Page 82

A dric clenched his quartz.

She’s safe, at least for now. That’s good.

Although he hated to admit it, maybe Marjani was right, she was safer in Iceland than Baltimore. Because Prince Langdon had requested another meeting.

No, demanded it. Tonight.

The prince was a night fae, so of course he’d set the meeting for midnight, choosing a bar on the top floor of a fancy hotel in midtown Baltimore.

Adric arrived at eleven, Jace at his side. Zuri took a seat on a metal stool at the shiny black bar, and several soldiers grabbed a nearby table. They’d dressed to blend in—dark button-up shirts and jeans or dress pants, their quartz pendants tucked discreetly into their shirts.

The bar had a stripped-down, urban feel: concrete floors, exposed brick walls and galvanized steel lights hanging like pendants from the ceiling.

Running down one wall were floor-to-ceiling windows with a view of Baltimore’s Washington Monument, and across Mount Vernon Place, the waning moon peeked from behind the spires of a gothic cathedral dating to the late 1800s.

Adric and Jace chose a table in the corner with a view of the entrance. A pretty redhead in a white shirt, cropped black pants and purple suspenders took their order for a couple of the pricey craft beers.

Adric and Jace nursed their beers as the hour until midnight ticked by. At the bar, two women in tight skirts were flirting with Zuri, and he flirted right back while keeping his back to the bar, dark eyes scanning the room.

Adric looked at Jace. “Any more problem with the night fae?”

“Nah. But I invited Horace to stay with us—for back up. You know how Evie loves him. He’s with them right now.”

Horace was a cheerful, dreadlocked cougar and a member of Jace’s den.

“Good,” Adric said. “Let me know if you need more men.”

“Will do. But I think the prince was just messing with my head. Still, I’ll be glad when Kyler graduates. Evie says she’ll sell the house and they’ll move in with me for good. She’s already after me to redecorate the living room of my den. Says it looks like something you’d find in a frat house.”

He grinned at Adric, crazy about his mate and not caring who knew it.

Lucky man.

Midnight approached. Adric scented Prince Langdon before he saw him—silver and decay. The night fae made their homes in elaborate crypts, and their scents held a hint of the graveyard.

Adric’s hackles raised. He and Jace exchanged a look and scanned the area.

The prince appeared in a corner a few feet away, coalescing out of the shadows. The night fae were creepy like that. He was flanked by two bodyguards, a male and female—sea fada, by the scent.

“Your highness.” Adric rose to his feet and murmured the traditional fae greeting. “Peace to you and yours.”

Langdon trod noiselessly forward, dressed in black from his fae-tailored shirt to his Italian leather shoes.

His eyes and shoulder-length hair were the same midnight color, a striking contrast to his dead-white skin.

His narrow, aristocratic face sported winged black brows in which sparkled several tiny diamonds.

More diamonds outlined his pointed ears, and his right index finger was decorated with a square-cut diamond as large as Adric’s thumbnail.

“Lord Adric. Peace to you and yours,” the prince returned. He had a low, rich voice. From what Adric had heard, women loved it. He nodded to Jace. “And to yours.”

The lieutenant jerked his head. “Peace.”

Adric indicated the chair across from him. “Please have a seat.” The polite words tasted acrid in his mouth, but that was a downside of being alpha. You had to make nice with the fae.

The male guard pulled out the chair and Langdon lowered his tall, elegant body into it. The guards took a stance against the wall, the man scanning the room, the woman keeping her gaze firmly on Adric and Jace.

The pretty waitress bustled up, oozing excitement. She might not know exactly who Langdon was, but she’d guessed he was a fae. “May I get you a drink, sir?”

“You can, love.” The prince granted her a small smile that brought a flush to her creamy skin. “Wine.” He named a merlot that was no doubt rare and expensive.

“Coming right up. And you?” she asked Adric and Jace. When they shook their heads, she glanced at the stony-eyed guards. “What about your…companions?”

“Nothing for us,” the woman said.

The waitress gave Langdon another wide smile. “I’ll be right back with that wine.” She headed for the bar.

The prince contemplated her very fine ass for a moment before turning back to Adric. “Thank you for agreeing to meet with me.”

Like I had a choice. But Adric gave a little nod.

“It’s a beautiful night.” The prince leaned back in his chair, taking in the dark sky outside the plate glass windows. “Summer is almost over. We’ll be celebrating the autumn equinox soon—and then Samhain.” He used the Celtic term for Halloween. “My favorite time of the year.”

“Yeah?” Get to the point, damn it.

The redhead returned with Langdon’s wine. When he thanked her in that deep, seductive voice, she backed away as starry-eyed as if he were a Hollywood A-lister.

“In our clan, the little ones trick-or-treat,” Langdon said. “Do yours?”

“No. That’s not one of our traditions. We honor our dead with a special ceremony, but that’s all.”

“Ah.” Langdon contemplated the blood-red wine in his glass. “I had three sons, once. But you know that.”

“Mm.” Adric’s nape tightened. He willed his heartbeat to stay steady.

“And they’re all dead. I know what you fada say about the night fae. That we’re heartless. That we feed on the darkness in others.”

Because you do.

“But we love our children as much as you do. I’ve seen six hundred turns of the sun, and in that time I’ve only been blessed with the three sons. And now they’ve all passed to the other side…before their time.” The prince’s black eyes burned into Adric’s.

He felt an unwilling twinge of sympathy. The man was genuinely grieving. But that didn’t mean his son Tyrus didn’t deserve to be dead.

“Look,” he said, “I’m sorry for your loss, but I want you out of Baltimore. This is my town now. Whatever deal you had with my uncle is null and void.”

Langdon’s eyes blazed red. “You think to tell me what to do? A prince with a lineage going back a thousand turns of the sun?”

Adric bared his fangs. He might be young, but the Darktime had been a crash course in eat-or-be-eaten. “I’m not looking for trouble, your highness. But if you bring it to my doorstep, I’ll fight back with everything I have. Are we clear on that?”

The prince took a sip of wine—and changed the subject. “One of my sons had a daughter. Merry Jones.”

Jace didn’t move, but Adric heard his heart speed up. Langdon’s son Silver had mated with Jace’s only sister, Takira. Their daughter was Jace’s thirteen-year-old niece Merry.

The prince’s gaze flicked to Jace, no doubt detecting the lieutenant’s agitation with his night fae senses.

“We were told she died in a fire.” Adric was careful not to lie. He had been told that Merry Jones died in a fire. In fact, he and Jace had believed for years that the girl was dead.

“A fire set by night fae assassins.” Jace’s voice was a harsh scrape.

Those assassins had also killed first Takira and later, Silver. Only Merry had escaped. And it had been Lord Tyrus who’d set the assassins on them, because Silver was Tyrus’s half-brother and Tyrus didn’t want any competition for Langdon’s throne.

The prince leveled a stare at Adric. “We all know that isn’t true.

Merry Jones is alive and living at Rock Run.

I’m also aware that you see her regularly.

” He glanced at Jace. “Both of you. I’m sure the Rock Run fada told you about the ward I set, a ward of protection keyed to her quartz.

If any of my people try to harm her—if they even lay hands on her without her express permission—they die. ”

He waited until Adric nodded, then added, “That should be proof enough that I wish the girl no harm. I made no exceptions with the ward except for myself. Even my son Tyrus knew he’d die if he tried to touch her again.”

“I know this, yes,” Adric said, confused now. Where was Langdon going with this?

The prince’s jaw worked. “Tyrus went too far.”

“He did. But what does this have to do with Mer—?”

Langdon leaned forward, cutting him off. “You killed my son. We both know it.”

“No. I didn’t.”

Langdon waved that aside. “Oh, you didn’t do the deed yourself. But someone in your clan did. I’ve traced him to Baltimore. He hasn’t been seen since. And recently, I received some information from one of your former clan members. Corban, his name is.”

Adric went rigid. Because it was Marjani they were talking about—and he had the bad feeling that Langdon had picked up his sudden tension with those Spidey-senses of his.

Damn you, Corban. What have you done?

He set his hands on the table. “Get out of my town. You’re not welcome here.”

Langdon sat back. “What would the other fae think if I informed them your sister had killed my last surviving son?”

Adric narrowed his eyes. “They’d think it was your son’s own fucking fault for sending assassins to off my lieutenant.”

Jace growled. After all, he was the lieutenant that Tyrus had targeted. “We know who had your other two sons assassinated,” he said. “Tyrus didn’t want any rivals for your title, did he?”

A bleak look crossed Langdon’s face. “I didn’t know. Not until it was too late.”

Adric tried not to blink. Had the prince almost apologized for not reining in his psycho son? But Langdon was a night fae and an arrogant SOB to boot. The moment passed.

Cool black eyes scrutinized Adric. “I want access to the girl. Merry. The sun fae queen has set powerful wards around Rock Run. Nobody can break through them. But you”—his gaze shot to Jace—”you meet with her at least once a week.”

The lieutenant’s hazel eyes sparked a cat-green. Before he could speak, Adric jumped in.

“I’m sorry, but that’s not possible.”

“Why not?”

“She…passed. Earlier this summer.”

“The girl? My granddaughter?”

“Yes.” Adric swallowed against the wave of nausea at the big, fat lie he’d just told. “I’m sorry. You should’ve been informed.”

Beside him, Jace went stiff.

Langdon’s fingers tightened on his wineglass. “You’re lying.”

Adric shook his head. “It was in a flash flood. The caverns where she lives with the river fada flooded. They couldn’t get her out in time.”

From the corner of his eye, Adric saw Jace bow his head sorrowfully. Backing him up without actually lying.

The prince’s winged brows snapped together. “Why wasn’t I informed?”

Adric spread his hands. “You’ll have to ask them. Rock Run doesn’t share any more information with me than necessary.”

“I’ll want to see the body.”

“I’m sorry, but that’s not possible. We fada don’t bury our dead. We cremate them.”

Langdon’s eyes narrowed on Adric for an endless minute during which he prayed the night fae wouldn’t see the cold sweat prickling his upper lip.

At last he murmured, “I see.”

He rose to his feet in an abrupt movement and strode out of the bar, his guards at his heels. The few people who happened to be in their path literally jumped aside.

“He gone?” Adric asked between clenched teeth, the lie he’d told tearing at his gut.

Because Merry was alive and well and living with Valeria and Rui do Mar, the Rock Run couple who’d adopted her after Silver’s death.

Jace glanced at where Zuri had followed Langdon and his guards into the hall. “Yeah. Zuri says he’s left the building.”

“Good.” Adric got up, stumbled the few feet to a potted plant, and vomited into the dirt.