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She thought lovingly about her egg-and-bacon muffin, pictured it in her mind and sent the smallest lick of power through the image. Her greasy, fatty treat appeared in her hands, wrapped in paper, and she actually squealed.

“I did it!” She devoured it in less than a minute. “Now I just have to work out how to harness the power of the muffin to the enormity of the task ahead.” She nodded at the exterior wall. “Have you ever been inside this place?”

“No one has.”

“That’s stupid. Adam obviously has. I sensed him in there, and he’s not alone.”

“That’s because cygnet’s there, too.”

“Are you sure?”

“I heard Adam brought him in yesterday.”

Ella cautiously raised her shields. “I can’t feel him.” The emptiness was chilling. Even her anger wasn’t big enough to conceal the loss of her awareness of her mate.

“That’s probably because he’s being held somewhere that’s magically warded.”

“But can’t he get out of anything?”

Rossa looked critically at the walls. “It depends what they did to him. If he’s totally encased in lead, Han Solo style, even he might find it hard to get out of that.”

Despite the heat of the coffee, she shivered. “Surely, I’d know if he was dead…” She raised her head. “Canhe die?”

“All Fae can die, given the right circumstances, you know that.”

“But Morosov’s different, isn’t he?”

“He certainly is.” Rossa sipped at his own coffee, his expression uncharacteristically somber. “But now that he has you, it’s certainly possible he could die.”

“Why?”

He sighed. “I told you he threatened to dismember his own family if they allowed Adam to take your face?”

“Yeah.”

“What I didn’t tell you was that he also said he’d take them all down with him if it meant that you survived.”

She forced a laugh. “He’s such a drama king.”

“That wasn’t his intent. He meant what he was saying, sotechnically,he could choose to sacrifice his immortality to save you.” He winked at her. “Ah, the power of love.”

“Don’t say that.” She hunched a shoulder at him and finished her coffee. “If I’m the source of his death, I want to be the one to hand out the sentenceandexecute it.”

“That’s funny, Soul Sucker.”

She bared her teeth at him until he stopped laughing. “It wasn’t a joke. Now how are we going to get into this place?”

He recoiled. “We’renot going anywhere.”

“You’re not coming?”

Rossa stood up. “Of course I’m not! What do you think I am, suicidal?” He bowed elaborately. “You have all the power you need to get into this stronghold and save your prince.”

“Thanks for the support.” Ella finished her coffee and handed him the empty cup. “Can I ask you one more thing before you desert me?”

“Certainly my lady.”

“Now that we’re both in Otherworld, when Morosov and I arecommunicating,can anyone else hear us?”