Theirs was not the reaction of a happy couple overjoyed to discover they were having a child.

Guilt stabbed Ellysetta hard, and she hung back in the doorway. «Oh, Rain, this is not how things should be. A baby should be cause for joy, not anger. How can I make this right?»

"There is nothing for you to put right, shei'tani. You gave them the greatest gift of all—the gift of new life. How Annoura chooses to receive that gift is her decision, not yours. You are not to blame for her unhappiness.»

Ellysetta doubted Annoura would agree with him. Animosity emanated from her like an acid fog, searing Ellysetta's empathic senses with such bitter resentment it made her skin ache.

"My Lord Feyreisen, My Lady Feyreisa, please, come in." With a determined smile that looked more like a grimace pasted on his face, Dorian waved for them to approach the queen's bed. "I was just telling the queen how much better she will feel once your healing weave calms her stomach."

Rain approached the bed, leaving Ellysetta little choice but to follow. She fought to keep her fingers flat against Rain's wrist when what she truly wanted was to grab his hand and squeeze tight. "Your Majesties." She forced herself to smile at Annoura with as much warmth as she could muster. "The Feyreisen and I offer you the felicitations of the Fey and congratulate you on your wonderful news. May your coming child be a radiant Light in your life and bring you both much joy."

The queen turned her head away as if Ellysetta had not spoken. Dorian's lips tightened, but his voice was smooth as silk when he said, "Thank you, Lady Ellysetta. My queen and I long since gave up hope of having a second child. This pregnancy is a blessing indeed, as I'm sure the queen will agree when she is feeling more herself."

Ellysetta moistened her lips and took a hesitant step towards the bed. "Queen Annoura, I do regret intruding upon your privacy when you are not feeling your best, but the weave the king asked me to spin should set you back to rights immediately. I promise there will be no adverse effects to the child."

Annoura made a rude noise and slanted a sour look in Ellysetta's direction. "Considering the unnatural way this child was conceived, it's rather pointless to worry what effect magic might have now, don't you chink?"

"Annoura." King Dorian's hands knotted.

"What?" the queen spat. "I agreed to let her heal me as you commanded, but that doesn't mean I must pretend to like it." She turned to sneer at Ellysetta and Rain. "You Fey. You act so righteous, so noble. But you're no better than the Eld. You manipulate our minds, our bodies, just as you claim they do. You spin your weaves, and we dance to your commands like puppets on strings."

"Annoura!" Dorian roared. "That's enough!"

The queen clamped her lips in a tight line, crossed her arms, and subsided into glaring silence while her husband struggled visibly to control his temper.

"Spin your weave, Lady Ellysetta," he commanded in a clipped voice.

Annoura's vitriol left Ellysetta shaken, especially because of the uncomfortable thread of truth in her accusations. Ellysetta had controlled the queen's mind and the queen's body with magic. She hadn't meant to do it, but she'd done it nonetheless.

«Shei'tani.» Rain's soft murmur prodded her to action.

Ellysetta flicked a glance at Gaelen as she summoned her power. Green Earth came to her call in a generous swell, shimmering with the rich golden radiance of shei'dalin's love. She guided the threads into a now-familiar healing pattern and held her hands over Annoura's body. As the fine web of healing spun out from her palms, she added a puff of Air that blew the hair back off Annoura's face and made the filmy edges of her wrap flutter back to bare the skin over her heart. A familiar, sickly sweet chill bloomed behind her, making her back teeth ache and the hairs rise on the back of her neck. Gaelen was spinning his Azrahn.

As quickly as the unpleasant sensation came, it faded. She finished her own weave, erasing Annoura's nausea and fatigue and replenishing her flagging strength. As her weave sank into Annoura's body, a sudden reactive spark of power made her jump in surprise. She sent a flickering tendril of Spirit into Annoura's womb and smiled at the sudden flood of wordless images and sensations that flowed into her. No matter how antagonistic Annoura was, her baby responded to Ellysetta's presence with instinctive welcome, squirming with happiness and soaking up the warmth of her magic with innocent joy... returning bright little sparks of its own nascent power.

The child possessed magic, and not some weak, watered-down version of it either. Strong magic ... already well developed: green Earth, red Fire, lavender Spirit... and a distinct cool black thread of shadowy Azrahn, Ellysetta flinched away from the dark magic, only to freeze in guilt when the baby's joy turned to fright and forlorn confusion at her sudden abandonment. The baby was not to blame for what magic it possessed. "Las, kaidin, las. Peace, little one.» She soothed the child with flows of warmth and love and spun a small weave of comfort before withdrawing again.

«The queen is unMarked,» Gaelen announced on a private weave. The sudden, relieved slump of Dorian's shoulders told Ellysetta that he'd spun the same information to the king.

"Mioralas, Your Majesties," Ellysetta said. "Your son is healthy and strong. May he bring you much joy."

"A son." Dorian took Annoura's hand and smiled with genuine happiness. "Another son. Thank you, Lady Ellysetta. For everything."