Page 436 of Primal Bonds

Rosana glanced frantically around for rescue. Where was everyone?

The night fae formed a circle around her and Adric. Fleur raised her shiny iron knife to the moonless sky. “We are reborn with this New Moon.”

“We are reborn with this New Moon,” the circle chanted.

Rosana’s stomach bottomed out. No.

It couldn’t happen like this. Not when they were so close to being rescued.

Her mom’s cryptic words flitted across her mind. Touch him.

She stared helplessly down at her hands. What good would touching Adric do? Even if she did See something, it would be his death.

Everybody leaves. That hurt, abandoned part of her dropped back its head and shrieked a primal no at the midnight sky.

If they took Adric from her, she might as well let them stick a knife in her heart, too. Because this was one loss she wouldn’t survive.

The prince raised his hands. “May the Dark Goddess bless our circle tonight.”

She glared up at him, her whole being consumed with a dark, burning hatred. She should’ve killed him the library when she’d had the chance. If only she still had her stiletto, she’d plunge it into his iceberg of a heart. Her fingertips literally tingled with the desire to kill the man.

She curled them into her palms—and suddenly, she knew, with a Seer’s gut instinct. Her mom hadn’t meant Adric, she’d meant Langdon.

And everything wasn’t happening exactly as in her vision. Because she, Rosana, was present.

She was the key.

“Wait, your highness!” She scrambled to her feet. “Perhaps we can make a bargain after all.”

“Quiet.” A priest loomed over her, his impossibly beautiful face set in cold lines. “Or the Goddess will gain another sacrifice.”

But Langdon beckoned her forward. “Let her speak.”

She pushed past the priest. “You want a Seer,” she told the prince, “you’ve got one. But execute Lord Adric, and you lose me, too.”

Adric groaned. “Rosana, no!”

She turned her face so she wouldn’t have to look at him. She knew this was the right thing to do. But she couldn’t risk even a whispered “Trust me,” to Adric.

“We’re mates,” she told the prince. “Kill Adric, and I won’t live for more than a few days after him.”

“Mates?” Langdon glanced at Adric. “An earth fada and a river fada?”

She raised her chin. “That’s right. And I’m willing to join your court as a Seer. But Lord Adric lives—or we both die.”

Fleur sneered. “You lie, fada. You won’t die along with your mate. I’ve seen fada live for years after.”

“Truth,” Rosana snarled back. She touched her hand to her heart, sealing the vow. “Kill my mate and I’ll will myself to die.”

Adric let out a blood-curdling growl and fought like a wild man to get away from his captors, but they had him stretched out now, their hands clamped around his wrists and ankles.

He rasped her name beseechingly, his torment vibrating down the mate bond. “Don’t do this, Rosana. Please.”

She swayed on her feet, his pain nearly dropping her to the ground.

Langdon scrutinized her. “She’s not lying,” he said, almost to himself.

She wiped her sweaty palms on her pleated skirt. What if she’d imagined that whole scene with Ula? It could’ve been some kind of fever-induced dream.

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