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“ J ani?” 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.

Shrugging out of the backpack, he took a deep breath and tried again.

The third try, he almost made it, his fingers just six inches from the top.

He tried to scramble the last few inches, but the wall was too smooth.

He slid back to the floor, losing a couple of buttons off his shirt in the process.

He tried again. And again, until he was bent over, hands on his thighs, sucking in oxygen.

Mind over matter.

He eyed the wall. Sindre had stolen his Gift, but as a former wayfarer who could make himself virtually invisible, Fane knew something about illusions himself.

As he’d told Marjani, they only worked if the viewer believed in them.

He heard the murmur of voices and stilled. Marjani and Sindre.

No fucking way.

She’s mine, you bastard. My mate. My beautiful cat.

He took a deep breath to calm himself. Sindre was messing with his head.

Forget him. Think about Marjani instead. Focus on the mate bond—you can use it to get to her.

Warmth filled his chest, and he felt a strong but invisible thread connecting him to his mate. He straightened his spine and stared at the wall in the direction the thread seemed to be coming from. Was that an opening?

It disappeared.

Don’t fight it. His strength was going with the flow. He needed to remember that.

He grabbed the backpack and let his gaze soften and relax. Yes. There.

Keeping that soft, hazy focus, he walked through the wall.

Marjani glared at the ice fae king. “What do you mean, that wasn’t part of the bargain?”

His chiseled lips curved. “The two of you solving the maze together. I don’t recall promising that.”

Marjani replayed the wording of the bargain in her mind. He was right. All he’d said was that both she and Fane had to escape the castle by dawn. Nothing in the bargain said they had to do it together.

Thrice-damned fucking fae.

Her growl actually had him backing up a step, but he recovered quickly.

“What would you give me for this, I wonder?” He raised a hand. Dangling from his fingers was the substitute quartz; the one Blaer had stolen from Marjani.

She swiped at it, just to throw him off.

“No, Marjani, mín .” He closed his fingers around the milky chunk of rock. “I think I’ll hang onto it for now.”

She shrugged. “You do that.”

The fae king eyed her. “I thought you earth fada needed your quartz.”

“We do. But I can get by without it.” She looked at the quartz in his hand as she spoke, so it was perfectly true. She could get by without that quartz.

Her own quartz was hidden against her side, her fingers holding it loosely so her hand appeared empty. Thank the gods Fane had suggested the substitution.

“Where did you get it, anyway?” she asked. “I thought it was lost.”

“This?” The king tossed the milky quartz lightly into the air by its leather thong, catching it on the way down. “Lady Blaer gave it to me in return for shortening the period of her banishment. She tells me I can use it to control you.” He gave it a squeeze. “Is that true?”

She met his eyes. “No.”

His gaze probed hers. “So one of you is…mistaken.” He muttered an incantation.

Marjani froze. Blaer must have shared the secret with Sindre.

The North African fae who’d help create the original earth fada had gifted the quartz and its special energy to them alone. But like most fae gifts, it came with an edge—with the right incantation, an earth fada’s quartz could be used to compel him or her to obey a fae.

And the king had the complicated phrase correct in every particular.

She forced herself to shrug. She was damned if she’d help Sindre puzzle this out. “I guess it’s Lady Blaer, then.”

With a shrug, he pocketed the quartz. “I don’t need tricks like this anyway.” He moved closer, his voice deepening. “Marjani. Are you sure you want to do this?”

She opened and closed her mouth like a beached fish. The man was so beautiful, she couldn’t tear her eyes away. His white-blond hair glimmered, his eyes a brilliant silver.

He smiled, and her knees went weak. Those chiseled lips promised so much pleasure. She could almost feel them tracing over her naked breasts, making their way down to her clit…

“Why do I want you so much?” he murmured, almost to himself. “I think it’s because you’re so serious. Life means something to you.”

She somehow managed to find her voice. He might be beautiful, but he wasn’t Fane. “And it doesn’t to you?”

He moved a shoulder. “I prefer it to death.”

She stared up at him. This isn’t real. You’re not my mate.

The bastard was using a glamour on her. She growled and the spell broke.

The wall across from them wavered. Fane stalked through, hair dusted with snow and deep smudges beneath his eyes.

His shirt had lost a few buttons, and he was breathing hard.

Dark stubble had sprung up on his jaw. He looked exhausted and primitive in a way that stole her breath—and not in the artificial way that Sindre had.

He hauled her up against him. “Get away from her, you bastard.”

Sindre did a double take, then his brow flicked up. “You’re more powerful than I realized. Perhaps I could still use you after all.”

“Go to Hades. I’m leaving.” He squeezed her shoulders. “With my mate.”

The king’s jaw loosened. His gaze swung to her. “You’d choose him over me?”

“I already have.” She leaned into Fane. He was her man. Her mate .

Something cold whispered over her skin. Sindre was pissed off.

That told her more than anything that this was it, their final test. They had to pass it—or they were fucked.

“Get out of our way,” Fane ground out. “Let the game play out—or forfeit.”

Smart. Marjani could tell the king didn’t want to appear a poor sport, especially since other fae had bet on the outcome.

Sindre inclined his head and then muttered a short incantation. The air around him warped in a dizzying way as he ’ported out of there.

“We’re close.” Fane nuzzled her cheek and then released her. “He wouldn’t have interfered if we weren’t. I think you’re right—you need to shift.”

With a nod, she brought her quartz to her heart. Fane winked at her, his confidence in her palpable.

Closing her eyes, she drew on the quartz’s energy—and let the change take her.

It was a hard shift. She’d shifted too many times in too short of a period, but at least her quartz’s energy level had reached seventy-five percent.

She determinedly maintained her focus. This wasn’t just for her, it was for Fane. She couldn’t stand the thought of him being in Sindre’s power for another day, let alone another century plus however many years he still had to serve of the first geas .

Energy rippled over her, and then she landed on all fours. She stowed the quartz in the pocket of her cheek and looked around with her cat’s keen vision. The maze was still there, but she could see a straight line to the outer edge, as if the maze were a patchy white mist overlaying the true path.

Gotcha.

Fane had donned the backpack while she shifted. He stroked a hand down her spine. “Did it work?”

She nodded—and then realized she was the old Marjani again—the Marjani where the cat and human worked together and shared thoughts and emotions.

He threaded his fingers through the fur at the scruff of her neck. “Ready when you are, beautiful.”

The cat liked being called beautiful. It purred and rubbed its head against Fane’s hip in thanks—and marking him as hers, just in case that redheaded ice fae female hadn’t gotten the message.

They set off, Fane’s eyes shut, one hand gripping her fur. They came to the first dead end, and the cat walked right through it.

The next dead end actually was the end of a passage, but now she saw the opening to the right. She walked through, Fane right beside her.

Around her, the maze shifted. Grew dark.

Stupid man. Didn’t Sindre know cougars had incredible night vision?

With a lash of her tail, she paced forward, following the line as it zigzagged toward a portal, increasingly confident.

An icy mix of sleet and snow began to fall. A wind whipped crystals into her eyes. The cat snarled and kept going. They were almost to the portal.

They reached the end of a passage, and the maze became the inner wall of the black lava castle.

“You did it, love.” Fane’s grin split his face as he touched the rough black wall. “I know where we are now. Come.” He turned left, still holding onto her fur.

They came to a portal. Marjani couldn’t see it, but she sensed an opening in the wards.

Fane flicked his fingers and said the incantation that would allow them through. But the portal remained closed. He scowled and tried again.

Nothing.

Fane said something low and ugly. “I’m not a member of the court anymore. The portal won’t allow me through.”

She nudged him aside. Time to test her theory and see if her cat could pass through. Then she halted. What good would it do if she left—but Fane remained trapped on the ice fae side?

They’d lost.

Ice balled in her stomach. She pressed against Fane.

He crouched down and enveloped her in a hard hug. “I love you, Jani. I swear, I’ll figure out a way to get him to release you from the geas if it’s the last thing I do.”

Suddenly, the wind and snow stopped as if a switch had been thrown. Into the silence came the crunch of footsteps on the snow. She and Fane whipped around.

Sindre was back.

Marjani’s lip peeled back in a snarl. Fane took a step toward him, hands fisted. “Let us out. We made it through the maze. We won.”

Sindre’s head tipped to one side, considering. “Actually, I’d say it was a draw. You made it through the maze—but you’re still on this side of the portal.”

“Because you changed the fucking rules.”

The king ignored him to speak to Marjani. “It’s a pity you met that mixed-blood first. We would’ve made quite a pair, you and me.”

No way in Hades.

“My congratulations,” Sindre said.

Both their jaws dropped.

The king chuckled. “It was a most entertaining game—and that tips the balance in your direction.” He snapped his fingers, and a blue velvet bag settled between Marjani’s front paws.

“There are your diamonds. And you,” he said to Fane, “have your Gift back. Now get out of Iceland—and if I were you, I wouldn’t ever return. ”

Fane recovered enough to thank him. “Trust me, we won’t.”

The king said a phrase in fae and flicked his fingers. The air around Marjani and Fane warped. She just had time to snatch up the pouch of diamonds in her teeth before her stomach lurched and everything went dark.

The next thing she knew, she and Fane were alone on a cliff overlooking the ocean. To the east, the breaking dawn sent a gleaming gold trail over the dark waves crashing below.