Ristan stopped inside one of the brightly lit rooms and motioned for me to follow him in. There was a beautiful petite woman with long, inky black hair seated on the bed. It looked like she had been reading and her silver and black patterned eyes narrowed on me when I stepped through the door to stand beside Ristan. She and Ristan shared a strong resemblance, minus the missing brands on her arms.
“Alannah,” Ristan nodded to the woman.
“Hello,” I said, not sure of what was expected from me.
“Who is this lovely being, Ristan?”
“This is my Flower; isn’t she beautiful?” he asked the woman.
“Very. She’s Blood Fae, though; very touchy that bunch.”
“Syn is very touchy,” Ristan said, wiggling his brows at me.
“Stuff it, Demon,” I grumbled and smiled as the woman broke into a beautiful smile that made her face look even younger.
“She’s witty. Will you marry her?” Alannah teased lightly.
“You know I can’t, and I think she might take offense to me offering,” he said and moved to shoo me from the room.
“She would be your equal,” Alannah said with a look of mischief in her eyes.
“She is new to the Horde Kingdom. I thought she should meet you.”
“Is that so? No, I don’t think so,” she said, lifting her eyes back to me. “You brought her here to smooth her transition from the human world, into the pavilion. If you wish for her to become accustomed to this place, keep that snake from her nest. Claire is itching for power, and she isn’t going to stop being a thorn,” Alannah said softly with a knowing look.
“Alannah, Synthia is skilled in warfare and would wipe the floor with Claire’s pretty face. She shouldn’t be worried on that front. She needs friends, and you would make a great ally.”
“Is that so? And why not bring this blossoming beauty to Ciara?”
“Because she’s a bad influence on everyone,” Ristan said as he ran his hand over his face. “That girl is not sane.”
We stayed and chatted for about a half an hour about inconsequential things, and with a new friend firmly in place, we left the pavilion. I had to admit that the Demon was trying his best to cheer me up and help me feel more comfortable in this new world I had landed in. A Demoness in the pavilion had me curious in light of all that I had seen today.
“Was she brought here for you?” I blurted softly, not sure how he would respond with this place’s history. He started laughing.
“Not intentionally,” he chuckled.
“Ristan, dating from inside of the harem?” I quipped, but continued. “Shock me with that deviant behavior, Demon,” I joked.
He snorted and shook his head. “Don’t go making matches for me, Flower. I’m too busy with Danu inside my head to make any attachments; I like playing catch and release for now.”
Chapter Seven
I was lying in bed, considering ways of killing Ryder for not coming for me when he said he would, when he finally showed up. He sifted in, threw off his cloak, and eyed the giant tub. I watched in silence as he waved his hand and the tub filled with spicy scented water. It occupied the room, as much as the man did.
I felt like I lost my courage and everything I wanted to say as his jeans melted away, and he slipped beneath the bubbled surface. His arms hung over the sides, and the once huge tub looked much smaller, filled to the brim with Ryder. His head was resting back against the rim and his eyes were closed.
I wanted to throttle him for looking so sexy when I was so upset that he hadn’t bothered to show up when he’d promised me he would. Naked Ryder was a catastrophe for my mental state. I went from knowing how to talk, to a brainless sex crazed being.
“Eliran said you were sick earlier. Are you better?” he asked without opening his eyes.
“I’m no longer sick, just pissed that you didn’t come get me.”
His head came up, and his eyes landed on me. They were no longer the golden color of a few moments before. Something within his eyes stared at me, hungrily. “Why are you pissed now?”
“You promised to come and get me and then left me here!” I growled.
“It wasn’t by choice, Pet.”
“Okay, how about…you said you would get me, and bring me to your room. Instead, you left me with Claire!” I grumbled.
“I sent Claire and Ristan to you to explain things; didn’t he let you know what happened?”
“Oh, Claire explained things alright, and the Demon didn’t show up until today,” I snapped angrily. His eyes opened slightly and slid to me.
“If you’re not sick, get in this tub with me.”
“You don’t get to order me around, Fairy!” I felt hot tears burning behind my eyes. I wasn’t sure where we stood, or if he even wanted us. I knew he wanted the baby to save his precious Faery, but that wasn’t the same as wanting it, or me for that matter.
“It wasn’t an order, it was a request,” he said, clapping his hand over his eyes. He looked as tired as I felt. The tour with Ristan had taken a lot out of me, even though we hadn’t done more than walk and talk for hours.
“Fine!” I shouted, irritated by the entire situation. I stripped out of my clothes and stomped over to the tub and got in on the other side. The water was warm and welcoming, and his presence gave it an added level of comfort.
His big hands pulled me from where I’d sat across from him, until he’d nestled me in his arms, my back snuggled against his chest. I rested my head against his wide chest and allowed some of the tension to leave my mind.
“Ask it, Synthia,” Ryder whispered against my ear.
“Ask what?”
“Ask the question that is burning on your tongue.”
“Why me?” I spat out.
“Because I wanted you, Pet. It is as simple as that. Even if I had not signed that contract, you would still be mine. I planned on waiting until you were ready, but I still would have taken you from Adam. One way or another, I’d have come for you. Fate pushed us together, but destiny knew we belonged together. Now you just have to accept it,” he continued.
“You expect me to become just another woman in your harem?” I asked, as a single tear slid down my cheek.
“I don’t think of you as just another anything. I won’t send them away; they are my responsibility and they belong here with the Horde. I need to have a care for what their families have been granted and rewarded in return for them. Those are contracts I won’t cross,” he said guardedly.
I shook my head and moved to pull away from him, but his arms pulled me back. “I feel like I’m just another pretty thing for the collection.”
“That’s not true, and you know it. I have had them for many years, and they live comfortably in the pavilion. I won’t uproot their lives for any reason. Don’t ask me to, Pet.”
After speaking with Ristan earlier, I understood where he was coming from; I just wasn’t sure where it left me, or how I felt about it. I needed to change the subject, so I did. “Tell me about the beast, Ryder,” I whispered, watching him closely.
“He’s a part of me. Like a split personality mixed with my own. We are one, I’m his host. All of the Fae get brands when they Transition, but only a select few inherit a beast as well when they come into their full powers. Mine just happens to be stronger, and uglier, than most others. The form of the Horde King is what you see when he and I merge and become one. The first time we took that form, was when I became Danu’s chosen Heir. Until your presentation, that form had only been seen by the Horde the day I killed my father.” A small smile tugged at his lips.
“What does he look like when it is just him? Do you know, or do you have to be in front of a mirror?” I teased softly.
“He is whatever he wants to be. He is the spirit of all of the creatures of the Horde and can be any of them if he so chooses it.”
“So your beast took me, and did this?” I indicated my stomach as a whole. “Why? Did he know who I was?” I climbed out of the tub,
because I knew where my questions were heading, and if he couldn’t answer the next one correctly, I wanted to be out of reaching distance.
“No, he just refused to let you go, or belong to another man. By impregnating you, he did what I couldn’t at the time.”
I nodded and continued with my original line of questioning. “Do you want this baby—our baby?”
“The child is needed to save this world. He was smart in claiming you and ensuring you were ours with the child. We can now move forward with what else is needed to save Faery,” he replied carefully, his midnight eyes watching me.
“Do you want this baby?” I asked again.
“To save Faery, yes, I do,” he continued evasively.
“Fucking Fairy, answer the question! Do you want this baby!?”
“If it comes with his beautiful mother, yes I want him.”
Relief flooded through me; at least he wanted it. “Did you fuck Claire?”
His head snapped up, and he glared at me. “Not since I told you that I would only feed from you,” he answered.
“Have you fucked her since you took the throne, Ryder?” I fixed the question. I was getting better at the flipping Fairy word games.
“I have not fucked her since the day you watched me take her over my desk. I told you that if I fed, it would be from you. I fed from the pavilion as a whole. I fed from their emotions, from their fears, and their hopes. Is that what you wanted to know? I had to feed to save you.” He was smiling now, like he thought I was cute or something.
“Funny how saving me wasn’t even saving me, considering you were the one that I needed saving from…”
“I told you I would always keep you safe. I also promised you that I was coming to save you from the big bad Horde King.”
“Yeah, about that, how could you say that when you were the Horde King?”
“As I told you, I wasn’t at the time. I found you in your dream right before I took the throne.”
“You are such an ass,” I grumbled as I got out and quickly put the sundress I’d discarded earlier, back on.
I was turning to head back for the bed when he pulled me back into the bath with him. I sloshed the water as I swung my arms trying to catch my balance.
“Stop fighting me, Synthia. You make the beast want to come out and play with his new toy.”
I quickly stopped and looked down at the now ruined sundress. I tried to make it disappear as he normally did, but it stayed on. He whispered against my ear, and it dissolved as if the water had consumed it.
“Much better, Pet,” he whispered as his arms wrapped around me, and slid down until they rested on my lower belly. “We made life,” he growled like a proud peacock.
“Yes, we made life with the help of your beast.”
He snorted, and I laughed. It was strange feeling his hands on my womb, on the child we’d created, even if the beast was strutting his shit around inside of Ryder. I leaned my head against him and relaxed, ignoring everything else that was going on. Here, right now, it was just the four of us; Ryder, his beast, our child, and me. Shit, this tub was crowded.
“Answer me this, what is it that Ristan saw that made you design the contract to take me from my parents?”
He exhaled, and I shivered even though the water was holding the perfect temperature. I turned my head until it rested against his shoulder, and our breath mingled.
“He saw us having a child, one that would be of the two strongest Castes of Fae. One that would eventually heal much of the damage done to this world. But he also saw the alliance we would make that would begin healing the damage my father had inflicted across this world.” He paused and pinched my nipple until it puckered into a hard pebble beneath his touch. “For most of my life I watched my father ruin everything he had touched. I plan on fixing it, but in order to do so, I may have to do things that you won’t like.”
“Like?”
“I’m the Horde King, Synthia; we earn our way by being brutal. If I don’t show them my strength, I will be challenged incessantly by every king and lord that believes he is stronger.”
“I had a feeling about that; I don’t understand where I fit in, Ryder,” I said honestly. This was the root of what was bothering me. He pulled me closer and nuzzled his nose in the soft column of my neck.
“You fit in right here,” he rumbled softly as he wrapped his arms around me. “Everything else we will figure out as it comes.”
The rest of the night went by slowly. There was no sex, no rushing through it with fighting, and no words were used. We just lay together in the bed, holding each other as if nothing else mattered. It was refreshing, and even though I had a million questions to ask him, I ignored it. Tonight, I would accept his comfort.
Chapter Eight
The next morning I awoke to an empty bed. Ryder had left either sometime in the night or early in the morning. I ran my hand over the pillow where his head had been, the indent from it still visible, as well as the heat from his body. I groaned.
These freaking hormones were something else. I felt like my emotions were starting to come unhinged, but at least now I had a reason for them to be this over-active. I’d been through hell, and at least now there was a light at the end of the tunnel. I was safe, and while my situation was not ideal, I could manage it.
It was odd. I felt like I could breathe better now that I knew he was the reason I’d been through hell. If he was what this had all been for, I was willing to make it work between us. I needed to find a foothold, and figure out how to break through his hard exterior. I just had to find a crack in it, and force my way through. It wasn’t like I could walk away now. I was in too deep and pregnant with his child. No, leaving wasn’t an option right now, even though I missed being in the human world.
I missed home and Alden. I missed the cemetery and the midnight dances inside of it. I missed Adam and Larissa.
I had been through so much in such a short time, and was learning who I was and what I was. I knew my feelings for him, but even with knowing, it still baffled me how I’d come to love him in so little time. I loved him, even after everything he’d done. But life was funny. I’d figured out what I wanted. Go figure, I wanted the one man who drove me batshit crazy and over the edge in one single word.
Man, I was emotionally screwed. I was crazy to think I could stay here with him and his harem of women that he’d already said he wouldn’t give up. And then there was Claire, who obviously hated my guts; not that I blamed her, since I’d be pissed if someone took Ryder away from me, too.
I had a choice to make, and it couldn’t be made inside this room. I sat up and looked at the door to where one hot Demon stood smiling with a gorgeous red cocktail dress held up to his frame. “I’d go with blue. It would make your hair stand out and show off the highlights,” I said smiling.
“Ahh, what if I like red?” He grinned.
Go figure, my one friend in this place was the Demon I’d planned to hate. There it was again, another thing I’d failed to do. I’d planned on hating Ryder, yet every time he touched me, I caved like some weak-knee school girl.
I was weak around him, and I needed to be strong right now. My entire life was depending on it—and I was immortal! Well, almost immortal, but close enough.
I started to get up, but Ristan held up his hand to stop me. “Let me get your handmaidens; you now have five. Zara will be joining the ones you already met. Ryder left specific orders of what was to be done today. You will be presented to the Horde, and blessed for the child you carry. It was a custom Alazander abandoned, not sure why, but it used to be that all of the kings wives or concubines were blessed this way during their pregnancies to ensure the health of the child and prosperity for the Horde. Ryder is hoping to pick up most of the things our people lost because of him. Prepared to be pampered, my blossoming Flower.”
Pampered?
Pampered.
And by pampered, he’d meant I was being given a spa day. I had Keely the Brownie working my
hair, tying it up for the bath, while Faelyn the Pixie fought me for the sweetly scented soap. I won, of course, and eventually she stood back and allowed me to wash myself. Cherry blossom petals filled the wide tub, and were beautiful, but considering I had five girls falling over me while trying to help me, I couldn’t enjoy them.
After the debacle of the bath, I was pulled from the water and stood naked in front of a mirror. I growled at this, and shook my head. I was shoved into a chair someone had brought out, or maybe glamoured (I was too busy watching them hustle and fuss over my appearance to pay attention), and my hair was braided after it had been slicked in some kind of cherry scented gel by Faelyn, and styled into a beautiful updo. Meriel busied herself on my hands with a manicure while Keeley was working pedicure magic. Now, more than ever, I was missing my OPI collection.
Make-up was applied by Darynda, who winked at me mischievously as she told me this was her magical talent. She was the equivalent to a make-up artist. When she was done, I had black kohl on my eyes, which made the blue and purple of them pop brightly. She’d applied a light blue shadow, and a touch of violet to my eyes which was subtle and yet beautiful.
The women all ignored my continual silence or lack of opinion and continued prepping me; Meriel smiled and wrinkled her nose as she glamoured on a light blue top that left my sides exposed. Darynda glamoured on a skirt that closely matched the top, but covered me to my ankles, minus the slits down the side.
“Jewelry; she’s going to need armbands,” said the Pixie, who looked like she couldn’t be more than sixteen. I watched as they all chatted happily and argued like old friends over which arm pieces would suit me better.
The necklace that Ryder had my mother put on me when I was presented to him wasn’t coming off anytime soon, and I now knew that it bore a medallion that was the same as Ristan’s. To compliment it, the necklace they chose was simple and slipped under the other like an extension; the metal of the chain was old and looked almost vintage, or antique. Diamonds the size of almonds hung at the tip, which accentuated my breasts.
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