Escaping Destiny (12 page)

I watch Eliran leave the room, his shoulders
slump as he shakes his head. I’m an asshole, I get it. My world
doesn’t exist without her in it. I’d easily give in to the beast,
and become what he is asking for. I’d kill anyone who opposed me,
and repeat history. She’s my fucking anchor, and no one will take
her from me again, not even to save this world.

“Ryder, she’s going to be okay. I’ve seen her
with the child in her arms,” Ristan says softly.

“With Adam, not me. Bring the Dark Heir here.
Maybe he can bring her around.”

“How about we bring Vlad and Adrian, too?
Maybe if we surround her with what she needs, she will just fall on
your dick,” he quips.

“Get them, too. She likes them,” I say in
amusement. “I need to figure out how to get her to adapt.”

“If you want her to adapt, you need to pull
your head out of your ass and start thinking like a human, Ryder.
You might be the all-powerful Horde King, but she is Syn; she is
part human no matter how much she shouldn’t be. If you want her to
stay, if you want her to adjust to this life, and you want her to
be a part of yours…
woo
her.”

“What the fuck is
wooing
?” I snap.

“Do nice things for her, get her gifts. Find
out what she likes, and woo her with them. Show her our world; make
her want to be with you.”

“I’m the fucking Horde King, I don’t
woo.”

“Woo her,” Ristan continues.

“I don’t woo.”

“Woo,” he repeats.

“I’m not the kind of man to woo anyone. I can
make her scream my name to the rafters, isn’t that enough
wooing?”

“Woo,” Ristan smirks, which only served to
irritate me more.

“Woo,” I grind out on an exhale.

“Yes, woo,” he says, already turning to walk
away. I watch his shoulders quake with laughter.

“Woo,” I growl.

“Woo!” He says over his shaking
shoulders.

“Fuck me,” I shake my head.

“No thanks, not my type…now go woo your
princess.”

I awoke to Darynda pushing on my cheek. I
gave a sound of protest, which she continued to ignore as she
tormented and pestered me until my eyes popped open to level a
killing glare on her. I slapped at her hand irritably as she smiled
enthusiastically. I hated morning people, always had. I’d never
been able to climb out of bed and welcome the day. I was more of a
glare at the world, and snarl until I’d had enough coffee to appear
human.

“Time to wake up, sleeping beauty!” she
chimed happily.

“Go away,” I growled low, trying to
focus.

“Not a chance. I brought you this crap they
said you like; I even tried some of it! It tastes like fairy poop,
but it does have magic in it! I feel like I can do a million things
at once!” Darynda said, bobbing her head happily as she tried to
pass me the cup without spilling.

“How much did you drink?” I asked, wondering
if the coffee had something to do with her mouth working
overtime.

“Nine cups! It’s addictive. Eliran said one
cup was enough for you, but he said nothing about me, and well, I
just kept putting those little cups in and pushing the button, and
it continued to give me more. So of course I drank it.”

“Oh,” shit. I was corrupting the Fairy pool.
Coffee today, nail polish tomorrow. I smiled as she handed me a
cup. “I’m still in the room next to his…?”

“Yes, you are! Claire is still beside
herself. She even went so far as to ask him to move you out of this
room! He was quick to put her in her place. She deserves it,
though; talking crap about you and telling us all how horrible you
were. None of it is true, though. You don’t look like you could
even use a sword! I mean really, you had a job. And the stuff you
went through…we are lucky you are even sane!”

“Darynda, breathe,” I said, taking a sip and
spitting out the straight espresso. No wonder she was on caffeine
overload. “You drank it plain!?” I asked in shock. Don’t get me
wrong, I loved espresso. But in order for it to be good, it had to
have some added flavor.

“Well, that was how it was presented to me by
the machine!” she said, offended that I spit the espresso out
everywhere.

“The machine only brews the coffee, you have
to add the rest,” I offered in explanation.

“What would you add to it?” she asked,
tilting her head to examine me with a curious look in her eyes.

“Where’s Ryder?” I asked through the
disgusting espresso flavor sitting on my tongue.

“He’s holding court, of course. He is the
king, and is under pressure to right the wrongs of the Horde
Realm.”

“Call for the Demon,” I said.

She did, and within moments Ristan was
strolling leisurely into the room. He flashed his silver and black
swirling eyes, and took in the espresso that now decorated the silk
covers. “You summoned?” he asked, and lifted those beautiful eyes
to mine.

“Need creamer, and sugar,” I explained.
Darynda deserved to taste a latté; one made right.

“You summoned me for sugar and milk?” Ristan
asked lifting one brow further than the other.

“Sure did. I also need clothes, and shoes,” I
explained.

“Going somewhere, Flower?” he asked
cautiously.

“No, but I’m not sitting around in pajamas
all day, Demon.”

“Good to know. Let me run down and milk a cow
for you,” he replied with a smirk lifting his lips.

“Ha-ha,” I replied and kicked the blankets
fully off.

“Good to see you are back to your old self,
and not fainting.”

“I do not faint, Demon,” I replied.

“Do too,” he said with a wide grin.

“Do not.”

“Do too!” he argued.

“Do not! Now please cream and sugar me,
Demon.”

“I think Ryder might get a little pissed if I
creamed and sugared you, Flower,” he said with a wicked look in his
eyes.

“Demon!” I shouted. This creature and his
sexual innuendos were dangerous. Get him started, and he could go
for hours.

“As you wish,” he said, and instantly a
delicate porcelain sugar bowl and creamer set appeared on the table
next to the espresso maker. An ice blue silk sundress with matching
sandals appeared at the foot of the bed, away from where the brown
specs of the espresso mishap rested. He wiggled his fingers at us
as he sifted out.

It took me twenty minutes of showing Darynda
the joyful taste of an actual latté, which she liked a lot, better
than pure espresso. She helped me to dress and worked wonders with
my hair, which was now braided and styled as if I’d spent hours at
the salon. Even though she’d assured me she wasn’t good with hair,
it was so much better than anything I could have managed on my
own.

“This is an honor to be placed in the room
adjoining his!” Darynda mused after a few moments of silence had
passed.

“Really, it’s not,” I said. I was ready to
face him now, and I had a feeling Darynda wouldn’t be so
accommodating about taking me to see him as she had been about
everything else so far. “I need to talk to Ryder. Can you take me
to the throne room?”

“He’s holding court right now. I’m not sure
he will see you.”

“Take me to him, please,” I said, already
heading to the main door.

“No way! You are a concubine. You are not
allowed to roam freely. You would need guards, and permission!”

“Look, Darynda, we need to get a few things
straight. I’m not his. I didn’t get a choice in this, and while you
may think this is great, I don’t. He hasn’t asked me for any of
this, he just demands I be here. I’m not his chew toy, or his
pet.”

She blinked, but said nothing for a moment.
“Concubines are normally given little choice in the matter. The
King chooses them, and some are given to him as gifts.”

“Gifts? Do you have any idea how fucked up
that sounds out loud?” I asked and threw open the door.

Sinjinn smiled and bowed with a courtly
flourish. “Princess Sorcha,” he greeted.

“Sinjinn,” I said, happy to see a friendly
face. “Take me to your leader.”

“You are to rest,” he said as he straightened
back up. His eyes scanned my face briefly before he smiled once
more.

“I’m done resting; take me to Ryder,
now.”

“I can’t. You need to rest and take it easy.
I was ordered to make sure you were not stressed out.”

“Okay, well if you don’t take me to Ryder,
I’m going to scream my fucking head off. It’s going to stress me
out, and I’m sure he wouldn’t want that, now would he? He ordered
you to keep me calm, so take me to Ryder!”

He looked to be struggling with what he
should do, so I tapped my foot impatiently. I felt bad placing him
in the middle of it, but I was not staying in his future wife’s
bedroom, and that’s what this was. I’d read enough books to know
that what the girls spoke about yesterday was true—in a castle, the
connecting room was the one the wife stayed in.

“He’s going to kick my ass, Synthia.”

“It’s either that, or I scream my head off.
You can pick.”

He rolled his eyes and started walking. I
smiled and threw a triumphant look over my shoulder to Darynda who
had been silent through the argument. Her eyes were wide, as if she
feared Sinjinn would have been angry at me for arguing with him.
She totally needed to get out more.

“How did you do that?” she hissed quietly
when she caught up to me.

I looked at her and grinned. “Easy; this
isn’t my first rodeo ride with the King and his band of merry
men.”

“Rodeo?” she questioned.

I rolled my eyes again. “I’ve been around
Ryder for over two months now, and he wasn’t the Horde King yet.
Obviously, because if I’d known, I wouldn’t be expecting his
child…”

We retraced our journey of yesterday to the
throne room. The castle was huge, and had been built of white
stone. It was old, but it had been updated so that it didn’t look
like something out of the middle ages…or older.

Chandeliers dotted the high ceilings of the
walkways, and get this! Candles, yes, actual candles, and flaming
torches in the wall scones lit the way. I had to almost run to keep
up with Sinjinn’s long strides, but then Darynda did, too. It made
it hard to take anything in while running behind him.

The room that was ahead of us was filled with
creatures of the Horde. The one currently speaking…err…screaming
was a Shape Shifter, if his inability to hold human form while
screaming was anything to go off of.

“They are inside of Faery. What is it you
plan to do about it,
King
?” he sneered.

“I plan to find them and bleed them
out…slowly. I have scouts out scouring our borders. If you have an
issue with this Silan, say it,” Ryder growled as his wings grew
wide behind him, even though he was seated on his wicked
throne.

Ryder looked good upon the throne. He looked
like he belonged on it. The Shifter continued to argue, and Ryder
seemed to grow bored with his rant. It wasn’t until another man who
looked close in looks to the other Shifter stood up and
interrupted, that it ended.

“My King, Silan is only worried because his
mate is heavy with child. He does not wish to throw down a
challenge,” the male said.

I took him in. His vivid blue eyes and
shoulder length blonde hair made him look almost human. He was Fae,
but instead of being beautiful, he was rugged and handsome, like
Ryder in his regular Fae form. I swung my eyes back to Ryder to
find him staring at me. I exhaled a shaky breath as the fight and
the reason I’d been angry evaporated with the wicked little smirk
he gave me.

“I, too, understand the fear of having the
Mages inside Faery during this time. Synthia, please, come to me,”
Ryder said standing, his attention now on me.

I narrowed my eyes, but did as he asked. I
was taking the stairs up to the throne when a silver throne with a
comfortable looking white square pillow in the center appeared from
thin air to the left of his badass throne. I let the electric hum
of his presence flow through me as I accepted his hand. It wasn’t
until I felt his magic flow over my skin that I realized I was now
dressed in a red ball gown, with a huge balloon skirt. I raised an
irritated brow at Ryder. “Seriously?”

“I like you in red,” was his answer to me. To
the Shifter he said, “This is Synthia, she is the Blood Princess.
She’s also pregnant with my first child. So yes, I understand the
need to eradicate the threat to our people more than most. Unlike
my father,” his eyes never left mine, “I do not plan on breeding an
army of sons. She will likely be the only women to carry my
child.”

“Right,” I ground out, sarcastically.

“
Do not argue with me in front of the
Horde. In my bedroom, in my room, or sitting on my cock you can
argue. Not here. Here, I am the Horde King. Here, I have to kill
people for less.”
His voice traveled across my mind, startling
me. I knew he did this all the time with his men, but this was a
first for me. I gave him a saucy smirk.

“
Then leave me out of it, King.”

“
Never.”
His eyes sparkled with
mischief.
“Will you have dinner with me tonight?”

“
Change this damn dress to something that
doesn’t look like Cinderella took acid and met Alice in Wonderland
for a trip, and even though I don’t want to be your damn dinner, I
will
have
dinner with you.”

His laugh fluttered through my mind before he
tilted his head slightly to the side.
“I wasn’t asking to eat
you. Tempting as it is, I was asking if you would have dinner with
me tonight, Pet.”

“
Dinner?”
I raised a brow as I threw
the answer at him. He was joking, right? He was holding court, and
we were neck deep in a private conversation, and he was asking me
out on a date? Since I was pregnant, you would think we would have
been past the dating stage.