"Your queen did not join you this morning," Rain commented casually as they walked, careful to keep his tone neutral. Annoura had made her dislike of the Fey dear on more than one occasion. She'd even actively worked against them three months ago. He wouldn't be surprised if the courtiers' hostility was a reflection of hers. "She is otherwise engaged?"

"I received word shortly before your arrival that she wasn't feeling well," Dorian replied.

Rain almost stopped walking. No Fey worthy of his steel would leave his mate's side if she were in poor health, and Dorian was Fey enough that care for his wife should have been a preeminent concern. Brows bunching in a frown, he started to say something to that effect, when Ellysetta's nails dug into his wrist in silent warning.

«Do not chastise him. Rain. You know mortal ways are different from Fey. He is the king and Celieria is at war. His people expect him to put them first.»

For Ellysetta's sake, he kept the censure from his voice when he said, "I hope the illness is nothing serious."

They had reached a sprawling marble stair that led to the upper levels of the palace. As they climbed, Dorian slanted Rain a glance that said he knew exactly what Rain thought of his husbandly neglect. "Several members of the court have fallen ill the last few days with a stomach complaint. The physician assures me it isn't particularly harmful—just unpleasant for the afflicted."

"I would be happy to weave healing on them," Ellysetta volunteered. "Or you, for that matter. I can sense your weariness." She gave a crooked smile. "And don't fear, I have become much more adept since the last time we met."

The king gave a quiet chuckle. He had been on the receiving end of her magic before, as one of the unwitting participants in the weave that had plunged the heads of Celieria's noble Houses into seven bells of unrelenting, magic-driven mating. "I would be honored to accept your offer of healing once we're through." His humor faded as he added, "Though the same cannot be said for all the members of my court. I'm sure you noticed the tension outside when you arrived."

They had reached the king's private offices. Guards liveried in hues of Celierian blue and gold pushed open the tall, gilded double doors to admit them into the spacious room. Rain waited for the doors to close and Ellysetta's quintet to spin a five-fold privacy weave before he said, "I take it your troubles with those who would discredit the Fey have not ended?"

"Would that they had." Dorian sighed and paced across the room to the windows overlooking the palace gardens, with their array of spectacular fountains. "Once we began building up our military presence along the borders, the murmurs began. First it was the cost, then the loss of commerce when we ceased trade with merchants known to service the Eld; then the conspiracy rumors began, whispering about how the attack on the cathedral this summer was staged by the Fey to draw us into an unprovoked war against their old enemies, the Eld."

"And when the news came about Teleon and Orest?"

Dorian turned hack from the window, his eyes weary. "You mean when the news came that the Fey armies massing in Orest and Teleon forced the Eld to launch a preemptive strike out of self-defense?" He grimaced. The Eld have been wily; you must give them that. Not once have they attacked a target unrelated to the Fey. That has not escaped the notice of the lords who supported the Eld Trade Agreement this summer. Now they claim the attacks on Orest and Teleon merely prove this is a dispute between the Eld and the Fey—-and that we should not allow ourselves to be drawn into your war. They remain convinced that once the Eld are no longer threatened by Fey aggression, there will be peace."

"Peace." Rain gave a harsh laugh. "Oh, aiyah, there will be peace. The cost will be misery and enslavement, but your subjects will get their peace." He spun on a booted heel and stalked to the opposite side of the room.

Ellysetta's silk skirts rustled as she took a step towards Dorian. "Forgive me, Your Majesty, but have you considered the possibility that one or more of the lords leading the opposition might be Mage-claimed?"

Dorian's mouth set in grim lines. "I have considered the possibility, yes. And I pray daily that it is not so." He turned a bleak gaze towards the portrait of his beautiful, silver-blond wife, Annoura, which dominated the wall across from his desk. His shoulders slumped in weary despair. "Because one of the strongest voices against this war belongs to my queen,"

"Merciful gods!" Queen Annoura of Celieria groaned in misery as the painful clench of her belly sent her racing to the garderobe for the third time in the last bell. She reached it just as the contents of her stomach spewed out in a series of racking heaves. She retched again and again until nothing came up but bile, and even then the nausea lay upon her like a foul blanket. Her arms and legs trembled as she dragged herself up to her feet and stood there on the cold stone tile floor, swaying and feeling feint.

Whatever illness was sweeping through her court seemed to have found its way to her. A full score of the court's highest-ranked ladies had fallen ill in the last two days, and now she could count herself among them. She'd been retching since before daybreak and showed no signs of stopping anytime soon.

Poison was the first thought that had sprung to her mind. But what miserable excuse for a poisons master would leave dozens of women ill and none dead? Besides, Annoura's food taster hadn't fallen ill, and she used his services religiously. She had too much wily, suspicious Capellan in her ever to give up that protection.