“I see you are unwell.” Mab stood and reached out to touch Holly’s cheek. Holly flinched away, and the fae queen laughed. “Angry with me, are you? When I am here to help.” “Let us not be coy,” Holly said. “You orchestrated this. Tell me your terms.” With a sigh, Mab leaned her hip against the arm of her chair. “Very well. I want Eliza May returned to me.” “What is your interest in this woman?” Thorne asked her. Mab’s eyes flared purple fire before quelling. “She is kin. Close kin.” A fond, faraway look settled over her pert features. “Long ago, when your grandda was a young lad,” she said to Holly, “I took in his brother Aidan. Not wanting to marry his intended, he needed advice and called upon me.” Mab closed her eyes, a smile on her fac.

“Oh, but he was a beautiful lad, golden curled and bright eyed. For the first time in centuries, I wanted. I wanted him.” The smile slipped, and she opened her eyes. “But he proved… elusive.” “Because the boy fancied men,” Nan snapped. “And you wouldn’t take no for an answer.” That earned her a vicious snarl from Mab, before the fae queen went on as if Nan hadn’t spoken. “In return for my help, Aidan agreed to be mine for a night.” A cold wash of pity went through Holly at the thought of Aidan sacrificing himself when he’d had no desire for Mab’s attention. “There was a child. I didn’t expect that.” Mab frowned before shaking it off. “Being part human, the babe couldn’t live in my land, so I brought her to Aidan. He raised her, and that child gave birth to Eliza May.” Mab looked around at them. “So you see, I am the girl’s grandmam.” “I can understand why you want her back,” Holly said. “But why involve us?” “Not you, actually,” Mab said. “Despite what your cousin St. John might have thought, my interest was never in you, but in William Thorne here.” “Me?” Thorne croaked. “The simple fact is that you are the one, the only one I figure, who can free Eliza. Thus, I need you to cooperate.” “Why Thorne?” Holly did not like this one bit. “Eliza is chained to Adam’s sid.

The chain cannot be broken by magic other than his. Only he and his kind can remove it. And you’ll not find a GIM willing or able to release Eliza. But you, Mr. Thorne,” Mab gave him an approving look, “though not GIM, are of his ilk. Adam’s magic will recognize you. The chain will break for you.” “ ‘Ilk,’ ” Thorne repeated with sarcasm. “I am an experiment gone wrong. Nothing like the GIM.” Holly touched his hand, and he caught it up. Undaunted, Mab shook her head. “Adam’s first creations were shadow crawlers. The magic will respond to you.” “Darby is the same as Thorne,” Holly said. “And he is Alamut. Why not order him to do it?” “Darby.” Mab all but spit out his nam.

“He saved his hide by entering into a soul bargain with Adam. Thus he could not break the chain. No, there is only Thorne to help me.” Thorne looked at Mab sharply. “It was you who freed m.

You sent me to Holly.” Mab pouted in a pretense of innocenc.

“I did it to help you.” “Help yourself, you mean,” he snapped back. “I might have killed her.” Mab laughed. “Holly Evernight is a metal elemental. I knew she could handle you. And I knew you’d be beholden to her.” She smiled in a flash of small, sharp teeth. “You were an utter mess. I could not have your help until Holly healed you. Then it was simply a matter of forcing you two to work together and fall in love.” Thorne looked appalled. “All in all a good plan,” Mab said. “And then there is the simple fact that you, Will Thorne, were not meant to have a heart of metal. My kin Holly cannot save you or alter nature’s cours.

Her science has no solution, and I suspect she knows this already.” Holly stared fixedly at a point beyond the green. She hadn’t been able to figure out a way to fix William. She simply did not know how. He was not a machin.

He was a living being. That she had failed the one person she loved above all others made her want to rage, and made her want to sob in despair. Thorne did not appear half as distressed. “Your point?” Mab ignored him and looked at Holly. “Worse, in your efforts to heal Will Thorne, you’ve killed yourself as well. The scales of nature have tipped within you and you are as infected as h.

You cannot control this.” Thorne’s teeth snapped and his fangs dropped. “Then. Fix. Her.” “I will. If,” Mab added, “we have a bargain.” “Fine then,” Thorne said. “I’ll go.” “No.” Holly held him fast. “You had the right of it last night. Adam will not let you get away with this. He’ll hurt you.” “If you are healed of this malady, I don’t care.” His fierce expression eased to sorrow. “If I am done for anyway, love, then let me do this for you.” “No, Will.” She held him fast, feeling close to panic. “Do not say that.” “Oh, come now,” Mab said with a sigh. “You needn’t fall upon your sword, Thorn.

There is a solution to both problems. And we have not yet discussed the terms of our bargain.” Thorne glared at the fa.

“Explain.” “I really do not find your tone pleasant, Will Thorn.

However, as we are bargaining, if you do this for me, I shall heal my kin Holly and you as well.” Thorne’s gaze narrowed. “But?” For there was always some hitch to a fae’s bargain. “You will be human.” Thorne’s head snapped back, color leaching from his pale fac.

“Human?” “Yes. I cannot alter magic that has already set in. But I can shift the cours.

You will once again be the Marquis of Renwood. Leave the details of your return to me,” she added when Thorne tried to speak. “And my dear Holly shall go back to her normal self.” “That cannot be all of it,” Holly said, cautious hope trying to rise within her. She pushed it down. “Alas it is not. You will end this union. And I will have assurances. When Thorne changes, he will forget your existenc.

Should you reveal who you were to him, he will return as he was, and you will go back to dying.” “Why would you demand this,” Thorne bit out, “when I have already agreed to bring back Eliza?” Mab’s pleasant countenance twisted into one of ugly contempt. “It disgusts me to the core that one of my kin would take up with a sanguis. That she should sully herself with a dirty blood drinker is a sin against our noble natur.

I’d rather see her dead than suffer such an indignity.” “He is a better man than you could ever hope to know,” Holly snapped. Thorne’s hold on her arm held her back from charging the fa.

But Holly was not finished. “And I have no interest in your foul and twisted bargain.” Mab merely looked at her as if she were a recalcitrant child. “You want my help? You will comply. Am I clear?” “As glass,” Holly snapped. She turned to Thorn.

“Let us go. We are finished here.” “You will die,” Mab shouted. “Have you no care for your own mortality?” “No.” Holly tugged on Thorne’s arm, for he’d yet to mov.

“We are going. Now.” “Holly…” “No!” she said to him. “Don’t you start.” Mab’s gaze darted between them. “Do nothing and your fates are sealed. Help me, and you both live.” “We don’t even have a way to find Adam,” she ground out, hating the lie but desperate to keep control of the situation. “You do,” Nan cut in. “Lucien Stone visited you just before you collapsed. I heard what he said.” “Nan,” Holly hissed, utterly betrayed. The witch lifted her chin a fraction. “He gave you a coin to call Adam forth. Toss it in the air and think of him, he said.” Her expression went soft and regretful. “I have the coin here.” She held the gold sovereign aloft, and Thorne snatched it. Then he took Holly by the arm. “Come with me.” “Do we have a bargain?” Mab called as they walked off. “Give us a moment,” Thorne said over his shoulder. “Go to hell,” Holly snarled over hers. When they were at the edge of The Green, Thorne stopped in the shadows made by the Bloody Tower looming over them. “Holly—” “No.” She bit her lip, hard enough to draw blood. “Do not make me do this. I cannot lose you. I’ve only just found you.” He grabbed her forearms and held tight. “You think this isn’t tearing my insides out?” “Then refus.

We’ll think of another way.” “What way? It cannot be solved by scienc.

Can it, love?” He gave her shoulders a little shak.

“Look me in the eye and tell me there is a way to solve this problem with science.” “Testing has not yet proven…” “I’m not referring to me,” he cut in softly. “But to you. Do you know of a way to cure yourself?” She looked away, a thick lump choking her throat. Gently, he touched her cheek, his fingertips so hot that she knew her flesh was cold metal ther.

It hurt, but not as much as her heart. “There is no one with the power to restore you, save Mab,” he said. Helpless, Holly ground her teeth and refused to meet his eyes. “William…” Her breath hitched. “I cannot.” The space between them grew so silent that the click of his heart could be heard. Then he touched her jaw, forcing her to look at him. The love and desperation in his gaze speared her fleshy heart. “See now,” he whispered, “while I can manage giving up my own life, I cannot give up yours. Not if it is in my power to save you.” “I am not worth this.” His thumb caressed her cheek. “To me you are.” She shook her head, because he did not know her darkest truth. “I can recall the sound of your screams. The exact pitch and tenor of them—” Distress darkened William’s eyes. “Holly—” He made a furtive attempt to touch her, and she held up a hand to ward him off. “No. Let me finish this. I need to.” She took a deep breath. “I remember each and every face, every cry. For nearly a year, I relived those dark moments down in the cellar. What happened to you…” Tears pooled in her eyes. “I know, William. I know,” she ground out between clenched teeth, “that what I experienced was nothing compared to the agony you felt.” Through a veil of tears, she saw his expression crumple, as if her crying was too much for him. She let him gather her close, but she did not relent. “But seeing that being done to you.” Holly shook her head and pressed her palms against his solid chest, where his metal heart churned. “It broke something inside of m.

To watch that thing rip into you.” Against her, William shuddered, and she snuggled closer. His arms tightened around her. “It’s over, love.” “No,” she said. “You do not understand.” Holly leaned back and looked him in the eyes. “Being forced to watch Amaros rip you apart, when I could do nothing to stop it—I just wanted it to end. I couldn’t… to see you in agony. Will,” she touched his scar, “I wished…” A sob burst fre.

“I wished that you would die.” He went stiff against her. “I begged to heaven, hell, and anything in between that you would di.

That it would all end. The pain. The screams.” And then he was clasping her head to his heart, his hold enveloping her as she cried, guilt and the horrible memory of that day swamping her anew. “Hush, petal.” His deep voice was a vibration in his chest. “Hush now.” But she couldn’t. She couldn’t bear it. “I’m so sorry.” “I wanted it too.” He grasped the back of her head and forced her to look at him. His expression was taut, pained. “I too begged for death. And if I’d had to watch that monster do that to you?” He blanched. “I would have lost my bloody mind. Do you understand? I would have wished for your death too, if I couldn’t help you.” “William.” She had so many regrets. He read her well, for his gaze turned fierc.

“Don’t you dare take this upon yourself.” He leaned in and pressed his lips to her forehead, breathing her in. “I wouldn’t change a thing. Because it brought me to you.” Holly sucked in a sharp breath, and he blinked down, his dark eyes filling. “Everything, all that I endured, was worth it because I found you.” She wrapped her arms about his neck, drawing him down so that he hunched over her, and squeezed him tight. His grip was crushing, and he breathed hard into the crook of her neck before pressing his lips to the spot that held his mark. When she found the strength to speak, the words were muffled and hot against his chest. “How am I to go on without you, when you give my life color and joy?” A choked sound left him, and his body quaked. She held on tighter, until her arms ached. “I’d rather die.” A great shudder went through him. “I’m killing you now.” His voice broke on a sob, as if it had only just truly hit him. “Oh gods, I’ve done this to you.” “No, love, no.” But he was past hearing. Blood rimmed his eyes and stained the tops of his cheeks, but his expression was set. “You are in this danger because of my misguided need for vengeanc.

Do not make me live with the knowledge that I ultimately succeeded in killing you. Please, Holly. I could not bear it.” All at once she crumpled, because she could not do that to him. Nor could she condemn him to a life as a shadow crawler, stuck in pain and madness. She had to be as brave as he was. And it broke her heart. William held onto her, stroking her hair and shaking with her. Too soon, she released him, her arms heavy as lead. He took a deep breath. “I was not yet ready to let you go either, you know.” He looked away, quickly, as if the sight of her pained him, but he held her hand in a bruising grip as he turned them back to the green. His stride was brisk, nearly a run. And she jogged to keep up. But she wouldn’t slow him. To delay would destroy what little resolve they had. Mab waited for them, her countenance bland as they stopped before her. “You have a bargain, fae witch,” William snapped out. His hand in Holly’s trembled. Mab smiled brightly. “Excellent. A wise choice.” Holly longed to tear the bitch’s eyes out. But William jerked her round to face him, his treatment rough, though she knew it was done out of pain. Stark lines of hurt and regret sharpened his features. And the platinum filaments in his black irises began to thicken. “I would have stayed with you forever,” he said. “Until you were bloody-well sick of my face.” “Never.” Her entire body hurt at the very thought of being without him. She wanted to cling to him, soak in his scent and the warm texture of his skin. “It doesn’t matter if she takes my memories of you,” he said in a thick rush. “My soul knows yours. And that part of me will always love you. It will always be yours.” His fingertips hovered above his mark upon her, but he did not touch her, as if it would be too painful for him. Holly’s lips trembled. She was breaking. And she would not recover this tim.