There was no winning in this one, only sorrow as the news cameras and press sat outside the gates waiting for the Guild and Fae to finally make a press release about how she'd fooled us all. She'd been put together to do just that, the missing pieces had been used to ensure she could do so. We'd gotten a few answers, but once again, it had left us with many more questions that needed answering.
It was bittersweet and a grand event. Larissa would have loved to see the cemetery full of Vampires, Fae, and Witches. I don’t think any had ever been in the same location of their own free will without there being a threat of war involved before.
I hadn't been able to use magic yet so Alden had done her funeral rites for me. He'd blessed her with enough magic to pass through this life into the next, even though we weren't' sure she'd go there since right now her soul was in limbo.
We stood there until everyone was gone, myself and Adam with the fourteen Fae who stood at our backs as an unbending wall of muscle. Everyone filed out slowly, Adrian and Vlad waited behind with the Fae until Adrian stepped through and laid a single yellow rose on the casket. He shook his head and turned around to face Adam and myself. "I'm sorry I put you through this, both of you."
I met his beautiful eyes but said nothing. I was barely holding the sobs at bay as it was. I nodded and slipped my arm through Adam's and leaned against him for support. I had borrowed a dress from the few things Larissa had left at Ryder's house. The idea of going home had me ill.
After the funeral was over, we were heading to my parents' house. We'd decided to move in if I could do so. I couldn’t go back to the apartment and we were officially no longer welcome inside the Guild, even though we'd found the killer and as far as they knew Ryder had taken him out. The fact was, we were Fae and no matter how much we wanted it to change, it wouldn't.
We were having a hard time adjusting, but Adam had found a friend in Zahruk, who was teaching him what he would need to know about feeding when the time came. I had Ryder, who hadn't been pushing me yet, but the time would eventually come.
He'd been torturing Joseph for days now and we'd learned he was only one of many seeking to destroy Faery and any caste who stood in their way. This was why they had gone after Ryder, or so we believed. We still had to figure out who the Mage worked for and why he'd targeted Fae in the human world instead of their own.
We ended up heading back to Ryder's place first so we could drop off the entourage and take a smaller group with us to the house. Ryder was being protective and it was chafing, but at the same time it was nice to have someone else protecting me and Adam for once.
"Syn, I need to see you in my room before we take you to the house," Ryder said running his hand through his hair.
I nodded and followed him, I hadn't said much since waking up. I'd been a shell of who I had been before and while I was healing, it wasn’t an instant process. It still felt as if I was watching a movie of someone else's life play out before my eyes.
When we reached his bedroom he quietly held the door open for me and closed it as soon as I passed inside. He leaned against the door blocking my retreat if I wanted to run "I can't do this anymore Syn. Your silence is fucking killing me. I miss the fucking Fairy jokes, the light shining in your eyes when you smile. I can't believe I am actually saying this…but I miss your sassy fucking mouth Pet."
I blinked at him and shook my head, "I just lost one of my best friends and you miss my sassy fucking mouth?"
His lips turned up until he was smiling, he stepped closer and pulled me against him. His eyes watching me intensely as he did so. "I need to feed and I want it to be from you. Since I need to teach you Syn, I could do both at once. You have yet to hit the Transition but it would show you how to when the time was right. If you don’t want to…well I won't force it. You are under contract, out of everything in it—you didn’t argue my feeding from you. Just so there is no misunderstanding between us, I sent Claire back to Faery when you agreed."
I didn’t answer him. Hearing that he had sent her away had created a warm fuzzy feeling inside of me though. I smiled as much as I could manage and started clumsily unbuttoning his shirt as I met his eyes giving him all the answer he needed. I wanted him and right now he was the perfect distraction. I knew he wasn’t the Dark Prince. He was more than that—so much more than that, but I didn’t care right now.
He was ancient and deadly and yet he'd been gentle and comforting when I needed him most. I'd signed the contract with the agreement that he teach me what I needed to know to live. While I didn’t embrace the idea of being Fae, I had no plans on dying because I was too stubborn to feed. His hands glided down my back until he found the zipper on the back of the dress and undid it slowly.