Ca.s.s nodded. Oh, how well she understood. His embarra.s.sment from her declarations surely equaled her humiliation in having stated them. She took a deep breath, gathering her composure. A fine spy she made. She had let her heart interfere with her task when she knew all along that her marriage to Dominic could be nothing but a falsehood. She had handled this very badly.

"Ca.s.sandra." He breathed her name like a benediction. She finally looked up at him, and her heart stopped. That controlled mask of his had crumbled. Ca.s.s felt as if the man who had made love to her within the shelter of their curtained bed now faced her in broad daylight. Finally she could fully see the true nature of the man she'd married.

Those deep black eyes shimmered with warmth. "You are a little fool for making me care for you."

And he gathered her into his arms, the heat of his body taking the chill from the air. And then he kissed her, so tenderly it took the chill from her heart. Her heart, oh, had she heard him aright? Did he say he cared for her? The elven half-breed who possessed no human feelings? Ca.s.s wrapped her arms around him and kissed him back with all the wonder and delight that she possessed. The wind played with her hair and the melody of the garden sang with her heart, and for one glorious moment she forgot herself in the warmth of her husband's embrace.

And then he pulled away from her mouth and gazed into her eyes. She'd had only glimpses before, but now he revealed his entire soul in those black crystalline depths, and it stunned her.

"You have completely destroyed my last desperate attempt to protect you," he said.

"I-I don't understand."

Dominic smoothed the hair away from her cheeks. "I know. And I will tell you, for I'm done fighting this thing between us." He sighed and sat down next to her, keeping her within the circle of his arms. "Ador was right... and very wrong, for I think I started to feel again from the moment I first kissed you. In that one single act you unraveled years of effort in burying my human heart."

Lady Ca.s.sandra's head spun. She looked up into his face, trying to fathom his words. What did Mor'ded's dragon-steed know of her? She feared to ask. "But why would you do such a thing?"

"Because everyone I have ever held dear has been used against me. And I swore to myself no one would ever suffer again because of me."

Ca.s.s shivered, and he pulled her closer. "Your father," she guessed.

"Indeed. Have I told you that your intelligence is one of the things I admire about you?"

"You certainly have not."

He smiled down at her and her stomach did funny little flips. She still couldn't quite believe that he truly cared for her. Ca.s.sandra, the little brown wren.

Dominic turned his face away then, a frown tightening his mouth. "You deduced that we might be spied upon in the palace. Did you not wonder who?"

"There are too many factions within the ton to guess."

"The n.o.bles, ha. As if they would have the means or power to threaten me."

Ca.s.sandra wondered what he might think if he knew of the Rebellion. No, best not to pursue that. Not yet. She would be selfish and enjoy this closeness before she made any confessions that might completely destroy it. "Your father, then. But why?"

"Oddly enough, because he fears me. He fears I have the power of black fire, the most potent of his magics. And I think he might be right."

Ca.s.s glanced around the pavilion, the rain that still curtained them in, the music of the garden that m.u.f.fled their words, and still her heart jumped. "Do not say such things. What if he's spying on us now?"

"I told you; his attention is elsewhere."

Still, she lowered her voice to a whisper. "What is this black fire?"

"It's the fire that burns in the mind, and all the more powerful for that."

"But wouldn't he have discovered that unusual gift at your trials? And if you indeed possessed it, wouldn't you have been sent to Elfhame?"

"Sent to Elfhame," he whispered as if to himself and then shook his silvery blond head, raised his voice again. "Ah, dear wife. I cannot use the black fire. It's been hidden from me, and therefore my father cannot find it. But he suspects. I am the strongest champion of all the elven lords, and this makes him fearful. He does not want to find his tool able to turn against him."

Ca.s.sandra gripped her hands tightly in her lap. She could not believe Dominic finally spoke to her about his life, finally decided to trust her. Perhaps he had not been able to before, if he feared that his father spied upon them.

She no longer cared about the Rebellion or Sir Robert. She considered only Dominic, how tormented he seemed, and that if only she knew more about him she could in some way help. And she sensed more... "What does he do to you?"

"We are all given a trial at p.u.b.erty, when our gifts appear the strongest. Don't you remember yours?"

"Vaguely. I felt challenged. As if that black scepter of your father's attacked me and I had to defend myself. And then... then I danced, and your father laughed, and it was done."

Dominic dropped his head, that thick silvery hair falling over his cheeks, the wind twisting it to hide his face. But not before Ca.s.sandra saw his tortured expression. "The more powerful the magic, the greater the challenge. When Father suspected I might be hiding my gifts from him, he tried using... stronger incentives. He thought... he thought I would reveal myself to save those whom I cherished."

"Mongrel," breathed Ca.s.s. So that's how his pet had died. And Cook had mentioned his best friend... "Jack?"

Dominic did not ask how she knew of him too. His shoulders slumped with a pain she could only imagine. "In a fit of rage, I once tried to run my sword through my father. Jack paid the price for it."

No wonder he took such care to control his emotions. Ca.s.s could not comprehend what he had gone through watching his friend burn and being unable to stop it. She reached out and caressed his cheek, and he turned his face into her palm for a moment, and she could only feel grateful that her touch seemed to bring him some comfort.

Dominic straightened. "But I could not find the magic within me," he continued, "no matter how hard I tried. I could not save them. And now..."

He raised his head and Ca.s.s stared into eyes that resembled black velvet.

"And now I can't be sure if I'll be able to save you."

Ca.s.s felt humbled. All this time he'd been protecting her by treating her with disdain, by trying to keep his distance from her. And yet he'd come to care for her anyway. It occurred to her she'd done the same, trying to avoid involving her emotions with him, telling herself she only sought his affection because she wanted to use him. And she'd been just as unsuccessful as he.

The last two people in England who could afford to desire each other had managed to do so, despite their best efforts not to. He had not said that he loved her; indeed, she couldn't be sure his elven blood would even allow him that deeper feeling. But she knew she loved him. And she couldn't help but wonder if her love would be strong enough for what would come.

Eleven.

Dominic watched her delicate features subtly shift as she considered the meaning of his words. He'd expected to see fear, but his bride surprised him as usual.

"I won't need your protection. Now that I have your trust, we can defeat him together."

For a moment he could only stare at her in stunned amazement. Then he threw back his head and laughed, his voice a wild accompaniment to the song produced by the flowers of Elfhame.

She pulled a bit away from him, and her lips twisted into a disgruntled frown. "I do not jest."

Dominic wiped his sleeve across his eyes. "Oh, my girl, that's what I'm afraid of. You have no idea of the power my father possesses."

She rose with the grace of a dancer and he sobered, watching her pace the confines of the pavilion. Now that he'd revealed his secrets to her, perhaps she would feel free to do the same. "What makes you think you can take on an elven lord, Ca.s.sandra? Do you truly think a few elven death dances can kill him?"

She froze, slowly turned her head to stare down at him where he still sat. Her tussle with the guardian vines had mussed her hair, strands of silky brown curling about her cheeks and forehead. Her stomacher fell sideways, half the cording stripped from its holes. Her abandoned hoops made her hem drag where it had escaped the girdle meant to hold it up. The sleeve of her gown had been torn half off, dirt streaked her bodice and skirt, and her toes peeped through holes in her stockings. She looked ravishing.

"You knew?" she breathed.

"I suspected," he countered, "when I found you over the dead bodies of your two captors."

"Oh." She started to pace again, but this time her feet appeared to pick up the rhythm of the flowers' song. "And yet you said nothing?"

"At first... should you have managed to kill him, I would have only been grateful. Do you think you're the first a.s.sa.s.sin sent against my father? Although I have to admit, the Rebellion is getting clever. Who would have suspected that my innocently raised wife had been trained in the art of-"

She moved then, faster than he would have credited, possibly even fast enough that if she managed to catch his father unawares, she had a slim chance of being successful. She had her girdle half around his throat when he encased her in dull gray fire.

"You are good, my lady. But not good enough."

Her brown eyes blazed with a fire of their own. "You knew I would try. But Mor'ded won't. I have a chance."

Dominic shook his head. "You will not risk it."

"I must try."

"d.a.m.n it, you little hoyden. Must I keep you imprisoned to ensure your safety?"

Her mouth narrowed in a stubborn line. Faith, how he admired this slip of a woman.

"You will stay like that until I have your promise."

She glanced down. Fire ringed her body in shimmering flames of gray, held fast her hands with her girdle still clutched between them, trapped her waist in a bent-over position. Dominic sighed and slipped away from her garrote, rose to walk around her, a half smile crooking his mouth. "The position has its merits."

"You wouldn't."

"No, I would not. But my father..." And he let the threat hang between them, for he'd seen Mor'ded perform acts that had threatened to make him ill. He did not want to expose Ca.s.sandra to the atrocities his father committed. Despite her ties with the Rebellion, she had been raised innocent of the brutal natures of men and elvenkind.

He released the gray fire and caught her up in his arms. "I will kill the one who coerced you to be the Rebellion's tool," he muttered.

She laid her head against his shoulder with a sigh. "I chose to do this, Dominic. I would willingly give up my life to free the people of England."

"Well I am not so unselfish," he replied. "I will not give you up for anything or anyone. You cannot succeed, Ca.s.sandra. Promise me you will cease this notion of trying to kill my father. Allow me to try to keep you safe."

She looked up at him, a wealth of sadness on her face. "I love you, Dominic, but I fear you carry too much elven blood to truly see the world the same way that I do."

Her words, ah, her words made his heart sing and fear plunge through him like a knife. "You will get used to it."

"Nay, I shall not. I will never get used to the slavery of my people."

Dominic held her quietly in his arms for a time, while the wind died and the flowers ceased their song. "I have tried to kill him," he whispered. "And I could not succeed."

She twisted out of his arms and stood at his side, a tiny girl with a will of iron. "But together we might."

Dominic shook his head. She still did not understand. He could not protect her innocence in this matter. He would have to show her.

He showed her the hidden gate in the garden, taught her the word to open it, and then brought her into the palace by way of another hidden pa.s.sage, lighting their path with a handful of warm yellow fire. Dominic hadn't used this particular entrance since he was a child, sneaking out to the elven garden that his father had forbidden him. Since Father rarely went there now, he hadn't the need for such secrecy.

The pa.s.sage had sprouted a wealth of cobwebs since he'd last been inside, and he'd taken wrong turns twice, but he finally arrived at the door that led into the great room. He turned and held his flame closer to his wife's face. "Are you sure you still want to do this?"

She nodded, brushing at a strand of web at her cheek. Ca.s.sandra had barely said a word since he'd dragged her from the garden and shown her the hidden door to the pa.s.sage. She looked frightened. And very determined.

Dominic squelched the fire in his palm and lowered his head and kissed her, wanting to linger the moment his lips touched hers but not daring to do so. He straightened and pushed the lever that unlatched the door, slowly opening it and peering around before stepping into the great room. Ca.s.sandra followed, and the door shut behind her with the slightest of creaks.

They stood behind a stone pillar, over a hundred paces from the dais that held Mor'ded's throne.

His father would not be back for at least another couple of days, and his attention would be focused on hunting the gifted elven children. Still, the general led Ca.s.sandra from pillar to pillar, avoiding the sconces of red fire that lit the long hall, listening for the clacking heels of the gentry or the softer footsteps of a slave.

His shoulders finally relaxed when they reached Mor'ded's throne without discovery. He opened the door in the wall behind it, calling back the yellow fire to light the way. He stopped at the stout oak door halfway down the pa.s.sage and took a deep breath. If Ador had not told him that he possessed the power to dispel the wards on this door, he never would have attempted it the other night. Father's spells glowed with deadly threat in a sparkling web that covered the oak.

"Beware," he murmured to Ca.s.sandra, gently pushing her small body behind his. He raised his hands to the door, calling to the gray fire, encasing each strand of the seeming web with the dull flame. It took him much longer to neutralize the wards than it would have taken his father, and they wouldn't stay down permanently-as he'd discovered last night, to his infinite relief. He didn't want Mor'ded to know his secret had been uncovered. As he reached the last strands, flames shot toward him as if they protested against his meddling with their final strength. His magical defenses quickly responded with a blaze of their own, squelching the attack. Dominic encased the remaining strands, lowered his arms, and turned to his wife.

"Down this pa.s.sage," he said, pointing to his left, "is the entrance to Mor'ded's private chambers. It's not warded with a spell of fire, as it saps even an elven lord's energies to keep up an active ward like this one, but there's a plant within that's nastier than the vine guardian."

"I understand," she said. "I will be careful, Dominic."

He raised a brow. She'd already proven how little she valued her life when it came to her pa.s.sion for the Rebellion. He only hoped that what he now showed her would convince her of the futility of matching her powers against Mor'ded's.

Dominic opened the heavy door and tried not to breathe too deeply of the dust inside the pa.s.sage. With a handful of yellow flame he followed the twisting tunnel, his wife hard on his heels, and they descended deep into the earth, the walls becoming rough and jagged as they neared their destination.

The tunnel abruptly ended at an opening that widened into a large underground cavern. The general put one foot into the chamber, gently catching Ca.s.sandra about the waist as she attempted to brush past him. "Do not go any farther."

"What is it?" she whispered. "Is it warded here as well?"

"No. But you don't want to... ah G.o.d, I shouldn't have brought you here."

"Do not take the Lord's name in vain," she whispered.

Her faith continued to puzzle him. "That was a prayer to him, my lady. If he should indeed exist."

Her eyes widened in surprise, but he didn't have time to debate theology with her. He itched to be gone from this place. He exchanged the yellow fire for white, the brighter flame spilling from his hands to light the rough-hewn ceiling, revealing the contents of the cave in horrid detail.

Ca.s.sandra blinked and stared in confusion.

Dominic did not blame her. If it hadn't been for Ador's words, he wouldn't have understood what lay within this cavern.

A black platform made of stone stood in the center of the chamber. Mounds of grayish white dust layered the back of the cavern, spilled over to small trickles near their feet.

"Behold the fabled land of Elfhame," said Dominic.

"I don't... what do you mean? What is all this ash?"

"Children."

Her soft brown eyes blinked in confusion as she stared at the powder near her feet, and he saw horror slowly harden them to a glittering bronze when the full import of his explanation dawned on her. Ca.s.sandra gasped a wordless denial, and she shivered while he clutched her tightly to him.

"This is where the children who hold too much of the elven power are sent. After they are put to the flame by the Imperial Lord."