“You want to see your world through my eyes?” I asked, a little confused by his words. He smiled and my breath caught and held in my lungs.
He was beautiful, even as his powers caressed my skin and he changed forms. He did it effortlessly. One minute he’d been a handsome Ryder, almost human. In the next, he was anything but human. His huge wings hugged against his skin, and his eyes turned to midnight with the full galaxy of stars stolen from the sky, now locked inside of them.
It still boggled my brain that my Ryder was the Horde King. It was a relief that he wasn’t Alazander, and that he’d killed him. Anyone with such hatred and evilness inside of them needed to be put down.
I was entangled, caught, trapped in his obsidian depths. He lifted his hand, and held it out for me to accept on my own. A bevy of emotions pooled through me, deep and profound, and turmoil tried to rear its head among them. I didn’t want to think; there would be plenty of time for that later. So I didn’t think twice as I accepted his hand and drew in my breath as he pulled me against his naked chest.
“I want to show you something, Synthia. It’s a special place I enjoy,” he whispered.
“Oh really?” I mused with a smile that wouldn’t let up, glued to my lips.
“I’d walk you there, Pet, but right now sifting is easier, and safer. I can’t take you everywhere I want to yet. The Mages have followed us here, which limits places I will allow you to see. They are trying to find allies with those who oppose the Horde. They’ve grown impatient, and have brought the fight to us.”
“We should kill them, like quickly,” I said, placing a protective hand over my stomach without even realizing I’d done it until Ryder’s hand pressed firmly over mine.
“Our child will be safe, Synthia. I vow it to you. I’d wipe every Mage off this map and that of your homeland before I let them get close to you, or my child.”
Shit, that was actually sweet!
“She will be protected,” I concurred.
“She? You have decided on our child being a girl?” he asked, but there was no anger in his tone, only mirth.
“Isn’t that what you want?” I asked, replaying what my mother had told me before I’d been given to the Horde King.
“You are predicted to give me a son,” he whispered against my ear as he turned me in his arms until my back was flush against his chest.
“So says the Demon, but, he’s wrong on things,” I said flippantly.
He chucked, and said softly in my ear. “The Demon’s visions have never been wrong.”
Ryder wrapped his arms around and me, and I smiled; at least until his wings whooshed, and we went airborne. I squeaked an undignified sound of fear and he took us back down the entire inch to the ground.
“Face me, and place your arms around my neck, Synthia. I won’t let you fall,” he replied, and I did as he asked.
I wasn’t afraid of heights. But then, I wasn’t accustomed to being in the arms of someone who could freaking fly either. The first time we’d only shot straight up in the air, and then he’d sifted us out of the Blood Kingdom. This time, he was actually flying. I rested my face against his chest, taking in his heady scent as I did so. I allowed his presence to calm me, and when he took off again, I was ready.
He didn’t go fast, and eventually I pulled my head from his chest so that I could see where we were heading to. I smiled and squealed again, only this time, with excitement. “Holy shit, Fairy, you can fly! I thought you said we would sift?”
“And miss you holding onto me this tightly?” he replied warmly.
He laughed deep from within his massive chest and shook his head as he landed on a long deck that couldn’t be more than a mile from the pool we’d just left. I waited for him to loosen his hold, and my feet to touch the wood deck before I moved.
There was a long slanted staircase covered with moss, which led to an azure pool of water that was fed by a beautiful cascading waterfall. “It’s beautiful,” I whispered as I took it in. It was a cove with huge cliffs on all sides, except for the one with the winding staircase that led to the welcoming pool of water.
Vivid emerald vines with white flowers that looked like lilies, but had more petals, hung from them. They covered the sheer rock cliffs. I took one step, and then another with Ryder close on my heels. When we reached the crystalline pool, he pulled me back against him.
“I used to play here after training with my father. It’s heated from the rocks. We call them Core stones, natural rocks that were once dipped into the cauldron of life, they stay heated for millennia, or more once they have been removed from here. Kind of like the natural hot springs of your world.”