“
Who’s talking to you?”
“
Vlad. He said stop being stubborn, open that door, and get in the room. Ristan is coming to talk to you now.”
Sure enough,
Ristan materialized in front of us, covered from head to toe in blood. I couldn’t tell how much of it was his. I swallowed the cry that tried to tear from my throat as his eyes met mine with worry filling them. “Ristan,” I whispered brokenly as I rushed toward him.
“
Syn, I need you to come with me now.”
“
Ryder?” I asked, shaking my head.
“
It’s bad, really bad. I need you to do what you did last time; save him for us. Please, I need you to help us. I don’t think Eliran can do it, and, frankly, I’m not willing to wait to see if he can when I know you can do it. I need you to save him.
Fuck!
You have to do it. I’m begging you, Synthia. Please.”
We sifted
to the room that Ryder was being treated in; the atmosphere was one of grim apprehension. Most of Ryder’s guards, including Dristan and Zahruk, had taken up positions around his bed. They refused to leave his side, even with the severity of the wounds many of them had. I couldn’t see Ryder, because Eliran had a sheet drawn up around him. Healers were running in and out of the room. I flinched as someone dropped a metal container on the hard floor, the sound echoing over the sound of the machine beeping. The machinery always struck me as odd around such a mythical being, but Eliran had told me when he was treating me before that the machines humans had for monitoring patients were very useful to him.
“
What happened?” I whispered as Ristan pulled me closer to Ryder, as a helper sped by to get something for Eliran who was standing on the other side of the bed from me. Ryder looked lifeless, he wasn’t moving, and he wasn’t breathing. I knew he was Fae, mentally, but it wasn’t clicking as I stared at his ashen, motionless body.
“
Iron; they shot at us with fucking iron bullets, as if they knew we were coming tonight. We got most of them, but I didn’t see the bullets. I should have.
Fuck
! I only saw that we stopped them from killing another group of Fae.” His voice was hollow as he spoke. “I’m not meant to see everything, but why Danu did not want me to see this, is beyond me. I’m meant to protect him.”
I reached down and held his
hand; it felt as if my heart was being ripped out. Ristan was in need of comfort as much as I was, and I was in need of something to hold as I stood there staring at Ryder’s inert body. A feeling of absolute wrongness stole over me—this wasn’t right. Ryder
did
the damage—he wasn’t supposed to be lying here like this.
Eliran shouted at the helpers
rushing into the room. Everything was moving fast around us as if time stood still for Ristan and I alone. I was seeing everything in slow motion, as if it was a nightmare. My brain knew they were moving as quickly as their feet would take them, but my eyes remained glued to Ryder.
He couldn’t die.
Last time he’d made it through with only a few scratches. I mean, come on, he was freaking Ryder. He didn’t get hurt; he did the hurting! This was something else entirely, though. Iron killed Fae, and, from the smell of the blood coming from Ryder, he’d taken the brunt of the damage.
Iron bullets. I closed my eyes and sent my senses seeki
ng the damage; inside of him were multiple bullets, and they seemed to be everywhere, starting from his shoulders and all the way down his legs. Tissue had been damaged, and cartilage was torn, unable to heal because of the iron lodged deeply within his body. I pushed with everything inside of me—everything I had—into the room, and into his body. The roar of blood rushing through my own body filled my ears as I fought to empty Ryder’s body of the iron that was killing him.
Several cries erupted around me, but I ignored them
, and kept fighting against the iron. I felt myself waver on my feet, but Ristan was quick to hold me up against himself, which allowed me to keep fighting against the deadly metal. There were so many bullets—too many. The iron had already started fusing to his cells and was poisoning his system, making it impossible for it to begin the healing process. I started at his shoulders and began to pull the bullets with my magic and, at the same time, forced the blood filled tissue to expel the iron and tainted tissue.
I cried out as I sent
everything I had in energy, and more strength and magic than I knew I had, into his system. I was hoping it would be enough, as I pushed and pulled the iron bullets to me. At first, the metal and its toxins resisted me, but I pulled harder with everything I could find in myself. Pain filled screams erupted around me as if
every
male inside the room was a part of him, or attached on a mental link. My vision wavered. I saw little grey lumps begin to reemerge through the entrance wounds as I continued to push and pull, so many of them popping up, rolling off and falling on the floor with pinging sounds as they hit the linoleum and bounced everywhere. I closed my eyes and continued my task, systematically working through his body from the shoulders to ankles; wherever I could find iron to pull.
When I could
n’t do anymore, I opened my eyes and sagged wearily against the bed. I was afraid to find that the metal had won the battle. Every one of Ryder’s men that had been in the room, had been taken to the floor with the pain of me pulling the iron out of Ryder’s body. They all felt it, even though Ryder remained unconscious the entire time. Everyone was watching me, including Eliran, who looked from me, to Ryder, and back again.
“
You removed the iron,” he said softly as if he were afraid to believe it was true. He glanced at Ryder’s men as they struggled to their feet. “You removed it all?”
I tried to get words out, but nothing came. Blackness was fighting for my mind
, and, before I could give warning, I felt myself crumbling to the floor. Ristan caught me and hefted me back up easily.
“
Eliran,” he shouted.
“
Get her in the room with the tanks; I’ll find a cot for her. She needs to rest. I have no idea how she does that, but, right now, she needs rest before she passes out from tapping out her system,” he replied.
I was fighting the darkness this time
, refusing to allow it to descend and steal away my consciousness. I blinked repeatedly until the stars broke away, and I could see once more. Silver and black patterned eyes looked down at me as strong arms carried me from the room. “Ryder?” I asked, worried that I had failed.
“
He has to go in the tank, Syn. It will speed up the healing process so we can get him to a state where he can feed. You may have removed the iron, but he took a lot of internal damage from the bullets,” Ristan replied.
Ristan held me until one of the healers pushed in a small
bed that he positioned next to one of the giant tanks, and then Ristan tucked me onto it. I watched as Ryder was brought in, naked and covered in blood. He looked as if he was asleep if you could ignore the blood, which I couldn’t, but I wasn’t fooling myself. He was severely injured, and in my head I knew it.
His men came in and helped remove him from the gurney
. Eliran followed closely behind them, attaching cords that flowed from a beeping machine to Ryder’s naked flesh. It took four of his men to hold him above the huge tank as Eliran finished the last few connections. When he was done, they released him into the water, with an oxygen mask covering his nose and mouth. He sank lifelessly to the bottom of the tank. Everyone seemed to be holding their breath as they watched him until his body slowly began to rise, and stopped in the middle of the tank and floated there. Dristan closed the lid on the tank as Eliran turned a dial on the bottom, at the control panel, and millions of tiny bubbles started popping up crazily from the bottom of it. They’d stuck Ryder in a giant fish tank. I couldn’t quite picture what Adrian had described earlier; this was an amazing blend of Fae magic and technology.
“
I am far more optimistic about his recovery, now that you removed the iron from him,” Eliran said as came over and held out his hand. I accepted it and let my eyes move back to Ryder. His hair was moving in the water as if he was weightless.
“
When will he wake up?” I asked, wanting him to do so already.
“
That depends on how much damage he took trying to save his men. I couldn’t open him up because—”
“
Enough,” Zahruk said, strolling in. “He needs to heal, Synthia. Ryder will pull through this by morning; he’s very strong.” He was very confident, as though he know something I didn’t.
“
I’m staying,” I whispered, reaching out to place my hand on the tank.
“
That’s fine, Synthia, but nothing changes. In one more day, you go to the Dark Heir, to become his wife,” Zahruk said, lowering his eyes to Ryder’s closed ones. The tick in his jaw was hammering, and even through his anger, I could see the pain of the unknown. They loved him, and it showed in their eyes, even if they refused to show it otherwise.
I felt drained
, mentally and physically. I closed my eyes and closed out the sound of everyone around me. It was odd. For the first time, I could hear Ryder’s heart beating through the brand on my hip. I fell asleep to its soothing beat. It was comforting, and told me he was alive, even if he was floating in a tank of water.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
I awoke, warm and snug, to the sound of snoring all around me. Ryder’s men hadn’t left the small room and slept in uncomfortable positions around us on the floor. Sometime in the night, Ristan had gotten into the small bed with me and was even now curled around my body like a gigantic cat. I wasn’t sure if he had done it to protect me, or to push power into me like he had done before, as I felt really refreshed and strong. No matter the reason, he was going to know the moment I woke up, or moved.
I didn’t move
, other than to turn my head to look at Ryder. He was still sleeping, submerged in the water tank. My hand hadn’t left the spot on the tank where it had been when I had fallen asleep. His hand had found mine, and was pressed against it. As if he could sense, even in his healing sleep, that I was there for him, waiting.
My e
yes drifted slowly down his very naked body, taking in every red angry mark that had been an open wound only last night. He was healing, and it was a relief, since I would be leaving here soon, willingly or not. I flinched as my eyes landed on his leg close to his glorious cock. They’d tried to shoot him
there
. Sick bastards.
I exhaled
softly, and lifted my eyes back to his face, and yelped in surprise as I found his eyes watching me. “Ryder,” I whispered, sitting up to look at him better.
“
Shit, he’s awake. Aodhan, go get Eliran,” Ristan said, unwrapping himself from me and coming off the small bed to stand and stretch. He walked around to tap on the tank with a relieved smile plastered to his face.
Ryder tapped it back three times. His golden eyes met Ristan’s briefly
, before coming back to land on me. Eliran was in the room within moments of being told Ryder was awake, and was now barking out orders. Zahruk grabbed my arm, and was a little sharp, but his words had me off the bed and following him without hesitation.
“
He’s going to need to feed, Synthia. They will be bringing him to his bedroom; to you.”
I didn’t argue;
didn’t struggle to remove my arm from his hand as he sifted us to Ryder’s entryway. “Strip, and be ready for him. He’s going to need everything you can give—and more.”
“
Okay, I’ll strip when you get out.”
“
Be under the covers when they come in, Syn, and, fair warning, he won’t be gentle.”
“
Ryder doesn’t do gentle very often,” I said before I could stop the words from leaving my mouth. He’d been gentle once, and I remembered every single second of it. It wasn’t an actual lie, though. Ryder was, as a rule, rough—just the way I liked him to be. I nodded as Z made a grumbling sound, but left the room.
I looked down at myself and decided I needed to kill Ristan at the first opportunity. The demented pervert had cleaned me of all the blood and woad and had managed to dress me in a skimpy black baby-doll
nightie and tiny black lacy thong. It’s a good thing that Ryder said he trusted the Demon. Ristan might mess with me, but he wouldn’t seriously do anything. I groaned as I realized he
had
been pushing power into me—he’d been getting Ryder’s ‘dinner’ ready. I closed my eyes, and the little baby-doll top disappeared with nothing more than a thought. It was one of the nice things about being Fae. Well, it was now that I was learning to use it. I quickly climbed beneath the covers as the door opened, and Ristan came in.
“
Covered?” he asked with his eyes landing on me. I’d just barely managed to pull the covers up to my chin. “Damn,” he smirked impishly, but it was short lived as the others carried a limp Ryder in, and placed him on the bed. “All yours. This might get a little crazy, now, he might not know who he is feeding from. I’m going to be outside the door, just in case. If he gets to be too much for you, I can call another in to finish feeding him.”
As if!
“I can handle him,” I whispered, lifting my hand to touch his cold face. The only sign that he’d been submerged in water was the small droplets still dripping from the tendrils of his inky black hair.
“
Flower, I’m serious. If he hurts you, I need to know. If he gets too rough, it could be a sign that his mind has been infected by the iron. He would be livid if I allowed him to hurt you while he was unable to stop himself. Better one of the women who are here to serve the mass of Fae, then the fucking Light Heir. Understand what I’m saying?”
“
Go. We’ll be fine.”
When the room was cleared of his men
, I sat up on my knees letting the sheet drop to the mattress. He was deathly still. His chest wasn’t rising. No air was coming out of him at all. I bent over him and kissed his lips gently as he watched me.