“Perish the thought, Petal.” A man popped his head out from a doorway, his white hair brushing the tops of his shoulders. He had the grin of a man content with his lot in life. Adam knew him on sight: Will Thorne, Holly Evernight’s mate, and the demon responsible for freeing Eliza from Adam.
As if he sensed a threat, Thorne caught Adam’s gaze, and his entire frame tensed. He stepped into the hall, and his fangs peaked out from the corners of his lips. “What goes on here?”
Miss Evernight lifted her hand, just enough for Thorne to move to her side – which he did in the blink of an eye – and take hold of it. “Dearest,” she said to him, “Eliza and Adam are here for a visit.”
Thorne’s expression was dubious. “Tea with the GIM King, I am honored.”
Adam snorted. “Put your fangs away, demon. I’m not here for vengeance.”
Thorne merely ran the tip of his tongue over one fang.
“Enough,” said Holly, giving Thorne an elbow to his ribs. “Welcome, Eliza.” She gave Adam a weak smile. “And you, Adam. I… well, I am not sorry for our part in freeing my cousin, but as the two of you seem to be together once again, I suspect there is more to the tale.” Miss Evernight gave a pointed look at the chains Adam could not fully hide beneath his greatcoat.
“Indeed,” drawled Thorne. “Lovely adornments, mate. Quite musical.”
Adam showed his own teeth. They might not include fangs, but he knew how to use them. “When last we met, you’d turned human. So I gather there is more to your tale as well.”
Thorne shrugged. “Got the girl, the witch was banished, and they lived happily ever after.”
Eliza snickered by Adam’s side. St. John, who had been rather quiet, rolled his eyes. “I see everything is well at hand here. I am going.” He kissed both Eliza and Holly on the cheek before walking off.
Thorne frowned after him, but then turned back to Eliza and Adam. “Shall we?” He gestured for them to follow him.
Unlike the gloom in the hall, the library they entered was bright and cheerful. And massive. Books lined the walls, the shelves stretching up to the ceilings. A seating arrangement of buttery leather chairs and couches was set before an ornate fireplace with a deep green marble mantle. Papers, books, metal cogs and coils, and numerous other objects cluttered the floor, the desk before the windows, and even the piecrust table in the corner.
In short, people lived here.
Miss Evernight bade them to sit, stopping to lift a stack of books from one seat and putting them on the ground instead. “Will and I do like to spread out,” she said with a wrinkle of her nose.
“It is lovely,” Eliza assured her, and Adam felt a pang, for he knew she envied their homey environs. He wanted to give her that. A home. Comfort. He did not know why, but the compulsion was real. As was the need for his own home. Someday.
Miss Evernight looked to Eliza. “Tell me, what brings you here? Not that I have cause for complaint. I am happy to have you, please know.”
“We need your assistance,” Eliza said. “I know it appears odd, my being here with Adam. We…” Eliza shook her head. “Mab is not the beneficent aunt I believed her to be.”
Thorne let out a crack of laughter. “Understatement of the day.”
Miss Evernight frowned. “I ought to have taken you in with me. For that I am sorry.”
“What did she do to you?” Eliza asked. Her discomfort in the subject was clear, but she forged on. “I know it was some foul mischief, but it would help to understand her.”
Holly sat back, and almost as though she did not realize it, her hand reached across the space between her and Thorne. His hand was there to catch hers, and their fingers linked. “I was dying, my powers turning on me because I’d been using them too much to help William.” Their fingers visibly squeezed before relaxing. “Mab was the only one to offer help. Which she would do in exchange for a price.”
Thorne’s gaze locked on Adam. “To save Holly, I agreed to take Eliza from you, and forfeit both my immortality and Holly.”
A strange sorrow punched into Adam’s chest. Despite what the world thought of him, Adam’s respect for love was only second to yearning for a love of his own. Tender-hearted sap that he was, he’d often created a GIM simply to spare that spirit the loss of love. He’d certainly done so for Sin’s sister, Daisy Ranulf.
“It was hell,” Thorne whispered.
Eliza made a sound of distress, which in turn distressed Adam. Yet the tight rage he’d held on to in regards to Thorne eased. He could not hate Thorne anymore.
“This was all because of me?” Eliza whispered before lurching to her feet. All the color washed out of her pretty face.
“Not you,” Adam cut in before Thorne could answer. “Because of me.” When she shot him a look of irritated disbelief, he wanted to smile, but could not. “She was after me. To take you away from me meant that she’d win my soul.”
Thorne leaned in, his chair creaking under him, and fixed his silver stare on Adam. “Look, mate, this isn’t our business, but you’re here, asking for help and knowing far too much of Mab for my comfort. So I’ll ask you directly, what is this curse you’re under and how did it happen?”
Eliza perked up with such obvious anticipation that he could barely restrain a smile. He did not care about Thorne or his concerns, but Eliza deserved the truth. And Adam knew he’d no cause to fear that his secret would go farther than this room. He could read that in Thorne’s eyes quite well.