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She wasn’t sure whether she wanted to reply to her mate at this moment.

He was being far too arrogant and possessive for her liking.

On the other hand, he had just killed three males for her and threatened to wipe out a whole bunch of his superpowerful family…

She couldn’t buy devotion like that for all the money in the world.

Such immense power was curiously addictive, which explained a lot about the lure of elderly politicians for younger women.

“Will the net hold?”

Vadim ran an experienced eye over it. “I think so. We can’t make it too strong, or we won’t be able to penetrate it.”

“Makes sense.” Ella reached out her hand and gently probed between the strands until she touched Adam’s arm. He hissed a curse and tried to shift away from her, but his bonds wouldn’t allow it.

“Wow. There’s a lot going on in there.”

“I noticed that too.” Vadim came up behind her and put his hand on her shoulder, strengthening their bond with his physical presence. “He’s full of shit.”

She wanted to grin at his cool tone. “Where’s everyone else?”

He glanced over his shoulder. “Right behind us, why?”

“We should put a guard on your father, and a couple on the other side of Adam in case he manages to break free of us.”

“I had the same thought.” She felt the quick rush of him communicating with someone else. “My mother will watch my father and will command the guards to move into place.”

Ella nodded, her senses already engaged with the delicate task of feeling her way into another sentient being’s mind.

With a male as old as Adam, it wasn’t easy.

He was fighting her at every turn. But if she took a more direct route, she might inadvertently damage his memories and destroy the very information she wanted.

“Even if I find something , how am I going to make this work?”

“Remember, we all have a familial link. You relay the information to me, and I’ll amplify it and send it onward. They can’t accuse us of lying, then.”

“True. Where do you want to start?”

“Home in on his guilt and his fear.”

She probed deeper and felt Vadim’s power and physical presence steadying and supporting her.

Being inside Adam’s head was like splashing around in a sewer.

His delusions of grandeur, arrogance and his obsession with magical power made him a fearsome enemy and one who, despite his current position, still hadn’t conceded defeat.

She’d dealt with enough monsters to know to seek the most heavily protected areas of his mind, to pick and probe until the walls crumbled and the intent behind the thought was revealed. Ah, there it was…

“Here you go.”

Like a skilled weaver extracting a single, delicate thread, she removed the memories and thoughts and spun them into Vadim’s mind.

Images of his three dark-haired victims were followed by those of Brad Dailey, Ms. Phelps and herself.

Each memory was as clear as a diamond and saturated with satisfaction.

Adam thrived on their terror and loved pushing them to take that final step and kill themselves.

Shielded behind his enjoyment of his trophies’ pain, she discovered his pure loathing for the Fae family who currently surrounded him.

* * *

Adam made a gurgling sound, but Ella and Vadim’s magical hold on him was too powerful to allow him to speak.

“Keep going, Ella.”

She plunged deeper and relayed Adam’s agreement to aid the Fae king in his vendetta against his son, his satisfaction at the ending of the trial and his conviction that he and his fellow sect members would finally be strong enough to overthrow not only Death Bringer, but also his entire family.

“Ah, the Soul Sucker finds the truth.” The older queen’s voice sounded far away. “Adam is guilty. He truly wished to destroy us all.”

A flash of bright, bitter anger seared Ella’s senses, and she flinched as she saw the moment Adam had stolen her face.

He hadn’t reckoned on her coming after Vadim or expected the depth of power a bond between a dark Fae prince and a human empath would deliver.

His hatred for her was a clear, shining blade.

“That’s enough, Soul Sucker.”

She was shivering. She turned her face into the comfort of Vadim’s shoulder.

“You don’t need to exhaust yourself. He is already doomed for his treasonable thoughts.” He stroked her hair. “My parents are arguing again. My mother believes my father should be executed alongside Adam.”

“No!” She gripped his arm. “That’s—” She turned back to Adam, who was now smiling at her. “That’s what he wants!”

“Why?” She addressed Adam directly. “Why do you want the king in particular to die?”

Beside her, Vadim had gone still. “What is it, Ella?”

She reached through the net again and sought Adam’s skin. Something wasn’t right. He was puzzling her, his walls ever shifting, his true personality hidden behind…

She opened her eyes.

“Who is he, Morosov?”

The row behind them was growing louder as the Fae took sides.

“What do you mean?”

“Think.” She felt him open his mind to hers while she kept the link to Adam wide. “Adam’s not his real name, is it?”

* * *

An abyss yawned at Vadim’s feet, and he pulled Ella roughly away from Adam.

“Tell me something before you die.”

A superior smile lightened his opponent’s all-too-familiar features. “Why would I tell you anything? Can’t you use your human pet to force the information out of me?”

“I could.” His hands clenched into fists. “But this is between us. It always has been. Why is that?”

Adam shrugged. “You’re supposed to be the most powerful being in Otherworld. You work it out.”

“You always hated that, didn’t you? That I had all the power, that I was the chosen one. Is that why you took over the sect?”

“The sect welcomed me. They appreciated my powers.”

“I’m sure they did. If you die, will my mate get her face back?”

“How would I know? I’ve been alive for almost as long as you have. I’m supposed to be immortal. Why would I bother to find out about the effect my death has on others?”

“Then free her from the spell.”

He fake-sighed. “I can’t do that when I’m trapped. My powers aren’t working.”

Ella touched his arm. “I don’t care about my face, Morosov. Don’t let him go free.”

“How noble,” Adam sneered. “But it isn’t really about you either, is it, Soul Sucker?”

Her fingers sank into Vadim’s flesh. “He wants you, right?”

He nodded, his gaze not leaving the other male’s as he sorted through a myriad of memories and impressions and tried to blend them with Adam’s pilfered thoughts.

Behind him, he was aware of his father moving toward him. He intentionally raised his voice.

“You wear my brother Ciaran’s face.”

“So?”

“When I first saw you in San Francisco, I said that you were a fraud, because my brother was already dead.”

“Because you’d killed him, and things Death Bringer kills never survive.”

“That’s what I believed.” Vadim drew in a slow breath. “It appears I was wrong.”

“What?” His father’s jarring voice bellowed in his ear. “Are you suggesting this is really Ciaran? How ridiculous is that? Good God! Death Bringer, will you do anything to bring this family down?”

Vadim kept his gaze on the prisoner. “Is that why he helped you?”

Adam blinked very slowly. “That’s for me to know and for you to find out.”

“I can do that for you, Morosov,” Ella said softly. “All I have to do is touch him again.” She looked up at him. “This is what he was hiding. He didn’t really want my face, he wanted you back.”

“For revenge.”

“Even though you obviously didn’t kill him after all. Was he always jealous of you?”

“Of course. My father professed to love him the most yet spent most of his time training me—his personal weapon.”

“That isn’t true.” Adam practically spat out the words. “I always knew I was loved, while you were hated and feared.”

“But you were willing to do anything to get power like mine, weren’t you?”

“I did what anyone faced with an impossible situation would do.”

“Forced a confrontation between us? Used your twin sister as bait?” Vadim fought to control his voice.

“She loved me. She was willing to help me in any way she could.”

“That’s not love,” Ella said. “That’s stupid.”

“I regret having to lend you my sister’s face, Soul Sucker. You are not worthy to wear it.”

“Strange, it doesn’t bother me in the least.”

Adam sighed elaborately. “It amuses me to know that my brother will have to live with it for the rest of his unnatural life.”

Vadim drew Adam’s attention away from his mate, who looked ready to do him harm. “Did you kill her?”

“Who, Nia? No, she was weak. She couldn’t live with the idea that she’d betrayed you by pretending I’d died in your attack. She was more than willing to listen to my suggestion and take her own life.”

“Is that what gave you the idea for your little game, then?” Ella asked. “To take her face as a trophy?”

“Yes, Soul Sucker, how astute of you to notice.” He snarled. “I obviously underestimated your intelligence.”

“Most of us do.” Vadim recovered his veneer of calm.

“So if we assume that you follow the sect’s usual rule of three, and that you wanted my face next, whom did you choose to complete the pattern?

” Adam’s gaze flicked momentarily to Vadim’s right.

“Ah, you wanted Father’s face, because once you had his, no one would remember you as Ciaran, and you could move on with your plan to control the whole of Otherworld. ”

“What?”

In his desire to get up close and personal with the captive, the Fae king tried to push past Vadim, who put out an arm to hold him back.

“He intended to kill you. Didn’t you get that?”

“That’s impossible! I—” The king suddenly broke off as if aware that his estranged spouse and mother-in-law were regarding him suspiciously. “It’s not true.”

“Why would I lie?” Adam said. “I’m not expecting to come out of this encounter alive, are you?”

Blustering, the Fae king turned to survey his audience. “The man is mad. He obviously wants to implicate as many of us in his crimes as possible. Perhaps Death Bringer was right in the first instance, and Adam was trying to annihilate our whole family. Isn’t that rather more important?”

“Nice try, Fergal.” Ella pretended to clap. “And, by the way, that was my idea, not Morosov’s.”

Vadim reached out and took her hand. He half turned to face his family. “For once I’ll agree with my father that the state of the realm is rather more important than the state of his conscience. What do you want me to do about ‘Adam’?”

He couldn’t call that monster by his brother’s name. From what he’d sensed in the other’s mind, all vestiges of humanity had been leached from his soul over the intervening years. Adam cared for no one and thrived on power, hatred and vengeance.

His grandmother raised her chin. “What do you wish to do with him, Death Bringer?”

Vadim went still. Beside him, Ella squeezed his hand hard.

“It’s okay about my face, it really is. I don’t care if you execute him. He’s done enough harm in his lifetime even for an immortal Fae.”

Vadim stared at his brother for a long quiet moment and then raised his hand.

* * *

Ella wanted to close her eyes, but she owed it to her mate to watch to the end. She couldn’t let him destroy himself again. Didn’t his family understand the terrible burden he’d carried with him for centuries?

“Morosov…”

“No!”

A bolt of the Fae king’s magic shot between her and Vadim, releasing Adam from his bonds. With an exultant cry, he rose above the ground and grabbed for Ella.

“Get off me, you idiot!”

Vadim rose too, his huge wings unfolding, claws out, fangs extended.

“Let her go!”

Twenty feet up in the air, Adam held her out in front of him, and her legs dangled like a doll’s. “Father, kill her!”

She looked down at the Fae king’s face. The wound on her shoulder started to throb like fire.

“Don’t be stupid!” she shouted. “If you kill me, Morosov will kill you and Adam will have won everything! ”

“She’s right.” Despite his aggressive stance, Vadim’s voice was eerily calm. “Now release her, Adam. This is between us. It always has been.”

She glared at Vadim. “Don’t you dare fight him! That’s what he wants! Why are all you Fae so dumb sometimes?”

She tried to turn to see Adam’s face, and he was smiling. The door to the hall crashed open. Beyond it was the long corridor leading to the trophy room. Was he intending to gather his trophies on the way out, or did he intend to destroy everything?

His trophies…

She looked from him back to Vadim and then at the Fae king.

Sets of three. The blondes, the brunettes and the final set of Fae royalty that would never be completed….

“Give me the dagger and give me your power.”

“Don’t be stupid.”

“Don’t argue with me! I think I know how to fix this!”

“Ella…”

“Please. Trust me.”

A second later, the blade was in her palm.

Below her, the Fae king held up his hand, and the pain in her shoulder began to spread throughout her entire body.

Without allowing herself to think any longer, she used Vadim’s immense strength to free her right hand and, turning, plunged the lethal blade into Adam’s throat.

As he screamed, they started to fall. By the time they hit the floor, she was beyond feeling anything at all.