Page 435 of Primal Bonds

Rosana’s lungs closed. Her mate was hurt. She felt his pain like it was her own. Her heart sped up and bile rose in her throat.

She dug her claws into her captor’s arm, uncaring of the sharp blade an inch from her jugular vein. Just knowing she had to get to Adric.

“Be still!” the night fae hissed in her ear.

Langdon pushed up on his knees, gasping for breath. “Let her go,” he ordered as two men helped him to his feet.

“My lord?” Neoma said. “Are you sure?”

“Now,” was Langdon’s reply.

“Try anything else,” Rosana’s captor hissed in her ear, “and I’ll slit your pretty throat. Is that clear?”

“Yes,” she said without hesitation. Anything so she could go to Adric.

“Listen well, then. You’re going to kneel beside the earth fada. No touching him. No talking. Is that understood?”

“Yes, yes.”

“Go, then.” The fae released her, and she flew the few yards to Adric and lowered herself to her knees beside him. He was still bent over, chest working. She yearned to touch him, to reassure herself he was all right, but kept her hands at her sides as ordered.

Adric managed to straighten. He even gave her a reassuring smile. “You okay, angel?”

She nodded and summoned an answering smile.

Meanwhile, Langdon was already almost back to normal, his powerful fae blood healing any damage Adric had done.

As he turned toward Adric and Rosana, a warrior stopped him. “Begging your pardon, my lord, but Captain Quade has sent a messenger.”

“Let him in.”

The messenger bowed and drew Langdon aside. The two murmured, low-voiced, while Rosana strained to listen.

The snatches she heard made her heart leap. “The sun fae have breached the wards” and “we’ve suffered several casualties.”

She exchanged a hopeful look with Adric.

“Withdraw underground, then,” Langdon said more loudly. “And seal off all the entrances. Even if the queen finds her way inside, she’d spend days trying to find you, and she can’t be away from the sunlight for that long. As for the circle, she’ll never breach these wards—not during the most sacred hour of the most sacred night of the month.”

The warrior looked doubtful. “The queen’s powerful, my lord, and she brought a dozen sun fae warriors with her. And what about the fada?” He shot Adric and Rosana a look of dislike. “They’re…devious.”

“Let them run around in the darkness all they want. They won’t find their way here unless I allow it.”

“But—”

“Go,” the prince commanded. “Before the hour of our Goddess is past.”

“As you wish.” The warrior inclined his head and exited the clearing.

Fleur walked to the center of the circle. “Start the moon fire.”

A wide, burnished metal bowl appeared on a low stand. A night fae priest stepped forward, a silver triple-moon pendant around his neck. He pointed a finger at the bowl and a purple flame sprang up in the center.

The guards latched onto Adric’s arms and legs, forcing him onto his back. He fought back, twisting and kicking in their grip, until Neoma took his quartz from the silk bag and wrapped her fingers around it.

“Be still, fada.”

He jerked and let out an agonized groan.

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