Escaping Destiny (8 page)

I was lying in bed, considering ways of
killing Ryder for not coming for me when he said he would, when he
finally showed up. He sifted in, threw off his cloak, and eyed the
giant tub. I watched in silence as he waved his hand and the tub
filled with spicy scented water. It occupied the room, as much as
the man did.

I felt like I lost my courage and everything
I wanted to say as his jeans melted away, and he slipped beneath
the bubbled surface. His arms hung over the sides, and the once
huge tub looked much smaller, filled to the brim with Ryder. His
head was resting back against the rim and his eyes were closed.

I wanted to throttle him for looking so sexy
when I was so upset that he hadn’t bothered to show up when he’d
promised me he would. Naked Ryder was a catastrophe for my mental
state. I went from knowing how to talk, to a brainless sex crazed
being.

“Eliran said you were sick earlier. Are you
better?” he asked without opening his eyes.

“I’m no longer sick, just pissed that you
didn’t come get me.”

His head came up, and his eyes landed on me.
They were no longer the golden color of a few moments before.
Something within his eyes stared at me, hungrily. “Why are you
pissed now?”

“You promised to come and get me and then
left me here!” I growled.

“It wasn’t by choice, Pet.”

“Okay, how about…you said you would get me,
and bring me to your room. Instead, you left me with Claire!” I
grumbled.

“I sent Claire and Ristan to you to explain
things; didn’t he let you know what happened?”

“Oh, Claire explained things alright, and the
Demon didn’t show up until today,” I snapped angrily. His eyes
opened slightly and slid to me.

“If you’re not sick, get in this tub with
me.”

“You don’t get to order me around, Fairy!” I
felt hot tears burning behind my eyes. I wasn’t sure where we
stood, or if he even wanted us. I knew he wanted the baby to save
his precious Faery, but that wasn’t the same as wanting it, or me
for that matter.

“It wasn’t an order, it was a request,” he
said, clapping his hand over his eyes. He looked as tired as I
felt. The tour with Ristan had taken a lot out of me, even though
we hadn’t done more than walk and talk for hours.

“Fine!” I shouted, irritated by the entire
situation. I stripped out of my clothes and stomped over to the tub
and got in on the other side. The water was warm and welcoming, and
his presence gave it an added level of comfort.

His big hands pulled me from where I’d sat
across from him, until he’d nestled me in his arms, my back
snuggled against his chest. I rested my head against his wide chest
and allowed some of the tension to leave my mind.

“Ask it, Synthia,” Ryder whispered against my
ear.

“Ask what?”

“Ask the question that is burning on your
tongue.”

“Why me?” I spat out.

“Because I wanted you, Pet. It is as simple
as that. Even if I had not signed that contract, you would still be
mine. I planned on waiting until you were ready, but I still would
have taken you from Adam. One way or another, I’d have come for
you. Fate pushed us together, but destiny knew we belonged
together. Now you just have to accept it,” he continued.

“You expect me to become just another woman
in your harem?” I asked, as a single tear slid down my cheek.

“I don’t think of you as just another
anything. I won’t send them away; they are my responsibility and
they belong here with the Horde. I need to have a care for what
their families have been granted and rewarded in return for them.
Those are contracts I won’t cross,” he said guardedly.

I shook my head and moved to pull away from
him, but his arms pulled me back. “I feel like I’m just another
pretty thing for the collection.”

“That’s not true, and you know it. I have had
them for many years, and they live comfortably in the pavilion. I
won’t uproot their lives for any reason. Don’t ask me to, Pet.”

After speaking with Ristan earlier, I
understood where he was coming from; I just wasn’t sure where it
left me, or how I felt about it. I needed to change the subject, so
I did. “Tell me about the beast, Ryder,” I whispered, watching him
closely.

“He’s a part of me. Like a split personality
mixed with my own. We are one, I’m his host. All of the Fae get
brands when they Transition, but only a select few inherit a beast
as well when they come into their full powers. Mine just happens to
be stronger, and uglier, than most others. The form of the Horde
King is what you see when he and I merge and become one. The first
time we took that form, was when I became Danu’s chosen Heir. Until
your presentation, that form had only been seen by the Horde the
day I killed my father.” A small smile tugged at his lips.

“What does he look like when it is just him?
Do you know, or do you have to be in front of a mirror?” I teased
softly.

“He is whatever he wants to be. He is the
spirit of all of the creatures of the Horde and can be any of them
if he so chooses it.”

“So your beast took me, and did this?” I
indicated my stomach as a whole. “Why? Did he know who I was?” I
climbed out of the tub, because I knew where my questions were
heading, and if he couldn’t answer the next one correctly, I wanted
to be out of reaching distance.

“No, he just refused to let you go, or belong
to another man. By impregnating you, he did what I couldn’t at the
time.”

I nodded and continued with my original line
of questioning. “Do you want this baby—our baby?”

“The child is needed to save this world. He
was smart in claiming you and ensuring you were ours with the
child. We can now move forward with what else is needed to save
Faery,” he replied carefully, his midnight eyes watching me.

“Do you want this baby?” I asked again.

“To save Faery, yes, I do,” he continued
evasively.

“Fucking Fairy, answer the question! Do you
want this baby!?”

“If it comes with his beautiful mother, yes I
want him.”

Relief flooded through me; at least he wanted
it. “Did you fuck Claire?”

His head snapped up, and he glared at me.
“Not since I told you that I would only feed from you,” he
answered.

“Have you fucked her since you took the
throne, Ryder?” I fixed the question. I was getting better at the
flipping Fairy word games.

“I have not fucked her since the day you
watched me take her over my desk. I told you that if I fed, it
would be from you. I fed from the pavilion as a whole. I fed from
their emotions, from their fears, and their hopes. Is that what you
wanted to know? I had to feed to save
you
.” He was smiling
now, like he thought I was cute or something.

“Funny how saving me wasn’t even saving me,
considering you were the one that I needed saving from…”

“I told you I would always keep you safe. I
also promised you that I was coming to save you from the big bad
Horde King.”

“Yeah, about that, how could you say that
when you
were
the Horde King?”

“As I told you, I wasn’t at the time. I found
you in your dream right before I took the throne.”

“You are such an ass,” I grumbled as I got
out and quickly put the sundress I’d discarded earlier, back
on.

I was turning to head back for the bed when
he pulled me back into the bath with him. I sloshed the water as I
swung my arms trying to catch my balance.

“Stop fighting me, Synthia. You make the
beast want to come out and play with his new toy.”

I quickly stopped and looked down at the now
ruined sundress. I tried to make it disappear as he normally did,
but it stayed on. He whispered against my ear, and it dissolved as
if the water had consumed it.

“Much better, Pet,” he whispered as his arms
wrapped around me, and slid down until they rested on my lower
belly. “We made life,” he growled like a proud peacock.

“Yes, we made life with the help of your
beast.”

He snorted, and I laughed. It was strange
feeling his hands on my womb, on the child we’d created, even if
the beast was strutting his shit around inside of Ryder. I leaned
my head against him and relaxed, ignoring everything else that was
going on. Here, right now, it was just the four of us; Ryder, his
beast, our child, and me. Shit, this tub was crowded.

“Answer me this, what is it that Ristan saw
that made you design the contract to take me from my parents?”

He exhaled, and I shivered even though the
water was holding the perfect temperature. I turned my head until
it rested against his shoulder, and our breath mingled.

“He saw us having a child, one that would be
of the two strongest Castes of Fae. One that would eventually heal
much of the damage done to this world. But he also saw the alliance
we would make that would begin healing the damage my father had
inflicted across this world.” He paused and pinched my nipple until
it puckered into a hard pebble beneath his touch. “For most of my
life I watched my father ruin everything he had touched. I plan on
fixing it, but in order to do so, I may have to do things that you
won’t like.”

“Like?”

“I’m the Horde King, Synthia; we earn our way
by being brutal. If I don’t show them my strength, I will be
challenged incessantly by every king and lord that believes he is
stronger.”

“I had a feeling about that; I don’t
understand where I fit in, Ryder,” I said honestly. This was the
root of what was bothering me. He pulled me closer and nuzzled his
nose in the soft column of my neck.

“You fit in right here,” he rumbled softly as
he wrapped his arms around me. “Everything else we will figure out
as it comes.”

The rest of the night went by slowly. There
was no sex, no rushing through it with fighting, and no words were
used. We just lay together in the bed, holding each other as if
nothing else mattered. It was refreshing, and even though I had a
million questions to ask him, I ignored it. Tonight, I would accept
his comfort.

The next morning I awoke to an empty bed.
Ryder had left either sometime in the night or early in the
morning. I ran my hand over the pillow where his head had been, the
indent from it still visible, as well as the heat from his body. I
groaned.

These freaking hormones were something else.
I felt like my emotions were starting to come unhinged, but at
least now I had a reason for them to be this over-active. I’d been
through hell, and at least now there was a light at the end of the
tunnel. I was safe, and while my situation was not ideal, I could
manage it.

It was odd. I felt like I could breathe
better now that I knew he was the reason I’d been through hell. If
he was what this had all been for, I was willing to make it work
between us. I needed to find a foothold, and figure out how to
break through his hard exterior. I just had to find a crack in it,
and force my way through. It wasn’t like I could walk away now. I
was in too deep and pregnant with his child. No, leaving wasn’t an
option right now, even though I missed being in the human
world.

I missed home and Alden. I missed the
cemetery and the midnight dances inside of it. I missed Adam and
Larissa.

I had been through so much in such a short
time, and was learning who I was and what I was. I knew my feelings
for him, but even with knowing, it still baffled me how I’d come to
love him in so little time. I loved him, even after everything he’d
done. But life was funny. I’d figured out what I wanted. Go figure,
I wanted the one man who drove me batshit crazy and over the edge
in one single word.

Man, I was emotionally screwed. I was crazy
to think I could stay here with him and his harem of women that
he’d already said he wouldn’t give up. And then there was Claire,
who obviously hated my guts; not that I blamed her, since I’d be
pissed if someone took Ryder away from me, too.

I had a choice to make, and it couldn’t be
made inside this room. I sat up and looked at the door to where one
hot Demon stood smiling with a gorgeous red cocktail dress held up
to his frame. “I’d go with blue. It would make your hair stand out
and show off the highlights,” I said smiling.

“Ahh, what if I like red?” He grinned.

Go figure, my one friend in this place was
the Demon I’d planned to hate. There it was again, another thing
I’d failed to do. I’d planned on hating Ryder, yet every time he
touched me, I caved like some weak-knee school girl.

I was weak around him, and I needed to be
strong right now. My entire life was depending on it—and I was
immortal! Well, almost immortal, but close enough.

I started to get up, but Ristan held up his
hand to stop me. “Let me get your handmaidens; you now have five.
Zara will be joining the ones you already met. Ryder left specific
orders of what was to be done today. You will be presented to the
Horde, and blessed for the child you carry. It was a custom
Alazander abandoned, not sure why, but it used to be that all of
the kings wives or concubines were blessed this way during their
pregnancies to ensure the health of the child and prosperity for
the Horde. Ryder is hoping to pick up most of the things our people
lost because of him. Prepared to be pampered, my blossoming
Flower.”

Pampered?

Pampered.

And by pampered, he’d meant I was being given
a spa day. I had Keely the Brownie working my hair, tying it up for
the bath, while Faelyn the Pixie fought me for the sweetly scented
soap. I won, of course, and eventually she stood back and allowed
me to wash myself. Cherry blossom petals filled the wide tub, and
were beautiful, but considering I had five girls falling over me
while trying to help me, I couldn’t enjoy them.