“My mother is in there, along with many others my father hurt. I can’t just release them; it’s not that simple. Some of those women have been crushed and are just starting to come out of the shells my father beat them into. My mother is lost. She is trapped in her own body and becomes hysterical when she is around groups of people. He finally broke her the day I killed him. Yes, some are mine, Synthia, but I don’t fuck them. I only want one woman in my bed. You.”
“Why didn’t you just say that to begin with, Ryder? I’m human, or I was raised as one anyway; I have helped save women from Fae like your father, as a Witch. That? What you just told me? I understand and can accept it. I don’t know why it’s so hard for you to trust me, but if you could just give me the benefit of the doubt and trust me, I might just surprise you,” I replied. Ristan tried to tell me about the pavilion. Hearing it from Ryder’s lips helped me to understand that the Demon wouldn’t lie for him just to make me feel better.
He ran his hands through his thick midnight hair and smiled. “You amaze me every day, Pet. I gave you to another man, and you should hate me for that, but you don’t. You haven’t even screamed at me for it yet. I went fucking crazy, Syn. I held it together by a thin thread to maintain the peace, but on the inside I was as crazy as the beast. So I get it. The thought of you fucking Adam drove me insane. That he would touch you like I had, or that he would kiss those sweet lips that I’d become obsessed with. The only fucking thing that kept that thread from breaking was knowledge that I was sacrificing my desires for Faery. I thought I deserved it, for everything I had done. And even though I was prepared to give you to him, I was plotting how to take you back.”
“This is different, though, Ryder. There isn’t a chance that it’s a mistaken identity. Your father made this contract, and if it was written by him, I don’t see a chance of you getting out of it.”
“That’s where you need to trust me. My father always had a way out of everything. I just have to find it. I’m only asking you to give me enough time to find it.”
“We both need time. You’ve put me through hell, and no, you’re right. I haven’t freaked out, but then again, I’m not that type of girl. I was taught to be a good man in a storm. I don’t explode without thinking shit through. You need time to get out of this mess, and I need time to think. You knew this was coming, and yet you never told me anything. It’s a betrayal; maybe not to you, but to me it is. You got me pregnant. It may have been the beast that got the job accomplished, but it’s your children growing inside of me. Now, I get this dropped in my lap because you decided not to trust me, and that I see as a betrayal. I haven’t asked for much from you. So give me time. I realize I need to feed, but you also promised to show me other ways to feed as well, and have yet to deliver on your words. Teach me so that I can have the time to think without you mucking it all up.”
“Mucking it all up?” he asked pointedly.
“Yes, Ryder. When you’re this close, I can’t think. You come in all tall, dark, and deadly and my lady parts go all cuckoo for cocoa puffs and shit.”
“Is that so?” he asked silkily.
“Not even, Fairy.” I stood my ground, watching him.
“Fine, but that time is going to be here. You will be in danger if you leave this place without me. Here, I can guard you and the babes. I have enemies everywhere, and you would be their best tool to use against me while you are pregnant. I can’t show too much emotional attachment in front of anyone in this castle, outside of my elite guard. It’s dangerous, as I have enemies here as well.”
“Then why fight so hard for it?” I asked.
“Because I need to fix what I helped my father perpetuate. I need to save this world, and if it means sacrificing my own needs, I wouldn’t hesitate, you already know that. Destiny didn’t fight this hard to bring us together just to tear us apart, Pet. She has a plan.”
“I’ve met Destiny. She’s a mind freak who loves a game twister, seriously,” I mumbled.
“Ristan said she was interested in you. She didn’t bring you here just to torment you. Danu has a plan, and even though she can’t intervene directly. She will throw us some sort of a lifeline. We just need to figure out what it is.”
He scooted off the bed, and held out his hand for mine. “I want to take you somewhere. Think you have enough energy to go, or shall I feed you first?” he smirked wickedly.
I took his hand and stood up, as he glamoured a soft blue baby doll dress over my skin. It went to just above my knees, and stopped with a soft length of lace. He pulled me to him and I flinched as his hands came up, but then I realized he was reaching for my hair.
“What are you doing?” I asked quietly.
“I’m putting your hair up.” He pulled it up gently and placed a rubber band at the base of my neck efficiently.
“I can do my own hair,” I said as he looked at the ponytail that was situated too high on my head, like a late 80’s hair-do. All it was missing was a scrunchie.