Escaping Destiny (13 page)

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.”

“Peachy,” I groaned, and the Shifter grinned
to reveal a beautiful smile.

“As I was saying, my King, Silan has no wish
to challenge your wisdom of the choice to scout for the Mages. Our
thought was to offer our trackers. As the alpha of the wolf pack, I
am more than willing to use the pack to assist you in any way you
need us,” he said and bowed his head to Ryder.

“Silas, your father served my father. I
understand the need to get the King’s attention. Make no mistake, I
am not my father. Your father was much like my own, and I have no
plans of accepting the favors of those who think to gain it through
the ways of our fathers.”

“I took my father’s head soon after you did
the same to your own,” Silas said and looked briefly at me. “You
took the Blood Princess as a Gift, did you not?”

“I did, but only because my Seer had a vision
of our child healing this world. Had it not been seen, I wouldn’t
have asked for her. I have not asked for a female since the day I
made the contract with the Blood King.”

“This child, the one she carries, it will
mend our world?”

“I was told this by Ristan, who was given the
information by Danu. She gave him the vision and so it shall be,”
Ryder said, narrowing his eyes as he dared the Shifter to challenge
it.

“Then so shall it be.” His ice blue eyes
swung to me and then lowered to my stomach. I lifted a brow at him,
because there was nothing to see.

When his head slanted and an amused grin
lifted his lips, I got an uneasy feeling that he was doing more
than just looking at the flatness of my stomach. I watched as those
beautiful eyes slowly rose to my face and his head righted. “Your
pregnancy is definitely blessed of the Goddess, Princess.”

I sat beside Ryder in silence, with Darynda
smiling like an idiot nearby. Several more cases were heard by the
King before he finally stood and announced that he was done for the
day. We had to wait until every last creature left the room (and
there were a lot of them) before we could leave. I couldn’t,
however, get the look of the Shifter’s eyes, and what he had said,
out of my head.

“We need to talk,” I said, barely above a
whisper.

“We can talk at dinner,” he said, turning as
he leaned his head against the back of the throne.

“Who the hell said I was having dinner with
you?” I glared at him to get my point across.

“You did,” he said smugly, and grabbed for my
hand with a smile plastered on his lips. “Sinjinn, next time, tie
her to the bed and gag her. She wasn’t supposed to be up yet. She’s
carrying the heir, which makes her health your number one
concern.”

“Syn is very persuasive,” Sinjinn replied,
smiling.

“That she is. Come.” Ryder held his hand out
for me to accept. I stared at it for several seconds before I
lifted my head.

“Remove this collar,” I demanded.

“No,” he replied easily without even
considering it.

“Afraid I will leave you?”

“No, Synthia, I should just mark you. It
would allow me to be able to find you anywhere you go; you already
know how that works. The collar is necessary for now, and it is
there for your safety. I told you, I won’t allow you to run from me
again.”

“I didn’t run from you, Ryder.
You
handed me over the Dark King with a freaking bow on my head.”

“Which won’t happen again, nor will you be
lost to me. With my mark on your skin, I’d be able to find you if
anyone decided to pop in and steal you. I’d rather be safe, than
sorry where you are concerned. You are a trouble magnet.”

“You afraid you can’t protect me?” I taunted
him. Unwise? Yes. Did I care? No. I’d worn his mark before. It was
tempting, but at the same time, I wanted him to trust me.

“You carry my child inside of you,” his hand
moved to touch my stomach. “There is no fucking chance of anything
happening to either of you. Even if it means that I have to protect
you from yourself.”

I was dressed via Ristan, who had stopped by
to assure me that I
needed
to go to dinner. I, on the other
hand, was not impressed. He’d dressed me in a white baby doll dress
that barely covered my ass, and black stockings that had the heads
of cats on the front of them just above my knees, and tails that
went up my legs, and stopped at the lace bottom of the dress. He
was chuckling “here kitty-kitty” and prompting me to throw things
at him as he winked in and out, sifting as he avoided the
missiles.

Darynda thought it was cute and convinced me
to keep the outfit on, and then brought in Faelyn and they’d
whipped my hair up in a magical updo (and by magical, I mean they’d
used magic and it was done), and once again, my face was done with
a light touch of make-up.

“I really don’t think I should be going to
dinner with Ryder. Not when I want to neuter him and watch him
writhe in pain,” I mumbled unhappily.

Darynda snorted and scrunched up her face.
“You need heels,” she mused and glamoured a pair of white heels,
with black trim. She leaned down and helped me into them.

When she was done, she stood back and smiled.
“Looking like that, you guys won’t even notice the food!” she
clapped happily, proud with her efforts.

I shook my head. “This is stupid,” I
complained.

“Syn, he asked for this. Just give him a
shot. He’s trying.” Ristan grinned with a mischievous look in his
eyes.

“Give him a shot? I’m more likely to
get
shot around him! I’m pregnant; he’s done what he needed
to do with me. His job as King is finished where I am concerned, so
what is the point of this?”

“You should know better than that, Flower.
Ryder isn’t done with you, nor is he likely to ever be done with
you.
He
didn’t plan on this pregnancy, and if you need to be
pissed at someone about what you have been through, it’s me. I’m
the one who told him what I saw in the vision.”

“That wasn’t done with malicious intent,
Demon. Ryder played me for a fool, and he will do it again. Can you
tell me he won’t marry Abiageal? Can you tell me that he will be
mine, and only mine?” I saw him flinch, so I didn’t need his
answer. “I didn’t think so. I deserve better than that, I need
better than that. I won’t become just another woman in his growing
collection. He’s already got more than anyone should ever have. He
won’t give them up, and I won’t change what I was raised to
believe. I want more, and my child deserves more.” I lowered my
eyes and exhaled a shaky breath.

“You need to let go of some of the social
mores you learned in the human world, Flower. They will do you no
good here. Sooner or later, you will see that. Now, come, your King
awaits his woman.”

I took Ristan’s hand and was sifted out of
the castle to a pool that had hundreds of white roses and lilies
floating over the crystalline surface. Thousands of small white
lights lit up the sky, and two full moons hung high in the sky. I
looked around and found Ryder in a tux, and a cocky smile on his
face. Great, I wanted to wipe the smug off his face. I also wanted
to rip the tux off of him, and do naughty things.

“Princess,” he smiled wider.

“Fairy,” I groaned.

Why did he have to look so freaking sexy all
decked out? It would be so much easier if he were a three headed
monster with a pitchfork. And his smile…he knew just how to disarm
me, and exactly how to make my center turn to pudding.

“Witch,” he amended.

“Asshat,” I growled and narrowed my eyes.

“Okay!” Ristan clapped loud enough that we
both turned our glares on him. “Now that we got the foreplay out of
the way, we can get right onto the main course.”

Ryder snorted, and I crossed my arms.

“Ryder,” Ristan said patiently, and I could
tell they were doing the mind to mind thing again from the look
passing over their faces.

“I’m trying. She’s the one who started it!”
He growled out loud at Ristan, who shook his head as if he were
annoyed with Ryder and sifted out.

I moved toward a hammock that looked
comfortable, and sat on the edge. My eyes strayed toward the pool,
and I sighed. It looked inviting and utterly beautiful with the
flowers floating over the surface.

On the other side of the spread was a small
table and pillows set out to sit on. No chairs, but then the table
itself were low to the ground. There were people standing at the
entrance with platters of food, which smelled divine.

Ryder walked over to me and extended his
hand. I swallowed past the fear of touching him, and accepted it.
His warmth flooded through me, and I did my best to stifle the
sliver of desire his touch always sent through me. Once I was
standing, he walked us across the small distance, and around the
pool where he seated me on a pillow.

He probably had enough pillows to give one to
every human back home.

“Serve us,” he said loud enough for those by
the door to hear. They rushed into motion before the first word was
ordered.

Some kind of fruit was placed before us,
which almost looked like strawberries, only it was twice the size
of normal ones.

“Hybrids,” Ryder said after a moment passed
in which I stared at the berries.

“Hybrid strawberries?”

“We brought fruit back after our first trip
to Washington. We purchased seeds, and brought them back to plant.
Faery soil is unpolluted like yours. They came up like this, and
the juice and taste are far superior to the fruit I tasted
there.”

I winced when he had said which state I was
from. I missed home already. I chewed my bottom lip and glanced up
to catch him staring at me. This had been a stupid idea. I should
have just gone to bed and stayed there.

“Here,” he said and held one up. I moved my
hand to take it from him, but he held it away.

“What the hell?”

“Let me feed you,” he grumbled.

“I’m pregnant, not disabled, Fairy!” I
sputtered.

“I know that!”

“Then why the hell can’t I feed myself!?” I
shouted.

“Because, I’m trying to be romantic!” he
growled and scowled.

“Oh,” I whispered, shocked as I backed up an
inch. “Why?”

“Does it matter why?” he grouched.

“No, I guess not.”

What.

The.

Hell!?

I opened my mouth and he held the berry up
carefully. He allowed me to move my mouth to take it, but he
refused to let me feed myself throughout the entire meal. When we
were done eating, he smiled like a naughty child and stood, up
pulling me with him.

“Come with me,” he said and walked me to the
edge of the pool.

“I don’t have a swimsuit,” I said, eyeing him
warily. It was official, Ryder was on drugs.

Before I could voice another complaint, he
had me dressed in an ice blue bikini and had dragged me into and
under the water with him. Music blared to life from somewhere
unseen as my head popped back above the watery surface.

The Fray’s
Never Say Never
was playing
softly, but loud enough that we could hear it above the small
waterfall feeding the pool. I looked around in wonder as small
flames leapt from the flowers all around us. We had enough space
between us and them that our hair was safe.

I gasped as Ryder grabbed my waist beneath
the water and pulled me to him. I placed my hands on his naked
shoulders. He’d changed at the same time he’d changed my clothes.
Ryder in a suit was disarming. Ryder half naked and wet was
devastating.

“What do you think?” he asked, his eyes
guarded.

“It’s beautiful,” I whispered breathlessly.
It was. It was beyond anything, anyone had ever done for me, or
probably would ever do for me again.

“Good, can I undress you now?” he asked with
a smirk lighting his eyes.

I shook my head, and splashed him and turned
to move away from him. As if. He didn’t let me get more than a foot
from him, before he took me beneath the water with him. I fought,
but his arms calmed me and before I could even grasp what he was
doing, my entire body jerked with desire as his lips landed on
mine, and he fed me air as he kissed me softly.

When we both came up and broke the surface of
the water, he laughed. “Shit, this is actually fun.”