Seducing Destiny

by Amelia Hutchins

  I looked back at my escort and realized by their half-lidded, glowing eyes that they were all feeding off of the energy created by those dancing. The Demon’s expressions seemed to range from anger to frustration as he danced. With a flick of his finger, the music changed to Imagine Dragon’s I bet My Life and I decided to sit on the grass as the babies began kicking as though they were excited by all of the energy that was being sent out. No; as I looked around, I noticed that it was more symbiotic between the dancers and the observers as energy was being fed to all of them in a continuous cycle.

  Asrian jumped in with the Demon, and began to dance as Ristan opened his eyes and noticed me for the first time. It was as though a mask slid into place and he grinned and nodded to Asrian who took over conducting the impromptu party. I watched from my reclined position as he made his way over to where I sat upon the grass.

  “You shouldn’t be out here, Flower. Not with such precious cargo stowed away in your blessed womb,” he teased as he shook his finger at me as though I was a naughty child who had snuck out past curfew.

  “I had to mess with Zahruk a little, but he finally allowed me out to play with the grown-ups,” I said as I smiled at Zahruk, who stood alert, watching for threats. “So, what’s up with the show?” I smiled and placed my hand on where one of the twins continued to kick.

  “Fairy Ring—we will have a nice one going here by dawn. It’s a way of working things out. Some Humans work out, others go mad,” he replied smoothly with a devastating grin. He watched silently as Darynda sat beside me, and it didn’t slip our notice that Zahruk watched her as well. “Puzzles have a way of being solved when you least expect it,” he added softly.

  “Which puzzles are you working through?” I asked cautiously.

  “A shit storm of information with very little time to figure it out,” he replied easily, his eyes looked troubled, betraying his cheerful attitude. “Danu has been fucking me over with no new visions for the past month, and can’t seem to leave me alone. The Guild is slick with traitors and your uncle is too stubborn and prideful to just walk away. Just trying to see where it all connects, because it has to. Every puzzle has a starting piece,” he said on a deep exhale.

  “You, of all people, would like puzzles,” I smirked as I turned to look at the dancers when the music changed again. “Those first few weeks here, Ristan, I couldn’t have done it without you by my side. I’m pretty sure I would have killed at least a dozen Fae before I settled in without you guiding me,” I said.

  “You told me once that it’s what a true friend does, and you taught me a few unexpected things as well, Flower. Just tell me what is on your mind, weighing it down, and I will help you where I can. Even if you think it’s silly, sometimes it may be the most important thing,” he said as he gave me a meaningful look that made me feel even guiltier than I did before, that I was hiding who I was from both him and Ryder. I swallowed hard and nodded at him.

  “So tell me, Demon, what’s bothering you at the Guild?” I asked.

  He tilted his head and then narrowed his eyes as if he was considering it. “I want to pull your uncle out. It’s not safe in that place. Treachery is afoot and I’m watching a few of them who I suspect of being spies. Even one of the librarians seems to be in with the Mages,” he said on a growl.

  “A librarian, which one?” I asked having my curiosity rise. The library of the Guild was huge and complex. It ran deep beneath the entire city and housed most of the records for the entire Guild, which took a lot of work to protect and run it. There were about fifteen or more librarians who all reported to Alden.

  “She has dark red hair, and she’s not very tall,” he said but something in his tone caught my interest. Maybe it was nothing, but he seemed to be warring with something about this librarian. “At least I believe she is working with the Mages, and she has access to Alden; it just doesn’t sit well with me. She’s a piece of this puzzle, I can feel it. Alden won’t listen to me where she’s concerned though, says she’s a sweet girl who wouldn’t harm a fly.”

  I smiled and shook my head. “Olivia? Little mouse?” I asked with a wide grin. I knew her; we all called her the mouse, because when she spoke, it was just above a whisper and she was barely over five feet tall, at most. She’d only spoken to me a few times, and she’d looked as if she wanted to scamper off for the entire conversation.

  “If I didn’t know better, I’d say she’s part Demon,” he growled.

  “Olivia is sweet. She’s very timid, but still sweet, from what I know of her, anyway. She’s not a spy,” I said but then considered the fact that a few months ago, I wouldn’t have believed my Guild was the Mages’ main source of soldiers. “Well, maybe…Tell me why you think she is a spy.”

  “She has red hair, and she’s always listening, always,” he growled as his eyes moved over my swollen belly.

  “So since she has red hair and pays attention, that makes you believe she’s a spy for the Mages?” I continued.

  “That’s not all. I just have this gut feeling. I can’t read her. I can’t see her soul and mind. So far, those I can’t read have turned out to be Mages as it is a powerful spell to block someone like me. Only you and the Dark Princeling have been exceptions to that rule,” he said as he rolled over and propped himself on his elbows at eye level with my stomach. “You’ve grown a lot this week; have you talked to Eliran about it?” he asked carefully.

  “Yes; we’ve come to the conclusion that I’ve had my womb invaded by aliens which have now decided to use it to start a colony of clones,” I said as I tried to keep as straight of a face as I could manage while speaking of aliens.

  “Ha-ha,” he snapped as he rolled his eyes and tried to focus on my belly that continued to wobble with the squirming babies. “I’m serious; you’re as big as a house.”

  “Thanks for the confidence booster,” I replied, shaking my head at him. “You think it’s managed to slip my notice that I have a wide-load sticker on my ass?” I spoke in a heated tone, and then exhaled deeply. “Sorry, it’s kind of a sore subject with me at the moment, Demon.”

  “Has Eliran seen the genders yet?” he continued, ignoring my outburst.

  “No, they seem to prefer to hide it. Every time we try, it’s the same thing: either baby will have his or her rear end in the way, or a leg is blocking us, or an entire fetus. I seriously don’t care what they are though, Demon, as long as they are healthy.”

  “And Ryder? How has he been these days?” I awarded him with a sour look that gave him his answer. “Don’t give me that look, Flower. Must I remind you that he’s—”

  “Fae and love isn’t something you guys do a lot? No, I get it. Really, I do. The thing is, I wasn’t raised Fae and even if I had been, I’d still want love. Maybe it’s a female thing, but the Blood King and Queen, they have love. Actually, even Kier admitted he loves his wife so that’s two couples that I know of that don’t follow the norm. Ryder’s turned me into a giant beached whale and lately, he barely sticks around to do more than feed me. He was making an effort before, and now, nothing. I get that’s he’s super busy, but I need him right now, too.”

  “You do know he’s preparing for war, right?” Ristan said as he placed his palm over my swollen stomach. His eyes lit up with wonder as one of the babes kicked him. “That one must be female like her mother; she’s got spunk and an attitude behind that kick.”

  “Well, at least we already know that I have one boy inside there,” I said with a soft grin.

  “Just because the vision showed you handing Adam a son, doesn’t mean they will both be males. After all, I was wrong about who had sired them; I could be wrong about the sex of the child as well.”

  “True, since you didn’t see both of them in the vision,” I whispered. I was afraid to say it out loud, but we both knew that the chance of both babies making it out alive was slim. I’d conceived th
em immediately after Transition which was unheard of by Fae standards, and no one knew what it meant, or how it would affect them. Not even Danu had an answer to that question.

  “Don’t go there,” Ristan said softly as he nodded to Zahruk, who had made an impatient noise indicating that he felt my playtime among the lesser Fae was over. “I haven’t seen them die,” he said as his eyes tightened as he watched me. His hand continued to stroke where the babe had yet to stop kicking.

  “You haven’t seen them though, Demon; at least, not through to their adulthood. You can see Ryder’s future as the King, but you’ve yet to see me or his children in it. I’m just worried that with the war coming, they will be born into a broken world which will be too damaged to accept them.”

  “That’s good,” he said with a mischievous smile on his full lips. “It means you’re thinking like a mother already. Now, back to what’s bothering me,” he said with a roguish wink. “The librarian, how well do you know her?”

  “She’s a mouse. Why, you thinking of fucking the information out of her?” I teased.

  “I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t know what to do with a cock if it was staring her in the eye. She’s a little too prim and proper for my taste, which, as you know, I like the kinky fuckery.”

  “Nice mental picture, Demon, can I go toss my cookies now?” I said, wincing.

  “I’m serious. She’s so far from my type that I’d rather bend a Light Fae over and go to town. Better one of those insufferable pricks than that little wench. At least they’d know what to do with a cock,” he continued.

  “Now I need ear bleach! But, on a serious note, I think you’re protesting a little too much. Maybe you have a slight Demon type crush on the poor little mouse?” I joked with a knowing grin.

  “She could be in league with the Mages! Who knows anymore? I can’t abide betrayers and I have had more than enough of them lately.” He grimaced as he expelled a shallow breath.

  “I doubt it, but anything is possible,” I conceded.

  “She’s a fucking she-demon in pretty pink heels,” he grumbled.

  “Oh, here now, Demon, maybe you just want her to play with your Lego parts, and tinker with your big blue balls? Just once?” I said.

  He laughed outright, which made me smile so big it actually hurt. His snort afterwards brought us back to the problem at hand. “My balls are not blue, and I will even volunteer to show them to you for proof; can’t let you go around thinking my boys are from a toy store and shit.”

  “Ristan,” Ryder growled as he materialized behind us. “You have somewhere else you need to be?”

  “Not really,” Ristan said absently as he stood up and began working the buttons of his pants.

  I covered my eyes as I squealed with laughter. “Don’t do it!” I said between giggles that felt good, even if they did hurt my middle.

  “You show her, and I will promise to make them blue for real, brother,” Ryder growled.

  “She accused my boys of being blue! I only offered to let her inspect them to assure her I suffered no such disorder,” Ristan said between a snort and a laugh.

  “Enough, children,” Ryder said as his glittering golden eyes took in the size of my midsection. “You’re too exposed out here, and I’d like to feed you, Pet.”

  Chapter Two

  Ryder spent the next few days checking our defenses, knowing that sooner or later, they’d bring the fight to us. Somehow I didn’t see them coming here, or being the whole charge kind of army that Ryder thought them to be. I was looking beyond that to treachery from within.

  Claire was an obvious one for me, but she’d been submissive to the point of grotesque since the Mages attacked us during the coronation and Ryder called off the engagement to her sister. I wasn’t sure why she’d stayed, but she had. Every once in a while I’d catch her staring openly at my massive midsection, but today there was something else there—I just couldn’t figure out what it was.

  I pretended to not see it as I headed to the library with the guards, trailing close behind me until I was safely behind the doors.

  “So, what do we get to learn today?” I asked softly as all eyes turned to me. I had been in the Horde Kingdom for several months now, and even though I had learned a lot, there was still so much more to take in and Dristan had just been giving me the highlights of it all. I had also been getting daily rations of the language that the Horde used, which had to be learned. Evidently, it couldn’t just be magically understood as I had understood most of the other dialects so far. No, this one had to actually be taught, and I wasn’t making very much progress. I’d agreed to it for the sake of the twins, since I wanted to be a part of this world with them. I also wanted to be the one who taught them when they were old enough to learn.

  Dristan scooted a stack of books my way and Ristan pulled my chair out for me. He was rarely in on these sessions since he had been spending much of his time at the Guild, so this was a nice change. Darynda sifted in quietly, as not to disturb the lesson, and smiled as she handed me a mug which was filled with chamomile tea and sugar cubes. I’d decided to reduce my caffeine intake to almost none, mostly because I was under the impression that it was somehow missing my system and going directly to the babes who then used it to kick the crap out of me.

  I got engrossed in Ristan and Dristan’s lessons and it was about two hours and five trips to the bathroom later that I found myself exploding with laughter. We were on to the history portion of my day, or as I liked to call it, crash course of Fae 101. The lessons were extensive, but then, considering how ancient the race was, I had a lot to catch up on.

  “He did not!” I smiled, tears in my eyes from laughing too hard. Ristan was telling me about their distant cousin who had gotten into Ambrosia right before one of the Horde’s skirmishes with my people; the Blood Fae and had made quite a mess of things from the rear.

  “Okay, Demon. I have a question for you,” I giggled mischievously. “I thought that Demons had horns and tails, or like wings and stuff—so how come you and Alannah don’t?” I watched as my question put a guarded look in his eyes and his face fell. He actually looked at a loss of words for the first since I had met him. I lowered my eyes to watch his throat as it bobbed, before he finally spoke.

  “Uh, Ryder is calling for me,” he whispered as his chair screeched as he abruptly stood and sifted out of the room. I looked to Dristan for the answer. The look in Dristan’s emerald eyes made my heart lurch. What the hell had I said?

  “Did Ristan just lie to me?” I asked slowly and watched as Dristan nodded his head.

  “He can and does,” he shrugged as the words flowed. “Don’t ask him about the wings and the things you think a Demon should have, Synthia.”

  “Why, he tells me just about everything else. I didn’t think anything of it since even his sex life is available in all its sordid details upon request.”

  “Ristan had them, Synthia. He had wings, horns, and the tail. For about two hours after he finished his version of our Transition. Alazander docked them just as he had with Alannah. He wasn’t perfect enough for our father, and so he made him as he wanted him to be. Ristan was born to be a true Demon; he just wasn’t allowed to remain so.”

  I felt sick as I looked up at Dristan in unhidden horror at the monster that had sired him. “But wouldn’t they just grow back eventually? The Fae heal their wounds, even he did when the Mages tore him to pieces.”

  Dristan shook his thick chestnut colored curls and lifted his tri-colored eyes to meet mine. “He uses glamour to hide the scars, but he has them still, his skin never healed from the damage. When Alexzander was of a mind to take something, it stayed gone. As you know, it’s part of the power of the Horde King, to scar when he wishes it. You saw your brother and what happened to him,” he said softly.

  Liam had extensive damage to his face that had
never healed. His hands had been taken during his imprisonment, but they had grown back, and Ryder had done that to secure my place in his pavilion. The difference was, one was the Horde King, and the other had been the Horde Heir. “If Ryder had been the King when he’d cut Liam’s hands off…?” I asked.

  “Ryder was never as cruel as our father,” he said with a distant look in his eyes. “The only wound he ever delivered that was permanent was our father’s death. He is just in his rulings, and never abuses his powers to bring others down unless he’s backed into a corner.”

  “I should find Ristan and apologize for stirring up the pot,” I said as I mulled over what had been said.

  “He’s just outside the door. He wouldn’t leave you unprotected while we are scheduled with your care. Ryder is afraid I’d try to get into your pants. Even with your blooming condition. It is probably why one of my brothers is always scheduled to be here during your lessons.” He grinned with a roguish look filling his eyes. I’m sure that look had left panties littered on the ground in the Human world. I patted his hand and pushed up from the table and grimaced as I felt like a penguin waddling to the door.

  Sure enough, Ristan was there in the corridor, staring off into space. Or, maybe he was reliving old nightmares because I’d opened my mouth and swallowed my swollen ankle. “Hey, Demon,” I said softly as I looked up at him. His smirk was on cue, as if he had expected me. He offered me his arm and I accepted the extra support.

  “Hey yourself, Flower. You ready to be delivered back to your tower?”

  “Towers aren’t really my thing,” I said with a small smile. “My hair’s too short, and I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t make great rope,” I said as I crinkled my nose. I caught the start of a smile on his lips. “I wanted to say sorry about sticking my foot in it.” He snorted and looked down at me as he slid his fingers into my hand and held it protectively.