Adric's Heart Read online

  The two of them walked to the end of a dock and peeled off their clothes with the nonchalance of old friends. Chico was frankly gorgeous, with cropped brown curls and soulful dark eyes. More than a few hearts had been bruised when he’d mated with a human named Jenny. But to Rosana he was just a man she’d known since she was a pup, almost a fifth brother.

  “Beat you into the water,” he said and leapt, shifting to his dolphin in mid-air. She landed in the river a second after him. Just so he didn’t get too cocky, she waited for him to surface and then slapped her tail on the surface, splashing his face..

  Chico wanted to talk about the mysterious brown wolf, of course. Everyone did. Their orders were to capture the wolf if he set even a paw on their land. If he resisted, they were to kill him.

  You hear anything else? he asked as they dodged between two fishing boats.

  No, she returned shortly.

  The endless speculation was driving her crazy. Adric wouldn’t have sent a wolf to Rock Run. Not when he was in Lewes with her.

  But if he hadn’t sent the wolf, then why had it been on their territory?

  She had a bad feeling it was the same earth fada who’d led the fae to the B&B—which opened up more questions, like why look for Adric at Rock Run?

  Or had the wolf been looking for her, Rosana? Which made even less sense.

  Davi says Adric didn’t know one of his own men was on our land. Chico shook his head. What’s up with the Baltimore fada, anyway? They have no fucking discipline.

  She moved her body in the dolphin equivalent of a shrug. Maybe they had their reasons.

  If they do attack, it won’t be from the river. Chico’s disappointment was clear. Adric’s not stupid. Water’s our element, and he knows it.

  She released a forceful exhale through her blowhole. They’re not going to attack, period. Adric told Dion straight out he had nothing to do with it. If he was lying, Dion would’ve scented it.

  Okay, okay. Chico gave her the side-eye. Hell, you still have a thing for him, don’t you?

  That was the problem with people who’d known you since you were a pup. They knew you too well.

  So what if I do? She circumvented another fishing boat. It’s not like it’ll ever come to anything. She tried to sound matter-of-fact, but her bitterness must’ve seeped through because Chico brushed his flank over hers.

  Sorry, Rosie.

  She body-checked him. I told you not to call me Rosie.

  For once, he didn’t tease her back, just nodded.

  With a powerful pump of her tail, she shot forward. Beat you to the dryads’ islands.

  And she did beat him, because he let her win. She, in turn, taunted him for being too slow because otherwise, he’d keep shooting her those concerned looks and she just might break down and embarrass them both.

  As Chico had predicted, the river was quiet. They cruised around the trio of islands inhabited by Alesia and her two sisters. The trees were bare, their branches stark against the cloudy sky. Alesia waved at them from high up in an oak tree, but her sisters didn’t leave the camouflage of their forests.

  The rest of the day dragged on, the only excitement coming when they had to rescue a human fisherman who’d fallen into the icy river. Rosana steadied his boat while Chico shifted to human and heaved the half-frozen man back onto its shallow deck. They pushed him back to a Grace Harbor marina and then returned to Rock Run, where she left Chico at the operations room to make their report to the tenente.

  As Rosana headed back to her quarters, Chico’s mate Jenny waved from the other end of the stone corridor. “Hey, girl! I’ve been looking all over for you.”

  Rosana smiled and waved back. The two of them had become good friends in the year and a half since the human had moved into the base. “What’s up?”

  “I want to know what you think about that piece I’m making for Lady Olivia.” Jenny’s jewelry was rapidly becoming famous in both the human and magical worlds, but she’d been shocked—and flattered—when Lady Olivia, Cleia’s intimidating older cousin, had commissioned a pendant.

  “Sure.” Rosana fell in beside the human. Anything to take her mind off Adric and the mysterious wolf fada.

  “And you can tell me all about your trip to Lewes.” Jenny’s grin was knowing. “You met him, didn’t you?”

  “Yeah.” Rosana grimaced. “Someday, I’ll tell you all about it. But not today, okay?”

  “That bad?”

  “Worse.”

  Jenny shook her head, sending her long black braid dancing. “Men are asses. Except when they aren’t.”

  “Yeah. The thing was, it was…incredible. Except when it wasn’t.”

  They exchanged a look and burst out laughing. Maybe Rosana’s laughter was edged with pain, but it still felt good.

  “Just keep it quiet, okay? I’d rather not get into it with my brothers.”

  Jenny traced an X on her chest. “Cross my heart.”

  “Rosana, Jenny—wait for me!” It was Merry Jones. They halted as she loped down the hall toward them.

  Rosana still recalled the night Rui do Mar had brought the orphaned earth fada back to Rock Run. She’d been all big eyes in a narrow, sharp-chinned face, her body too thin, her arms and legs brown sticks. At fourteen, she’d filled out some, but she was still skinny, with long legs and a lanky, boyish body.

  Merry bumped her shoulder against Rosana’s. “What’cha doin’?”

  “Going to Jenny’s.”

  “Can I come? Please?”

  “Sure.” Jenny slung an arm around the teen’s slim shoulders. “I could use your opinion, too. You have an artist’s eye.” Jenny had been teaching Merry basic jewelry-making techniques.

  “You think?” Her thin, mobile face lit up.

  “Yep. In fact, I think you’re ready to start that bracelet for your mama.”

  “Seriously? I can give it to her for her birthday.”

  Jenny’s big gray tabby was waiting on a ledge near her apartment. He leapt off the ledge and brushed between Merry’s legs, meowing in welcome. Merry’s animal was a jaguar, and Max had apparently decided that as the only other feline at Rock Run, she was a kindred spirit.

  “There’s my sweetie.” Merry scooped up the cat and rubbed her face against his. He butted his head into the space between her jaw and throat, purring loudly.

  Jenny chuckled. “I swear that cat is crushing on you.”

  The teenager gave one of her rare, slow smiles. “Well, I love him, too. He’s a handsome cat, aren’t you, meu querido?” She cuddled the tabby closer, and his eyes slit in bliss.

  Inside, Jenny prepared Max a small plate of sardines in her kitchenette and set it on the stone floor. While the cat made short work of his dinner, the three of them traipsed into the workroom that Chico and Tiago had built for Jenny off the sala.

  A sturdy table had been installed along one wall, with shelves above for supplies. Every spare surface was cluttered: gemstones in all the colors of the rainbow, boxes of crystal beads, spools of wire, scraps of metal. Wire cutters in three different sizes lay next to pliers and calipers, and a ceramic brick held a jeweler’s soldering torch. An idea board was covered with photos and sketches, and a slit in the cavern ceiling provided light and ventilation.

  “Lady Olivia gave me a pink diamond to work with.” Jenny took an object wrapped in cotton from a shelf.

  “I didn’t even know there was such a thing as a pink diamond,” Rosana remarked.

  “Right? She liked that necklace I made for Cleia, so she brought me this pink diamond, told me to see what I came up with.” Jenny unfolded the cloth to reveal a thumbnail-size diamond set off-center in a hammered gold sun with wavy rays.

  “Wow.” Rosana’s eyes widened. “Just wow.”

  “Genius,” Merry breathed at the same time.

  Jenny beamed. “I just hope Lady Olivia thinks so.”

  “She’ll love it. Even Lady Olivia can’t find any fault with this. May I?” Rosana stretched out a hand, an
d when Jenny nodded, fingered the pendant.

  “You know,” her friend said, “Cleia would give you a pink diamond—you just have to ask. Or any gemstone. And I’d make you a pendant for free. You’d just have to pay for the materials.”

  Rosana hesitated, tempted, and then resolutely shook her head. “I know she would, but I’m trying to be more independent, and that means earning my own way. But thank you—that’s really sweet of you to offer.”

  Her friend nodded. “If you change your mind, let me know.”

  “You know I will.”

  Jenny rewrapped the pendant, and they returned to the sala for snacks and girl talk. It was exactly what Rosana needed. For the next hour she didn’t even think about Adric—at least, not more than once every ten minutes or so.

  Then Chico returned and pulled his mate into a kiss that made her heart constrict with envy.

  She was happy for them, she was. Really.

  She just wanted what they had.

  Chico released Jenny, and they all chatted for a few more minutes until Rosana rose to her feet, saying she had to go. “I promised to meet Isa for dinner.”

  Merry jumped up as well. “I’ll walk you to your quarters.”

  Rosana blinked. Her apartment was on the base’s opposite side, while the do Mar’s apartment was just a few minutes away.

  But she waited until they were alone before slanting Merry a look. “Something wrong?”

  “Not here,” the teenager muttered. They were in a large, well-traveled hallway filled with people on their way to the dining room. Taking Rosana’s hand, she pulled her into a side corridor. “I want to know what’s up. Something’s wrong, I know it is. They barely let me outside these days—and my papai won’t tell me anything.”

  Rosana hesitated. “I’m sure they have their reasons.”

  Merry folded her arms over her narrow chest, but her lower lip trembled. “Don’t you treat me like a baby, too. You’re the only one I can ask. My mom and dad just tell me not to worry, they’re handling it. Even Uncle Jace won’t tell me anything.”

  “Oh, querida.” Rosana’s heart contracted. “You know it’s for your own safety.”

  Merry had been born during the Darktime to an earth fada mother and Prince Langdon’s half-human son. She’d spent her early life on the run from both the earth fada and the night fae. After her parents had died, she’d been adopted by Dion’s second, Rui do Mar, and his mate Valeria—until Adric and her uncle Jace had discovered where she was and tried to kidnap her back. That had been sorted out, with the earth fada agreeing to let her remain with Rui and Valeria while Jace received visitation rights.

  But now she had to hide again, this time from her own grandfather. It didn’t make sense. Langdon had never formally acknowledged his mixed-blood granddaughter. No one had expected him to suddenly start asking about her.

  “Well, I don’t like it,” Merry said. “All Mama will tell me is that it’s better if the night fae believe I’m dead.” She dropped her head, stared at her feet. “Why do they hate me so much?”

  “They don’t hate you, sweetheart.” Rosana reached for her. Merry needed to be held. If she had a vision, so be it, although she was careful to touch only Merry’s clothing.

  Merry burrowed into her. “Yes, they do,” she returned in a sad little voice. “Because I’m a mixed-blood. I don’t really belong here. Or with the earth fada, either. And the night fae just want to kill me.”

  “Hey. You do belong here. Dion adopted you into the clan. Did someone say different?” Rosana pulled back, scowling. “Because if they did, I’ll—"

  “No.” She hitched a shoulder. “Not really. But I’m a jaguar. I like to swim, but I can’t spend hours in the water like the rest of you. I can’t even enter through the water entrances—they’re too deep for me.”

  “So? Neither can Jenny, and that doesn’t mean she’s not clan. And you have friends. What about Trina and Marco?”

  “That’s what Mama Ria says.”

  “And she’s right.”

  “But Anabella says I’m just a freak. Not fae, not fada. Even my own clan doesn’t want me.” Her voice dropped to a ragged whisper.

  Rosana’s jaw worked. She was going to have a long talk with Anabella.

  “That’s not true,” she told Merry. “Lord Adric did want you. He’d take you back into his clan in a heartbeat. And your uncle Jace wants you, doesn’t he?”

  A small nod. “But that’s just them. There are others who think my mom should never have mated with a half-blood.”

  “You heard earth fada saying that? From Adric’s clan?”

  Another tiny, miserable nod. “Last year at the Midsummer Ball. They said”—she swallowed—“that I stink like a night fae.”

  Rosana’s chest knotted with fury. “Well, fuck them. You have the scent of an earth fada, and maybe a little river fada, because you spend so much time with us. And you know what? It’s their loss, because you’re special. Any clan would love to have you as a member. Dion was saying just the other day how smart you are.”

  “Seriously?” Merry’s hazel eyes were hopeful.

  “Truth.” Rosana touched her heart. “Cleia thinks so, too. And you’re not only smart, you’ll probably have a really cool Gift because you have so much fae in you.” That fae blood had already made Merry one of the most beautiful teenagers in the clan.

  “Yeah? You really think so?”

  “I do. I really do.” She ran a palm over the teen’s electric black hair and was rewarded by a bashful smile.

  “Thanks, Rosana.”

  “Anytime. You can ask me anything, all right? Because you’re clan. And because I love you, just the way you are. Understand?”

  She grasped Merry’s hands—and stiffened at the vision that flashed across her retinas. A man’s black eyes, and nothing else.

  “Rosana? You okay?”

  She squeezed her eyes shut, and when she opened them, all she saw was the younger girl’s anxious face. “Yeah. It’s…been a long day, that’s all.”

  They continued walking. They were almost to Rosana’s quarters when Merry asked, “Do you think my grandfather—the prince—could’ve found out I’m still alive?”

  “I don’t know. But Dion and your papai will keep you safe, no matter what—and Cleia wouldn’t let him take you against your will.”

  Merry nodded, her expression troubled.

  Rosana’s skin prickled. “Why?”

  “Because.” Merry ran a hand over her nape. “Sometimes I could swear he’s watching me.”

  Rosana waited until she heard Isa’s soft snores before easing her bedroom door shut. To ensure she wasn’t interrupted, she propped a chair under the door handle before retrieving a small teak chest from beneath the bed. A bottlenose dolphin was carved on the lid. She traced its curving back, sadness pinching her heart.

  The teak chest dated to when her parents had first come to America, a gift from her Irish granddad to his daughter Ula. The bottlenose carving was a reminder of her mom’s sea fada roots. Dion had gifted the chest to Rosana on her sixteenth birthday, saying their mom would want her to have it.

  Opening the lid, she took out a cobalt scrying bowl. As part of her training, she’d experimented with different modes of scrying—a mirror, polished lava, smoke, tarot cards, even a crystal ball—but not surprisingly, the best focus for her was a bowl of water.

  Now she unwrapped the chamois cloth protecting the deep blue glass and set the bowl on a small table next to a pitcher of water.

  She’d walked Merry to her own quarters, had waited while the teen told Rui and Valeria about Prince Langdon. But there wasn’t much her parents could do beyond the close watch they were already keeping on their daughter. To protect Merry, Langdon had spelled her quartz so that no night fae could touch her without dying. Unfortunately, the prince had excluded himself from the spell.

  But Rosana was a Seer. Maybe she could See something that might help Merry. And what about those black eyes she’d g
limpsed?

  She poured the water into the shallow blue bowl, and then sat cross-legged on a sheepskin rug, the bowl in her hands. She took several slow breaths, calming and centering herself, and then let her gaze go soft.

  At first, all she saw was the water. Then her vision shifted somehow so that she saw her reflection instead. She kept breathing, slowly, evenly.

  She pictured Merry, adding details as she’d been trained. The teenager’s sharp, lively face. Her serious hazel eyes and her rare but contagious giggle. The wiry, exuberant curls. Her lanky body and love of bright colors.

  Rosana’s mouth curved. Merry was adorable, the little sister she’d always wanted.

  Minutes passed with nothing happening. Her mind wandered.

  She dragged it back, focusing on Merry with a grim determination. But although she conjured up a photo-perfect picture of her friend that would’ve pleased even Colm, that’s all it was—a picture conjured up by Rosana. Not a vision.

  She expelled a breath and straightened up. Maybe scrying just wasn’t her thing. Not every Seer could scry, right?

  “Discipline, Rosana, it’s all about discipline—and belief in yourself. If you think you can’t, then you can’t. Belief is as important as skill.”

  Her head snapped back. She cast a guilty look around. She could’ve sworn Colm had ’ported into her room to remind her of Rule 3. But it was empty except for her and the scrying bowl.

  She set her back teeth and glared into the water. “I’m trying,” she growled as if the sardonic Irish sun fae was actually present, shaking his mane of blond hair reprovingly.

  She’d disturbed the surface. She waited for the ripples to smooth out and then focused again.

  The water in the bowl grew dark and still as a deep-jungle pool, and then she saw Adric. On his motorcycle in a shadowy forest, his tires making a single track in the fresh snow.

  Her eyes widened. She’d never had such a clear vision when scrying. She squeezed her eyes shut, re-opened them. Adric was still there, driving through the snow.