Page 439 of Primal Bonds

“No.” Blaer slapped a hand on his chest.

Luc halted. He sent a shamed look at Adric. At his sides, his fingers flexed and unflexed.

Then Rosana grabbed Langdon’s hands. As her fingers closed around his, her body jolted and her braid lifted. The tie wrapped around the end slid off and the plait unwound itself to twist around her face in a sinuous black cloud.

“The old ways are no more,” she said in a low, eerie voice. “Change is coming.”

Everyone in the clearing froze, even the warriors attempting to capture Marjani.

Rosana moistened her lips. “Merry,” she said in a scratchy voice.

“Yes?” Langdon turned his hands so he was gripping her. “What do you See?”

“Merry’s a princess.” She faltered. “I See a crown.”

“Go on,” he urged.

“Your granddaughter will rule. But not in darkness. In light.”

The prince’s diamond-studded brows snapped together.

Rosana’s slender body shook. Adric could hardly bear to watch her, but she’d drawn everyone’s attention. Even the men trying to corral Marjani were distracted.

Now was his chance to get his quartz back.

“And you,” she told the prince. “Your life is a fine-spun web. Tear the wrong thread and you’re dead. Deus, no.” Her breath sobbed in.

Langdon’s handsome face hardened. “What?”

Rosana shook her head and tried to pull her hands away, but he tightened his grip on her. “Tell me, damn you!”

“Death,” Rosana whispered. “Death to your line…at the new ruler’s hand.”

“What new ruler?”

Rosana snatched her hands from the prince’s, backed away. He reached for her and then checked as if she’d burned him.

Her body shimmered as if lit from inside by starlight. The night fae shrank from her. She swung around, pointed.

“Her. Lady Blaer.”

Blaer straightened. “You lie,” she hissed. “You’d do anything to escape.” She motioned Luc forward. “Kill her. Kill the river fada.”

Luc’s hands fisted but he didn’t move.

Blaer grabbed his quartz, squeezed. “I said, Kill her.”

Luc growled, eyes wild. The man was near the breaking point—and Blaer either didn’t know or didn’t care.

The night fae pinning Adric down were still intent on the drama. He forced his body to relax completely, and as he’d hoped, their grip on him loosened.

Now.

Jerking out of their hold, Adric lunged at Neoma, ripping the pendant from her hand and dropping it over his head. His body shuddered with relief at having his quartz back. As the guards dove for him, he drew on its power with everything he had, leaping straight up so they passed beneath him—and shifted while he was still in mid-air.

He lost precious seconds during the change. When he came back to himself, he was a cougar, his clothes in shreds around him. The warriors tried again to grab him, but with a slash of his claws, he was free.

Luc had apparently started for Rosana at Blaer’s command, but Marjani had put herself between them. The two men who’d been trying to capture her were on the ground, bleeding from multiple wounds.

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