Seducing Destiny (19 page)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Ryder presided over the assembly in Fae form and I waited beside him on the lovely throne he had created for me not so long ago. The other monarchs stood to the side of the Horde King’s throne in silent support, as we knew the Light Fae would make a dramatic show when they arrived, and we weren’t wrong. Tatiana wore silver. Her dress was so bright that it left behind flashes of spots in my eyes, and I refused to even acknowledge it.

Dresden stood tall and regal as he looked smugly around the room at the showing. It was a huge turnout, with every single creature in the vicinity turning up to see what Ryder would do. They expected to watch a death occur here today, but that wasn’t going to happen. We wanted them to take our word that Ryder wasn’t like his father, but to the Fae, actions were a lot louder. I understood where they were coming from, even if I wanted to strangle them all since the lives of our children depended on unfreezing that Tree. Danu had said that I was on the right track, but she’d be interfering if she told us exactly how to achieve it.

I watched Elijah and his people. They stood with Silas, who nodded to me when he noticed my eyes on him. I nodded back, as to not offend him. His people seemed impressed at this, and he smiled and mouthed ‘thank you’ to me. I mouthed ‘blow me’ back, which caused him to throw his head back and bark with laughter.

Elijah watched me with a keen eye. “You too,” I said, and smiled. He didn’t seem to think it funny, but he did however move his hand to his crotch and mouthed ‘you first’.

“Did he just ask you to touch him?” Ryder asked as he leaned over and whispered in my ear.

“No, he told me to blow him first,” I whispered back and then grabbed Ryder’s hand as he started to stand. “Calm down. I’m mending bridges, and making new friends. No one is getting blow jobs tonight, unless it’s you of course, but you’ll have to earn it first, Fairy.”

“I could make you,” he replied hungrily, his timbre vibrating with untold pleasure in it.

“You could, but I’d like it,” I retorted and noticed the entire place was staring at us, hopefully not reading our lips. “Time to get this show going,” I whispered.

“By all means, Princess,” he growled and as I stood, he stood with me. “Tatiana, Dresden,” Ryder said as I slowly nodded my head in subtle acknowledgement as he started the show.

“Why were we summoned here, by you?” Dresden sneered.

“It has been brought to our attention that you’ve aided our enemies, the Mages,” Ryder said, his voice raising enough so the entire room could hear him clearly. I watched as the pair didn’t even bother to hide their smugness as Ryder slowly continued, giving them just enough time to appease the room of their guilt. “If this information is correct, you’ve committed a crime against Faery.”

“We’ve committed no crime against Faery, only aided an enemy to remove a threat,” Tatiana hissed with an ugly smile.

“And which threat would that be exactly, Tatiana?” I asked as I felt myself floating, and as I looked down to the floor, I was. Not by much, but I was! Now was not the time to discover new powers.
“Danu!”

“Yes?”
she asked as she moved out from behind Elijah and stepped forward.

“I’m floating; make it stop before someone notices it!”

My feet touched the ground as Tatiana started her speech.

“The people of Faery are tired of you and your strumpet,
King,
and most have openly acknowledged that you, Ryder, are the spitting image of your father, in looks and in deeds! You demanded this tart at her birth and you have her fully under your influence, and she’s my own niece! My heart bleeds to think of the things you’ve done to her—”

“Call Synthia a strumpet again, and I’ll forget my purpose and feed the Sluagh your entrails,” Ryder warned with venom dripping from his lips.

“See! He is no better than his sire! He threatens my husband with eternal death, and more. Will you allow him to continue to threaten us with those vile creatures of the Sluagh? Or will you stand with us, the Light Fae, and take arms against him? I say it ends here! The Mages have promised to leave us in peace if they can have the Horde! No longer would we have to live in fear, or take orders from their kind!” Tatiana shouted as her husband nodded his head vigorously beside her.

“We have given this world no reason to fear us. I stand here as the King of the Horde, asking you to admit the charges against you, not by myself, but with the other Heirs of this world, who accuse you of these crimes. I have not raised arms against anyone here, Tatiana, so you’d call them to arms on false pretenses?” Ryder said calmly.

“Do not take your anger out on my wife!” Dresden growled, and narrowed his eyes smugly. He watched Ryder closely, planning the best way to bring out the beast, of this I was sure. He wanted him to be the creature, because this assembly would fear it.

“Seriously, Dresden?” I asked, and shook my head. “Enough with your overly dramatic games; facts are what will be used here. Isn’t it a fact that you idiots have been allowing the Mages to use your lands, and to travel through them with a guarantee of safe passage? Answer the charges, because that is why you are here. Not to plan some half-assed coup,” I asked and watched as Dresden turned all but purple with rage.

“Yes, and I did so for everyone here, to depose the Horde King! It is my lands, and my right to allow any who ask my permission to pass through them!”

“So you willingly allowed them into Faery via the path through the Light Lands?” Ryder continued for me as he took over. I’d given him enough time to calm the beast that had to be rattling his cage.

“Yes, again! You daft monster, it is my right to allow who I shall to pass upon my lands. I am the King! You are nothing! You and your people feed from the fear of these gentle Fae folk, and I say it ends here! Who is with me? Stand with me, and the Mages will rid this world of him and his brethren!” Dresden continued.

“You poor, misguided
being
, you allowed the Mages into Faery. They came here via your lands. Can you guess what they did after you’d allowed them passage to kill the Horde King?” Ryder asked as his eyes challenged Dresden.

“They made an attempt on your concubine’s life, which sits fine with me,” he grinned coldly.

“Nope, guess again,” I said as I smiled back at him.

“That is the only thing they wanted!”

“Nope, they came in and used a spell on the Tree of Life, which wrapped it in ice. You allowed Faery’s enemy in, and you allowed them to harm her. That alone is treason against Faery, Dresden. What do you say to the charges?” Ryder asked, his eyes watching his enemy with deadly intent, which he was barely containing.

He looked at me and Ryder and opened and closed his mouth several times before he sneered. “Then depose me!”

“Is that what you have to say to the charges against you?” Ryder asked, as his eyes took on a deadly intent.

“You won’t depose me! You’ll do as your father before you would,” Dresden hissed.

“If you won’t depose us, then why are we here?” Tatiana demanded.

“Because I will depose you, sister,” Madisyn said sadly her eyes watching her sister as she said the words.

“Because I will depose you,” Lasair smiled, and whispered it against the top of Madisyn’s head. Liam nodded as his brands slithered over his arms.

“I will also depose you,” Kier said as he stepped out with his wife, and Adam, who also agreed and echoed his words.

“Dresden, Tatiana,” Ryder said as he released his hold on me and stepped forward. “As the Heirs and royalty of Faery, together we’ve decided your offences against Faery cannot go unpunished. You will be stripped of your titles and removed from Faery henceforth. You can seek refuge with the Mages if you decide to, since you’ve already taken a side against this world, and chosen the enemies’ bed. Your children may remain, and if Danu so chooses to pick one as the Heir, we will welcome them. You have one day to exit Faery, or you will be forcefully removed. The Light warriors will be made aware of your imminent departure. Alazander put you on the throne, as you were Danu’s chosen Heir at the time, I am sure Danu will remedy that decision in light of your treachery. A steward will rule in your stead until the Light Heir is found, or another has been chosen.”

“You can’t do that! You have no bloody right to kick us out of this world!” Dresden shouted.

I watched as Ryder transformed effortlessly. The entire assembly took a step away from him, except me. “I have the right given to me by Danu when she chose me as Heir of the Horde; what you have done is treason against this world,
our
world. I did not make this choice alone or without the council of the other Castes. This wasn’t me just taking you out, which would have been a simple matter. I am not my father, but I am the King of the Horde and I have his beast, one which I can fully allow out if you choose to stay in Faery. The hounds will patrol your borders tonight, and if any of the Mages remain, they’ll be slaughtered in the name of Faery. This was the Blood King’s choice for you as well,” Ryder said and tilted his head to Lasair. “The Dark King thought you shouldn’t be allowed to live; I fear you made a decision out of cowardice, and so that is how you will live. I suggest you choose your location and activities wisely. Do not make war with us, for we, unlike you, are the Heirs of Faery. You’re dismissed.”

Tatiana stared at me. “You little bitch,” she hissed. “This is not over!”

“You are also dismissed,
Auntie
,” I said calmly, keeping my anger pushed down and harnessed.

“You said they would come to us! You said nothing would happen to us, or our Kingdom!” Tatiana cried as she turned her anger to her husband. We watched as the Guards escorted them from the throne room, and then I turned and smiled at Adam and Liam.

“I am glad you guys are here; we have a lot to discuss,” I said and then hugged Adam as he walked over to wrap his arms around my waist and twirl me in the air.

“I’m glad I’m here too…” Adam stopped and set me down as he watched one of the older children from Dresden and Tatiana’s union approach the throne.

“I am Shea, Princess of the Light Fae,” she said in a meek tone that told me she was timid, or had been in the shadow of her parents. She looked around our age, which could mean she was a thousand years old for all we knew.

“Shea, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” I said, and then pushed Adam from behind when all he did was gawk at her. “This is Adam. Sorry for his gawking, he’s the Heir to the Dark Kingdom.”

She blushed. He continued to stare. I smiled. I knew she wasn’t the Light Heir, but they could have some fun together in the meanwhile. Suckers.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

I stood in the dungeon and watched Olivia as she slept. I knew what it was like to take orders, and I had my own suspicions about what had gone down when she gave Alden and Ristan over to the Mages. One of my concerns was she that still probably working under the assumption that the Guild was all good.

Savlian sat in a comfy looking chair he’d glamoured for himself in front of her cell, his eyes keenly watching her. His hands worked as he sharpened a blade, and I paused and narrowed my eyes on him.

“Her gag’s been removed?” I asked him.

“Ristan was here earlier. The medallion on the torque he put on her will make sure she isn’t able to cast. You might recognize the design on it. It’s similar to the one you had for a while.” Savlian smirked as he stood and stretched. “You going to be here for a bit?” he asked.

“A few minutes,” I said as I turned to find Olivia watching me.

“You,” she said as she sat up and looked away from me.

“And you,” I whispered as I moved closer to her cell.

“I don’t want to talk to you,” she said mulishly, her eyes never lifting from the floor, as if she refused to look at me directly.

“Alden lives, and I want a reason for what you did to him.”

“What do you care? You abandoned us. You and Adam both did. You’re both nothing but traitors,” she seethed.

“No; we were told to leave. I’m Fae, and so is Adam,” I explained. Didn’t the Guild tell them anything? Her head jerked towards me in surprise with this revelation, her midnight blue eyes flashed angrily.

“That’s a lie!”

Had I really called her a mouse? I smiled as Adam stepped from where he’d been waiting, just out of view.

“Do I look Human?” he asked as he glamoured away his shirt and slowly turned for her so that she could see the Celtic cross that marked him as the Dark Heir, glowing along with the rest of his brands.

Her eyes grew wide as she watched him approach. He looked one hundred percent Fae.

“I…I…”

“What’s the matter, Olivia, cat got your tongue?” I asked.

“You have no idea what I did, or why I did it!” She shook her head slowly in angry confusion.

“I don’t really give a shit about why you think it was okay to help monsters bring down the Guild, I only need the details of why you thought it was okay to help them take down a man who helped raise you,” I said as I narrowed my eyes on her. “I want to know why you drugged Alden and the Demon. Not to mention, I want to know why the entire upper level of the Guild was a war zone, one we lost.”

“Good, you’re Fae,” she seethed and I narrowed my eyes on her and she quickly looked away from me and back at the floor. Almost as if she didn’t believe her own conviction.

“You stupid little twit, I didn’t lose. I never have. The
Guild
lost. They’re all dead. So many good people were killed, so many children died. It was a fucking slaughter, one you assisted in, and why? What did you have to gain?” I asked barely above a whisper. Most people understood that was the time to talk, because I was getting pissed. She cringed.

“I had my reasons,” she whispered as a tear slid down her cheek.

“Good for you, but sooner or later that Demon is going to come down here and he wants a pound of flesh for the one he lost with the Mages. You’re it. So tell me, Olivia, what happened in there and why did you help them? Were you following orders like a good little soldier? Or did you have a different reason for opening the doors to allow the monsters in?” I asked as I leaned against the cell and stared at her.

I wanted to help her, but I also needed her to know that I couldn’t get her out of this. I wanted answers, and she had them. My entire Guild was gone, and that wasn’t an easy feat. She’d been involved, and I’d dismissed her. Which either made me a fool, or her a good actress.

“Answer me, or I’ll feed the Demon myself so he can come sooner,” I seethed.

“You’ve changed into a monster,” she hissed.

“Yes, I have. I’ve also lost too much to take chances with what I have left. You tried to hurt my family, and I’m very protective of them. I’ve never changed my standards, Olivia. The Guild is and has always been part of it, and people are dead. You can either start talking, or I can come in there and show you just how much of a monster I am,” I warned.

“I didn’t have a choice!” she cried as she scooted back on the bed like a meek mouse and let out a hiccup as tears started flowing unchecked down her porcelain cheeks.

“Suck it up, buttercup, and talk,” I growled.

“I was trained differently than you guys were. So you need to tell me,
Enforcer
, which makes me more of a traitor, getting Alden out of the way or giving Guild history and secrets to a Demon?” she asked bitterly. “I should have known better, so many lies and I shouldn’t have trusted—do you seriously think the Guild would care if I was tricked? No—God, I feel so stupid!” she mumbled. “As far as what I did to Alden, Elder Cyrus told me that Alden had betrayed the Guild, and that none of the Enforcers could be trusted. I…you wouldn’t understand, I did what I had to, or they—” she rambled pitifully.

“Of course he would say that you couldn’t trust the Enforcers, Alden’s trained them all,” I interrupted; too disgusted with the lies she had been told. I took a step backwards as I felt Ryder’s electrical pulse as he sifted in.

Olivia looked up horrified, and screamed in shock. Her face turned even whiter, if at all possible. She was terrified and I couldn’t blame her. I’d felt the same way when I’d first seen him as the Horde King. I watched her; she watched him as if Satan himself had joined our little interrogation. I rolled my eyes as she started to stammer her words and tripped over them.

“Really, Ryder?”

“Really, what?” he asked as his hands pulled me against him as he took Olivia in. “Are you intentionally overstepping what Ristan requested?” he questioned, smoothly changing the subject. He could have come in his Fae form, which wouldn’t have scared the girl senseless.

“Pretty much,” I whispered and looked back at Olivia, who had turned as white as a sheet which made her dark blue eyes striking against her paleness. “Continue,” I said.

“No-no, that’s the Horde King,” she stuttered. “I’ve seen sketches in the archives, but this is impossible, he’s…this is impossible! You ran away with the Dark Prince, not the Horde King!”

“Wow, you do have a way with the ladies, Ryder,” Adam said as he smiled.

“Worthless; she’s not going to talk,” he said. “You’d have never cowered in my presence.”

“I did, if you recall. I just did it with more grace. I was trained to accept fear; she wasn’t. She’s a fucking librarian. She didn’t have the same training as we did,” I whispered as I watched her eyes take in Ryder’s entire seven foot frame and his wings. She was coming around, and I knew the shock. It was the same as I’d felt as I took on my first Fae.

“You didn’t show fear,” Ryder said. “Not until I tied you to my bed.”

“Wow, hey guys. Don’t need the kinky details, unless you have pictures?” Adam offered.

“Perverts,” I said as I felt certain sadness for Olivia at what would happen to her when Ristan got back to full health.

I could see myself in her, in the fear she displayed, and the stout hatred of everything Fae. I’d been that girl, and I remembered the level of devotion that I’d blindly handed the Guild.

“Olivia, we can help you. You have to give us details though; can you do it?” I tried again.

Nothing. She stared in horror at Ryder, as if the devil himself had come to take her soul and drag it to Hell for her crimes. “She’s not built for this, and I’m not even sure she believes the words coming out of her own mouth right now,” I said as I shook my head.

*~*~*

I found Ristan in the nursery, and noted his skin was back to its normal color, and his face had almost healed. He looked somewhat calmer.

“She likes you,” I said as I moved closer.

“You’ve been to see her,” he growled.

“I have; she helped the Mages get to you and Alden, and she knows what happened inside the Guild when it fell, as well as who was involved. I didn’t help her or offer her hope that you’d give her mercy.”

“Good, because that’s not something I’ll have with her.”

Kahleena cooed and wrapped her tiny little fingers around his hand and he watched her. Her big golden eyes looked up at him as if he’d hung the moon in her honor. “I need to know some of the details.” I watched him as he lifted his eyes to mine.

“What do you want to know, Syn? That I believed you and Alden and let my guard down? Or do you want to know that I was chasing her pussy when she lured me into the trap?”

Ouch.

“She tried to seduce you?”

“Indeed. She was quite clumsy at it, which drew me in. More the fool was I. I had been watching her. I listened to you and Alden and what you both told me about her being harmless and how sweet she was, and started to think that she wasn’t the enemy, that she was just some stupid Guild librarian that needed to be fucked. So when she so prettily offered me wine, I accepted it. And then the next thing I knew, Alden looked like he was going to fall asleep and she crawled up on my lap like she was going to try and kiss me before I could even register what was going on with Alden. She must have had something in her hand, because I felt a pinch in my neck and that was it, lights out,” he growled with self-loathing. “So there you have it, Syn. I was too busy trying to fuck some little minx who wouldn’t know what to do with a cock if it came with step-by-step instructions on how to use it.”

“I’m not so sure she was aware that she was helping the Mages directly. She was given orders from an Elder, Ristan,” I said softly. “She’s of the Guild, and if she had known what they were, I don’t think she’d have helped them.”

“Bullshit!” he said and stood violently until he realized he still held Kahleena, and then sat back down and rocked her softly. “She knew, Synthia. She’s Human; don’t buy her lies.”

“She’s the same as I was less than six months ago, Ristan. She’s been programmed to hate the Fae, to keep them from doing harm to the Humans. She’d do anything they asked.”

“That’s crap, and you know it.”

“I’d have done anything they asked me to, and I did. I seduced Fae, and killed them. I left my boyfriend inside a parking garage to die because I was told to abort because I’d gotten too self-assured. He was my world, Ristan, and I left him there to die because those were my orders. I’d have slit my throat had they said to. That’s what they do. It’s how they raised us. We do bad shit and we do it, just as long as they ordered it first. I killed Chandra, without blinking because I was taught to. Just do me a favor when you finally get to her, and remember that I am your friend, and that I was that girl.”

“You changed,” he said as if it somehow made me different.

“Not really. I just learned that I can’t control everything. I learned that you and this world, you’re not my enemy. You and Ryder were the ones who helped me understand the differences between the Fae and what the Fae people really are, not the Guild’s version that they teach us about. That version tells of monsters that feed and kill the Human race. She doesn’t have that, Ristan. Her world just fell apart. I had one that wanted me when mine did. I was foolish back then, and we both know it. But this world,” I smiled at my daughter. “This world gave me them.”

He looked down at Kahleena and back up at me. “She’s my calm, and I’m her protector,” he whispered softly. “She is just about perfect,” he admitted and kissed her head before he handed her to me and started to leave the nursery. Before he reached the door, he turned and looked back at me. “Stay out of my way with the librarian. This one time, Synthia, I’m asking you to back off and leave it be. What I do with Olivia will be my choice, and mine alone. I would have killed you when I first met you if I was a bad judge of character, remember that. I could have easily killed you in the maze at the Dark Fortress without issue. All of us were under orders to kill you if you became a distraction. And trust me, you did and I knew it. We are supposed to follow orders without question like you were. Right now, I’m glad I found a way around those orders. I don’t judge people unfairly, or make hasty decisions like you and Ryder do. This is my concern, one I will take care of how I see fit.”

When he was gone, I smiled down at Kahleena as she closed her eyes but continued to pucker her lips. “No, there’s no
just
about it, Kahleena, you
are
perfect.”

“He seems better,” Ryder said as he stepped from behind the connecting door that led to our bedroom.

“Not as much as he’s pretending.”

“You’re wise for someone so young,” Ryder said as he approached me. “And you’re right.”

“I’d like to think so,” I murmured, considering everything I’d said to Ristan.

“Our daughter is perfect,” he smiled wickedly.

“And you, Fairy, are an assshoooole!” I teased and smiled.

“Please leave Ristan be on this. He was right as well. He isn’t a fool, so whatever that girl did, or made him feel, it’s affected him on a base level and that’s not something you can mend. We have enough to worry about with the Tree and the ice swathed around it,” he said as wrapped his arms around me as I held our daughter.

“I guess you’re smart too, but not for your years. You’d think since you are as old as dirt, that you’d be a lot smarter,” I said with a mischievous smile on my lips.

“I think you’re due for another counting lesson.”

“Promise?” I asked, but the boys cooed and we smiled. Life wasn’t going to be easy chasing these three, or saving them so we could enjoy chasing them. “I’m scared,” I said and felt my throat as it tightened. “I can’t lose them, ever.”

“We won’t,” Ryder said as he kissed my forehead and smiled as Kahleena cooed and reached for him.