"nissa was off the scale." shadow was the one to give me an answer. "that's why we were concerned when things weren't going so well." he ducked his head as he told me that bit of news. "it just turned out that she was taking orders too literally."

"lissa, don't be angry with us, we were doing the best we could," glendes sighed. "we've never had a female wizard with this much power. we're designing rules as we go along in nissa's case."

"you could have treated her as a granddaughter and not one of your minions," i muttered.

"we know that. now," glendes raked a hand through his hair. well, i now knew where shadow got that gesture. "lissa, please have patience with us. we're trying. and i promise that trik will get the attention he needs and deserves. i'm placing him with shadow and raffian. they'll keep an eye on him and make sure he's cared for as he learns."

"he's only just started walking," i pointed out. "i hope you slave drivers remember that and give him plenty of rest breaks. i think he's going to miss morwin, too. morwin will certainly miss him. he says that he hasn't seen a student apply himself as well as trik does in a very long time."

"what?" trik blinked his eyes open.

"honey, how are you feeling?" i brushed brown hair away from his face.

"i feel fine. is there ice cream?" he grinned at me. that grin was worth a fortune.

"trikleer, we're placing you with master wizards shadow and raffian, in the jewelry division," glendes said over my shoulder.

"really? where did dane and lucas go?"

"dane went to master wizard harvel, in the armor division; lucas went to master wizard killien, in the art division. you'll see them at mealtimes, if you want."

"will i see nissa at mealtimes, too?"

"of course, and you and nissa will be invited to have lunch with lira, your great-grandmother, at least once a week." i stared at glendes. was he finally becoming human?

"i'm going to miss you at home," i brushed trik's cheek with the back of my hand.

"i'll come home with nissa," he said. "mom."

"i'll arrange to have most of his clothing brought in. you'll be wearing the white and royal blue vests of an apprentice in the jewelry division," shadow helped trik sit up. "and we'll all go to the kitchen for ice cream."

"i think there's a way to see to his education," glendes walked beside me as we stepped toward the door. "morwin can be brought here in the mornings, by one of my second-tier assistants. he can instruct these and any of the others he wants to teach here, if that's all right with both of you. he will be returned to le-ath veronis to teach afternoon lessons for rylend and torevik. i know of morwin's expertise-nissa had better instruction from him than from any of my instructors, and she only studied with morwin for a year before moving to grey house."

"connegar recommended morwin," i studied glendes' face for a moment. "if a larentii recommends somebody, then you'd be foolish not to listen."

"agreed," glendes nodded. "do you think morwin will consent to come?"

"i think he'd be honored that you asked," i replied.

rain was screaming. tiearan heard it as if it were from a distance. he couldn't disengage, and his connection to the crystal had been lost. somehow, the core was draining him and the others, and he couldn't stop it. it held all of them, now, sucking their power away. he could only hope that it would let them go once they lost consciousness.

corent's thoughts were on toff as his vision narrowed and darkened. unlike tiearan, he knew what was likely to happen. they'd placed their hand in the maw of a hungry dragon, and now the dragon was devouring the body connected to the hand. was this kifirin's judgment? corent felt debilitating pain as power was stripped away from him at an accelerated rate. redbird, sitting beside him in the second circle, was already unconscious. they were dying-all of them-and nothing could save them now, not even queen lissa. she was pregnant and couldn't bring her power to bear. a sigh escaped corent as his consciousness fled.

lissa's journal

"shadow, i think something is wrong." we sat in grey house's kitchen, eating bowls of ice cream. nissa sat between toff and trik, bumping shoulders with both of them and smiling. it was good to see all of them so happy, but my skin had begun to itch and my thoughts turned to le-ath veronis.

"what is it?" roff turned to me, just as shadow did.

"i don't know-but i need to go home," i mumbled. the itching had ramped up in the space of seconds.

"i'll take her," shadow stood. "the rest of you finish your dessert." shadow folded me home quickly. i found belen inside my study when shadow landed me there.

"we can send mindspeech to mom," ry whispered to tory. he and the others had been taken to glendes and lira's private quarters after they'd finished their bowls of ice cream.

"i don't want to upset sissy-i haven't seen her this happy in a long time," tory whispered back. he and ry sat in a corner of lira's sitting room-it wasn't as stiff and formal as her receiving room. ry glanced in nissa's direction; she was chatting happily with lira, toff and trik.

"i've received mindspeech from shadow." raffian grey, shadow's father, sat next to ry. "i'll take all of you home after a while. a problem has cropped up on le-ath veronis, but it's nothing for you to worry about."

"is mom okay?" ry asked, watching raffian's face closely for any clues.

"your mother is fine. shadow is with her, as are gavin and the others. she is in no danger, young warlock." raffian smiled at ry before rising and walking toward glendes, who stood near the door. ry watched closely as glendes bent his head to hear raffian's whispers.

"that smile didn't reach his eyes," ry muttered. "something's going on."

"he wasn't lying when he said mom was fine," tory observed. "and he was truthful when he said that uncle shadow, uncle gavin and the others were with her. he just left some stuff out," he added.

"yeah. i get that idea, too," ry nodded.

lissa's journal

dead. all of them, with the exception of corent, whom we found wandering outside the large barn, completely dazed. corent sat before me now, inside the home he'd shared with redbird.

"willow is missing, i can't find him," corent rambled, his hair turning a dark gray. i'd never seen it turn that color.

"we'll look for him," i promised. "corent, tell me what happened. take your time." while he sat there, hands dangling over his knees and in complete confusion, i sent mindspeech to karzac. karzac appeared in a blink, asking me silent questions as he ran his hands over corent. belen, too, stood out of the way in a corner of corent's main room. he had information to give me, but i wanted corent's story first if i could get it.

"we tried to set it right," corent's voice sounded better after karzac held the half-elemaiya's head in his hands for several moments. "the core. we tried to stop the drain and replace the power. it was too much for us, and once it held us in its grip, it wouldn't let go." corent spoke as if from a distance. as if he felt separated from it at the moment.

i felt sorry for him, and had no idea how he'd come out of this alive, when bodies littered the floor in a nearby barn. even the fae children hadn't escaped. i wanted to weep at the sight of their lifeless forms lying beside their parents. rigo, aryn, drake and drew were holding the humanoid population back from the site. they all wanted answers, just as i did. some of them, too, had lost mates and half-fae children. we would have to deliver that news, too, and it was a sad and terrible business.

"i can place him in a healing sleep," karzac offered, as i stared at corent. le-ath veronis, tapped by a renegade half-fae child, had exacted a terrible price against those attempting to repair the damage. the combined power of all the green fae hadn't satisfied even a fraction of that hunger. somehow, miraculously, after the fae died, le-ath veronis' core had been healed. belen told me that the moment i'd landed in my study. he was waiting to tell me how that miracle happened as soon as we finished here.

"bring corent to the palace, then, i don't want any of the humanoids blaming him because he's still alive," i said. "he can stay as long as he wants, or we can move him to the beach house when the repairs are done."

corent would likely prefer the sunlight there, but my beach house was still undergoing repairs after the tsunami swept through it. a wall of water almost as high as its third-story roof had washed through, nearly bringing the whole thing down. i didn't want to think about the lives lost then-i had to deal with the lives lost now.

"corent, can you stand?" i reached out a hand.

"i'll fold him there," karzac held me back. "gavin, will you bring our girl?" karzac glanced at gavin, who stood behind me. "have anthony and rigo explain what happened. i'll send for some of my colleagues if healing is required." karzac took corent's elbow and disappeared.

"aryn, will you look for willow?" i turned to him-he'd come with the others.

"of course, love. send mindspeech if you learn anything else from corent that might be helpful."

i nodded to him before lowering my eyes. "lissa," he came forward to take my face in his hand. "we will see you through this. i promise. let us bear these burdens for you now. this is a weight you should not be forced to carry in your condition."

i love you, i whispered in his mind.

and i you, he replied. go with gavin. i and the others will deal with this tragedy.

"cara mia, come," gavin pulled me away, and we were gone.

"did you know it would kill all of them?" thurlow had gone hunting-for kifirin.