I lay
curled in the covers, even though I wasn’t cold. I felt chilled to the bone with the information running through my head. If the Guild was picking a fight, then they were going to be up a shit creek with a lot of unneeded collateral damage as their paddles. It could send the entire world into a war that the humans would lose.
I should have
told Ryder what Alden had said, but my brain was already running on overload, and today’s events had only made it worse. My surprise visitor was making it hard to think of much else. With him came the memories of that night. The presence of Ryder’s men did give me a level of comfort that I wouldn’t have had if he’d listened to me and taken them with him.
I’d have to thank him
next time I saw him, which kind of sucked. My brain was bouncing from his gentle kiss to my forehead, my parents’ deaths, that horrible night. I now knew that they had died protecting me from whoever the blond Fae were. It hurt to know I had been right; that they had died for me.
I turned over in bed and shook m
y head at the sudden bout of dizziness that made the room spin. I felt a bolt of fire race through my body. Before I could even think, I was off the bed and running to the bathroom where I emptied my stomach violently. Strong hands helped me as I sat back away from the toilet. Calm, soothing fingers pulled my hair away from my face and a cold cloth was placed against my forehead softly.
“
Syn, what the hell did you try to eat?” Ryder asked as he sat with me, cradled against his chest, on the cold bathroom floor.
“
Food,” I whispered, fighting another wave of nausea. How the hell had he gotten here so fast?
“
Your body should be able to digest food without any problems. Food didn’t cause this. Are you done?” he asked softly.
“
I need to brush my teeth,” I replied, trying to stand up, but he was faster. He pulled me up against himself, and I felt his magic cleansing me from head to toe as he walked me back to the bed slowly.
“
How long have you been sick?” he asked, helping me back into bed.
“
I’m not sick. I just threw up.”
“
Try to sleep. I sent the others home to sleep as well. I’ll make sure you are safe.”
“
You sent everyone else home?” I asked, wondering how long ago they’d left.
“
Yes. You need to feed soon, and the scent of your Transition can still affect the men. You need to rest tonight. Tomorrow, I will show you how to feed without sex, if you are strong enough. Most newly Transitioned Fae can’t feed without the sex. So don’t get your hopes up.” A small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. He was actually teasing me, which was unlike him. I was so used to his demands and his orders that it caught me off guard.
I crooked
my arm under my head and watched him as he sat down in the overstuffed chair next to my bed removing his shirt. My eyes slid down his torso to the small dark patch of hair that led deeper into his loose fitting jeans. “Alden came by today. He said he thinks the Guild is siding with the Mages who are attacking the Fae. He also said that the Guild is spreading propaganda that the Mages are the true ancestors of the Druids.” I kept my eyes leveled with his, and waited for the explosion that would surely follow my words.
His face gave nothing away
as he replied, “I know. I’ve always known the Guild had a part to play in the Mages game. I have been watching them for a long time, sizing up the enemy, and seeing what cards they held. I always stack the deck in my favor.”
I shook my head.
“How do you always manage to be one step ahead of everyone else, Ryder?”
“
I do it by studying my enemies, and being the better player at the game. I approached the Guild fully aware of the Guild’s origins and history that they don’t teach their young. Keep in mind, all propaganda, as you call it, starts with a grain of truth. So, what Alden told you is right, but not quite. The history goes back farther than you have been taught—farther than humans realize. The Fae came to this world long ago and stayed mostly out of curiosity. Humans are full of emotion, and it is something that we tend to lose over an immortal existence. It draws us. This interaction created a problem as humans at the time were quite primitive, impressionable and extremely superstitious. You mix that with magical beings that are far more advanced intellectually and culturally, and it can become a very big problem. Many of the so called ‘gods’ of early human history, were in fact, Fae that had challenged the ruling castes in Faery and broken the sacrosanct rule of not interfering with humans, by setting themselves up as gods.” He smiled at me as his words lulled me with the history of our kind.
“
The Fae spread out and unintentionally influenced cultures wherever they went. The Dark Fae tended to frequent what is now known as Scotland, whereas the Light Fae favored England, and the Blood Fae drifted towards Ireland and Wales. The ruling Castes in Faery did not mind the Fae that liked to visit and amuse themselves in this world, as long as the rules were maintained. Not interfering with humans, as I mentioned before, was one rule, and the second was not allowing creatures of the Horde into this world.” Ryder looked at me intently as he measured his words.”
“
Syn, there are some creatures from the Horde that do not belong in this world. They are far too dangerous, and they have no control over themselves. As you may have guessed, both rules were broken many times over, and there were many tragic situations that occurred by bringing some of the more dangerous and unstable Horde creatures into this world. Many Changelings were born as a result of the Fae taking humans as their lovers. The challenge, as you speculated with me before, was that the Changelings really had no place to belong. They were powerful in their own right, but they were not human, and they did not like the fear that the humans had for them.”
They entered into Faery, and banded together for protection
, and to learn from each other and the Fae. At first, they tried to belong with the Light Fae. The Light Fae, knowing that the Changelings were part human, rejected them quickly and quite violently. They then tried the Dark Fae, but Mauricio, who was King back then, rejected anyone who was not of his lineage.” His eyes started to glow faintly. Before he spoke again, he had sifted beside me in the bed, and he pulled my body closer to his hard, warm skin.
“
The Blood Fae would not have accepted them either, but the Changelings never asked them because by then they had decided to strike out alone. They hated that the Blood Fae and the Horde were Unseelie. They rejected the two castes and returned to the human world.”
“
So, this was when they became the Druids?” I asked, trying to think past his naked skin that rested against mine. When I had gotten ready for bed, I’d only changed into a small pair of shorts and a thin tank top that said Sassy across my breasts and rear end.
I
felt him smile against my neck. “Yes, Pet. The Changelings became the Druids of England and Ireland that the Guild would have taught you about, but as time moved on; they slinked back to the shadows, just as the Fae tend to do. We kept watch over them, because they were only children who were hurt, and had felt as if they did not belong. As the human world evolved, they evolved with it. When they took the titles of Witches and Warlocks and created the Guild, we took note. They seemed harmless enough, and the elders of the Fae thought it cute when the Druids took up arms and vowed to protect the human race from us.
A more radical group formed within their ranks and became the Mages, and they were a different matter altogether. They could not let the rejection of the Light and Dark Fae go and move on with their lives. They have been operating within and outside of the Guild ever since. Their agenda, as best as we can tell, is revenge at any cost. Some Guild members, like Alden, don’t know all the facts, while others are extremists, working in the shadows and moving the Guild in the direction they want it to go in without those who would reject this fanaticism being the wiser.”
“
So we are Fae?” I asked, turning over to face him.
“
Not you, Pet. You are full Fae. They are Changelings; half human and half Fae, born of a union between Fae and the human race. The Horde would have welcomed them, had they asked them to. They chose to leave though. Only a small portion of those inside the Guild know of what is happening deeper within the ranks.”
“
How can you be so certain that it is only a small portion, and not more of them?” I asked, narrowing my eyes on him. It resulted in them lowering to his full, gorgeous, skillful mouth. “I mean, how do you know that I’m not involved?”
“
Because I had you in my bedroom inside the club for thirty minutes before I allowed Adam in to collect you. I could have taken you then. You were so fucking beautiful sprawled out on my bed. I tranced you, and asked you if you were involved with anything off the books with the Guild, or any group inside that was off the grid. The only thing you admitted to was cheating on your diet to eat chocolate. You had no secrets; none that were real anyways. You were the first human who seemed to be real, go figure, you weren’t even human,” he replied smiling.
“
You tranced me the day I signed the first contract?” I asked, not sure how I felt about him messing with my head without me knowing it.
“
I had to know. Z’s gift only allows us to see events as they happened, not as they are perceived by the human mind. Our group is very effective at getting information, and not all need the type of interrogation tactics like you saw at the mansion. I also needed to know how far you’d go to protect the Guild if they were the ones killing those poor mutilated women.”
“
I wouldn’t protect them if they had done it.”
“
I know. You’re a fierce protector, but only when what you are doing is right,” Ryder said, smiling wickedly.
“
You shouldn’t have killed Adrian. How am I supposed to trust you now?” I asked softly, already having to fight the need to kiss him.
“
You shouldn’t trust anyone, including me. If I thought sacrificing you would accomplish my goals, I’d do it in a heartbeat. I’m not here to make friends, or to build a life. I’m here for one thing alone, and stopping Fae from dying needless deaths is a part of why I am here. We are not so different in that. We both fight for the weak and vulnerable who can’t do it themselves,” he whispered softly, but with enough force I knew he wasn’t bluffing.
“
They sent me to kill you. Alden admitted that he thought they were hoping I’d have some sort of PTSD attack and kill you. I wonder if Arianna was a back-up plan. You knew what they were up to, so why didn’t you just kill me?”
Ryder nodded and ran his finger over my bottom lip.
“I didn’t kill you, because I knew when I tranced you; that you had nothing to do with the Guild’s plans. Arianna is a very different matter. We think that she was a plant by the Mages and the Light Fae to kill me, the Dark King, or both of us. We just can’t prove it, or accuse the Light Fae outright of conspiring with the Mages. Syn, now that you know more about the Guild, you need to know the rest of what we found out. Larissa was a message. Joseph was under orders to convert you to their plan or kill you. He was obsessed with killing; he got off on it. He took it farther than they wanted it to go. He was obsessed with you because you took from him what he had built. I killed him tonight. That’s what I came back to tell you, one less thing you have to worry about now.”
My heart skipped a beat;
I’d wanted that kill. I didn’t feel better knowing he was dead and wouldn’t hurt anyone else ever again. It didn’t give me closure to the way Larissa was killed, and it sure as hell didn’t lessen the pain of her loss. “Did he suffer?”
“
He’s suffered since the moment I found him trying to cut you open. He took from you, so I took his flesh. He died screaming in a very bad way. I removed his beating heart for you, and Ristan ate it, consuming his soul while Joseph watched.”
“
Ristan
ate
his heart?” I asked, and waited for his nod before finishing. “That’s disturbing on so many levels.” Ryder smiled as my own filtered across my face.
“
He took from you, and even though you may think I don’t care, Pet, I do. I have a mission here, and thousands of innocent Fae are depending on me. None of the other Fae seem to care, minus Adam’s father.”
“
And your father,” I said, watching him.
“
Yes,” he said, looking right at me.
“
So, he is your father?” I’d hit on something.
“
You’re fucking Adam’s brother, yes.”
“
I’m not fucking you,” I said, smiling impishly up at him.
“
You will be. I can smell your hunger, Pet, and your eyes keep dropping to my mouth, which is why I keep talking. The more you look, the more you want me. All I have to do is wait it out.”
“
I don’t feel good,” I said as my body started to burn again. “Shit,” I said, sifting to the toilet and retching again. I didn’t even have time to be glad that I could sift to somewhere else besides his feet.