Page 108

He touched her face. “Forty, even twenty turns of the sun ago, that might have stopped me. But now, all I want is you. You’re too good for me, Marjani. You think I don’t know that?”

He meant it. She scented the truth in his words, saw it in his eyes.

“And besides,” he added, “I didn’t do it only for you. The last few years, I could barely stand returning to the court. I just didn’t have anywhere else to go. But now I do.”

He rolled on top of her and, capturing her wrists in his hands, pressed them to either side of her head. The hard ridge of his erection nudged against her stomach.

“We’re mates, Jani. I’m not going anywhere. Get used to it.”

She frowned. “I don’t want you to go anywhere. I just want you to be happy.”

“Then stop trying to convince me I’d be better off without you.”

She gave a jerky nod, and then turned her head, offering her throat to him. Inviting him to mark her in a way her cat craved.

He might not be a fada, but he understood. He stilled, and then lowered his head and bit her. Just hard enough to leave a mark.

Her hips rocked up. Heat bloomed in her belly.

He laved the mark with his tongue, and while she was sucking in a breath, thrust inside her again.

Their loving this time was hard and fast. Marjani let her wild side out, and Fane met it with some wildness of his own. They ended with her on her hands and knees, him thrusting into her from behind.

“Touch me,” she begged, and his long fingers stroked over her body, pinching her nipples and rubbing her clit until she split apart in another earth-shattering orgasm. He pulled out and came right after her, breath sawing in and out, spilling hot against her lower back.

After that, all she wanted to do was sleep, but she made herself call Adric first. He wasn’t overjoyed to learn she was bringing Fane Morningstar back to Baltimore, but she was pretty sure he’d guessed they’d mated. She didn’t tell him though. That news could wait until she was home.

“I heard from Luc,” he said. “He told me what happened.”

She gripped her quartz. “He’s okay?”

“As far as I could tell. The fae bitch allowed him one call, and then he’s not allowed to contact me for the length of the geas . I had to banish him from the clan, Jani. I can’t have a man under a geas connected to me and the clan that way. She could use Luc against us.”

“Oh, Ric.” She rubbed a hand over her face. “I’m sorry.”

“He understood. Hell, he suggested it. And he knows he’s welcome back as soon as he serves out the geas .”

“I tried to save him.”

“I know you did. It’s okay, Jani. He did it for you.”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better.”

Adric blew out a breath. “What about Corban?”

“Dead.”

Something about her tone made him ask, “What is it? He is dead, isn’t he?”

“Yeah. I made sure of it.”

“Good.”

She sighed. “It’s just…he was our cousin, Ric.”

“That didn’t mean he wasn’t trying to kill us both. Corban could have accepted me as alpha. Hell, I made him a sentry. He would’ve made lieutenant eventually, if he’d just given me a reason to trust him.”

“I know. You did what you had to.”

“And so did you. You’re…all right?”

“Yeah.” She glanced at Fane. “Better than all right.”

“Then get your ass back to Baltimore. I need you here. But keep an eye out for the night fae. The prince has eased off the pressure for now, but he’s not going to let this rest.”

“We’ll get a flight as soon as we can. And Ric? I miss you. So much.”

“Miss you, too,” was the gruff reply.

She ended the call and crawled back into bed with Fane. Strong arms hauled her close to him.

“You’re tired. Go to sleep.”

“Kay.” She curled up against Fane and fell like a stone into a deep, dreamless sleep.

When they awoke, it was early afternoon. After a long, hot bath in the clawfoot tub—and another round of lovemaking, this time tender and drawn-out—they hiked into the village.

It turned out Fane had close to a hundred thousand dollars in his bank account.

“I never touched it,” he said with a shrug. “Just used it to pay for the house’s upkeep. The interest kept compounding.”

She snorted. “Must be nice to be rich.”

“Well, I’m not rich anymore. But at least I won’t be totally dependent on you. That would be one more black mark against me as far as your brother is concerned.”

He withdrew enough to pay for their flights back to Baltimore, plus some extra, including some American dollars for after they crossed the border.

Then they ate a chunky fish chowder in a pub and bought groceries, including a box of condoms. In a gift shop, Marjani even found a new leather thong for her quartz.

She fastened it around her neck as soon as they left the store; the connection worked best when the crystals could vibrate against her skin.

Their errands done, they headed back to the cozy saltbox house and stole another night and day just for themselves. Adric would just have to understand.

To her surprise, Fane had a down-to-earth side. He pitched in with the cooking, chopped wood, took her on long hikes along the cliffs. When she mentioned it, he shot her an affronted look from where he was lighting a fire in the big fieldstone fireplace.

“I spent twenty years as a fisherman,” he growled. “And working for the king wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows.”

She bit her lower lip. “I’m sorry—I didn’t think. You had to be pretty fucking tough to survive as his envoy.”

He wrapped a long arm around her waist and pulled her close. “I’m not weak, Jani. Don’t make the same mistake that my grandfather makes about me and my dad. Just because we’re easygoing doesn’t mean you can push us around.”

She slid her fingers into his hair and pulled him close. “I know,” she said against his mouth. “I was there when you gave up your Gift for me, remember?”

“And I’d do it again in a heartbeat,” he said—fiercely, as if she were arguing.

She traced the tip of her tongue over the seam of his lips. “I know.”

“I love you.” He didn’t wait for her to reply, just wrapped his other arm around her and gave her a kiss that she felt clear to her toes. And after that, they stopped talking and just loved each other in front of the fire.

The second day, he rented a sailboat and took her out on the Atlantic, showing her a hidden cove. They made love on the deck, with the sun shining down on them and a cold breeze biting into their skin.

“This is fun?” She rubbed the goose pimples that had popped up on her naked body.

“You’ll warm up,” he assured her, and then proceeded to show her exactly how hot he could make her.

On the way back to the village, she couldn’t stop smiling.

Fane would’ve liked to stay longer, but he understood that she needed to get home. And it turned out that during that night in the maze, another ten days had passed in the human world. It was nearly mid-September.

So two mornings after they arrived in Canada, they caught a flight to Toronto and then back to Baltimore.