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A dric was okay.

Rosana’s knees went weak with relief at seeing him unharmed.

Their eyes locked, and her spine tingled at the need and heat in his. She walked toward him, a moth to his fire.

He met her halfway, hauling her up against his lean, sinewy frame. The water sucked at their ankles. The icy wind whipped around them.

She had time to draw a breath and then his mouth crashed onto hers. One kiss spun into the next, and the next. Hard, drugging kisses that took her deep and whipped her around until she clung to him as if he were the only solid thing in the world.

His hands gripped her hips, molding her to his body. His erection pressed against her belly through the placket of his jeans. She rubbed against it and he groaned.

The wind picked up, scouring her exposed skin. She shivered and pressed closer, tunneling her fingers under his T-shirt, seeking his warmth. She might be a river fada, adapted to cool streams and caverns, but even she got cold on a night like this.

He lifted his head, swore. “You need to put on some clothes.”

“Clothes.” Dazed, she rested her forehead against his chest. “Right.”

As she got dressed, Adric suggested they camp out in Cape Henlopen for the night and get the car in the morning. “Otherwise,” he added, “we’ll spend half the night answering questions for the humans.”

“Sounds good,” she said as she rolled up her pants.

They set off at a jog down the beach, running through the surf to hide their scent.

In the park, they continued off-road through the pine-covered dunes until they reached the Point, a sandy spit of land that hooked into the bay, dividing it from the Atlantic.

There, they made camp in a hollow beneath a loblolly pine, zipping up their jackets and pulling on socks.

Leaning back on his forearms, Adric stared grim-faced into the pine trees. Whatever he was thinking, it wasn’t pleasant.

She sifted a handful of sand and pine needles through her fingers. “You went back without me, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. So?”

She rolled her eyes. Typical alpha. Send the female to safety so he could investigate alone. “So it was three against one. I could’ve helped you.”

“Rosana.” His voice was so reasonable, she ground her teeth. “It wasn’t your problem. They were after me.”

“What makes you so sure? Maybe it was me they were after. I am the Rock Run alpha’s sister, you know.”

He turned his head to look at her. His eyes had gone night-glow, the irises the same brilliant blue at the heart of a flame. “Oh, I know. I don’t ever forget it. Not for a single second.”

She swallowed. “But something made you go back.”

He heaved a breath. “You’re not going to let this rest, are you?”

“Nope.”

He shook his head, but said, “The other man, the one we didn’t see? He was an earth fada.”

Oh. “He’s working for the fae?”

“Yeah.”

“From your clan?”

His mouth set. “Not exactly.”

She rolled a loblolly needle between her fingers, releasing its sharp, piney scent. “This has to do with what happened last summer, doesn’t it? When Lord Tyrus died.”

He lifted a shoulder, dropped it. Not confirming, but not denying either—which told her she was right.

“His father wants revenge.” She was careful not to say Prince Langdon’s name. Speak a fae’s name, and you risked drawing his attention. “But Tyrus attacked you, didn’t he? Merry said he almost killed her uncle Jace.”

Adric snorted. “He’s a fae. He doesn’t need a reason. No, I was supposed to lie down, belly up, while Tyrus picked off my lieutenants one by one.”

“What about that blonde we saw? She’s not a pureblood, is she?”

A pause. “That’s what I can’t figure out. She’s not a member of the New Moon Court. She’s an ice fae/night fae mix. So is she working for the prince—or on her own?”

Rosana frowned. “In my vision, three night fae warriors captured you. One of them could have been a woman, but none of them had blond hair.”

A noncommittal grunt.

To the east, the surf boomed. Above, the wind growled and snapped at the treetops. Rosana shivered and hugged her knees. She’d known Adric was in danger, but seeing those fae at the B&B had rammed it home.

He was in a fight for his life.

The Darktime isn’t over. The prince will destroy your clan from the inside out.

She gripped her knees harder.

“That earth fada,” she said. “He’s someone important to you, isn’t he? A good friend.”

Adric stiffened. “How the fuck do you know that?”

“I don’t read minds, if that’s what you’re thinking, but I can tell he upset you.”

Her Gift made her more sensitive to emotions than most people, although Adric had always been hard to read. But since they’d had sex, it was as if they’d connected on some deeper level. Right now, she felt the anger and hurt radiating from him.

She furrowed her brow. Was it always like that?

“You’re right,” Adric admitted. “He’s not a clan member—not anymore—but the two of us go way back.”

“He’s hunting you for them?”

A curt nod. “He’s under a geas to the fae lady.

I know he doesn’t have a choice, that he has to obey, but he is—was—one of my best friends, a lieutenant.

It—” He shook his head. “He must’ve tracked me to Lewes for her.

I had to expel him from the clan—I had no choice.

The way our quartzes work, everyone in the clan is connected to me. ”

Her heart ached for Adric. She touched his leg. “He understands.”

“Maybe.” Adric’s mouth twisted. “When I went back, he saw me. But he kept quiet. Just got in the car and drove off.”

“So he does understand.”

“I suppose so. I know he has to obey her, but—”

“I’m sorry.”

He moved a shoulder. “Not your problem.”

“But I’m the only one here.” She lay down, gave him a tug. “C’mere. Keep me warm.”

He let her pull him down so his head was cradled against her breasts. He set an arm on her waist and moved his head, finding a comfortable spot.

She stroked his nape, excruciatingly aware she was almost out of time. In a few hours, they’d be returning to Maryland. Who knew when she’d have him alone again?

But Deus , this was fucked up—the fae at the B&B, the earth fada tracking them. And she sensed there was more to the story, that Adric hadn’t told her everything.

But then, she hadn’t told him everything, either. Because that vision she’d had in December? A few days later, she’d taken out her scrying bowl, hoping to See a different fate for him. But she’d Seen the exact same thing—and this time, the scene had played out to its conclusion.

She swallowed sickly. Because she knew she was right.

Adric intended to assassinate Prince Langdon. And if he went alone, he’d die.

“What’s wrong?” He lifted his head to scrutinize her.

She took a deep breath and blurted, “You need me. When you go after the prince, you have to take me, too.”

He pulled away from her. “Rosana. Please.”

She swallowed. “I know it sounds crazy. But I have this feeling.”

“A feeling,” he repeated flatly.

“That I can help.”

“How? I’m not saying you’re right, but what help could you be against the night fae? Or any fae, for that matter?”

She shut her eyes. Goddess, it did sound crazy. The fada might be physically equal to the fae, but the fae had magic to call on. They even healed more quickly.

She might be a warrior, but she’d never seen actual combat. What help could she give a man who’d spent half his life fighting a vicious civil war?

“You know I’m a Gifted Seer. The fae who’s training me believes that someday I’ll be one of the most powerful Seers in the world. And he says sometimes you don’t See something, you feel it—a gut instinct. And my gut tells me I should go, too.”

“Yeah?” he said in that same flat voice. “Well, my gut says you should stay home.”

“Listen to me!” She gave him a shake. “There’s more. After I left you that night, I Saw it in my scrying bowl. You—”

“Forget it.” He rolled onto his back and dropped an arm over his eyes. “I don’t care what you Saw, I’m not taking you with me.”

She let out a breath through her teeth. “You know, Dion says you’re smart. A bastard, yeah, but a smart bastard.”

“I love him right back.”

“Well, a smart man would listen to a Seer’s warning.”

A charged pause. Then he lifted his arm. “Okay, then. Talk.”

She hesitated. How do you tell a man you foresaw his death?

That night in December, she’d Seen him going after Langdon. But later, there’d been more. Something so raw that just recalling it made her lungs lock.

The night fae capture Adric, drag him to a clearing in a dark woods. Stake him, spread-eagled, to the ground.

A black-haired priestess in a silver dress steps forward, a gleaming knife in her hand. She raises the knife above her head, brings it slashing down...

Rosana squeezed her eyes shut, but that just made it worse. The image was burned on her retinas. She opened them and stared fiercely up at the trees.

“Hey.” He rolled over, touched her arm. “Take it easy. I did think about what you said, okay? But a vision is just one possible future.”

She started, focused on him.

He was still free. There was still time to change his fate.

“I—I Saw your death. You go after the night fae, and you die . I Saw you on the ground. I smelled the freaking blood.”

His swallow was loud in the clearing. When he spoke again, his voice was gentle. “I’m sorry, but my mind is made up. I’m going. Alone.”

Her heart sank. “But why ?”

He shook his head. “It’s the only way.”

“Adric. You have to listen. If you won’t take me, take someone else—one of your men, or Marjani. Yeah, a vision is only one possible future, but it can only be the changed if you change the path you’re on.”

His face shuttered. “Enough, already. You had your say. Consider me warned.”

She growled. “ Deus , you’re pigheaded—even more than Dion. And that’s saying something.”

Colm had warned her in his sardonic way that being a Seer was a thankless task, saying you might as well piss into the wind for all the notice most people will take of you.

But Deus , she hadn’t realized how hard it was to have your warnings ignored.