Page 173 of Primal Bonds

He lifted a shoulder and let it drop. “I don’t know. We’re not exactly friends. But you heard her—she seemed sure of herself, like she’d done it before.”

“Well, right now, he’s too weak to shift. I don’t care how strong she is, you can’t force a shift on a fada that low in energy. If she tries, she’ll kill him.”

And it wouldn’t be an easy death. A fada caught between shifts died in agony, a monster made up of body parts from both the human and the animal.

“I hope you're right. You don’t want him shifting and telling her you’re in the castle.”

Her mouth twisted. “If she doesn’t already know.”

He straightened. “What do you mean?”

“That man with her? He’s how I got through the portal. He was on a motorbike and I followed him.”

“Hell. Why didn’t you tell me that last night?”

“I didn’t think he saw me, but now I’m not so sure.”

“That explains why the goblins were out. That was Jon. He and his twin Krysten are Lady B’s right-hand people. They’re always with her. We have to assume they know you’re in the castle.” Fane scraped a hand over his hair. “God’s balls. I’m not sure if it would be safe for you to leave even tonight.”

“Then maybe I should stay until tomorrow night?” Despite everything, her heart lurched at the chance to spend another day with Fane. “Unless,” she added, “I’m a danger to you.”

“No. She can’t enter this room without my permission. But—” He shook his head.

“What?”

“She’s not the only problem here. I’m afraid the king will find out you’re in the castle. We can only hide you from him so long.”

“Then I’ll leave tonight like we agreed.”

He blew out a breath. “Let’s think on it—maybe I can come up with another plan. Meanwhile, I’ll get us some breakfast.”

Marjani hesitated, and then nodded. Her stomach was still tight from her encounter with Corban, but when you spend half your life hungry, you learn to eat when you can.

Fane left and she bent forward, elbows on her knees, fingers interlinked.

“Damn you, Corban.” She closed her eyes, but all she saw was his too-thin body and mangy fur.

No, damn it. I fucking refuse to feel sorry for him.

He’d tormented her and Adric when they’d been forced to move into Leron’s den after the death of their parents. As an adult, he’d supported his father right to the end, even when it became clear that Leron was the worst sort of alpha, tearing the clan apart with his petty feuds and killing any who opposed him. Marjani’s own parents had been forced to spend years apart, fighting on separate continents as mercenaries to enrich Leron.

At first Marjani had felt bad for Corban. As the eldest, he took the brunt of Leron’s heavy hand. Nothing he did satisfied his dad. But Corban had turned around and beat on his two younger brothers and Adric.

Later, after Adric bested him in the challenge for alpha, Corban had pretended to support him while secretly working against him.

She touched the sharp iron dagger in her boot. It had an ivory handle and a sheath of thick leather to protect her from the iron’s poisonous effects. The iron switchblade worked in a pinch, but the dagger was her weapon of choice against a fada or fae.

She was a killer, an assassin. She could slip into that creepy tower and slice Corban’s throat in under a minute.

You can’t, Jani. You might as well send up a signal announcing there’s a fada running loose inside the castle.

What a fucking irony. She’d come to Iceland to kill Corban, and now that he was almost dead, she couldn’t just leave it be. Because why the hell would she endanger herself for that prick?

Rising to her feet, she paced across the small room.

An earth fada could kill himself with his quartz. You simply directed all the energy into your heart, speeding it up, making it beat harder and harder until it broke. But Corban’s quartz was too weak. Maybe he could’ve killed himself at the beginning, but he’d waited too long.

She’d tried to send him some energy, but without touching him, very little energy had been transferred. She was a soldier, not a healer.

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