“The Horde King has many sons to lead his army. The Horde does not produce females often, and they are overrun by strong son’s, which allows the King to be gone for extended periods. It seems that the two castes had a nasty falling out, and the back and forth between the two of them had gone on for a very long time. I understand that they had finally reached an agreement, and the Blood King reneged on his promise, so they are back at it again. As the Dark Fae are allies of the Horde, it puts us in an uncomfortable position of choosing sides.”
“Do you know where he is?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.
“No, I don't have any idea where he is,” he replied, looking at me directly in the eye. Well shoot, I was hoping he would know, seeing that he and the Horde King were friendly.
“What did Ryder have to say about all of this?” I asked, holding his eyes level with my own.
“He has no say in this. Synthia, you and my son are bonded already. If I petition the Light Fae, they will give you to Adam. They are trying to avoid war with the Dark Fae after what they did with Arianna. The Dark Fae are a good deal stronger than the Light Fae, and they would prefer to avoid an all-out war with us. The Light Fae would prefer to publicly behave as if they are our dearest friends, and, in secret, they are always looking for a good place to stick a knife into our backs. The Light Fae deny that Faery is dying because this ‘plague’, for lack of a better word, strikes the stronger castes first, so they have not felt the full impact of what the rest of the castes have. My sense is that they hope the rest of the stronger castes will succumb to the affliction and then they will be the strongest caste by default. I only speculate this because they have done everything they can to stall or stop our efforts, so we are forced, for the most part, to go around them. At this point, our relationship with them is becoming more and more contentious. Eventually, they will wake up to what is going on and need the ‘cure’ as much as the rest of us do. However, my fear is that it will be too late by the time they wise-up and stop deluding themselves. We will give you time to decide, but, since you are almost fully through Transition, you won’t have long to give us an answer. We would need to have the marriage blessed soon, and a child produced as quickly as could be managed.”
Chapter Twenty Seven
I was curled up on the bed in the room I’d been sharing with Ryder as I waited for him to come back. I’d sifted here directly from the meeting with Adam and his father to be alone. Unable to hold the emotions in any longer, I’d lost it and cried until I’d felt drained. Childish, yes probably, but it was as if life was throwing every curveball it had at me. It was getting harder to duck when they came sailing at my head.
The clock was ticking by with agonizing slowness as I waited. I could hear the minute hand from across the room, and sleep wasn’t coming. I’d opted out of comfort from Adrian, not because I didn’t need it, but because I had to think. Or so I had thought, but thinking wasn’t helping. What I needed was for Ryder to show up and tell me he wouldn’t allow this to happen.
I had a sick feeling in my stomach that said he wouldn’t this time. That, even though he’d said I was his, with the fate of Faery in the balance, he’d let me go. Hell, he’d probably hold the door for me and help me pack what meager belongings I had. We’d become more than just lovers over the past week, and it was breaking my heart to even think about leaving him. When the hell had I started thinking like that!?
Tears welled up in my eyes again, and I allowed a few to drop. I wasn’t sure I could do this. I loved Adam, but not in a way that this would ever make sense. I couldn’t honestly walk away and let children die either. What the hell kind of a person would I be if I did so? Was it bad that I wanted to be that person who could walk away, and say, not my problem? It was overwhelming and just plain sucked!
I was still awake when Ryder came into the room. I sat up slowly, wondering if he’d heard the news. He wouldn’t look me in the eye at first. That alone told me that he did, in fact, know what had occurred.
“Ryder?” I asked, pushing the covers off and throwing my legs over the edge of the mattress. He turned those beautiful eyes on me, and my heart dropped at what I saw. He wasn’t going to help me. “I can’t marry Adam, Ryder. There has to be a different way to save Faery.”
“Don’t you think I’ve fucking tried, Syn? I’ve been searching for it since I got here.” He dragged his fingers through his hair and let loose a string of curses before he turned and sifted out of the room, leaving me to stare at the empty space he’d just been standing in.
He wasn’t going to save me, and, even though I knew it. It hurt. I crawled into a ball on the bed, and silently cried myself sleep.
*~*~*~*~*Ryder*~*~*~*~*
“Ristan,” I growl, letting them hear the inner rattle of the beast as he tries to get out.
“I can’t change what I’ve seen, Ryder. Syn and Adam secure an heir together. I’ve seen him with her and the child. You did the right thing by telling Kier the truth of it,” Ristan said.
“You said you couldn’t see her future, and now you can?” I snarl, barely resisting the urge to throw the Demon across the room.
“I don’t control how this works, or what I see. I can only tell you what I see. I do wish it were otherwise. I know how much you want to keep her. It’s best you let her go. This is part of what we came here to do. We know the Mages are working within the Guild. We have identified most of the other groups they are hiding behind. We just have to flush them out and kill them now.”
“I fucking know that! She wasn’t supposed to be the fucking Light Heir. She was supposed to be some nobody I could keep. And you’re positive it’s Adam’s child she has?” I ask carefully.
“They are in a room together, and she’s presenting him with a son. It’s Adam, not you, and it’s not as if I would be giving you this shitty news if I had another option.”
“You better be fucking sure, Demon. I don’t like to lose. Period. Does it give Faery a fighting chance to heal?” I want to break shit. I want to tear the fucking club down around me. Mostly, I want to sift back to that room, and wipe the uncertainty from Syn’s beautiful face and hold her. I want a lot, and with every fucking word the Demon spews out, I want to sift back in and take her away from it all.
“It’s two interlocking pieces of a bigger puzzle. We don’t know what the future holds even with this new development. We can only pray to Danu that it works. If we don’t allow this to play out, we may be taking away the only chance Faery has. So far every vision she has given me has turned out to be the right path—well not as we thought the path was going to turn out, but the end results of following the visions were successful. We still need the relics, but if Syn and Adam produce an heir that lives…they could save Faery. We could do exactly what we came here to do by giving her to Kier, and washing our hands of her and Adam in the process.”
“And the Light Fae? What part do they play in this? Can they even be trusted to be close to her? She’s potentially preventing Dresden from producing his own heir. We have been hearing the rumors for years about the assassins who are after the Light Heir, which was why I did not think anything about Arianna’s guards asking for more assistance,” I growl. She’s mine to protect. I won’t send her in to be slaughtered by those presumptuous, self-serving bastards. She’s right; the Horde is better than those egotistical pricks.
“Dresden would want her dead, in a very bad way, yes. She can never be alone with them, which is a no brainer. He’d kill her without remorse and without so much as blinking an eye. As it stands, Tatiana will be lucky if he allows her to remain as his Queen.”
“I won’t allow him to succeed. I’d take out the fucking Horde King himself for Synthia.”
The men gave amused smirks and snorts of agreement. This wasn’t going down the way I’d planned it. I’d vowed to make her mine. Now, I had to shove her into the arms of another man. Would she go willingly? Would she give him the soul searing kisses she’d given me? Fuck! “Zahruk, send men out to get
feelers on the Mages, I want them buried in the ground before we leave this place. Ristan, if this vision changes, and you see anything, I want to know immediately. You will also need to show Syn what is happening. She won’t go into this easily without knowing what she would be walking away from. She will need to see the future you have shown me in order for her to make the right choice.”
I exhale as my chest rattles from the beast within. He's pacing, and growling, shaking his cage violently to get out. He's enjoyed her body, mind, and so much more. Her wicked little fucking smile, her sensual heat that envelopes her eyes when she explodes on my cock. Fuck!
Adam would marry Syn, and they'd have pretty little babies. Pretty little babies that could potentially save our fucking world. It was a cruel fucking joke the gods were playing on me. Ristan had seen it, he'd fucking seen it. Fuck! I'd known she was special from the beginning. The beast inside of me had known as well.
I have to get her out of my system, purge her from it brutally. Hard to do, when all I want to do is bury myself inside of her warmth and stay there forever. My entire life is one cluster fuck of endless denials, and now I have to hand over the only woman who has ever fed the inner beast, and left the fucker purring like a sated kitten.
“Sinjinn,” I growl angrily, not bothering to shield them from the displeasure I feel.
“What's up?” Sinjinn asks, coming instantly to his feet.
“Prepare the men to be ready to leave this world for our own by the end of the week. I want to be out of here as soon as possible. Start preparing for the club to be handed over to Vlad for safe keeping. He can just as easily send word to Faery if he gleans any information we need. I won’t be coming back. Have Zane gather the others and tell them it's time we go home.”
“And Faery? Will this actually work, Brother?” Dristan asks with confusion in his green eyes.
“Syn will save it. Ristan has seen it. She'll marry Adam, and have true heirs who will bond to the world, and start the healing process. In the end, she will save it,” I snarl, unhappy with admitting it. Fuck, it tastes like shit in my mouth. Saying it makes my chest hurt. She’s under my fucking skin. She burrowed her way under the steel shield that had grown around my heart, and she’s gotten in to it.
“She doesn't love Adam, she won't go for this,” Adrian snarls, coming to his feet to challenge me.
“She doesn't have a choice, boy. Children are dying because the realm of Faery isn't embracing them. Someone fucked with it, and she is the cure. Get it? If I have to drag her fucking ass to him, she's doing this!”
“She'll hate you. If you were going to toss her aside from the beginning, you should have let someone who loved her, fight for her!” the kid shouts.
I smile coldly. “Who? You? You jumped for the chance to become the undead. Did you fucking tell her that? That you didn't have to be asked twice? Or were you happy letting me take the full blame?”
“Vlad offered the deal. I chose as you knew I would. I wanted power—but I’m not stupid enough not to put the pieces together. You knew I’d take it. I died for her to live, so I could protect her. You planned it all just to have her, and now you’re sending her away. If you won’t fight for her, I will.”
“Think it matters? She's going. End of fucking discussion. People are dying kid, and she can fix it. What do you think she will do; walk away from them? Not fucking likely. So understand this: it's not a choice I can make. You know she will choose to help, because deep down she will always strive to be someone others can believe in. In the end, she will always choose to help innocent people. It’s who she is. Like it or not, that’s what attracts us to her. She’s selfless and pure—unlike us, boy.”
“Adrian, go back to the club. I'll meet you there soon,” Vlad said, placing a hand on the kid’s shoulder.
I hate that I respect the little shit. He'd cut off his fucking legs for Syn if he was asked to. It made it hard to hate the little fuck. I pushed him, and he pushed back. He'd be a warrior of worth if he lived long enough to train. Chances were he'd mouth off to someone, and end up dead before he reached that status. “Vlad,” I nod in greeting.
“Ryder, I'll handle the club until you want it back. I got one club, don't need two. If you ever come back, it's yours,” Vlad says with a look of sympathy in his silver gaze. I fail to hide the pain. She’s inside of me now. They can see it. Fucking hell, I cannot afford to show weakness.
“Not sure I'll be coming back, Vlad. Eventually Dristan might, but I have responsibilities that need me. It needs to be done and it’s time to face it, finally.”
“If you need me, you know how to contact me.”
“I do, and the same goes for you, Vlad. If you ever need us, I mean ever, send word and we will be there. You've been a big help. You will be greatly rewarded for your services.”
I shake his hand and take a long look around the club I'd built. So much information gathered here, right under the Light Fae’s noses. Years of living in this world, and it is quickly drawing to a close. It is time to go home, and let the beast run free. He'll need it, when Syn is gone, that she belongs to someone else.
I hate it, fucking hate it. If it had been anything besides my fucking homeland, I'd fight like a starving fucking wolf to keep her. I can't fight this, though, not even for her. The entire world depends on it. Too much could be fixed from her and Adam's union to ignore it.
Chapter Twenty Eight
I felt his eyes watching me before I fully woke up. He was leaning against the wall with his arms folded over his chest as he watched me sleep. I sat up slowly, sensing he was going to talk about what had occurred with Adam and his father this morning. As he continued to stare at me, my heart flipped once before it shattered inside my chest. He was going to choose Faery over fighting for me.
“I need you to know that if there was another way, I’d take it in a fucking heartbeat, Synthia. The fact of the matter is…right now, this is all we have to work with. I need help finding a few more relics which, when secured, will help heal the land, and allow it to help the child you will give birth to.” He stopped as if saying it tasted foul on his tongue. “It will help the child that you and Adam have,” he paused, and closing his eyes so briefly that I wasn’t sure I had seen it, “bond with the land,” he finished painfully.
“You think the same thing that they do?” I asked, carefully schooling my emotions. I wanted to scream and cry, deny that I’d go. In the end, we both knew the truth.
“Unfortunately, yes. It’s what Ristan has seen. He has shown it to me. You give Adam a child; a son.”
“So, you expect me to just go along with it?” I snarled, tired of everyone telling me what to do. I wanted him! I blinked at the realization that I wanted to stay with Ryder. I swallowed the cry that tried to gain passage from my lips. I was so stupid. He had a harem of women waiting for him, and here I was…falling for him. Stupid heart! Stupid emotions! Why did they always showed up too late to be useful?
“There’s something Ristan needs to show you. After that, you can decide on what’s the right thing to do, Synthia,” Ryder said softly.
Ristan materialized by the door a moment later, as if he’d been waiting for Ryder to just say the words. His demeanor was sad and uncharacteristic of his normally smartass-self. “Syn,” he said softly, bowing his head to me slightly. His patterned eyes said what his lips would never say, ‘I’m sorry’.
I watched him walk over to the bed and sit beside me. He held out his hand as if he expected me to accept it. “What?” I asked, unsure of his motives, or if I wanted to actually see what he would show me. It was so much easier to walk away, oblivious to what was happening around us, but knowing could set me on a path I didn’t want to walk.
“Synthia, allow him to show you what you would fix,” Ryder said, still leaning against the wall with his face now hidden in the shadows.
I placed my hand inside Ristan’s much larger one and met his swirling gaze. “Beam me up, Scotty,” I whispered, terrified of wha
t I was now bound to see.
“Remember, it’s only a projection and no one will know we are there, Flower.”
One minute we were in the bedroom, and the next we were standing in a large medical facility. It looked like something from an apocalyptic movie. Women sobbed as they held lifeless infants against their breasts, men watched them with helpless defeat marked on their brows. Healers and their assistants looked around, hopeless, while infants wailed from small makeshift cribs. Death hung on the air, holding close for the next victim to pass away.
“Why is this happening to Faery? The Mages? Why aren’t the healers doing anything?” I asked, turning to find Ristan watching me closely.
“There’s nothing they can do, Syn. Our world is rejecting them because it’s been poisoned. The Fae who were injected with iron…same sort of thing was done with Faery. She’s dying now, and the infants and children perish because the land can no longer welcome them. The visions I get—well—they show the heir’s giving birth to the next generations of heirs—one’s who can bond to the world and start healing it from the inside out. The Mages poisoned it, and Danu will not assist us in healing it unless we make the first move. By going with Adam, you would be doing what is necessary for this world to begin healing. You can stop this, Synthia. I had, at one point, thought you were against us, or some sort of distraction to throw Ryder off his goal, and that was why I couldn’t see your future. Now, I know it’s because you are a part of the cure, and Danu made me wait until the time was right to see your future.”
“This is crazy. This is happening now?” I asked, unable to take my eyes away from the horrifying scene in front of us.
Ristan shook his head and grabbed my hand. No longer were we inside the medical pavilion; we stood in a forest surrounded by ancient oak trees. “This is the heart of Faery,” he said, when I looked at him.
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