“I can handle hormones.”
“You sure about that?”
“Yes,” I grind out through clenched teeth.
“You’re doing a shit job with it so far. Where were you when she was crying?”
“She was crying?” I bark and glare.
“For no reason; absolutely no reason, just crying her pretty little heart out on my sleeve. Shit Ryder, of course there was a reason. Claire had been there playing with her mind, and you didn’t ask me to check on her until you were well overdue. Don’t tell her you will be there unless you know for damn sure you will be. Look at this through her eyes, or at least try to. She needs time to adjust to everything here, and she’s been sick on top of that. One minute she was this bad ass warrior, and the next she’s just supposed to lay down her weapons and become a mother? That shit is just not going to happen overnight, it takes time.”
“Syn is going to a mother soon. She doesn’t need to fight anymore! Doesn’t she know I’ll fight for her? And why the fuck does she only cry around you, Demon? What the fuck did you do to her?” I growl, allowing the beast to show from within.
“I was there, Ryder. She was experiencing an overload of hormones. It’s very common early in pregnancy, as is the nausea. Her body is changing and so far she’s doing an amazing job of handling it. Crying and being emotional is normal,” Eliran adds.
“And the pain she just had? Was that fucking normal?” I glower and watch as he takes a step back.
“No, but she’s pregnant with the son of the Horde King, Ryder. Your son. She’s young and that child was conceived before she was ready to become pregnant. If she’d become pregnant after she’d been done with Transition, this wouldn’t be happening. Anyway we look at it she’s in for a rocky road. The best thing for her right now is to take it easy and allow your child to reach the second trimester of this pregnancy. I have to look in on another patient. When you get her settled and she is conscious, I will look in on her.”
“You do that, Eliran. Just keep in mind that the fate of Faery may rest inside her womb. She is your number one patient until she delivers that child safely. I suggest you be ready for when the time comes, and be prepared for everything that could go wrong, just in case it does.”
The fucking beast inside of me wants out. He wants full control and fighting him off is getting harder with every passing moment. He wants to take Synthia, to show her what he is. Never fucking happy, he wasn’t even happy that I allowed him to show her only a sliver of his passion when she first came here. He wants more, so much more.
She’s ours, and not even that has made him happy. He wants to feed from her, to fuck her until she feels owned. She isn’t that kind of woman. She can’t be owned. Not by him, not by me. Even though I want to dominate and control her, I already know what the end result would be. She’s a warrior, and she needs to be treated as such, not as he would have me do. She’s our equal, our match—we need to tread carefully now, or risk the chance of losing her forever. That’s not something I can allow to happen.
I watch Eliran leave the room, his shoulders slump as he shakes his head. I’m an asshole, I get it. My world doesn’t exist without her in it. I’d easily give in to the beast, and become what he is asking for. I’d kill anyone who opposed me, and repeat history. She’s my fucking anchor, and no one will take her from me again, not even to save this world.
“Ryder, she’s going to be okay. I’ve seen her with the child in her arms,” Ristan says softly.
“With Adam, not me. Bring the Dark Heir here. Maybe he can bring her around.”
“How about we bring Vlad and Adrian, too? Maybe if we surround her with what she needs, she will just fall on your dick,” he quips.
“Get them, too. She likes them,” I say in amusement. “I need to figure out how to get her to adapt.”
“If you want her to adapt, you need to pull your head out of your ass and start thinking like a human, Ryder. You might be the all-powerful Horde King, but she is Syn; she is part human no matter how much she shouldn’t be. If you want her to stay, if you want her to adjust to this life, and you want her to be a part of yours…woo her.”
“What the fuck is wooing?” I snap.
“Do nice things for her, get her gifts. Find out what she likes, and woo her with them. Show her our world; make her want to be with you.”
“I’m the fucking Horde King, I don’t woo.”
“Woo her,” Ristan continues.
“I don’t woo.”
“Woo,” he repeats.
“I’m not the kind of man to woo anyone. I can make her scream my name to the rafters, isn’t that enough wooing?”
“Woo,” Ristan smirks, which only served to irritate me more.
“Woo,” I grind out on an exhale.
“Yes, woo,” he says, already turning to walk away. I watch his shoulders quake with laughter.
“Woo,” I growl.
“Woo!” He says over his shaking shoulders.
“Fuck me,” I shake my head.
“No thanks, not my type…now go woo your princess.”
Chapter Twelve
I awoke to Darynda pushing on my cheek. I gave a sound of protest, which she continued to ignore as she tormented and pestered me until my eyes popped open to level a killing glare on her. I slapped at her hand irritably as she smiled enthusiastically. I hated morning people, always had. I’d never been able to climb out of bed and welcome the day. I was more of a glare at the world, and snarl until I’d had enough coffee to appear human.
“Time to wake up, sleeping beauty!” she chimed happily.
“Go away,” I growled low, trying to focus.
“Not a chance. I brought you this crap they said you like; I even tried some of it! It tastes like fairy poop, but it does have magic in it! I feel like I can do a million things at once!” Darynda said, bobbing her head happily as she tried to pass me the cup without spilling.
“How much did you drink?” I asked, wondering if the coffee had something to do with her mouth working overtime.
“Nine cups! It’s addictive. Eliran said one cup was enough for you, but he said nothing about me, and well, I just kept putting those little cups in and pushing the button, and it continued to give me more. So of course I drank it.”
“Oh,” shit. I was corrupting the Fairy pool. Coffee today, nail polish tomorrow. I smiled as she handed me a cup. “I’m still in the room next to his…?”
“Yes, you are! Claire is still beside herself. She even went so far as to ask him to move you out of this room! He was quick to put her in her place. She deserves it, though; talking crap about you and telling us all how horrible you were. None of it is true, though. You don’t look like you could even use a sword! I mean really, you had a job. And the stuff you went through…we are lucky you are even sane!”
“Darynda, breathe,” I said, taking a sip and spitting out the straight espresso. No wonder she was on caffeine overload. “You drank it plain!?” I asked in shock. Don’t get me wrong, I loved espresso. But in order for it to be good, it had to have some added flavor.
“Well, that was how it was presented to me by the machine!” she said, offended that I spit the espresso out everywhere.
“The machine only brews the coffee, you have to add the rest,” I offered in explanation.
“What would you add to it?” she asked, tilting her head to examine me with a curious look in her eyes.
“Where’s Ryder?” I asked through the disgusting espresso flavor sitting on my tongue.
“He’s holding court, of course. He is the king, and is under pressure to right the wrongs of the Horde Realm.”
“Call for the Demon,” I said.
She did, and within moments Ristan was strolling leisurely into the room. He flashed his silver and black swirling eyes, and took in the espresso that now decorated the silk covers. “You summoned?” he asked, and lifted those beautiful eyes to mine.
“Need creamer, and sugar,” I explained. Daryn
da deserved to taste a latté; one made right.
“You summoned me for sugar and milk?” Ristan asked lifting one brow further than the other.
“Sure did. I also need clothes, and shoes,” I explained.
“Going somewhere, Flower?” he asked cautiously.
“No, but I’m not sitting around in pajamas all day, Demon.”
“Good to know. Let me run down and milk a cow for you,” he replied with a smirk lifting his lips.
“Ha-ha,” I replied and kicked the blankets fully off.
“Good to see you are back to your old self, and not fainting.”
“I do not faint, Demon,” I replied.
“Do too,” he said with a wide grin.
“Do not.”
“Do too!” he argued.
“Do not! Now please cream and sugar me, Demon.”
“I think Ryder might get a little pissed if I creamed and sugared you, Flower,” he said with a wicked look in his eyes.
“Demon!” I shouted. This creature and his sexual innuendos were dangerous. Get him started, and he could go for hours.
“As you wish,” he said, and instantly a delicate porcelain sugar bowl and creamer set appeared on the table next to the espresso maker. An ice blue silk sundress with matching sandals appeared at the foot of the bed, away from where the brown specs of the espresso mishap rested. He wiggled his fingers at us as he sifted out.
It took me twenty minutes of showing Darynda the joyful taste of an actual latté, which she liked a lot, better than pure espresso. She helped me to dress and worked wonders with my hair, which was now braided and styled as if I’d spent hours at the salon. Even though she’d assured me she wasn’t good with hair, it was so much better than anything I could have managed on my own.
“This is an honor to be placed in the room adjoining his!” Darynda mused after a few moments of silence had passed.
“Really, it’s not,” I said. I was ready to face him now, and I had a feeling Darynda wouldn’t be so accommodating about taking me to see him as she had been about everything else so far. “I need to talk to Ryder. Can you take me to the throne room?”
“He’s holding court right now. I’m not sure he will see you.”
“Take me to him, please,” I said, already heading to the main door.
“No way! You are a concubine. You are not allowed to roam freely. You would need guards, and permission!”
“Look, Darynda, we need to get a few things straight. I’m not his. I didn’t get a choice in this, and while you may think this is great, I don’t. He hasn’t asked me for any of this, he just demands I be here. I’m not his chew toy, or his pet.”
She blinked, but said nothing for a moment. “Concubines are normally given little choice in the matter. The King chooses them, and some are given to him as gifts.”
“Gifts? Do you have any idea how fucked up that sounds out loud?” I asked and threw open the door.
Sinjinn smiled and bowed with a courtly flourish. “Princess Sorcha,” he greeted.
“Sinjinn,” I said, happy to see a friendly face. “Take me to your leader.”
“You are to rest,” he said as he straightened back up. His eyes scanned my face briefly before he smiled once more.
“I’m done resting; take me to Ryder, now.”
“I can’t. You need to rest and take it easy. I was ordered to make sure you were not stressed out.”
“Okay, well if you don’t take me to Ryder, I’m going to scream my fucking head off. It’s going to stress me out, and I’m sure he wouldn’t want that, now would he? He ordered you to keep me calm, so take me to Ryder!”
He looked to be struggling with what he should do, so I tapped my foot impatiently. I felt bad placing him in the middle of it, but I was not staying in his future wife’s bedroom, and that’s what this was. I’d read enough books to know that what the girls spoke about yesterday was true—in a castle, the connecting room was the one the wife stayed in.
“He’s going to kick my ass, Synthia.”
“It’s either that, or I scream my head off. You can pick.”
He rolled his eyes and started walking. I smiled and threw a triumphant look over my shoulder to Darynda who had been silent through the argument. Her eyes were wide, as if she feared Sinjinn would have been angry at me for arguing with him. She totally needed to get out more.
“How did you do that?” she hissed quietly when she caught up to me.
I looked at her and grinned. “Easy; this isn’t my first rodeo ride with the King and his band of merry men.”
“Rodeo?” she questioned.
I rolled my eyes again. “I’ve been around Ryder for over two months now, and he wasn’t the Horde King yet. Obviously, because if I’d known, I wouldn’t be expecting his child…”
We retraced our journey of yesterday to the throne room. The castle was huge, and had been built of white stone. It was old, but it had been updated so that it didn’t look like something out of the middle ages…or older.
Chandeliers dotted the high ceilings of the walkways, and get this! Candles, yes, actual candles, and flaming torches in the wall scones lit the way. I had to almost run to keep up with Sinjinn’s long strides, but then Darynda did, too. It made it hard to take anything in while running behind him.
The room that was ahead of us was filled with creatures of the Horde. The one currently speaking…err…screaming was a Shape Shifter, if his inability to hold human form while screaming was anything to go off of.
“They are inside of Faery. What is it you plan to do about it, King?” he sneered.
“I plan to find them and bleed them out…slowly. I have scouts out scouring our borders. If you have an issue with this Silan, say it,” Ryder growled as his wings grew wide behind him, even though he was seated on his wicked throne.
Ryder looked good upon the throne. He looked like he belonged on it. The Shifter continued to argue, and Ryder seemed to grow bored with his rant. It wasn’t until another man who looked close in looks to the other Shifter stood up and interrupted, that it ended.
“My King, Silan is only worried because his mate is heavy with child. He does not wish to throw down a challenge,” the male said.
I took him in. His vivid blue eyes and shoulder length blonde hair made him look almost human. He was Fae, but instead of being beautiful, he was rugged and handsome, like Ryder in his regular Fae form. I swung my eyes back to Ryder to find him staring at me. I exhaled a shaky breath as the fight and the reason I’d been angry evaporated with the wicked little smirk he gave me.
“I, too, understand the fear of having the Mages inside Faery during this time. Synthia, please, come to me,” Ryder said standing, his attention now on me.
I narrowed my eyes, but did as he asked. I was taking the stairs up to the throne when a silver throne with a comfortable looking white square pillow in the center appeared from thin air to the left of his badass throne. I let the electric hum of his presence flow through me as I accepted his hand. It wasn’t until I felt his magic flow over my skin that I realized I was now dressed in a red ball gown, with a huge balloon skirt. I raised an irritated brow at Ryder. “Seriously?”
“I like you in red,” was his answer to me. To the Shifter he said, “This is Synthia, she is the Blood Princess. She’s also pregnant with my first child. So yes, I understand the need to eradicate the threat to our people more than most. Unlike my father,” his eyes never left mine, “I do not plan on breeding an army of sons. She will likely be the only women to carry my child.”
“Right,” I ground out, sarcastically.
“Do not argue with me in front of the Horde. In my bedroom, in my room, or sitting on my cock you can argue. Not here. Here, I am the Horde King. Here, I have to kill people for less.” His voice traveled across my mind, startling me. I knew he did this all the time with his men, but this was a first for me. I gave him a saucy smirk.
“Then leave me out of it, King.”
“Never.”
His eyes sparkled with mischief. “Will you have dinner with me tonight?”
“Change this damn dress to something that doesn’t look like Cinderella took acid and met Alice in Wonderland for a trip, and even though I don’t want to be your damn dinner, I will have dinner with you.”
His laugh fluttered through my mind before he tilted his head slightly to the side. “I wasn’t asking to eat you. Tempting as it is, I was asking if you would have dinner with me tonight, Pet.”
“Dinner?” I raised a brow as I threw the answer at him. He was joking, right? He was holding court, and we were neck deep in a private conversation, and he was asking me out on a date? Since I was pregnant, you would think we would have been past the dating stage.
I felt another rush of magic, and smiled as I felt jeans hug my ass and a long sleeve black blouse with a turquoise scarf that was perfectly fitted around my neck took the place of the dress. Soft slipper boots with fur trim that matched the scarf covered my feet.
“Anything else, Princess?” He asked, but this time he was no longer in my head.
I gave him a crooked smile and shook my head.
“Sit. You shouldn’t be out of bed yet, Synthia,” he said as he sat back in his wicked skull throne.
“I’m not a weak female, Ryder. I can handle walking,” I mumbled and sat on the feather soft pillow on the silver throne. It wasn’t apparent to me that sitting there was any big deal until the crowd hushed and looked at me as if they’d just witnessed something huge.
What the hell had I just done? Oh yeah, I’d sat in the Horde Queen’s seat…with the Horde King’s permission…Fuck a duck. I started to stand up, but Ryder grabbed my hand and held it in his. His eyes scanned my face and then he turned back to the crowd, as if nothing had happened. I glanced briefly and nervously at Zahruk and Ristan behind him. Zahruk looked like he was going to have heart failure, and the Demon looked entertained; like he wanted to pull up a chair and have popcorn for the show.
“Princess,” the Shifter said, bowing low at the waist. When his head rose, I noticed his blue eyes were sharp and glowing. Yup, Fae. “I am, to see that you have been found alive. My King has chosen a brave lassie to start his dynasty with. Your story of courage and survival inside the human world has traveled fast.”
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