"Aiyah," he grumbled, eyeing her with new appreciation. That little move was sneaky enough for a tairen. "This wager. But I will win the game.”

She regained her composure and tossed her next stone towards an unoccupied square that would bring her one toss away from winning the game. Her aim was true, the arc of her throw perfect. The stone descended … then hit an invisible wall of Air and bounced back to land on a disqualified player's square. "What!" Ellysetta exclaimed. "Oh, foul!" She turned to him, laughing all the while she attempted to pretend outrage. "I cry foul!”

"Ha. As if you could." Rain tossed his last stone with negligent ease, this time using Air to direct it to its proper destination. It landed in the farthest row of the grid, completing his line. "I win.”

"You cheated," she accused. "More than I did," she added when he raised a brow.

"Nei, I did not.”

"You used your magic to win.”

"You never said I couldn't." His voice simmered with masculine satisfaction. "When you wager with tairen, take care with your words.”

Leaving the children to their game, he led her towards a copse of trees beside the river and pulled her close. Shei'tanitsa need, never far from him, rose up in swift, insistent waves. "I would collect my prize.”

"Now?" she asked nervously. "Here?”

"Now," he confirmed. "Here.”

Ellysetta's lips were soft and warm, her eyes solemn, nervous, and wide open. He smiled against her mouth, gently licked at her lips with flickering, teasing touches of his tongue followed by tiny nibbling bites. «You taste of honeyed cream, shei'tani. Open your mouth to me.» His hands splayed against her back, clutching her slender body closer as she hesitantly complied with his command. Triumph, pleasure, desire, and protectiveness swirled through him as he laid claim to the secrets of her mouth. Timid at first, she accepted but did not respond to his kiss.

«Do not fear this, » he urged. «Do not fear me. Feel what you do to me, feel how I need you.» Deliberately he lowered the protective barriers that were as much a part of him as his leathers and steel.

Need and desire poured over her like warm honey, and she gasped against his mouth, closing her eyes against the almost painful pleasure that claimed her senses. He did desire her. Though it made no sense to her, she couldn't deny it. Kelissande, for all her beauty, couldn't make him feel what she, plain Ellysetta Baristani, did. The knowledge was heady, intoxicating. There was such longing in him, such loneliness. It as like a void crying to be filled, and she could feel herself being drawn to it, needing to bring him peace.

Opening his senses to her, aware of every nuance of her emotions, of every beat of her heart, every shivered breath, Rain drank in her sweet response. Hesitant at first, she grew bolder as he greeted each tentative stroke of her tongue with a hungry stroke of his own, building her self-confidence, assuring her that she held the same sensual power over him that he held over her. He took her breath into his lungs and gave her back his own. She shuddered and twined her arms around him, clinging tight. His body grew hard as her feelings flowed to him, through him, saturating every cell of his being, just as his desire, his need, his passion flowed to her. Intensity doubled, quadrupled, as their emotions formed a harmonic frequency and amplified each other.

"Disgusting display," Kelissande's sneering voice declared. "I'd heard he'd all but mated her in public. I see now the stories were true.”

Ellysetta gasped and tore her lips from Rain's, a tide of red rushing into her pale face. The banker's daughter stood on the gravel path beside the river, surrounded by her admirers and sneering at Ellysetta and Rain. He felt Ellysetta's shame for having shared in their passion, and it infuriated him. Power sparked in his eyes. The Minset woman had been warned.

Before he could release his weave, Kelissande shrieked and toppled backwards into the Velpin. Thrashing and sputtering, she screamed for help, and four of her Celierian admirers promptly leapt in to rescue her.

Rain followed the nearly invisible trail of the Air weave back to Kieran. Beside Kieran, Lillis clapped her hands, squealed, and threw herself into the Fey's arms. The young warrior hugged her close and met his king's stern look with a broad grin and a careless shrug, showing not the faintest hint of remorse. Despite himself, Rain almost laughed. How could he upbraid the Fey for doing something he'd been about to do himself?

Unaware of the silent communication going on over her head, Ellie felt a spurt of wicked happiness as she watched Kelissande flounder her way out of the river. The glee was followed immediately by shame at her unkind feelings. She knew what it was to be publicly humiliated, and to take enjoyment in the humiliation of another made her little better than Kelissande. She tried to free herself from Rain's arms,. intending to go to Kelissande's aid, but his grip tightened.

He shook his head and cupped her face. "Do not waste your compassion on her, shei'tani. Her heart is hard”

Ellie blinked. She was aware of that, but Rain was the first man she'd ever known to see it. "Don't you find her beautiful?" she asked. Surely he did. After all, only a short while ago he'd been whispering sweet nothings into Kelissande's ear. Hadn't he?

"She is like a komarind fruit—beautiful on the outside, but bitter inside. Fey do not prize the komarind. We let it rot on the branches." He touched a finger to her lips. "The Fey find beauty in the soul. That is where true beauty always lies. And believe me, Ellysetta Baristani, your soul is beautiful indeed.”