Escaping Destiny

by Amelia Hutchins

  “No, I will not! You will marry my daughter and she will become the Queen of the Horde! I’ve worked too fucking hard for you to fuck this up. You will do as I say!” he shouts.

  “Do I need to remind you of who I am, and what I can do? I am the Horde King, and I can easily rule as my father did. There are many ways for us to settle this. You and my father agreed to these terms, not me. I signed because it was my father’s wish for me to do so. Do you not wish better for your daughter than a life spent in the pavilion?”

  “She’s a daughter! The only thing they are good for is building alliances. That contract is unbreakable! You will marry her, or you will step aside and let one of your brother’s rule!” His face was turning mottled with his outrage.

  I smile at him. “Cornelius, you forget yourself and how Danu works. None of my brothers is an Heir. I was being polite. You will consider one of my brothers for your daughter’s hand. You will seriously consider it. I’ve already abolished arranged marriages. I wrote it into our laws last week. These are your options: Allow your daughter to select her own husband from one of my many brothers, or go to war. Do you really wish to make an enemy of the Horde? I’m trying to be reasonable. The first option that I offer, it allows you to keep your head. You need to remember who my father was, and how he ruled because I can easily become that. I would rather bring the entire Horde together, and unite the Realm. You are either on my side, or in my way. I suggest you choose the right path for your people, Cornelius.”

  “This is outrageous!”

  I smile as I allow the beast form to take over. The fear in his eyes excites the beast, and I smile inwardly. “I suggest you sleep on it. I have many brothers suitable for your daughter’s hand in marriage. I recommend that you consider your daughter’s future in your choice. If you want to keep in my good graces, then choose wisely for only one of the choices presented today ends with your head on your shoulders.”

  “So I either bow to you and your concubine, or I lose my head?” He puffs his chest out and glares.

  “Synthia is not my concubine, Cornelius. She’s so much more than you can see right now. She’s also higher ranking than you and your family, and I intend to offer the Blood Kingdom an olive branch through her. We are at war with the Mages, and soon they will attack in force. If the Four Castes of the Realm of Faery do not work together, we may not have anything left when they are finished.”

  “They are Changelings! Easily killed,” he says.

  “Easily killed? Did you not notice that they breached our fucking defenses last night? They have been brewing in hate for centuries. If you do not see them as a potential threat, then open your eyes. They can conceal who they are from us, as they did with Arianna. They breached my defenses, which you yourself know is an impossible feat. They have centuries of preparations on us. This isn’t some half assed plot they just worked up. This has been centuries of planning on their part. There aren’t a handful of them bent on revenge, there are thousands of them. If we plan to save this world, and I do, we need to stick together.”

  “Zahruk,” Cornelius sputters. “I choose the second born prince for my daughter’s hand.”

  “You weren’t listening. I will not force your daughter on any of my brothers. I will not sign their fate over to you. I will allow your daughter to court them, and if they make a match, I will honor it. I will allow her free choice, as will you.”

  “That’s ludicrous!”

  “That’s how it will be. I am the Horde King, and this is my will. Agree to the terms, Cornelius. Do not make me become my father to see them fulfilled. That would become messy and I’d rather not slip into that role anytime soon. I will, however, if pushed.”

  “I will take it under consideration. However, I need to pass it by my advisors.”

  “Do so, and remind them that they can be found, and replaced, easily.”

  *~*Synthia*~*

  I woke up early to find Ryder already gone from his chambers. I sat up and felt another presence in the room. Danu turned around and pushed the hair from her face before she spoke.

  “I am sure you have more questions,” she said quietly.

  “Um, yes, how about we start with the whole, you could even be considered my daughter business. You’re my mother?”

  “In a way, yes, Synthia. You were created from an egg that I took from my womb and planted into your mother’s. Easy feat for a Goddess, but I needed to be sure you would be strong enough to fight for this world. You are tied to it more than anyone else, and yet you seem to fight it harder than anyone. You hold onto humanity, when you were born without a shred of it in your being. You are my daughter, you are the child of a Goddess, and yet you are pure. Your heart is untouched by the influence of me, or anyone else in Faery. You fight for what you love, and I needed you to have something that I knew you would be willing to fight for. So I set Ryder on your path. I made you for him so you have everything that he needs and wants. He just doesn’t understand it. His beast doesn’t have to understand it, he just accepts it. He is everything you want, and I need you for the stability of this world if it is to survive. Strong of mind and pure of heart is the only way to hold the relics. You need them to fight the Mages. You need them to protect your unborn children.”

  “Back up, you are my mother!?” I stammered, even though she’d said it. It was sinking in fully now.

  “I said you are the perfect Queen for Faery. As a whole. Ryder could be the King of Faery and I want that for him, but I can’t allow him to have it unless he is balanced. Like his father before him, he has the drive to take it by force, and he’s not pure of heart. He would be easily corrupted if he doesn’t have something to keep him leveled. That’s you. You are his equal in every way. Stronger, well he does have you there. He does have every creature of the Horde pouring through his veins. You; well, you have me. You have the blood of a Goddess running through your veins and countless others who are part of me. It’s why you can heal, and also why you feel so much and fall so hard. It’s a bitch to balance, but you do well, considering.”

  “Ryder’s beast mentioned that he was all of the creatures of the Horde, and that’s what makes the difference between Fae and the Horde King.”

  “It is also what makes him the strongest creature in Faery. Unfortunately, the beast can be unstable because of it. This is not how I intended for it to be. I love the Horde. All of the creatures of the Horde are…different and diverse. Some are truly hideous and dangerous, others are beautiful, and you underestimate the danger inherent with these creatures. I intended for the Horde King to be their champion and also to keep them within the boundaries of the Horde Kingdom. I also created many others of the Fae, and they were always special to me, but nothing like the Horde. Bilé fouled it all up.”

  “Bilé?”

  “He has many names that he is known by. Right now, most of the ones I use for him are bad. He was my husband,” she said with a small pout on her lips. “Consort, whatever…let’s just say things didn’t go so well and during one of our spats, he decided to curse the spirit of the beast of the Horde King. He did this because he knew he was my favored creation in this world. Considering I choose who receives the beast, it was one of the many ways he had tried to screw with me.”

  “So you’re talking about God wars here?” I asked as a small shiver ran down my spine. Gods, when they got pissy, destroyed shit. They corrupted minds, and could easily destroy worlds.

  “You have the idea. The curse was that the Horde King would need a match to balance him or he would become insane. Considering the strength of the spirit, there wasn’t any one who could be considered a match for him, and that is why Alazander became the tyrant that he did. Alazander was the strongest of the Horde Fae at the time; the only one worthy of being chosen. His beast could not find balance and Alazander wasn’t strong enough, or steady of mind to control him. Bilé knows I can’t undo the curse. He also knows I cannot directly interfere with my creations.”

  “So what does
that have to do with me?”

  “Bilé might have unbalanced my Horde King, but I can influence, and I can create something new, so I made a match for Ryder by making you, Synthia,” she said conspiratorially.

  “You said one of many ways he’s tried to screw with you,” I replied, rubbing my temples from the implications of everything she was saying.

  “He and I have been at odds for a long time. Everything that has been happening in Faery points to him. He is the Hades to my Demeter, death to life. As I told you before, there are something’s I can’t foresee, but I can see what will balance and repair what he has done. Your children will be born with the Four Royal Caste’s blood pulsing in their veins. They will help stabilize this world until the others are put into play. By then, you should have the relics needed to close this world off from the Human world, Synthia. Which you will do. You will still be able to travel between this world and theirs, but those not of pure blood won’t be able to find a portal into this world. They won’t be able to continue to poison it.”

  “Wow,” I said from a lack of what to say to all of that.

  “I tell you that you are a Goddess and my daughter, and all you can say is wow?” she asked with wide blue eyes.

  “It’s a lot to take in! I went from being human, to being Fae, and now you tell me I am a Demi-goddess, so you gotta give me a second here to absorb it all.”

  “Being a Goddess isn’t everything it’s made out to be. I can’t interfere with freewill. I also can’t do things like make the Mages disappear. I could, but there are all sorts of nasty repercussions for interfering that way. I could make things much worse than they currently are, and I have faith in my creations and know that in the end, they will prevail.”

  “You can’t directly interfere, got it,” I said, sitting up and throwing my legs over the side of the bed as I glamoured on cotton bottoms, and a matching baby blue top. “It’s best that he doesn’t know,” I breathed.

  “He would give you everything you wanted if he knew,” she said as she sifted to sit beside me. She lowered her eyes to where my bump was obvious through the tight cotton. “He would marry you without question.”

  “Why should I tell him, and why should it matter to him if I am a Demi-goddess? No thank you. If he marries me, I want it to be because he wants it. Not because of what I am,” I said quietly.

  A lot had happened, but I’d felt the power of what was inside of me. It was both exhilarating, and scary. But with power, came a lot of problems. It was best no one knew just how powerful I was right now.

  “You are smart,” she said simply. “Smart and beautiful, my daughter. I was afraid you might not wish to have anything to do with me. I could respect it if you did not want me around.”

  “Hey, I’ve had three different mothers and a mother in-law in less than two months. I thought Syrina was my mother, and then Tatiana. Thankfully that one only lasted a minute and half. Then I was given to Adam as the Light Heir, so I inherited a mother in-law who had been planning to hate me. Then I met Madisyn, and knew I had a connection with her. I’m glad to know you are my mother, Danu, but I don’t plan on you being all maternal on me. I also think it would crush the woman who thinks I am her daughter. She has mourned for me for a very long time. With time, maybe the secret can come out, but now isn’t the time.”

  “You have an old soul for someone so young, daughter. Most would be singing their Goddess parentage from the rafters.”

  “Most are power hungry saps who would abuse it. I just want to save this world and make it someplace I want to raise my babies in.”

  “That will be a long journey, child; one that won’t be only yours to take. It will take all of the Heirs to solve the problems with Faery. The damage is deep, and many will die before the cure is established. Ryder is fighting an enormous battle. It’s one that needs time to heal, and all of the Castes to come together and work for it. This world will not be healed when the babes come. I will be here if I can, but I am needed elsewhere as well.”

  “Can you tell me…?” I couldn’t finish it; the thought of even one of them not living sent emotions storming through me.

  “No; I wish I could. I can’t see those connected to me as well as I’d like to. If they are meant to live, Synthia, they will. It’s one of the downsides of being powerful. Even I have rules that must be followed, and if I refuse to follow those rules, I pay dearly for it.”

  “So being a Goddess isn’t all its chalked up to be?” I joked.

  “Hardly, but there are some perks. Synthia, Ristan will get a vision soon. Heed it. Prepare for it, and be careful of what choices you make. Do nothing in haste, and do not go after Faolán.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.

  “Another time…but I mean it, child. Do nothing in anger or haste. Your beast comes.” She leaned over and kissed my forehead. I felt her lips as she sifted out. “Revenge is not worth the lives you will change. Some things must be let go to move on,” floated through my mind as softly as a gentle caress.

  “Pet,” Ryder said, coming into the room with a steaming cup of coffee in his hand. “I didn’t wish to wake you, yet. I figured you’d be tired from last night.”

  I extended my arms and accepted the steaming cup with a smile. He was sniffing the room; I could see it in the way his nostrils flared and his eyes scanned the room. He didn’t ask if anyone had been here, but his eyes were burning with curiosity.

  “It smells like ambrosia in here,” he said as he sat beside me.

  “Mmm, did you bring some in after I fell asleep?” I asked innocently. I was getting way better at playing with words.

  “Minx. The men want to know how you feel,” he said as he reached over and set the cup of bliss I’d just sipped from onto the small oak table beside the bed.

  “Just the men?” I asked with a saucy smirk. “I’m perfectly fine.” I smiled as he leaned over and kissed me gently. “Now I am more than fine. Maybe breakfast is in order?” I whispered as he laughed against my lips.

  “Wanton little thing in the mornings,” he growled hungrily.

  “I had a great Transition teacher. He assured me I would be ravenous for the first few months after it. Add pregnancy to it, and man did he hit the target spot on,” I replied as my hands slid over his wide back.

  “Mmm, he must have been a smart creature,” he assured me.

  “Why do the men want to know if I’m okay?” I asked, remembering he’d asked.

  “They want to throw a party. The coronation was…disturbed. My brothers want to use it as an excuse to get wild and obnoxious.”

  “Brothers…all of them are your brothers?” I asked.

  “Vlad is my uncle’s son; he is born from Blood and Horde. My uncle took a fancy to her, but she was actually married to a human at the time. It’s a long story. The others are from different mothers. Only Dristan, I, and Ciara have the same mother. Ciara was the last to be born, Dristan right before her. My father visited the pavilion frequently, and fed from several women a day.”

  “That’s a lot of siblings,” I said.

  “I’m Fae; we can have thousands. Alazander was abusive to his concubines and wives. He didn’t care who birthed his bastards either. There are many more that we may not even know about out there.”

  “Special,” I said as I felt sorrow for those who had been under Alazander’s rule. “I understand the need to keep the pavilion. I only ask that you don’t use it. I’m not into sharing you, Fairy. If you want me to be faithful to you, then you have to give me the same respect.”

  He smiled and brought my forehead to his. “Good God, woman; you drive me crazy.”

  “I plan to drive you crazy for a long time to come.”

  “Good,” he said and placed his hand on my leg and noticed I was clothed. “I am sorry the torque prevented you from casting. It was necessary when you first arrived. There are many with the Horde that are easily antagonized, and until you learned our ways, I didn’t want you to use mag
ic that might get you into trouble. It is one of the reasons you have always had a guard present.”

  “I understand why you did it, but now if you put it on me, you better make sure you put it on me because it’s pretty and it carries your mark and not because you want to control me, or I’ll remove it. It’s time for you to trust me, and trust my choices. I was taught to make smart choices. The only one questionable was signing your contract,” I whispered.

  “I made sure you had no other choice,” he rumbled as he leaned over and nuzzled my neck.

  “I had choices; I just couldn’t think with you around. Still can’t,” I said wickedly.

  “If you keep smiling with that damn grin on your lips, I’m going to fuck you.”

  “That’s a bad thing, how?”

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Several hours later, we bathed in the tub together. He hadn’t promised marriage, but I had a plan to wear him down and make him so in love with me that he couldn’t live without me. Danu’s words played in my head as we headed to one of the smaller meeting halls which the men had set up recently.

  Being in the human world for as long as they were, they had begun to appreciate the gathering and meeting places that had been set up for them there, like Sidhe Darklands and Nightshade.

  The room was decked out with nightclub lights, and the men were gathered around a small bar where, of course, Vlad stood behind it laughing at something Adam had said. I smiled and took in those in the bar. They’d all become important to me. I wasn’t sure when it had happened, but these men were my family.

  “Flower,” Ristan said as he sifted in beside us.

  “Demon,” I replied with a subtle nod of acknowledgment.

  “How are my nephews?” Savlian asked with twinkling eyes and a wicked grin.

  “Your nieces are growing,” I countered, “and planning on how to drive you all insane for messing with their mother. You have been warned,” I replied with a brilliant grin of my own. I was going to curse them all, and give them girls that would drive them insane while trying to keep up with them. My kids would be awesome, and sassy.