Page 431 of Primal Bonds

Adric’s face hardened. “No fucking way.”

“Yes.” Langdon’s eyes were gleaming pools of midnight. “A life for a life. Have your clan bring Merry Jones to me and you’ll go free. In fact, I’m feeling generous tonight. Bring my granddaughter to me, and I’ll free not just you, but Rosana.”

Chapter 43

Blaer was livid at being excluded from the new moon ritual. She stood at the living room window, staring out at the rain.

Luc’s nape crawled. The fae lady was at her most dangerous when completely still.

A quarter mile distant, a pitched battle was being fought, but she seemed unaware of the light and noise. This wasn’t just fada. From the bright bursts of color, the sun fae had joined the battle.

For the first time in days—no, weeks—hope sparked in Luc. Not for him, but for Adric. Maybe the alpha would get out of this alive, after all.

He flashed on Rosana’s bewildered young face and swallowed, shame a hot stone in his belly. Just when he’d thought he couldn’t go lower, he had. He’d given a woman—a girl barely out of her teens—to the night fae.

Adric had been right to be furious. He should’ve just slit Luc’s throat and been done with it.

At least Marjani was safe. Luc didn’t know what he’d have done if the prince had gotten his hands on her.

Blaer turned her dark eyes on him. Sensing his distress in that spooky way night fae had.

“Your alpha and the do Rio woman are at the ritual.”

“What?” Luc scrubbed a hand over his face. Why would Langdon invite Adric to a private ritual?

And then he knew. His stomach lurched.

Blaer prowled across the marble floor. Her dress today was an ice-blue scrap of material that barely covered her ass. Sapphires and diamonds dripped from her throat and glittered on the pointed ears peeking through her platinum hair.

“The fada attacked the prince in his own lair. You didn’t think he’d let them off with just a slap on the wrist, did you?”

Luc grabbed her bare arm. “Why are you telling me this?”

She tilted her head. “Why do you think?”

He narrowed his eyes. “You want me to get you inside tonight’s circle. But why?”

“Can you?”

He knew when he was being used. But who the fuck cared? Adric needed him. Luc had no compunction using Blaer right back.

He released her. “Take me to the circle. I’ll get us inside.”

Passing through the portal turned out to be the easy part. Marjani had only gone a few steps into the woods on the other side when she realized the shadows had deepened to pitch-black. Her eyes went night-glow, but she still couldn’t see more than a couple of yards in any direction.

She tightened her grip on her dagger and peered around, growling lowly.

“It’s okay,” Fane murmured. “It’s a different time of day in here, that’s all.”

She nodded tightly. The mechanics of fae vs. human time always made her dizzy. You could spend a few days in a fae court and go home to find a whole month had passed.

What made her heart falter was the realization that in here, the new moon might be just an hour, not five hours away.

“You feel Ric yet?” That was Jace.

“No,” she admitted. She’d hoped that her quartz would relink to Adric’s as soon as they passed through the portal, but it hadn’t. She couldn’t even say for sure if he was still alive.

“Me, neither,” Jace said.

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