with a simple wooden table and chairs. The room's occupants-three men in scarlet robes-rose to their feet and turned to greet them as Lauriana and the archbishop entered.

"This," Greatfather Tivrest said, indicating the older of the two, "is Father Lucial Bellamy, head of the Order of Adelis. And this"-he gestured to the younger, white-haired priest at his side-"is Father Nivane, one of the brothers in his service. And the father standing in the shadows over there is Father Brevard." Father Brevard did not move from the shadows, nor remove the hood concealing his face.

Lauriana had never met any of the three men before, but even without the Greatfather's mention of their Order, the first glimpse of their scarlet robes had told her who-or rather what-they were.

Exorcists.

CHAPTER TEN

"No." Lauriana's feet began to move of their own volition, backing away from the men in their bloodred robes.

"Father Bellamy heard of your daughter's betrothal to the Tairen Soul," the archbishop said. "He came here to Celieria City as soon as he received the news. He says her name is not unfamiliar to his Order.”

Lauriana's frightened gaze darted from one priest to the other. "I-" Her throat tightened, choking off her voice. Her knees went weak, and she reached out to grab the wall for support.

"Here, come have a seat before you fall." The archbishop put a supporting arm around her and led her to one of the empty wooden chairs. He pulled up a second, sat beside her, and patted her hand with a gentleness she hadn't known he possessed. "This isn't an interrogation, and I didn't bring you down here to cast blame or frighten you. You came to me for help, and I'd like to provide it, if I can. But first, I need to know what happened in Hartslea all those years ago." He bent forward, his blue eyes solemn, sincere, free of even the slightest hint of reproach. "Is it true your daughter was diagnosed as demon-possessed when she was a child?”

Lauriana swallowed hard and nodded. "Yes." She forced herself to speak, telling him about the seizures and the doctors' eventual diagnosis.