“Then I hope you are happy, but don’t expect me to play happy whore for you. I am not willing to do that; not even for you, Ryder.”
“It’s not like I want her. I want you, Synthia Raine McKenna. She will go to the pavilion, like the others before her after I have done my duty.” he mumbled and released his hold on my hands.
I sat up and scooted away from him as quickly as I could. “You think I care if you want her? It won’t matter at that point, because I won’t be here. Your duty will include bedding her. I’m not an idiot, Fairy. I know the old customs, and I know that most come from the Fae. You will have to,” I stopped as my throat thickened with the words, “you will have to take her to your bed. That’s not something I can just look past. My feelings might make me sound stupid to you, but I can’t change them.”
“So you’d take my child and leave?” he asked in a deadly tone.
“Without a doubt,” I sneered.
“I could chain you to my bed,” he whispered as his golden eyes lifted to meet mine.
I flinched from the heat in them. Why couldn’t he see how wrong it was that he wanted to keep me and a wife? I knew he was old, and that in this world it was common, but why couldn’t he see it from my eyes? “Ryder, you can chain me all you like. In the end, I will leave you. Either by checking out mentally, or physically; I won’t stay if you marry someone else, don’t ask me to.”
“And you’d stay if I refused to marry her?”
“Maybe,” I said. Yes, I’d fight to stay with him with every fiber of my very being.
“Yes or no, not that it matters. You are having my child. Leaving isn’t an option at this point.”
“I’m having our child, ours. He’s inside of me, not you. You are so wrong if you think you can pull what you did yesterday in the front of your Horde on me again. You don’t get to do this to me. Not when my entire life was shaped because of a choice you made before I was born. You stole my life, Ryder. If you hadn’t demanded a contract, I would never have left Faery, and my parents would be still alive and would never have had to go through what they did.”
“If I hadn’t made that fucking contract, you’d be a very different girl than you are now. You’d have been mine either way. Danu chose you for this. She thinks you’re something special. She thinks our child can fix this world, and when I find the relics, I hope she’s right,” he hissed.
“But you don’t think I’m special?” I asked, crossing my arms uncaring that I was naked. Besides, it wasn’t like he hadn’t seen it all many times.
“I think you’re a scared little girl who doesn’t know what the fuck she wants. You have no home, you have no friends, and you have no one who is willing to walk in here and fight me for you. And trust me, Syn, Adam and Adrian are not that stupid nor would Vlad or Kier allow for them to come here and challenge me.”
My chest and throat burned from unshed tears. I closed my eyes and felt one drop. I shook my head and looked up into his gorgeous face. This was my Knight in shining armor, this was my savior. Right, I was such an idiot. “Feel better? Does it make you feel better to point out that I have no one left? No fucking options?”
“Syn,” he said, sliding his fingers through his hair.
“Get out,” I seethed, straightening my spine and reinforcing my courage. He might be the Horde King, but I was the Blood Princess, and I wasn’t some weak ass bitch who would cave to this. I may not have what I had a few months ago, but he was wrong. I had options. I wasn’t down and out yet.
“Synthia,” he warned.
“Get the fuck out, Fairy! Get out! Get out!” I half screamed, half cried as the feeling of everything crashed down on me. I felt pain shoot through my midsection as if the fires of hell were tearing through me. I hit the floor hard and landed on my knees before I bent over and everything went black.
~Ryder~
“What is wrong with her?” I demand and watch as Eliran shakes his head.
“No idea. You said she screamed and then fell?” he asks, and his eyes fly to mine as if he can sense my guilt.
“We were arguing,” I divulge, and listen as Ristan snorts.
“Dizziness and fainting are very common symptoms during pregnancy. She looks stable, but I’d like to keep her down here for tonight,” Eliran continues.
“No. If you want to monitor her, you will do so from my chambers. She is emotionally unstable. I’d rather you keep an eye on her from a distance. She needs to feel like she has some control of her life. I took her from her world, and according to Sinjinn, she’s already made one enemy he had to send packing for threatening her life.”