I had expected Z to come back, instead Ryder stood over the top of me looking down. "What the fuck? Syn what the hell did you do?" He asked looking around the room as if it held the answers he needed.
I gasped, I couldn’t get air, my body shook as I gasped and tried to bring air in through my throat, but it wouldn’t work…The harder I tried, the less air I got. I was dying. My hands clasped around the collar, my eyes growing slack as I struggled to fight against the oblivion drawing me in.
"What the fuck? Zahruk!" He was yelling, his hands working against the collar deftly as he pulled it off from my neck.
"What's wrong?" Z asked walking in taking in the scene as I still gasped for air, "Bloody hell!" He sifted, or maybe I was starting to see things.
"Don’t you fucking die Syn, don’t…god dammit! Where's the fucking healer?" Ryder was commanding me not to die. He had some serious God complex going on.
Thirty One
I awoke to pressure on my face. It felt broken, my entire head felt broken. I didn’t bother trying to open my eyes. There was no point. They felt like they were glued shut. I lay still as voices sounded from across the room.
"She's waking up, some," Zahruk said as the bed shifted, but his voice had been across the room, someone else had been on the bed? I tried to remember everything that had happened.
"Dristan?" Ryder asked his voice low.
"The one above the useless one is a protection spell, powerful, but fading as if it's losing its juice. But Ryder, it's been there a long time. It’s definitely Fae and old."
"You're saying my little Witch is marked by the Fae? By, us?" Ryder said in surprise.
"No, not per se Ryder, think older," Dristan replied coldly.
"Elaborate," Ryder snapped.
"It almost looks as if it was branded with blood ink and some very old magic, but that’s impossible considering she appears human and has been living as such since she was a child. Someone went to pretty extreme lengths to hide her if she is Fae, they didn’t want her being found."
"Is it possible she was stolen or is she something else?" Ryder mumbled from across the room. “I pushed magic into her and she resisted. It took everything I had to turn her mind to my will.”
“You’re saying that you could not turn her FIZ?” Zahruk said and whistled low.
"I hate to butt in, but those were Fae in her house who killed her parents. Chances are they were looking for her and the collar she reacted to was crafted of iron Ryder." Zahruk said carefully.
"True, but why would they? The Fae don’t hide their young with humans, it would be suicide for her and the humans if she hit Transition without help. And the reaction to the collar doesn't make sense if she hasn't hit Transition, she could be starting the Transition and at twenty one she's the right age for it to start, if not a little past it."
"It's only suicide Ryder, if you cannot control them…she is being shielded, she has no Fae abilities, she doesn’t feed, she ages normally. Someone made damn sure she appeared to be one hundred percent human," Dristan said before fingers smoothed down my neck and the hair was pushed out of the way, "It's a Triquesta, of protection, the words well…I can't read them and this particular usage of the Triquesta looks to be a protection and concealment brand," Dristan released my hair and stepped back, his shoes making a soft thud as he walked to the other side of the room.
"If she is Fae, then why the fuck isn't she waking up?" Ryder growled low in his throat.
"No clue, but you sifted with her. I'm going to take a guess here and say it has to do with why the tattoo is fading. You said her tattoo was darker a few days ago and she did not know it was even there right? You also said that you could see it before she entered Faery?" Dristan continued to be the loudest voice inside the room.
"Correct."
"You taking her into Faery weakened it then, she's changing. Question is what the hell kind of Fae is she?"
"She could be Light Fae, with her coloring it’s possible. She has enough of their attributes as well," Zahruk replied.
What the fuck were they thinking? I was human and I was pissed…sore but pissed. I wasn’t Fae, had the whole fucking world gone crazy this week? I blinked and moaned wincing as I realized everyone had been whispering even though they had sounded louder, Dristan was the first to say something.
"It lives," he said making me cover my ears and cry out. It was like razors pounding through my head.
"Stop screaming," I whined.
I turned over carefully, just in time to catch Dristan nodding to Ryder who stood across the room. I glared, this was his fault.
"Look at her eyes," Ryder said smiling.