Page 255 of Primal Bonds

“I just want you to remember that I love you.”

“Oh, I will.” She pressed a kiss to the soft hollow at the base of his throat, and then stepped back, fingers wrapped around her quartz.

“You got this,” he said with complete confidence.

“Yeah.” Because she did. She believed in herself—and her cat.

And I am not weak.

Taking a deep breath, she let herself resonate with the tiny crystals, but before she could shift, Fane disappeared. What the fuck?

“Fane?” Heart thumping, she aborted the shift. “Where are you?” She turned in a circle.

No answer.

“Fane?” she called louder. And then she screamed his name. “Fane! Where are you?”

Somewhere nearby, Sindre breathed a soft laugh. She didn’t know how she knew it was him, but she did.

Anger blazed through her. “You can’t do this, you asshole. We’re supposed to solve the maze together.”

Cool fingers touched her bare shoulder. She whipped around to find the ice fae king looking down at her.

His mouth curved. “That wasn’t part of the bargain.”

Chapter 36

“Jani?” Fane scrubbed his hands over his face and looked again, but she’d disappeared.

What felt like a giant fist squeezed his lungs.

“Jani!” he roared. “Where are you?”

But he was alone in a small room. No, make that an ice cave. No windows. No doors. And the icy blue walls reached twenty feet high.

“No,” he rasped.

Because Sindre didn’t want Fane—he wanted Marjani. In fact, the king might intend to let Fane rot in this small, confined space.

And Marjani would be forced to accept Sindre’s geas, because the bargain said they both had to escape the castle by dawn.

Fane ran his hands over the icy walls, desperately searching for a hidden door or window, or even just a crack in the smooth surface. Anything that would get him out of here and back to his mate. But he worked his way around the entire room without any luck.

He eyed the wall. On a good day, he might be able to leap high enough to grab the top and then swing his legs up and over. But he was tired and Gift-less.

He felt Sindre smile.

His spine tingled. He glanced around, even though he knew he was alone in the room.

“You’re a bloody prick, you know that?”

Silence, but snow began to fall.

He gave a savage grin. Damn, it felt good to finally tell Sindre what he thought of him.

Adrenaline surged through him. Backing up, he took a running leap at the opposite wall, but he only made it three quarters of the way up before he dropped back to the floor.

Hell.

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