I moved from him, looking all around us at the ancient dying trees. I turned as I felt Ristan’s hand reach for mine, and, once again, he sifted us somewhere else. This place took my breath away. Water covered the ground and, even though we stood above it, you could feel it on your flesh. Moisture completely saturated the air, creating a pureness from its beauty. A thousand tiny fireflies lit up the night sky, as smaller ones covered the trees, giving them a luminescent glow.
“It’s beautiful,” I whispered holding my hand out for one of the many flying bugs.
“I wouldn’t do that; they bite,” Ristan said, acting as if he was shooing the small creature away. It wasn’t a bug; it was a Fairy.
They were trying to heal the land. Thousands of them worked together to protect the ancient forest, but they were fighting a losing battle. “I can fix this by marrying Adam,” I whispered through thick tears that tightened my throat.
“You can, but you’d have to let Ryder go, Syn. It’s not going to be easy for either of you. He is trying to walk away. You need to let him go, so that he can do it. This is going to hurt you both, but, eventually, both of you are going to do the right thing for both worlds.”
No, it wouldn’t be easy. I didn’t know if I could do this. Not even to save one world from dying. I wasn’t a selfish person, but Adam? Marry Adam to save the world. Okay, it wasn’t the whole marry Adam part that got me…it was the produce an heir part…sex with Adam. It was laughable. We were as close as siblings, or at least on my end we were.
“You’re asking a lot. You are asking me to sleep with someone that I’ve considered a brother for most of my life. I’d be giving up my life for your world, Ristan. One that didn’t want me.”
“I know, but I also know it’s not inside of you to just walk away. You cured the dying in the medical ward because you were tired of death; tired of being unable to save people you cared about. Imagine what would happen if the entire Fae race was to descend upon the human world. Only one percent of our world has left for Earth so far, and billions more would make the jump if they had no choice but to do it in order to live. Would you stand by and allow that to happen if you could help us stop it?”
“No, but you guys knew that. Ryder knew what choice I would make if I saw this. It’s why he had you bring me here. Dirty. Plain and simple, Ristan. You just took my choice away from me. Bravo, now take me back.” It was the truth. Those faces of the dying would haunt me if I chose to walk away. I’d see them in my nightmares, and every moment of the day. They’d known. So, to make my choice, they’d brought me here to show me, up close and personal, what I would be walking away from.
“We knew, yes. We had to have you see what was happening, so you would understand why we are doing what we have to. This isn’t something that would go away for either of you. We came to your world to find the heirs, secure the relics, and gain a foothold against the Mages. You’ve already helped us in that department. It’s not fair of us to ask more, but it’s also not fair for us to walk away when we can ask you to help stop this.”
“I just need to know what makes you so sure that I’m the Light Heir, that I’m the Heir that the prophecy spoke of. Don’t these types of visions have to be interpreted anyway?” I was grasping at straws, I knew it, but I had to try. Ristan nodded solemnly.
“Yes, they do normally, but it isn’t exactly easy since often the vision is the path that we need to take to get to the solution. Sometimes, what is shown, gets us to the solution; just not the way we thought we would get there.”
“How so?” Demon lingo was making my brain itch with more questions than I had intended to ask. He didn’t seem to have a simple answer.
“Well, most recently, I had a vision of you and your friends in a late morning setting, in front of a crowd of dancers in a courthouse. You saw Arianna there and became violently ill at whatever you had witnessed. That vision fast forwarded, and I could only see a flash of the newspaper headline of the Guild being cleared in the attack on the club. I could not see what you did at that moment, but I knew that, even though we did not understand what the Light Fae end-game was with Arianna, the vision told me that I had to free you from the mansion, so that we could get to the bottom of what it was. I also had hoped to do so before Ryder tore the Guild down seeking revenge.” Ristan closed his eyes and did a little mock-shudder. “When I saw her on the ballroom floor after you used her for target practice, I knew what the vision meant. Before that one, I had a vision of the newspaper announcing that Ryder offered a marriage contract to the recently recovered Light Heir who had been named Arianna. Then the vision flipped, fast forwarding a short time frame later, and showed Ryder and Kier together in the foyer of the mansion. He had an expression of wonder on his face as he felt the paternal-bond clicking into place when the true Dark Heir was returned to him. I knew our goals, and I knew that Ryder wasn’t the Dark Heir, and I knew that the only missing Light Princess was named Caitlín. So when the Light Fae approached Kier and offered him the missing princess, who was going by her adoptive name of Arianna—well, you know what we did after that. I never saw Adam in the vision with Kier and Ryder, and you and I both know that it happened just as I described it, Flower.”
“What would you have done if you were wrong, if you’d misinterpreted the vision?” I couldn’t help but ask since it was my life that was now riding on his visions.
“Fortunately for Ryder, some Fae engagements can last a really long time. The visions always led us to where we are supposed to be. It’s the journey that can get challenging and often times it takes a while before we understand Danu’s overall plan. I know we are asking you to put your faith in something that is really outside of your comfort zone and frame of reference, but this can’t continue, and you know deep down that this is the right thing to do. You’re a gentle soul, even if you do bite sometimes, Flower. We already know that you do the right thing here, because I’ve seen it.”
I glared at him before sighing. He was right, this couldn’t go on. I was smart enough to understand that what I was seeing was the truth. Faery was dying, and with it, so too would the human world when they made the jump. They fed from us...err, humans. It was a no brainer to guess what would happen when that came to pass. “And the relics Ryder needed?”
“We still need them. Ryder was hoping you’d help us find them before your marriage to Adam, but time is short. Your womb clock is ticking. The Dark King will demand you go to him, so that you can be prepped for your role in our world. Ryder will no doubt be able to work a deal with him as to your involvement in helping us find the lost relics. Adam will be needed as well.”
“Take me back to Ryder, please.”
Ristan’s projection faded, and we found Ryder sitting on the bed beside us, his head resting in his hands. He looked up as we came back to ourselves and our surroundings. Pain was carving out my chest, making the path ready for my heart to be ripped out with the decision I would make. I’d lose him; my beautiful golden-eyed Fairy. “Leave us please, Ristan,” I whispered.
Ryder lifted his tortured gaze up to meet mine from where I sat next to him. He swallowed and tried to look away, as if the sight of me brought him pain. “You saw it. What is your decision?”
“You,” I whispered brokenly. “My choice will always be you, Ryder.” I sat up and captured his face between my hands, forcing him to look at me.
“Synthia, sometimes what we want, and what we have to do just don’t align, and we have to do what is right. I have been doing my best to stay on my path, and follow the fucking rules, except with you. When it came to you, I couldn’t leave it alone. Couldn’t do what was right and just fucking walk away. You weren’t something I could have ever prepared for. Your sassy mouth.” His eyes locked with mine as his arms pulled me closer. “Your devotion to those you love, Pet. You are the most selfless person I have ever met. Your soul, while it may be stained, is pure and beautiful.”
“Did you fall for me, Ryder? The sassy mouthed little Witch, who drove
you crazy?” I joked, but his eyes held no humor.
“No, I didn’t fall in love with you,” he whispered, and my heart shattered a little more.
“Good, because that would probably make leaving you impossible,” I whispered, and started to pull away from him. He didn’t allow it. Instead, he pulled me closer until I had no choice but to straddle to his lap. “Ryder,” I shook my head, fighting the tears that threatened to fall.
“You’ve left a mark on me that will never be replaced. I’m incapable of loving anyone. You have turned my world upside down, Pet. I want you—the visions don’t change that. Let me make love to you, Synthia. Let me show you what you make me feel. I need to be with you now. I need to feel you beneath me. I need to touch your soul and leave my mark on you, so that you never forget me.”
His mouth was soft and searching as he kissed me. His hands held me immobile in his arms. His warmth sank in to my bones, as his erection pressed against me. His power vibrated through me, and I didn’t want him to stop. I didn’t want this to stop, this, well, whatever we had together. I wanted him to keep me. I wanted him.
His mouth drove me insane as his tongue caressed mine, as his clothes melted away with his magic. He didn’t remove mine with magic. Instead, he took each piece off slowly as if he was trying to commit every fine detail to memory.
I captured his head with my hands, and opened myself for him to ravish. I spread my legs in open invitation, and he growled hungrily with approval. We were together in this moment, and the vision could wait. In this place and time, we were living in the present, and not with what we both knew would happen soon.
Chapter Twenty Nine
I was scheduled to meet the Light Fae in the presence of Adam and his father. Ryder and his men would also be present. I wasn’t looking forward to this, and, personally, I could have gone the rest of my life without meeting them. I’d worn a skirt and a sleeveless blouse at Ryder’s request, but had skipped putting on any make-up, since I had absolutely no desire to impress the Light Fae. I was sitting at the bar waiting for the inevitable to happen when a strong hand landed reassuringly on my shoulder.
“You look like you’re about to throw up, or run away. Which one is it, Kid?” Alden said, seating himself beside me.
“It might be both. Why are you here?” I asked, wondering how he’d gotten away to come here.
“This old man has ways of finding things out, Synthia. Besides, I couldn’t let my only family meet her other family without me here to support her,” he said before reaching for my hand, and squeezing after shooting me a reassuring look. “I’m here for you, Kid, always and forever. I told you, McKenna’s stick together, Kid. It doesn’t matter if you’re my family by blood, or not. You’re my niece in here,” Alden thumped his heart and smiled reassuringly. “That’s all that matters to me.”
“Thanks,” I said, grinning into his gentle, smiling blue eyes.
The commotion at the club’s doors wiped the smile from my lips, as a huge group of people entered. Adam and his father were close to the doors, and the first to their feet with the arrival of the Light Fae. Ryder swiftly walked over to stand in front of me as the crowd came in.
They were all impossibly beautiful. Their hair was varying shades of whitish blonde, while their eyes ranged from shades of sky blue, to my own electric blue and lilac colored eyes. Power radiated from them, but it lacked Ryder’s raw current that sometimes resembled a downed power line.
“Only address them if they speak directly to you. Let me do the talking,” Ryder hissed against my ear, before he grabbed my hand, and pulled me across the room to stand by his men. Once again, they created a wall around me.
“You had better have a damn good reason for calling us here. Kier, this is a direct breach of etiquette. Next time you summon us, it had damn well better follow the rules of protocol,” the tallest of the group growled out to Kier who was, even now, waiting to greet to the Light Fae.
“You wouldn’t know protocol, Dresden, if it slapped you upside the head and said hello,” Adam’s father replied innocently. Oh yes, he had been waiting for this showdown for a while.
“I see you haven’t changed a bit. So tell me, what has you breaking protocol this time, Kier?”
“I found something you lost,” he said with a mischievous smile on his lips.
“And what would that be? I didn’t come here to play word games with you. Spit it out already,” the Light King demanded.
“Your daughter. The real one. We found her.”
“I see, and why should we believe you? Considering we have already had one imposter trying to pass herself off as my wife’s child, I’m hesitant to buy another so easily,” Dresden said with his own lips lifting into a sardonic smile.
“Because we have a seer among us, and he has seen the union of the Light Heir, and the Dark Heir, my son. They are to have a child that heals Faery of the toxins induced by the Mages. Ristan, would you care to explain what you have seen to them?” Kier asked, tilting his dark head toward the Demon who stood and nodded his agreement.
“Your majesty, I can see the past, and the future. Sight is granted to me by Danu herself, and she has shown me that this girl is the Heir, and she has shown me her part in fixing our world,” Ristan said, bowing his head to the Light King.
“You seem rather full of yourself. Are you sure you want to continue?” Dresden taunted silkily.
“We think you knew that Arianna was one of the Mages puppets,” Ristan said, smiling coldly and losing all pretense of friendliness.
“Obviously you’re mistaken on interpreting what you see, Demon,” the King said snidely.
“I didn’t interpret much of this particular vision. It showed me that you willingly sent Arianna to the Dark Fae with emissaries that could lie, because you knew she wasn’t your wife’s child. The vision showed me that Arianna was sent by someone to do harm to the Dark Fae, so you thought that you would let it play out. Two birds with one stone and all that. But then we knew you were up to something. We had heard enough rumors over the years about you searching for her—not to bring her back to her mother, no—you wanted to find her to kill her. Why, after all these years of searching, would you suddenly offer her to us instead of keeping her with her family for a while, or killing her immediately? We decided to watch and wait. Even the botched attempts from the assassins seemed to show they were pulling back and waiting for something. We figured out what that something was when it was discovered that Arianna was just a meat puppet. So, if you want to get into breaking protocol, by all means, let’s take this to the Fae council.”
No comment this time from the Light King, only a slight narrowing of his baby-blue and lapis eyes.
“This is outrageous,” the Light Queen interrupted quickly, with a sheltered look in her eyes. “We are not held to the humans’ laws. My husband was within his right to dispose of the child from a union that was not his. I am responsible for this, and, as the mother, I can seek to have the child disposed of.”
The Light King glared openly at Ristan, whose eyes had begun to swirl in his telling of the story. “You are making some very serious charges. Make your point. I’m low on patience, Demon.”
“I just did. Kier will take it from here,” Ristan said.
“This is why you called me here? For this? I am within my rights to kill any illegitimate heir my wife sired from another, if that were the case. I am shocked at these allegations you are making, you filthy Demon! There was more than enough evidence to support that Arianna was my wife’s missing daughter when we signed the contract for her to wed the Dark Prince. We were tricked as you were, Kier.”
“You may not have said she was the Heir—I think Arianna started that nonsense. However, you knew that she was not the missing Light Princess when you offered her to us. You thought she would take us out, giving you full rein on both worlds, because you assholes have been trying to find a way back to the most power since Anise lost the relics,” Ryder growled, finally coming into
the fray.
“I signed a binding contract with you. You also turned out to be not as you appeared. Seems we were both wrong, Kier, so it stands to reason that the contract is no longer binding. Now, let me see this child you claim to be my wife’s daughter. I’d see the new imposter with my own eyes.”
“She’s under my protection. I suggest you call off the assassins, and remove all thoughts of killing her from your agenda, Dresden. For if one hair is harmed on her pretty little head, I know who to kill,” Ryder growled as he let his power push through the room, raw and electrical.
“You have a lot of power for someone without a crown. The last time I felt anything close to that much power running through a Fae’s veins, I was standing next to Alazander, the Horde King.” Dresden said, eyeing Ryder cautiously.
“As you can see, I am not Alazander. I’m also not the Dark Heir, so I’m a free agent who can kill anyone who challenges me, or tries to hurt anyone I’m protecting,” Ryder growled with his lips twisting in the corners. Dresden let out a whoop of laughter that he directed at Ryder.
“No one would every mistake you for the Horde King! Alazander definitely knows how to keep his people in line and respectful!” The Light King chuckled darkly and shot the Dark King a pitying look.
“As I was saying, she’s mine to protect, and under contract to me,” Ryder continued as if the Light King hadn’t just mentioned the freaking Horde King.
“She will not be harmed here. This meeting was called under truce. I tend to stick to protocol even if others do not,” the Light King turned his head, leveling his blue eyes on Kier.
“Synthia,” Ryder said, and his men stepped away, letting me move through the now empty space to stand beside Ryder and Kier.
The Light Fae gasped. Even the Queen stepped closer and held her hand up to her mouth to stifle a cry that would have escaped otherwise. I met the eyes of the Light King and held my ground.
“Tatiana, come here,” Dresden growled from low in his chest. Anger was pushing off of him in palpable waves. I met the lilac and azure eyes of my mother and felt nothing; no connection. For all intents and purposes, she was just someone who looked a lot like me. “Is it your child?” he asked barely above a whisper.
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