He pulled away and spoke softly. “I really had been planning to ask you to be my Queen for some time; it just didn’t seem right to rush this thing between us after I broke off the engagement to Abiageal. Do you know that the men brought me hundreds of rings, but I didn’t think any of them suited you? I needed something as beautiful as the woman who would wear it. I decided that I couldn’t give you just any ring, it had to fit you and had to be created from something that we both shared.”
I watched as he walked over to a wild vine growing against the wall that had beautiful electric blue flowers growing on it and plucked a thin tendril from the vine and began to fashion it into a band. He then plucked a single blue flower from the vine and set it on the band. Next he moved his fingers and the flower and vine turned into gold, which he continued to bend until it was fashioned as a ring. The way his eyes turned to fire and his lips tipped up in the corners told me this wasn’t his first attempt. When he’d finished with the ring, he pulled droplets of water from the pool and as I watched them, lost in his hypnotic magical show, they turned into a large round diamond before my eyes that he dropped into the center of the flower. Several smaller droplets appeared and he placed the smaller ones around the band, until it was the most exquisite thing I’d ever seen.
“As I said; I wanted something as beautiful as my bride,” he whispered and slid the band onto my finger.
“It’s perfect, Ryder,” I whispered. I looked up at him with tears in my eyes.
“Good, now come on. I don’t plan to fuck you in the sand,” he replied wickedly as he dragged me behind him.
I laughed as I ran to keep up with him. We rounded a corner, and I paused in shock. There in the middle of an opening with stars high above us in the sky was an abandoned stone room, with steps that led up to where a huge bed was placed on a dais. Around it were even more candles; the steps had candles embedded in them as well, which created a lit path to where the bed was waiting invitingly. Four huge pillars looked as if they held the sky up, and around them was silk of the same color of blue like the one Ryder had used to blindfold me.
“You did all of this for me just to get me to say yes?” I asked.
“No, I did all of this for you. I’m seducing you, Synthia,” he smiled wickedly. “And I plan to make love to you the first time, and then I plan to fuck you hard.”
Chapter Seventeen
I was led up the stairs until I stood before the satin draped bed that was covered in pillows. Like most beds associated with Ryder, it was huge. As I approached the bed, rose petals rained down from the sky. I smiled as I brought my hand out to catch one, and then lifted it to my nose to inhale the fragrance deeply.
I turned to Ryder who watched me silently. His hands shook slightly, as if he was nervous. “Did Ristan plan this?” I asked, knowing he’d helped Ryder plan most of his romantic escapades, but this one felt different. It felt real, as if he’d done it all himself.
“That depends,” he whispered throatily as he watched me through hooded eyes.
“On?” I continued.
“Do you like it?”
“No,” I shook my head and somehow managed to hide the smile.
“Oh,” he said as he deflated a bit.
“I love it,” I smirked.
“Naughty girl,” he growled and shook his head. “This one is all me,” he admitted. “I could have followed what Ristan suggested, but I wanted this one to be ours. No one else knows exactly what I planned for you, and no one helped. Fuck,” he sighed. “I’m no good at this wooing shit.”
“Actually, this is better than anything the Demon could have planned. The others, they lacked your touch and so they meant less, but this,” I said as I took another look around the area. “This is you, and that means more than flowers and chocolate. I don’t need romance, but it’s nice. I wanted your love, but only because I loved you so much that it hurt to feel it without thinking it could be returned.”
“You’re a one of a kind jewel, Synthia Raine,” he said as he sifted to the bed and reclined on it. He placed his arms behind his head and watched me languidly. “Will you strip for me?”
“No glamouring off my clothes?” I asked. I was so used to him controlling everything, including how quickly my clothes melted off, that I was almost shocked that he was asking.
“No magic, not tonight. I’ve never taken anything slowly, but I plan to savor you tonight. I plan to make love to the woman who captured my heart,” he rumbled.
“Stole it,” I smirked as I pushed my hair from my shoulders to show him everything. My hair was thicker now, and longer than it had ever been. I slowly reached up to remove the first layer of my dress. The Goddess dress was wispy, but the layers had ensured that it covered the parts it had needed to.
I pulled the top off and smiled as he exhaled a shaky breath as my stomach was exposed for his viewing pleasure. I smiled shyly, enjoying the fluttering of butterflies in my stomach that came with being with Ryder, as if every time with him was my first.
“Stop thinking,” he said with a wicked smile filling his mouth.
“You’re overdressed yourself, Fairy,” I whispered with lust thick in my tone.