Page 194 of Primal Bonds

“Why not?” Not that she wanted him to come, but she knew her brother. It must be killing him to stay home while she and Luc hunted Corban.

“We have a situation here.”

She got that odd tingle in her gut; her Gift at work. “The night fae are looking for me, aren’t they?”

He took a long time answering. “Not you in particular—at least, not as far as I know. But a few days after you left, the prince demanded a meeting.”

“Hell.” She stared at the steam rising from the pool. “What happened?”

“He hinted that he knows who killed his son. But you know the fae. We danced around the question, each of us trying to gauge how much the other knows. But he’s going to come back, and when he does, I’d better be here.”

“And if he asks straight out who killed his son?”

“I’ll tell him to go to Hades. He has no right to ask anything of me. His son died because he was in my territory, fucking with my lieutenant and his mate.”

“We can’t afford to make an enemy of him.”

Adric gave a mirthless laugh. “Too late.”

“You know what?” she said slowly. “Iceland might be the safest place for me right now. The last place anyone would expect to find me is deep in ice fae territory.”

A pissed-off snarl. “I can protect my own damn sister. He’s not going to find out who killed Tyrus. I want you home.”

“Ric.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. This was why she’d slipped out of Baltimore without telling him. “You have to trust me. Anyone else will only get caught. The only reason I got inside the ice fae castle was because Fane helped me.” Well, that and the fact that Sindre and/or Blaer had apparently wanted her inside anyway.

At the sound of his name, Fane groaned, a deep, animal sound.

“What was that?” Adric demanded.

“Fane.” She frowned down at the sick man as he flung himself on his back, a shudder jerking his long limbs. She touched his shoulder and he jolted upright, staring at her with glassy eyes.

“He’s hurt? What the fuck, Jani?”

“Look, I gotta go. I’ll report as soon as I know anything.”

She cut the connection and zipped her quartz back into a side pocket of her cargo pants before laying a hand against Fane’s forehead. It was burning hot.

She cursed under her breath as she guided him to lie back down. “You’re not going to die on me, got it?”

Stripping off her shirt, she wet it in the pool and used it to bathe his forehead. His breath sighed out.

“That’s it.” She dabbed his face and neck, wishing she could do more. But she hadn’t been blessed with even a speck of a healer’s Gift. “Feels better, doesn’t it? Now rest. You’ll feel better when you wake up.”

She hoped.

Chapter 19

Adric clenched his quartz.

She’s safe, at least for now. That’s good.

Although he hated to admit it, maybe Marjani was right, she was safer in Iceland than Baltimore. Because Prince Langdon had requested another meeting.

No, demanded it. Tonight.

The prince was a night fae, so of course he’d set the meeting for midnight, choosing a bar on the top floor of a fancy hotel in midtown Baltimore.

Adric arrived at eleven, Jace at his side. Zuri took a seat on a metal stool at the shiny black bar, and several soldiers grabbed a nearby table. They’d dressed to blend in—dark button-up shirts and jeans or dress pants, their quartz pendants tucked discreetly into their shirts.

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