I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled Adam closer. “I missed you,” I whispered.
“You too.” He smiled against my neck. His hands warmed against my back through the thin cotton dress I wore. Turns out, hormones can make you easily overheat. I’d noted swelling as well, in my boobs…I’d decided that pregnancy sucked monkey nuts.
“How are things with you?” I asked as I finally let go of his neck.
“I’m on the hunt,” Adam said, smiling wickedly.
“For the Mages?”
“For my fiancée,” he answered, with a small grin lighting up his face.
“Me?” I asked, watching as his grin falters, and his lips turn up into a semblance of a smile.
“No, Sorcha,” he said, and I notice he’s enunciating my name on his lips, teasing me.
“Then who?” I asked, because just name me George and put me in a monkey suit, I was curious to see if Darynda got the gossip right. He had been going to marry me, until I’d been snatched from our handfasting ceremony.
“The Light Heir. I’m still engaged to her. The prophecy still says we are the other half to putting Faery back together. My father thinks it’s a good idea we begin looking for her a bit more aggressively. The sickness is getting worse in the Dark Kingdom now, and more land is being affected and more children have been dying over the past few weeks. It’s heart breaking to see it happening.”
“Oh,” I said quietly. I had already done one freak out, and this was a sore subject right now.
“I hear I’m going to be an uncle?” He smiled until it met his eyes.
I rolled my eyes. “How the hell did you find out, anyway?”
“Ryder sent word to my father,” he explained.
“You mean Ryder boasted about his virility?”
“Pretty much,” he confirmed and shook his head. “Having the Horde King’s love child? I never thought I’d see the day that Synthia Raine McKenna had a love child…with a Fairy.” He ducked quickly as I threw a punch at his shoulder, but missed.
“Are you upset?” I asked carefully.
“That we didn’t make a baby? No. Syn, I came to an understanding when you were taken. I don’t love you that way. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I totally thought I did,” his eyes scanned my face, “but it wasn’t my love for you that I felt. It was what you were feeling for him. You love him.”
I swallowed and considered the nearest exit to escape and hide in. I wasn’t a coward, and I knew that had been why Adam had been acting the way he had. We had a bond, and it fed him my emotions as surely as I could feel his. “How’s your dad?”
“Syn, this is me. You can’t lie any more than I can. You can tell me anything, and you know that. I can feel the hurt, the love, and most of all, I can feel the fear you are feeling for your child.”
“Guilty, but that doesn’t mean I plan on saying it out loud. Now, how did you get here?”
“Ryder said you needed to see some friendly faces, and I am hoping that Ristan might get a solid lead on the Light Heir.”
“That’s good, but are you ready?” I asked, thinking it was a little too soon for him to be doing this. Larissa had just moved on, and he’d loved her.
“Faery won’t wait for me to figure it out, Synthia,” he said lightly. “I don’t need to love her to make a child, I just need to fuck—”
“Got it,” I cut in quickly, not wanting him to paint a vivid picture for me. “You should at least want more than just a quick fuck, Adam.” I rolled my eyes when he awarded me with a smile.
His eyes looked harder. We’d aged. Not in years, though, mentally. We’d been through hell together, and yet we’d both hung on and made it out on the other side alive. He at least remembered his childhood in Faery now, so he was far more accepting of their ways than I was. It still felt weird that he had such an acceptance of his role in this world. I hoped he could find his way back to being the sweet man I grew up with and could always count on. I smiled at him. “Wanna grab something to eat?” I asked.
“Synthia, are you asking me to put the moves on the Horde King’s girl?” He shot me a mock look of horror.
“I’m not his girl,” I barked, shaking my head at him.
“Oh you are. You just won’t admit it.”
“I am not!”
Yes, I was arguing for no good reason, but it was Adam.
“He marked you. He couldn’t have said you were his any better way than that.” He smiled, knowingly.
“He didn’t, not this time.”
“He did.”
“No, he didn’t. Last time it was…awkward. I’d have known if he had, Adam.”
“Syn, I have Fae senses, and they are telling me to back the fuck off. Very violently.”
“I’d know if he had marked me,” I argued.
“Would you?” he countered with a small frown creasing his forehead.
“I’d have seen it.” I wasn’t sure who I was trying to convince, myself or him?
“You are marked,” he shook his head, and smiled again. “Let’s go grab some food, and we can talk some more. You need to feed my nephew.”
~~*