“Have them take the dead to Faery for burial. They died bravely and deserve to be buried with honor.” I looked at the Guild compound where I had spent most of my life one last time. “Burn it down,” I whispered. The Fae overseeing the dead bowed to Ryder and then winked out through the portal with the remains.
I watched as Aodhan smiled as his eyes started to glow an iridescent blue. “Watch the master,” he said and I watched him, but it wasn’t him who had fire. It was Sinjinn. His double colored eyes changed, and turned to an angry red that bordered on creepy. He lifted his hands, palm up and I watched as flames leapt to life in them.
Even from where I stood, I could feel the heat of his flame as he brought it up to his lips and blew, which sent the flames rushing through the air as if they were liquid accelerator. Olivia screamed hysterically and fought against Sevrin’s hold, and the savage smile that took over Ristan’s face floored me. Whatever she’d done to him, I couldn’t intervene, no matter what.
Ryder turned and looked at the crowd of Humans that were wailing and shrieking in outrage at what had happened to the Guild. My heart mirrored their screams as flames licked the sides of the compound, as it caught and started to erupt in flames.
“Fae were not responsible for what happened here!” his voice boomed with regal authority over the crowd, stunning them to silence. “This was an act of insanity, caused by madmen and their accomplices within the Guild who betrayed their own brothers. One of ours was trapped inside protecting a Guild Elder when it happened. We will not tolerate violent acts against our people and we came here to get him out. This travesty had already happened when we arrived. We will go in peace now, but understand this; force will be met with equal force. Do not provoke my people by attacking them over false beliefs.” Ryder’s glare swept the crowd one last time before he looked at me. “Now, let’s go home.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
We emerged from the portal and walked through the courtyard, uncaring of those who looked upon us with fear. I felt the crowd’s uncertainty as the warriors passed through the crowd. These Fae must have also seen Alden and the children that were brought through, as well as the dead from the Guild, which had started trickling in just before we had.
The Spokane Guild had been burned to the ground, much to Olivia’s dismay, judging by her hysterical screams and the horror on her face. We’d burnt every trace of the Guild and its people from the cityscape of Spokane.
She’d sworn at us and cussed me out as Ristan had watched her with a look of hostility and anger that ran so deep even I feared it. It was so out of character for him to look at someone as he was looking at her now.
I could see Elijah as he watched me closely. I was covered from head to toe in blood from the Mages, and soot from the fire that had quickly started to burn out of control as I’d watched, waiting for proof that it was gone.
Vlad and Adrian had come back with us, and together, as if we were all one, we walked through the masses of lesser Fae to make a brutal point. If they could do this to a proud warrior such as Ristan, then what chance did they hold?
“Who did this?” the Winter Queen asked, and her eyes never left Ristan’s face. I could tell she was assessing the situation; he was a Demon in her eyes and I wasn’t sure if she knew that he was one of Ryder’s brothers. All that would matter to her is that Demons were a powerful part of the lesser Fae.
“Mages,” I said when he didn’t answer her. “Just imagine if it had been one of yours they’d captured.”
“Is he, is he going to make it?” she continued.
“He’d better, or someone will pay for it,” I said, and turned my eyes to Olivia who watched me silently. “We take harm upon our own very harshly, and those who fuck with my family will get no mercy.”
“You’re a traitor!” she cried.
She had drunk the same Kool-Aid I had, and sounded just as I had when I’d first met Ryder. I couldn’t blame her for that, but Ristan hadn’t deserved this, and as far as I was concerned she didn’t just betray Alden. She’d betrayed the true Guild.