“I think you’re due for another counting lesson.”
“Promise?” I asked, but the boys cooed and we smiled. Life wasn’t going to be easy chasing these three, or saving them so we could enjoy chasing them. “I’m scared,” I said and felt my throat as it tightened. “I can’t lose them, ever.”
“We won’t,” Ryder said as he kissed my forehead and smiled as Kahleena cooed and reached for him.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
We had been to the Tree right after it had been iced to see the damage, and so far we hadn’t found a way to break the enchantment. We had every friend and ally to the Horde out searching for answers, along with people searching through spell books and other archives of history to seek answers on what type of spell it could be, as well as the beings that had cast the spell to begin with.
To make sure that we hadn’t overlooked anything, we had a Human doctor examine Kahleena, and he had diagnosed her with failure to thrive. He’d then ended up with failure to breath, due to Ryder’s hand being wrapped around his throat. Time wasn’t with us, and even though we had hundreds of beings looking for the way to unfreeze the Tree, it seemed to be just beyond our grasp.
I was holding Kahleena when Ristan came into the room, his eyes immediately seeking her out. “She’s not getting any better,” he whispered. “She’s getting worse.”
“Yes,” I whispered back as I held the tears in, but failed. Danu had warned us that we had less than two weeks to bring the children to the Tree or the consequences could be dire, and we were watching it play out before our eyes now. My heart was breaking unlike anything I’d ever experienced before. I was losing my child, and I couldn’t stop it from happening. No one could. A lot of good it was to be a Goddess when I couldn’t even save my own daughter.
“We need to thaw out that Tree,” he said as he leaned against the wall. “Does Danu know how to do it?”
“If she did, don’t you think I’d be doing it?” I said as I swiped angrily at my tears. “I’m sorry,” I said as he closed his eyes against my angry words.
“Have you seen her lately?” he asked and opened his eyes to look at me.
“Once since we brought you back, I didn’t speak to her though,” I replied and touched the platinum curls on the top of her head. “I just can’t believe that I could live in a world where I died and was reborn just so I could watch my children die slowly.”
I looked up and he was gone, and Ryder stood there watching me. “We still have time.”
“No, we don’t,” I whispered and looked up at him. “I can’t do this,” I sobbed as I held the sweet girl closer. “I can’t watch her die,” I exhaled a shuddering breath.
“Synthia,” he whispered.
“It’s not fair! I haven’t even had time to get to know them, their personalities, what they like,” I cried.
He sifted out and I continued to hold my daughter, knowing that everyone else was afraid to be in this room. They knew what I did. That we’d run out of time and we were going to lose them.
~Ryder~
She’s hanging on by a thread, a single tattered one that was fraying and letting go. She’s been so strong for so long that the idea of losing our child is crippling. I know the feeling; I felt it when I lost her. I know that emptiness all too well, and death’s cold hand as it gutted me. Now I’m fighting time, to prevent it from stealing her and our children. I had seen enough of this to know that Kahleena is just the first to sicken and without the blessing they need, the boys will probably be next.
I know if we lose a child, she’ll be devastated. And if we lose all three, she will most likely give up or go inside of her mind as she did with Larissa. Maybe not right away, but eventually, she’ll fade away. She already is, even though she’s fighting it. In the last week, she’s watched as our daughter ate less and moved less, and still, she’s fought to stay alive. She is so tiny, and yet she has the fight inside of her that her mother has. I need them both to continue fighting until we figure it out.
“How’s Syn?” Sinjinn asks, his eyes searching my face and then dropping a slew of curses. “We’ve run out of time. That tiny little lady is just like her momma, she needs to keep fighting.”
“Indeed.”
“Ryder,” Zahruk said as he walks into the room and stops. “I…” he pauses and I watch as his throat bobs. “She’s alive still, right?”
“She’s getting worse, but she’s a fighter.”
I’m holding my emotions in, but I want nothing more than to mow down the Mages and kill every last one of them. Ristan hadn’t seen Synthia or the children in my future and we’re beginning to think this is why; because we somehow fail and lose them all.
“Have the Pixies found anything?” I ask, and turn away from my men.