Her eyes popped open—and looked right through him. “Go away,” she hissed. “You’re not really here.”
Panic coated his throat. He lifted her out of the water and brought his face close to hers. “Rosana! Look at me.”
“No…” She squeezed her eyes shut. “Why won’t you leave me alone?”
“Because,” he growled, “if you don’t shift, you’ll die.” But he had the bad feeling she didn’t hear him.
As he lowered her back into the pond, she flailed her arms and legs, frantically trying to escape. Her breath came fast and hard. He heard the frenzied beating of her heart, saw the frightened flutter of the pulse at the base of her throat. Worse, he felt her blind, unreasoning fear.
He stood it as long as he could, and then rose back to his feet with her. In her weakened condition, she could die of sheer terror.
He cuddled her to his chest. “It’s okay, baby. It’s okay.”
At the pond’s edge, the three night fae warriors gathered like a flock of tall black vultures. Watching and waiting.
He snarled over his shoulder at them. They stared back, blank faced. The eyes of the male on the left flickered red; he was eager to feed. But he didn’t, no doubt under orders from his superiors.
Rosana locked her arms around his neck and burrowed her head into his throat. Like she was trying to crawl right inside him.
In desperation, he tried to pulse life-energy through the mate bond. But he was blocked by the shield he himself had erected between them.
He dropped back his head to stare up at the darkening sky. If he were a wolf, he’d have howled in anguish. Rosana was dying, and taking his heart with him.
Her breasts pressed against his chest. By some odd coincidence, their pendants had lined up side by side, his quartz touching her chest, her amethyst against his breastbone. He felt her reaching out to him—mate to mate—and knew what he had to do.
He’d rejected the bond to protect her. Now he had to accept it.
In the end, it was easy. He simply let the shield drop.
The shining strands leapt toward each other, his blue intertwining with her sea-green.
Rosana jerked. Mumbled something.
His stomach dropped. Her thread was so thin and weak. A shimmer so fragile, it hurt him to see it—and yet also incredibly beautiful, glowing with Rosana’s very essence.
He poured his love into that fragile green strand. Willing her to feel how much he cared.
Willing her to live.
To his astonishment, a new thread shimmered into being, a gossamer gold that belonged to both of them. Together, they twined into single bright cord.
Rosana’s breath shuddered in.
Hope leapt in him. He pressed kisses to her face. “That’s it, love. Come back to me.”
Her eyes opened. As she focused on him, a wondering look spread over her face.
She touched his cheek. “Ric. You—we—”
“Hey there, angel.” Rubbing his lips over hers, he pulsed life-energy into her. This time, it worked, moving right to the deepest parts of her, healing her from the inside out.
She heaved a breath. They remained like that for a long minute.
When her lips curved in a smile, he felt it clear to his soul. “We’re mate-bonded. But—” She frowned, shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
“I’ll explain later. Can you stand now?”
When she nodded, he set her on her feet in the pond. She blinked around her. “We’re outside. In the water.”
“It’s a pond at New Moon. Big enough for your dolphin.”
“Oh. How—?”
“Go ahead.” He gave her an encouraging squeeze. “Shift.”
She blinked again—and then released him to sink beneath the surface.
She barely had enough juice to shift, but he remained connected to her, urging her on. That and sheer grit got her through. The dark waters glittered, and then she was a river dolphin with a long beak and charcoal gray body.
He watched tensely while she lolled in the water, sucking air through her blowhole, until she revived enough to give him a feeble nudge with her beak.
His whole body sagged in relief. He set his cheek against her smooth gray face. “Go. Swim. Catch some fish for me.”
She cast him a worried look, clucked a question. Somehow he understood.
What about you?
“It’s okay. You can find me later.” He pressed a kiss to the edge of her beak. “I love you.”
She hesitated, but she must have seen the wisdom of that because her body brushed against his and she was off.
The last thing he heard was a short series of clicks. I love you, too.
He watched until she was across the pond. Already she seemed stronger. She was going to be all right.
He turned and walked out of the pond.
The night fae warriors surrounded him. A fiery purple fae ball glowed in one of the male’s hands, but he didn’t need it.
Adric knew that if he didn’t cooperate, Rosana would be back in that cell so fast his head would spin.
“Here.” The other male tossed Adric his T-shirt and pants.
“The prince is waiting,” added the female.
As soon as Adric was dressed, the three warriors marched him back to the prince’s lair. Just before he walked down the steps, he caught a glimpse of Luc watching from a stand of trees, his too-thin face unreadable.
Adric expected to be taken to the prince, but instead the warriors took him back underground. He resigned himself to being locked in the cell again, but they kept going, navigating through a series of long, twisting corridors.
He gazed around, awed in spite of himself. The earth fada were considered master miners, but this beat anything he’d ever seen. The buildings aboveground were the tip of the iceberg. The night fae had an entire city down here. It must have taken centuries to carve out.
And still, they fucked with his clan, sucked its resources.
He shook his head, disgusted.
At last, they exited in an immense, windowless hall with soaring Gothic arches. Fanciful columns shaped like giant palm trees supported the ceiling with curved stone fronds. The only lighting was a handful of darkly shimmering fae lights ranging from purple to forest green.
Adric strode barefoot to the hall’s center, the warriors on his heels.
“Well?” he demanded of the shadows. “I’m here, Prince Langdon. Now what?”
Olivier appeared in a nearby archway clad in his butler’s uniform of black pants and crisp white shirt. His bow tie this time was lavender dotted with tiny white skulls.
“My lord. If you’ll follow me.”
He turned to go back the way he’d come, but Adric leapt forward and grabbed his arm. “Where’s the prince?”
The guards clamped cold fingers on him, yanking him away with superhuman strength. Furious, he fought against their hold, but the two men dragged his arms behind his back.
An iron dagger flashed in the woman’s hand.
He glared at her. “I demand to see Prince Langdon.”
“Be still, fada.” The blade hissed across his T-shirt, slicing through the material to his chest.
He jerked. It felt like she’d drawn a line of acid on his skin.
Her dark eyes flashed an unholy red. “I can bring you to the prince whole,” she said, “or I can bring you carved. Your choice.”
Adric narrowed his eyes. “Bite me.”
“If I may, Neoma?” Olivier stepped between them, forcing her back a step. To Adric’s surprise, she allowed it. He clucked his tongue at Adric. “My lord, there’s no need for this. My orders are to make you comfortable, provide you with dinner. The prince will see you tonight.”
Neoma sheathed the knife. The corners of her mouth turned up in a way that sent icy water down Adric’s spine. “Yes. Tonight.”
“Fuck that,” he snapped back. “I want to see the prince now.”
The warriors released him. Adric’s neck tin
gled. He spun around.
Langdon stood a few feet away, dressed in a simple black outfit much like his warriors wore, his only jewelry the diamonds glittering in his eyebrows and ears. On his narrow feet were supple leather sandals.
He inclined his head. “My lord Adric.”
“Lord Langdon,” he returned. He about choked on the next words, but if kissing ass helped Rosana, then he’d kiss away. “My thanks for allowing Rosana to swim as her dolphin.”
“She’s a guest. I don’t wish to see her harmed.”
Then why the fuck keep her underground all this time?
But Adric knew the answer. The prince had used Rosana to break him. To save her, he’d promise the bastard anything.
His stomach clenched. He was more afraid for Rosana than ever. They were mated now. He wasn’t fighting just for himself or even Marjani.
He was fighting for her.
If he accepted Langdon’s geas, Rosana might have to do the same. A geas was typically for a fae year-and-a-day, or ten years in the human world. Mates couldn’t live apart for that long. She might literally pine away, and it wouldn’t do him any good, either.
But to Hades with that. He wanted her far, far from here.
“You have me,” he said in a hard voice. “Let Rosana go.”
The fae lights wafted lower to circle the two of them, the lustrous purple and green gliding like an oil slick over his skin. Or maybe it was just that standing this close to Langdon made him feel like he was covered in something foul and greasy.
Langdon spoke. “Senhorita do Rio is here at her own request.”
Adric swallowed sickly. That was the truth—she’d said so herself.
“As for you, you’ve broken a number of our laws. Your punishment is set for the night of the new moon.”
Adric’s chin jerked up. “What are the charges?”
“Trespassing, attempted murder. And let’s not forget your part in Lord Tyrus’s death.”
Adric’s heartbeat thundered in his ears.
Oh, Rosana.
He could guess what his punishment would be—execution. Or if Langdon was feeling lenient, he might invite Adric to accept his geas instead—and not for the fae year-and-a-day. This would be a life sentence.
He’d accepted the mate bond to save Rosana’s life. But in doing so, had he condemned her to spend the rest of that life alone?
He moistened his lips. “And Marjani?”
“She’ll be punished for her own part in the death of my line.”
“Your own fucking son ended your line,” he growled back. “He ordered Silver’s death, and he got within inches of killing Merry, too. Then he went after Jace just because he’s Merry’s uncle. Tyrus would be alive today if he hadn’t attacked us.”
“So you say.” Langdon’s lids lowered, concealing his thoughts. “Now go with Olivier or I’ll allow Neoma to play with you.”
The warriors tried to grab Adric again, but he was ready this time. He side-stepped, circled to the prince’s other side.
“What about Rosana?”
“She must choose her own path. But you have my word she won’t be harmed.”
The fae lights darkened. Shadows danced over the room. Langdon didn’t seem to move, but suddenly, he blended with them, part man, part wraith.
Adric leapt after him, but Langdon just…flowed away. This time, the guards didn’t even try to stop Adric. They knew he couldn’t touch the prince.
“The night of the new moon,” Langdon said. “In our time, that’s tonight at midnight. Tomorrow at dusk in the outside world.”
“To Hades with your charges,” Adric bit out. “Everything I did was in response to acts of war—on myself, my clan, or my…woman.” He barely stopped himself from saying mate. It would just give Langdon another weapon to use against them. “You might be able to kill me, but my clan won’t rest until you’re dead.”
“That’s their prerogative, of course. However, they’ll find I’m not an easy man to kill.” Langdon receded deeper into the shadows. “As for Rosana, New Moon could use a Seer of her power.”
Fury flooded Adric, hot and red. His fangs pricked his gums, his cat quivering with the urge to tear Langdon into bloody pieces.
The three warriors surrounded Adric. Fae balls burned in the men’s palms.
“You’re insane,” he growled. “She’ll never agree to that.”
“No? When you’ve lived as long as I have, you find that everyone has their breaking point.” The prince smiled. “Don’t they, Lord Adric?” And he was gone.
Adric snarled and spat on the marble floor. “Stand and fight like a man, you thrice-damned prick.”
The guards raised the fae balls threateningly. Neoma fingered her dagger.
From the archway, Olivier spoke. “If you’ll follow me, my lord.”
Rosana swam.
For a time, there was nothing but her and the dark, life-giving water. She glided through it, instinctively mapping the pond’s dimensions with echolocation so that within a few passes, she knew it and its aquatic inhabitants intimately. The school of minnows that scattered at her approach. The fat, whiskered catfish and the bluegills and carp. The snails, crayfish and leeches. The turtles hibernating in the soft black mud, and the frog slowly swimming in the deep water at the center.
She understood she’d almost died. Her body needed time to heal.
But her heart was singing—no, shouting—with joy, its every beat an ecstatic cacophony.
Adric had mate-bonded with her.
He loves me. He loves me. He loves me.
His amethyst hung around her neck, the cord a little too tight with her dolphin’s thicker proportions—she’d have to fix that—but there, warm, comforting.
An hour passed, maybe more. She swam and healed, healed and swam.
As her energy returned, she became aware that Adric wasn’t on the bank waiting. She surged out of the water in a long arc, scanning for him.
It was a murky, moonless night. Her eyes went night-glow as she anxiously searched the bank. He was gone, replaced by two night fae warriors, their eyes shining in the dark. She raced for the shore—and shifted without thinking of the cost. Her body could barely handle it. As depleted as she’d been, she shouldn’t have tried to shift for another twenty-four hours.
For an awful, stomach-churning moment, she wavered between forms. She grit her teeth and powered through it. The next thing she knew, she was on all fours in the shallow water. She came up on her knees and bent forward, hands on her thighs, lungs working.
The night fae moved closer—one man, one woman, neither of whom she’d seen before. The female had Rosana’s clothes.
Rosana pushed herself to standing and walked out of the pond, wobbly-kneed but determined. “Where’s Lord Adric?” she demanded as she got dressed. “What have you done with him?”
“Jessica will explain.”
“Who?”
They herded Rosana forward without speaking, and she allowed it, because it was clear she wouldn’t learn anything from them.
It was the first time she’d been outside since arriving with Blaer. The compound was exactly as she’d Seen it: the large pond, the pebbled paths, the vine-covered lairs. The dark forest towering over cryptlike buildings.
The night fae drag Adric to a clearing in the woods and stake him, spread-eagled, to the ground.
A black-haired priestess in a silver dress steps forward, a gleaming knife in her hand…
She inhaled sharply, gave herself a shake.
The night fae walked her down a short flight of granite stairs, then led her deeper. But she balked as they approached the hall leading to the cell in which she and Adric had been imprisoned.
“I won’t go back in there.”
“Hello.” A young woman in the same uniform as Olivier—white shirt, black pants and a bow tie—stepped forward. She gave a tentative smile. “I’m Jessica, Olivier’s assistant.”
Rosana blinked. “You’re human.” Of cours
e, Olivier had been human, too, but Jessica was young to be living at a fae court.
“That’s right, Senhorita.” The woman gave another nervous smile. “Come with me, please. I promise you’re not going back into a cell.”
She led Rosana down another hallway and then opened the door to a roomy apartment with dark Art Nouveau furniture and large, brooding paintings. “This way.”
She ushered Rosana into a bedroom with more beautiful furniture and a hand-woven rug so plush Rosana’s bare feet left footprints. The black lamps on either side of the bed were in the shape of a naked woman holding a glowing moon above her head, and an intricate design of lilies and vines was carved on the mahogany headboard.
Laid out on the blood-red comforter was a sleeveless party dress in a shimmering purple so dark it was almost black. She fingered the short pleated skirt. The dress was clearly fae-made, with invisible stitches and a magic fabric that would fit itself perfectly to her body. Next to it were a bra and panties in a cobweb-fine lace, and on a rug were matching purple heels in a butter-soft leather.
If the outfit was from anyone but Langdon, she’d have been thrilled to wear it. Instead, she wanted to stuff it in a trash can.
“I’ll order your dinner,” Jessica said. “Meanwhile, the prince thought you might like to take a bath and change into clean clothes.” She turned to go, but Rosana put out a hand, stopping her.
“Where’s Lord Adric?” He was near, she sensed that much through the bond.
The human glanced uneasily at the room’s darkest corner. “He’s fine.”
“Say the words. Tell me Adric’s unhurt.”
“Adric is unhurt.” Her scent held the purity of truth. “Like you, he’s being fed, made comfortable.”
Rosana’s shoulders sagged in relief.
“I’m to come for you a half hour before midnight.”
Her head jerked up. “Why? What happens at midnight?”
“The new moon’s tonight,” Jessica said. “You’ll be at the ritual. That’s all I know.”
A ritual. On a dark, moonless night.
A black-haired priestess steps forward, a gleaming knife in her hand…
Shaken, Rosana sank onto the edge of the bed.
Jessica edged toward the door.
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