“Clever. So we leave now?”
“No.” Eliza came closer, bringing with her the scent of woman. “We need to do this carefully. We need a plan.”
Of course. Adam knew better. He’d never gone into battle without a plan of attack.
“First off,” Eliza said, “how do we get you out of those chains? I cannot find a key. Second, we’ll need some method of transport. You’re weak as a babe now.”
Humiliation curdled in his stomach. He pushed it away. There was a way to move forward. The best way. But it relied on her. Would she help him once again? What he would suggest was far worse than a mere promise to give him a chance. Likely she’d see it as a trap. And it was, of sorts.
Her gaze was a hot hand sliding over his skin, and sweat broke out at the base of his neck. He clenched his hands, conscious of the chains pooled upon his lap and the way they rattled with the slightest move. Those bloody chains, they drained him of his strength even as his body fought to heal itself.
Taking another breath, Adam forced himself to face her, to appear as though her answer did not mean everything.
“Yes, as to that. We have a predicament, dove. Two actually. Mab has a key, likely held in her rooms, but that will only unchain me from the wall. These” – he refused to glance at his wrists – “will be harder to be rid of.”
“So how —”
“Which,” he cut in, “leads us to the second issue. I saw the way Mellan looked at you tonight. It is clear that he has a greater interest in you than expected. He won’t stop until he makes you his.”
She flushed at that, her chin dipping. “You don’t know that —”
“I do.” Adam had heard the desperation in Mellan’s voice. It matched the one in his own soul. “And I believe you do as well.”
He almost smiled at the way her sweet mouth pursed. She wanted to argue, but couldn’t. Eliza was stubborn as the year was long but she had a streak of honesty that rivaled any knight’s. Proven when she squared her shoulders. “Fine, he does appear to be… insistent.”
To put it mildly. Adam assumed a restful pose, when he was anything but. His heart was pounding now. “It is clear he wants something from you.” Adam smiled when her neck turned pink. “Aside from your feminine charms.”
“I can’t imagine what it would be,” she said, her lithe frame tight.
He shifted a bit, and the chains rattled. “The fact remains, you are vulnerable. You accepted his suit, forced though it was, which means he has a claim on you.”
Eliza puffed up, the plump swell of her bosom lifting beneath her tatty shirtwaist. “As much as he’d like to believe otherwise, he has no claim on me. A lady may reject a suit at any time.”
“We are not discussing human society. We’re speaking of fae law.” Adam pinned her with a look because he could sense she wanted to avoid the truth. “He can force you into a fae marriage, and there wouldn’t be a damn thing you could do about it.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “What do you suggest then?”
Oh, he didn’t want to smile, though sheer nerves made his lips twitch. Nor did he want to hear yet another rejection from her. But there was no going back. “The only way to get out of his reach is to make yourself unwed no longer. Take a husband.” He stared her down, noting the growing horror upon her face. “Take me.”
For a thick, silent moment, Eliza fought to find her voice. When she did, it burst forth as a near laugh. “Oh, well played, sir. You had me walking down that trail of deceit once again.”
Adam’s scowl was a fearsome thing. The harsh lines of his handsome face made it so. Golden eyes narrowed to mere slits as he growled, “’Tis no jest, Miss May, nor a line of deceit.”
“Oh? Take you for a husband?” Her pulse thudded at the base of her throat. “And to think I was beginning to believe you were truly trying to help me. When all you were doing is finding another way to bind me to you.”
A snarl left his lips as he sat upright. That he was chained against the wall in no way diminished him. Likely he’d appear as regal as a king in any situation. “Enough,” he said. “Gods, but you accuse me of conceit.” He leaned forward a bit, his big fists clenching. “I am helping you. The curse does not abate unless you truly believe me to be an essential part of your soul. Marriage is not that bond. It is merely a contract between two persons.”
“For someone who professes to believe in soul mates and destiny, you’ve a rather dim view of marriage.”
Adam sighed expansively. “This modern world makes confusion where there need not be any. Do you honestly believe that speaking a few vows to one another assures everlasting love?”
The scorn in his voice scraped along her nerves.
“No, but —”
“Love,” he spoke over her, “is feeling, how you treat a person, not spouting pretty words.”
“Words matter.” Eliza did not know why she pressed, nor what it mattered if he did not agree.
He appeared equally confused, his thick, dark brows knotting, a little M-shaped groove forming at the bridge of his noble nose.
“Words, actions, feeling, they all matter, demon.” She gave a humorless smile when he scowled. “Else you wouldn’t take offense when I call you ‘demon.’ ”
Adam’s jaw bunched, the cords on his neck visibly growing taut. “May we kindly address the matter at hand?”