He'd watched the petite, brilliant physicist Gwen Cassidy on her journey through time as she'd fallen in love with Drustan MacKeltar. He'd spied upon sensual, eclectic, and not-quite-ethical-when-it-came-to-artifacts Chloe Zanders as she'd lost her heart to Dageus, despite the younger MacKeltar twin being possessed by the evil souls of thirteen dark Druids at the time.
And the thought of watching them all die had filled him with a dark restlessness akin to one he'd not felt since the ninth century.
Name your price, he'd coolly told Aoibheal.
And then, when Dageus MacKeltar had lain dying, she'd named it. And Adam had placed his hands on the mortal's heart and given of his immortal essence to restore him to life. He'd thought that the temporary sapping of his immortal strength and power, which would have left him weak for centuries, was to be his price, but she'd taken it even further and made him human, powerless, and cursed.
"So what makes you so sure she'll just forgive you?" Gabby asked, jarring him from his thoughts.
He shrugged again. "She always does. Besides, she wouldn't be able to stand eternity without me."
She snorted and shook her head. "Oh, I see. I keep forgetting how irresistible you are."
"No you don't," he said easily, flashing her a grin. "I see the way you look at me."
"What I don't understand," she pressed hastily on, cheeks pinkening faintly, "is why you don't just talk to one of the other fairies hanging around. The féth fiada doesn't work on them, does it? Or don't they want to help you either?"
For a moment Adam was so astonished that he thought he mustn't have heard her correctly. "What— other— fairies— hanging— around?" he enunciated each word tightly. Surely Aoibheal hadn't taken that from him, too, had she? Made him no longer able to even perceive his own kind? The féth fiada alone wouldn't have done that to him. It rendered its wearer invisible, but it didn't render anything else invisible to the wearer.
They're not your own kind anymore, an inner voice reminded. You're human. They’re Tuatha Dé, and humans— except for the Sidhe-seers— can't see the Fae.
Bloody hell, he could be so stupid sometimes! He'd thought the reason he'd not seen any others of his kind was because she'd forbidden them to spy on him. But no, it was because she'd made him human through and through.
They'd been watching him all along, no doubt endlessly amused by his humiliation. "I said. ‘what other fairies?' " he gritted.
Gabby blinked at his tone. "All of them. Any of them. There are oodles— " She broke off abruptly. "Oh, God, you didn't know, did you?"
"How many Tuatha Dé are in this city besides me?" he growled.
She took a step back. "Well, really just a few, hardly even half a dozen, maybe not even that many, and actually, come to think of it. I haven't seen any at all in over a week, which makes sense because one of them said a while back that they were all planning to leave— "
His hand shot out and closed on her upper arm. "Don't lie to me, Sidhe-seer."
"I refuse," Gabby snapped. "I will not, I repeat— abso-freaking-lutely-will-not— talk to one of them for you. Hell will freeze over first. We're not even talking about half-Fae like this Circenn person you wanted me to talk to, these are the real deal, fairies with the power to summon Hunters. Iridescent-eyed, soulless, deadly fairies."
His smile was chilling. She'd just had to throw in that "soulless" bit. What was it with women and their hang-up about souls, anyway? Couldn't they find something else to obsess about? Like the phenomenal sex he could give them, the money, the fame, the complete fulfillment of their every desire, anything they wanted. But no, it was all souls, souls, souls. "Fine. Refuse. I'll simply walk around talking to you in public places until one of them figures out you can see me. How many did you say are just 'hanging around'? 'Oodles,' was it? On every street corner perhaps? How long do you think it will take for me to smoke you out? A day? Two? A week? The way I see it, you have two choices: agree to help me and secure my protection— and I vow that I will do my utmost to keep you safe— or refuse and be revealed to all the Fae. And if you choose that, I won't lift a bloody finger to help you, Gabrielle. So choose well."
"You won't do that. You need me! You— "
"I will go find another Sidhe-seer: I've no doubt there are a few others still around," he snarled. He knew he was no longer seducing, was fully into the forcing arena, but fury had the same effect on his body as lust; it made him primitive. He would not be mocked by his own kind, spied on and humiliated by his own race. And with her "soulless" jibe still ringing in his ears, he was no longer in the mood to play the charming seducer. She thought he was black? She hadn't even seen pale gray. In fact, she'd seen nothing but lily-white Adam Black so far.