“I’ve no intention of killing you, husband.”
“Ahh, then this newly hatched Goddess must be the one who’s planning to end my life,” he said with a narrowed look my way.
“She’s not a part of this, Bilé,” Danu warned. “She’s mine, of my womb.”
He swallowed and narrowed his eyes on me and for a brief moment, I felt him inside of me, searching my DNA until he found what he wanted, and then pulled back. I felt slightly violated, but something in his demeanor changed and he snapped.
“You mated with those vile fucks!?” His entire body shook with anger and his head swiveled to look at Ristan with an evil glare. His voice actually shook the ancient stone columns of the catacombs, and new leaks appeared and started to fill the floor with water.
It had always been damp down here, but new cracks were forming and water was leaking from the walls of the catacombs. Bilé was coming undone. He was actually glowing with hatred, and I could hear the Mages that were hiding in his cloaking field.
“I lay down with no Fae, I only placed my egg where a seed could plant it,” she sneered angrily. “After all this time and you’re jealous of my children.”
“I’m not jealous. You are mine! You’ve always been and will always be mine,” he growled.
I blinked and then chanced a peek at Ristan, who was glaring at me with a look of sheer hatred, but I knew it wasn’t for me. He was glaring at Bilé. I smiled. He glared. He was glaring, so hell yes I was smiling! If he could glare, it meant there was hope for him yet. I waited until Bilé moved closer, his angry arms swung out as if he was going to hit me, and I paused.
Danu shoved me, because I was trying to sift and we both knew it. She brought her fist up and slammed it against Bilé’s lips, and blood exploded from his nose. Oh yeah, that relationship was toxic! The Mages stood rooted to the spot, watching and waiting to see who would win. I wanted to, but I had a job to do.
I waited until she sifted behind him and Zahruk’s daggers materialized in her hands as she drove them into Bilé’s back while the Mages called out warnings. Two seconds later, I was left in the room with close to twenty Mages and Warlocks, and one bloody heap of Ristan.
I smiled, and felt a level of pleasure I shouldn’t have at the knowledge that I could now slaughter these sick bastards. I felt the moment Ryder and his men became visible, because the Mages turned a pasty shade of white. I pulled power from within and my brands lit up.
“Showtime,” I growled as I moved toward the Mages. The first one started chanting, and I punched him, right in the teeth, and enjoyed the burn as his teeth cut my knuckle, and then his scream as he choked on them. I dropped low and swung my foot out, catching his feet and taking them out from under him.
I stood up and kicked out with the other foot, catching one in his cheek, and another in the nose. I kept kicking, swinging, and slicing through them with the wicked iron blades Zahruk had been overly willing to part with since he was basically allergic to the metal they’d been formed out of.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Ryder and the rest of the men engaging the balance of the Warlocks and Mages. Seeing Fae fighting is a frightening, barbaric thing to witness and I was glad I was fighting with them, and not against them.
I watched as a set of Mages started towards me, and waited until the first one was close enough and swung out—as Alden had trained me to—and slit his throat with the weight of my body. I may have been smaller than a man, but I had enough tricks to hit as hard as one. The other moved closer, his eyes briefly following his friend, right before I let one of the blades fly, which landed in his eye, killing him instantly.
Brains were tricky like that. I turned to find the rest, only to find Ryder and his men watching me calmly as they glamoured the blood from their weapons.
“Missed it, did ya, Pet?” Ryder asked, his eyes diverted from where Ristan was being helped and the bolts were being removed.
“Always,” I said as I moved in the direction of the Demon.
“The girl,” Ristan snarled. His eyes were almost feral. “I want her with us.”
“What girl,” I asked, and turned to look around the room, only to find Sinjinn entering the library holding Olivia by the arm.
I stepped forward, torn on what to do. My heart said to stop them, to protect the poor girl. My head replayed Alden’s words, and in the end, it won out over Olivia being of my Guild. In my heart, I was no longer a part of this place. I was Ryder’s. I was Fae, even if only by choice, because my babies were. If she had betrayed the Guild, it affected my children and that wasn’t something I could ignore.
“Olivia,” I whispered with a questioning look at her.