Eloine

Eloine was the Verbena representative to the First Cabal and the lover of Heylel Teomim. After the Great Betrayal, she renounced magic and was eventually killed by the Inquisition.

Biography
Eloine grew up in Ireland, the only child in a family descended from both Queen Boudicca and the Wyck. She became an accomplished sorceress at a young age, and attended the Grand Convocation with her parents and Nightshade, who was a personal friend. Her penchant for dancing in the nude scandalized some of the more conservative attendees, but her fiery spirit won over many others.

During the Grand Convocation, Eloine met Bernadette, and the two felt an instant connection despite their great philosophical differences. She also met, and was initially put off by, Teomim. Despite her youth, she was chosen for the First Cabal because she seemed to embody the values for which the Verbena stood above all others.

During the travels of the First Cabal, Eloine and Teomim became lovers, which complicated their duties to the group; she became reticent to challenge him even when she disagreed with him. It also strained Eloine's relationship with Bernadette, who had long harbored her own crush on Teomim. Eventually Eloine became pregnant and gave birth to twins, whose names are lost to history. Not long after this, Teomim betrayed the Cabal to the Order of Reason: Eloine was captured and subjected to torture, while her infant twins disappeared, their fate unknown.

Eventually Eloine, Bernadette and Walking Hawk were rescued, but the after-effects of their trauma had changed them permanently. Eloine withdrew from the Verbena, abstained from the practice of magic, and took up a relatively ascetic existence. She had no other long-term lovers or children. Eventually she became involved in an underground network of women smuggling those accused of witchcraft by the Inquisition to safety; when the ring was uncovered, Eloine was arrested and sentenced to burn at the stake.

Before her death, she wrote a short autobiography, The Remembrance of Eloine, using her own garments and blood. This document was recovered by a member of the Verbena, who passed it to Porthos Fitz-Empress on condition of anonymity. Fitz-Empress published the text in his book ''The Fragile Path: Testaments of the First Cabal. ''