Adric's Heart

by Rebecca Rivard

  She was running now, her feet beating out a frenzied rhythm.

  Hurry, hurry, hurry.

  At last the walls of the maze thinned so they could see the trees again. Marjani checked, unsure which way to go.

  Another explosion lit the night.

  The three of them sprinted toward it—and exited the trees at last.

  44

  Give Merry to Langdon?

  Rosana didn’t even have to look at Adric to know what his answer was.

  “No,” she growled. “We don’t accept.”

  The prince turned to Adric. “And you?”

  Adric’s eyes were that flat bronze that was somehow more scary than the blue of his cougar. “You heard her. We refuse. In fact,” he said, slowly and precisely, “you can take your bargain and shove it where the sun don’t shine.”

  Langdon’s mouth tightened. “Then you die. You’ve been informed of the charges against you.”

  “Which I don’t accept,” Adric shot back.

  Langdon continued as if Adric hadn’t even spoke. “I could demand you accept my geas, but as long as you’re alive, your clan will plague me. I’ll be fighting off assassination attempts every time I leave New Moon.”

  The other night fae murmured agreement. It was the simplest way to break a geas—kill the fae who’d set it.

  “No,” the prince decided. “Better to execute you.”

  A flick of his fingers, and Neoma and three other warriors appeared out of the shadows to grab Adric.

  Rosana’s lungs squeezed. It was her vision, her nightmare, come to life. Her feet seemed stuck to the ground. She watched, frozen, as they dragged Adric’s arms behind his back and forced him to his knees.

  Fleur stepped forward, the knife gleaming in her hand.

  And Adric allowed it. He didn’t even try to fight them off.

  She understood why when he glared up at Langdon. “Kill me, then. But I’m begging you, let Rosana leave unharmed.” To her, he mouthed a single sentence: I love you.

  “No,” she rasped.

  “I have no interest in harming her,” the prince replied. “But neither am I inclined to let her leave without receiving something in return. My offer stands: my granddaughter for your lives. Although Senhorita do Rio may, of course, bargain to live that life out as a Seer at my court.”

  Fleur stiffened and shot a dark look at Rosana, while the other night fae eyed her with renewed interest. She could almost see them rubbing their hands in glee at having a fada Seer to play with.

  Langdon leaned toward Adric, his voice darkly persuasive. “Think, my lord. Without you, your clan will fall to us. Fleur has Seen it. Is one mixed-breed’s life worth so much to you? I promise, the girl will be well treated at my court. Raised as the princess she was born to be.”

  The prince will destroy your clan from the inside out.

  Ice trickled down Rosana’s spine.

  No. Adric couldn’t die. Not only because she wouldn’t survive his death, but because his clan wouldn’t.

  Adric glowered up at the prince. “Go. To. Hades.”

  Together, her brain shouted.

  Instinctively, she reached out to Adric through the bond. The bond was still so new that she was shocked when he reached back. The connection between them hummed and sparked, and her amethyst warmed.

  It was like he’d enfolded her in a full-body hug. “Together,” he murmured—and slammed his head back into the night fae directly behind him while he twisted away from the others in a single lithe move. He leapt for Langdon, bearing him to the ground.

  Rosana’s mouth dropped open. Then her feet unstuck themselves from the ground. The guards were already moving. She threw herself in front of the nearest one, felling him with a couple of down-and-dirty blows. When your life was at stake, you went for the balls.

  Her claws sprouted. She scratched them across another warrior’s face. He swore and clapped his hands over his face.

  Adric had his fingers wrapped around Langdon’s throat. The prince’s eyes bulged as he desperately sought to throw him off.

  “Run!” Adric rapped out at her. “I’m right behind you.”

  But the night fae had surrounded her. Fae balls burned in two of the guards’ hands.

  She stepped back—and fingers latched onto her hair from behind, jerked back her head. An iron blade hovered over her throat. “Don’t move,” a voice gritted next to her ear. “Not a single muscle.”

  She froze.

  “Release the prince,” her captor barked at Adric. “Or your woman dies.”

  He glanced up, snarling—and stilled.

  “Now,” snapped the warrior holding Rosana. “Or I’ll slice her fucking throat.”

  “Okay, okay.” Adric rose to his feet. “I’m off, see?” He raised his hands, palms out. “Just let her go.”

  The warriors surrounded him and shoved him back to his knees. Neoma slammed her dagger hilt into Adric’s solar plexus. He grunted and doubled over, chest heaving.

  Rosana’s lungs closed. Her mate was hurt. She felt his pain like it was her own. Her heart sped up and bile rose in her throat.

  She dug her claws into her captor’s arm, uncaring of the sharp blade an inch from her jugular vein. Just knowing she had to get to Adric.

  “Be still!” the night fae hissed in her ear.

  Langdon pushed up on his knees, gasping for breath. “Let her go,” he ordered as two men helped him to his feet.

  “My lord?” Neoma said. “Are you sure?”

  “Now,” was Langdon’s reply.

  “Try anything else,” Rosana’s captor hissed in her ear, “and I’ll slit your pretty throat. Is that clear?”

  “Yes,” she said without hesitation. Anything so she could go to Adric.

  “Listen well, then. You’re going to kneel beside the earth fada. No touching him. No talking. Is that understood?”

  “Yes, yes.”

  “Go, then.” The fae released her, and she flew the few yards to Adric and lowered herself to her knees beside him. He was still bent over, chest working. She yearned to touch him, to reassure herself he was all right, but kept her hands at her sides as ordered.

  Adric managed to straighten. He even gave her a reassuring smile. “You okay, angel?”

  She nodded and summoned an answering smile.

  Meanwhile, Langdon was already almost back to normal, his powerful fae blood healing any damage Adric had done.

  As he turned toward Adric and Rosana, a warrior stopped him. “Begging your pardon, my lord, but Captain Quade has sent a messenger.”

  “Let him in.”

  The messenger bowed and drew Langdon aside. The two murmured, low-voiced, while Rosana strained to listen.

  The snatches she heard made her heart leap. “The sun fae have breached the wards” and “we’ve suffered several casualties.”

  She exchanged a hopeful look with Adric.

  “Withdraw underground, then,” Langdon said more loudly. “And seal off all the entrances. Even if the queen finds her way inside, she’d spend days trying to find you, and she can’t be away from the sunlight for that long. As for the circle, she’ll never breach these wards—not during the most sacred hour of the most sacred night of the month.”

  The warrior looked doubtful. “The queen’s powerful, my lord, and she brought a dozen sun fae warriors with her. And what about the fada?” He shot Adric and Rosana a look of dislike. “They’re…devious.”

  “Let them run around in the darkness all they want. They won’t find their way here unless I allow it.”

  “But—”

  “Go,” the prince commanded. “Before the hour of our Goddess is past.”

  “As you wish.” The warrior inclined his head and exited the clearing.

  Fleur walked to the center of the circle. “Start the moon fire.”

  A wide, burnished metal bowl appeared on a low stand. A night fae priest stepped forward, a silver triple-moon pendant around his neck. He pointed a finger at th
e bowl and a purple flame sprang up in the center.

  The guards latched onto Adric’s arms and legs, forcing him onto his back. He fought back, twisting and kicking in their grip, until Neoma took his quartz from the silk bag and wrapped her fingers around it.

  “Be still, fada.”

  He jerked and let out an agonized groan.

  Rosana glanced frantically around for rescue. Where was everyone?

  The night fae formed a circle around her and Adric. Fleur raised her shiny iron knife to the moonless sky. “We are reborn with this New Moon.”

  “We are reborn with this New Moon,” the circle chanted.

  Rosana’s stomach bottomed out. No.

  It couldn’t happen like this. Not when they were so close to being rescued.

  Her mom’s cryptic words flitted across her mind. Touch him.

  She stared helplessly down at her hands. What good would touching Adric do? Even if she did See something, it would be his death.

  Everybody leaves. That hurt, abandoned part of her dropped back its head and shrieked a primal no at the midnight sky.

  If they took Adric from her, she might as well let them stick a knife in her heart, too. Because this was one loss she wouldn’t survive.

  The prince raised his hands. “May the Dark Goddess bless our circle tonight.”

  She glared up at him, her whole being consumed with a dark, burning hatred. She should’ve killed him the library when she’d had the chance. If only she still had her stiletto, she’d plunge it into his iceberg of a heart. Her fingertips literally tingled with the desire to kill the man.

  She curled them into her palms—and suddenly, she knew, with a Seer’s gut instinct. Her mom hadn’t meant Adric, she’d meant Langdon.

  And everything wasn’t happening exactly as in her vision. Because she, Rosana, was present.

  She was the key.

  “Wait, your highness!” She scrambled to her feet. “Perhaps we can make a bargain after all.”

  “Quiet.” A priest loomed over her, his impossibly beautiful face set in cold lines. “Or the Goddess will gain another sacrifice.”

  But Langdon beckoned her forward. “Let her speak.”

  She pushed past the priest. “You want a Seer,” she told the prince, “you’ve got one. But execute Lord Adric, and you lose me, too.”

  Adric groaned. “Rosana, no!”

  She turned her face so she wouldn’t have to look at him. She knew this was the right thing to do. But she couldn’t risk even a whispered “Trust me,” to Adric.

  “We’re mates,” she told the prince. “Kill Adric, and I won’t live for more than a few days after him.”

  “Mates?” Langdon glanced at Adric. “An earth fada and a river fada?”

  She raised her chin. “That’s right. And I’m willing to join your court as a Seer. But Lord Adric lives—or we both die.”

  Fleur sneered. “You lie, fada. You won’t die along with your mate. I’ve seen fada live for years after.”

  “Truth,” Rosana snarled back. She touched her hand to her heart, sealing the vow. “Kill my mate and I’ll will myself to die.”

  Adric let out a blood-curdling growl and fought like a wild man to get away from his captors, but they had him stretched out now, their hands clamped around his wrists and ankles.

  He rasped her name beseechingly, his torment vibrating down the mate bond. “Don’t do this, Rosana. Please.”

  She swayed on her feet, his pain nearly dropping her to the ground.

  Langdon scrutinized her. “She’s not lying,” he said, almost to himself.

  She wiped her sweaty palms on her pleated skirt. What if she’d imagined that whole scene with Ula? It could’ve been some kind of fever-induced dream.

  Trust your Gift.

  She straightened her spine and held out her hands to Langdon. “Well, my lord? Do we have a deal?”

  45

  Marjani, Fane and Jace were on a hill, the compound’s grounds spread out before them, the low, vine-covered buildings barely visible through the pouring rain.

  Up until now, the shadows had been doing all the fighting. Now, Marjani saw night fae warriors for the first time, engaged in a fierce battle with the sun fae, Cleia at their center. Fiery explosions of silver, copper and gold vied with bursts of dark purple, green and blue as the two sides hurled fae balls at each other.

  The sun fae were holding their own, but they were outmatched, four or five night fae for every one of them. Shadows surrounded the sun fae’s circular formation, creeping closer with every second.

  Dion, Rui and Tiago were nowhere to be seen, no doubt searching for Rosana, but she glimpsed Zuri and his wolves slipping in and out of the trees, harrying the night fae.

  But no Adric.

  She closed her eyes and went deep into her quartz. She didn’t have an alpha’s ability to locate a clan member through their quartz, but Adric was family—her only brother.

  But the darkness swallowed the connection like a stone dropping into a black bog. Her chest closed up. She’d been so sure she’d be able to find Adric once she got inside the wards.

  She gripped Jace’s arm. “Where is he? Can you feel him?”

  A muscle worked in his jaw. He shook his head. “I’m sorry, Jani.”

  “Let’s try the prince’s lair.” Fane pointed to the building nearest to the pond.

  They started down the hill at a jog. The heavy rain had turned the grass into a muddy, slippery mess. If Marjani hadn’t been a cat, she’d have face-planted halfway down.

  As they neared the warring fae, Cleia raised her arms. The black sky lit with a burst of gold. Bright sparks streamed out from the center as if she’d set off a firework. The night fae screamed and slapped their hands to their faces, shrinking back into the shadows.

  Marjani, Jace and Fane were temporarily blinded. Fane grabbed her hand and Jace glued himself to her other side. Together, they felt their way forward, skirting the battling warriors.

  “Holy Mother,” Jace muttered as another bright burst lit the night.

  “Yeah,” said Fane. “The queen’s a one-woman war machine.”

  They were back in the shadows again. No obstacles this time, just a deep, unrelenting black. There was a hunger to the gloom now that reminded Marjani of the Darktime. A chill slid over her like a snake brushing past her skin.

  Fane squeezed her fingers. “Use the charm.” A pulse of love came through their bond.

  She nodded, and with a whispered fuck you, lifted the charm and ran directly into the shadows’ dark heart. As before, they parted seemingly at random, forcing her into a zigzag run. She soon lost track of the prince’s lair.

  She kept going because halting wasn’t an option—that’s how the night fae won. If she stopped, she’d lose first hope, then the motivation to keep moving…and then despair would set in.

  Minutes passed. Her heart was in her throat. Was it midnight yet?

  Hurry, hurry, hurry.

  She darted left, then right. Cold and miserable from the monsoon-like rain, but determined to find her brother or die in the attempt.

  Hurry, hurry, hurry.

  Miraculously, a path opened before her, its white pebbles gleaming.

  She couldn’t sense Adric, and yet she knew this was the right direction. She pelted down the path.

  Heart pounding, mind chanting: Hurry, hurry, hurryhurryhurry...

  She slammed into a ward. Pain jolted through her. She reeled backward into a tree and leaned against it, sucking oxygen.

  Her quartz twanged, the crystals humming with joy at reconnecting to the alpha’s quartz.

  Adric.

  She’d found him, and he was still alive—but she was trapped on the wrong side of this fucking ward.

  The air in front of her shimmered, and right before her eyes, a portal opened. A Marjani-size portal.

  The hair on her nape lifted. She eyed it suspiciously. Still, what choice did she have? She pulled the dagger from the sheath around her neck
and inched forward.

  Footsteps pounded up behind her. She raised a hand, signaling Fane and Jace to halt as she peered through the opening.

  What she saw there made her entire body ice.

  Adric was on the ground in front of Prince Langdon. Several black-garbed night fae had pinned him down while others loomed nightmarishly over him. Rosana do Rio had her back to Marjani, her hands stretched out to Langdon. Nearby, a dark fire flickered.

  Marjani shot a glance over her shoulder and then gulped as her brain caught up to what her nose had already told her. Fane and Jace were no longer behind her. Somehow, in her mad dash to reach Adric, she’d lost them—and picked up Lady Blaer and Luc instead.

  Luc grabbed her arm. “Play along,” he muttered, and stepped forward with her through the portal. “Your highness. Here’s the fada that murdered your son.”

  46

  Adric had resigned himself to dying. He’d never surrender Merry in return for his own life.

  But gods, it hurt to die leaving Rosana still trapped at New Moon. He had to believe that her brothers and Cleia would get her away from the prince.

  Then Rosana made her offer. Let Adric live, and she’d join Langdon’s court as a Seer.

  No. Fucking. Way.

  Adric’s muscles bunched. If only he had his quartz… But without it, he couldn’t shift—or cloak himself.

  Langdon’s gaze went past Rosana to a point behind Adric. His smile made Adric’s insides ice.

  “Marjani Savonett.” The prince deliberately spoke her full name in an attempt to establish power over her. “Welcome to my court.”

  Adric flung a look over his shoulder in time to see his sister enter the circle along with Luc and Blaer. And instead of helping her, Luc gripped her arm, urging her forward.

  “No, Jani!” he said in a low, urgent voice. “Get the fuck out of here.”

  Blaer came up on Marjani’s other side. A chill slipped up Adric’s spine. This woman knew the secret incantation. If she shared it with Langdon, his clan was well-and-truly fucked. With Blaer’s knowledge and Langdon’s resources, the night fae could enslave every single member.