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T hrice-damned interfering prick.

Marjani glowered at Fane, moving grim-faced beside her on those long, ground-eating legs. She could’ve cheerfully slit his throat and walked away smiling.

And why was he helping her, anyway? There was nothing in it for him. In fact, Sindre was going to be out for his blood. And she’d seen how scary a pissed-off Sindre could be.

Her heart clenched—not for Fane, who deserved whatever he got—but for Luc.

Gods, she hated to leave him behind with Sindre and that fae bitch. Luc must know Marjani wouldn’t abandon him. Still, that didn’t make her feel any less guilty. She’d known Luc would follow her, with or without Adric’s say-so.

They covered a mile, then another at a slower pace. Fane wavered, hand to his chest, lips white. He must be running on fumes.

She scowled. “You okay?”

He nodded and pressed on, going slower and slower until he was stumbling forward, feet dragging.

“You have to rest.” She grabbed his arm, worried in spite of herself.

He placed his hands on his thighs and dragged in a breath. “My energy. The king…drained me. Almost gone.” He nodded at a pile of boulders. “In there…a cavern.”

“I’m on it.” She wrapped her arm around his waist. “Lean on me.”

He tried to pull away. “Too…heavy.”

“I’m stronger than I look.” She tightened her arm around his waist.

“Stubborn.” But he let himself lean on her.

“Yeah, I get that a lot.” She headed toward the boulders, half-dragging, half-carrying him.

“There.” He indicated a fissure in the boulders. “A cave. Secret.”

She snorted. The fissure didn’t look big enough for a very skinny elf. “You’re kidding, right?”

He grimaced without answering. Okay, now she was definitely worried. In her experience, Fane had a ready response to just about anything. If he wasn’t talking, he must really feel shitty.

They had to turn sideways to get through the opening. She pushed him in first, frowning when he stopped to rest his forehead on a boulder.

“Keep going.” She nudged him. “You can do it.”

He lurched into movement again, eyes half-closed, feeling his way along the boulders.

The passageway turned down and tunneled underground.

Things went completely dark, and her eyes went night-glow.

Not that there was much to see except the rough basalt pressed up against her cheek.

Still, it was easier for her; Fane might be lean, but he was still bigger than her.

The tunnel narrowed even more. Fane halted, his cheek against the rock, panting raggedly.

A high-pitched, excited chittering came from far away. The goblins, still distant but moving in their direction. Goose pimples popped up all over her body.

“Move,” she said in a hard voice and nudged him with her hip.

He continued to inch sideways, her following—until his shoulders got caught.

She muttered a curse. “You sure you’ve done this before?”

“Yeah…my secret…place.”

“Well, then, you’ve gained some weight.”

That earned her a weak chuckle.

“Okay. When I give the word, blow out your breath—and say a fucking prayer.” She managed to turn enough to shove his nearest shoulder with both hands. “ Now .”

He exhaled with a grunt. There was a tearing sound as his shirt ripped, and then he was through. She slipped after him.

Shortly after that, the passage widened, and suddenly, they were in a small underground cavern. A crack in the ceiling let in enough light to show walls of rough gray basalt. At the opposite end, a turquoise-blue thermal pool steamed gently.

Fane fell to his hands and knees, chest heaving. Marjani almost knelt down next to him, just to give thanks.

“Hey.” She touched his back. “You still with me?”

“Don’t feel…so good…” He collapsed the rest of the way and curled up on the cavern floor.

Her breath caught. He looked so still, his face pale under his golden tan, mouth a bluish-pink. But his chest was moving.

She gave him a shake. “Damn it, Fane. You better not die on me.”

No response.

Dragging off her sweater, she draped it over his chest before sitting cross-legged on the stone floor to take stock.

The cavern was a rough oval shape about ten feet wide and twenty feet long. They had light and fresh air from that crack in the ceiling. But the best part was the thermal pool. The steaming blue water kept the cavern at a comfortable temperature.

And she still had her knives—and her quartz, thanks to Fane.

That was the good news.

The bad news was she was holed up with an unconscious man and no food. She thought longingly of the backpack she’d left in Sindre’s tower and everything inside it, including the fishing knife.

At least they had water. She’d done her research and knew Iceland had some of the cleanest water in the world.

She glanced again at the pool. The water might smell of sulfur, but it was drinkable.

All in all, her cat approved of their temporary den—it was safely underground, easy to defend, and even had its own water supply.

And she could hunt for food, assuming it was safe to go outside. She glanced at the ceiling crack, straining to hear the goblins. For now, it was quiet.

Fane dragged in a breath and pillowed his head on his arm. At some point, he’d lost the leather tie around his hair and blond strands spilled over his shoulders. Her fingers twitched, recalling how silky it had felt when he’d kissed her.

Then she recalled how he’d played her and balled those fingers into a fist. All that time she’d thought he’d been helping her, and instead, the prick had been spying on her.

You were a job to him, nothing more.

Then why had he held her in bed last night without asking for more?

And this morning, why had he obtained a decoy quartz for her—and then helped her escape?

Gods, even after Sindre’s attack, he’d come to Blaer’s tower. To help her, Marjani.

The man was a fucking onion, with layers upon layers. She had a feeling she could know him for a decade and still not understand how his mind worked. And the bitch of it was, she wouldn’t mind sticking around for that long. Fane intrigued her. Inside, her cat hummed agreement.

She scowled and removed her quartz from her bra. For now, she’d keep the other quartz around her neck as a decoy. She didn’t think she could stand losing her real quartz again. Once in a lifetime had been enough.

She bit the inner side of her cheek. A part of her would always mourn her first quartz. The pain as the men ripped it from her had been excruciating, like having her heart torn out, and when they’d smashed it in front of her, the agony had doubled and redoubled.

Only a mate or close relative could touch an earth fada’s quartz without it hurting. Bad.

And that had just been the start…

She exhaled and dragged her thoughts back to the present.

Time to report to Adric. She hadn’t intended to call him until Corban was dead, but he needed to know what was going on with Blaer and her cages. The other earth fada alphas should be informed, and maybe even the water fada clans. This was bigger than Marjani trying to prove herself.

She tapped a slight depression, accessing the quartz’s smartphone. Another tap pinged Adric.

He answered immediately. “Jani? You okay? Where the fuck are you? It’s been over a month.”

For some damn reason, her eyes stung. Goddess, she missed him. The two of them had never been apart for this long. She could just picture him scrubbing a hand over his spiky hair, his hard face a mixture of anger and worry.

He was as much feared as loved. Very few people saw the big heart concealed behind that ruthless facade. But Marjani did.

Adric was only two years older than her, and the two of them were more like twins than siblings, especially after the death of their mom and dad. You tended to bond with someone when you were fighting for survival.

This past year, her brother had been so damn patient with her, gently coaxing her back to something resembling a normal life again. He’d fed her. Talked to her, even though she spent most days as her cat. Asked her advice when her only response was a twitch of her tail.

When she’d gotten so depressed that all she did was lie on the living room rug staring into the fireplace, he’d changed to his cougar and slept curled next to her, knowing that what she needed most of all was touch.

And when nightmares left her whimpering and shaken, he nudged her awake and told her stories from their childhood.

Without him, she’d have gone completely feral.

“Jani?” Adric said. “You still there?”

She gave a hard swallow. “I’m fine.” She glanced around the cavern and decided her brother didn’t need to know everything. “And don’t worry, I’m safe.”

Then she realized what he’d said. “What do you mean it’s been over a month? What day is it?”

“August thirty-first.”

“Holy shit. By my reckoning it’s only August eighth.”

“So you got inside the ice fae court.”

“Yeah,” she said, still reeling at how much time she’d lost. “And Ric, Luc did, too, but they caught him. Put him in a fucking iron cage. I got him out, but I’m not sure he got away. The last I saw he was fighting with the ice fae king.”

“A cage? The king put him in a cage?” Her brother’s voice was chillier than Sindre’s tower.

She shook her head. “That’s the strange thing. The king definitely knows about it, but the person behind it seems to be a lady in his court—a Lady B, who’s also the woman the king hired you to track down in India.”

“The fae lady I sent Corban after?”

“Yeah. And Ric, it’s bad. She knows the secret of our quartzes. She grabbed mine and tried to use it to compel me, but I’d switched it out for a fake quartz. Corban must’ve told her.”

Adric muttered something dark. Only a few fae knew the secret of controlling the earth fada through their quartz—and those fae had been either bribed or threatened into keeping quiet. “What the hell’s going on?”

“It’s a long story. I promise I’ll explain everything when I get back. For now, you need to get the word out to the other earth fada clans.”