"We will accompany you, all the same. You are Rain Tairen Soul's truemate, and all the city knows it. There are those who might think to harm the Fey through you.”

For a moment, Ellie considered heading straight back to her room, but she couldn't just leave Selianne waiting at the museum. Remembering the way her father had bargained with the Fey warriors earlier, Ellie gathered her courage and said, "If you insist on coming, Ser vel Jelani, you must swear an oath of honor that you'll give my friend and me privacy. No eavesdropping or mind reading.”

Belliard's expression never wavered. "Aiyah, Ellysetta Baristani. I do so vow" When her gaze flickered to the four Fey behind him, he added, "I speak for all of your cha'kor, your quintet. We are here not to spy, but to protect.”

She took a deep breath. "Well, let's go, then. I don't want my friend to worry.”

Surrounded by her escort of five leather-and-steel-clad immortals, Ellie hurried down the alleyway, then turned east on the lane that ran through the West End's quiet merchant district. Fire-lit lamps cast a golden glow over the cobblestones and storefronts.

"Do you climb out of your bedroom window often, kem'falla?" Belliard asked as they walked.

Ellie felt her cheeks heat up. "No." Her parents were sound enough sleepers that she usually went out the kitchen door. "But this is not the first time you have done so.”

"Not the first time, no.”

"I had not thought Celieria's daughters were so … adventurous”

"Most aren't." If her parents had known she slipped out of the house at night, they would have put an immediate stop to it. But the nightmares that plagued her all her life made sleep difficult, and alone in the silence of the small bells, Ellysetta had often found peace by walking in the night air. At first she'd kept to the private courtyard behind the house, but as she grew older the courtyard began to feel too confining and she started to roam farther. Most nights, she ended up at the same place she was going now—Celieria's National Museum of Art.

"You are either very brave or very foolish, Ellysetta Baristani. Night streets are no place for young women alone.”

Ellie shrugged. In all the years she'd walked alone at night, she'd never had a problem. Indeed, no one had ever even seemed to notice her presence before. "Celieria is well patrolled, the streets are well lit, and this is an honest part of the city.”

"Evil has an affinity for the night. Even in well-lit, well- patrolled, honest quarters.”

"I'll keep that in mind." She glanced at the other four Fey, then back to Belliard. "Since you seem determined to guard me, perhaps you should tell me your names”

The five Fey bowed and introduced themselves one by one. The smiling, brown-haired Fey was Kieran vel Solande, son of the shei'dalin Marissya and her truemate Dax. The blond warrior whose face Lorelle had scratched was Kiel vel Tomar. The other two, both black-haired and brown-eyed, were brothers, Rowan and Adrial vel Arquinas.

"There are another five Fey in your secondary quintet who will guard you for the few bells in the night when we must sleep," Belliard added.

"Mama will just love that," Ellie muttered.

"Your mother does not like magic or magical races?”

"She's from the north. The magic from the Mage Wars left behind many evil things. Dangerous, mutated creatures; dark places no one dares enter." Even children with frightening afflictions. "Magic and Celierians don't mix well.”

"And yet, here in Celieria City, the people accept magic and its benefits without question." Belliard pointed to the Fire-lit lamps.

"Well, the Mages never sacked Celieria City, did they? The worst of the Wars never reached south of Vrest. People here would feel different if mutated predators like lyrant roamed their woods, or if their children were born with ghastly deformities and deadly powers.”

"Do you share your mother's fear of magic?”

Ellie hesitated before answering. "Magic … makes me uncomfortable." For the past year or so, if anyone wielded strong magic around her, she would get terrible headaches and her sleep would be tormented by particularly horrible nightmares. She didn't even want to think what her dreams held in store for her tonight.

They reached Celieria's main thoroughfare and turned north. Though most of the hardworking families of the West End were asleep, that was not true of all of Celieria's population. Carriages rolled down the cobbled street, carrying nobles in colorful silks and satins to their night's entertainment. Men and women, some well dressed, some more commonly so, strolled down the wide bricked sidewalks on either side of the road. Boisterous laughter and music poured through the doors of numerous pubs. Normally, Ellie didn't come out until much later at night, when fewer people roamed the city. She was very aware of her Fey escort's distinctive garb. "You're going to draw attention.”

Belliard vel Jelani shared a glance with his fellow Fey, then gestured. Lavender light glowed around them, and when it faded, all five warriors were dressed in simple Celierian clothing and their Fey skin had lost its luminescence. They were still too handsome to be pure mortal, but their disguises would allow them to walk without drawing too much attention to themselves.

Ellie rubbed at the goose bumps that rose on her skin in response to Belliard's magic. "Nice trick.”

They turned the corner and slipped into the streams of people walking the sidewalks. A number of women gave the Fey long, hungry looks, but no one stopped them or acted as though their presence were anything out of the ordinary. Ellie led the way up the remaining half mile to the arched bridge that spanned the Velpin River.