“Is that so?” Ryder asked as he lifted a dark brow.
“Yeah, remember the shower incident?” I asked rubbing the back of my neck. “Remember your shower and me on my knees?” I asked.
“Shit,” Adam said as he detangled our limbs. “Don’t need to know this stuff.”
“Totally PG…Mmm, on second thought, it was like R-rated. Anyway, I think I’m gaining some of my new powers, but I’m not sure how to stop them.”
“Pet,” Ryder growled. “It better have been nothing—”
“No, not the R rated crap, the PG part. I think I’m getting some of my powers, or something. I don’t know. Danu isn’t answering me and it’s not like I have a lot of people who know what the hell is going on with me!”
I moved to Ryder and placed my hand on his arm and a bed popped into my mind.
We landed with a thud on a bed, and I growled. “Dammit,” I said as I fought to sit up as his arms pulled me down.
He smiled wolfishly. “You thought of a bed when you touched me?”
“Not on purpose,” I whined.
“Can I help you?” Zahruk asked from the bathroom door where he stood with a towel wrapped around his lean hips and a lazy smile on his face. “You do have your own bed, brother.”
Feminine laughter echoed from the bathroom behind him. I blinked and wondered just who it was inside his bathroom. I knew he could clean himself with glamour, so whatever they’d been doing in there, it wasn’t showering. I narrowed my eyes on him and tried to recall if I’d ever actually seen him without weapons on.
“Mine’s about to be full, so I suggest you get going,” he growled and crossed his heavily tattooed arms over his chest.
“Ewww!” I grabbed Ryder’s hand. Making a mental note that I would have to be really specific in my thoughts going forward as I had never seen Zahruk’s quarters before and there were worse places I could have had us wind up at. I shook my head in disgust as I thought about Adam.
We fell on him.
“Fuck!” he shouted as Ryder sifted off of him and looked at me, tangled with Adam on the floor.
“Fuck a rubber duck! Danu! Get your Goddess ass here, now!” I shouted, but nothing happened. “This sucks! It’s worse than sifting! Ouch,” I said as pain coiled in my stomach.
“Synthia, what aren’t you telling me?” Ryder asked as he moved to help me up.
“I feel her pain, and it is raw and fucking beautiful,” Asrian said as he came around the corner of the nursery doors.
“That’s not good,” I said as I watched his eyes glowing as he fed. From me. My pain was his food of choice at the moment.
“She’s feeling enough pain that I’m full, brother,” Asrian said as he watched me as if he was afraid to let me out of his sight. I stepped back, not out of fear, but because Ryder looked as if he wasn’t sure if he should attack, or be amused.
“Describe it,” Ryder growled after a moment of uneasy silence had passed.
“I’ve never felt anything like it before,” Asrian said smoothly as he stepped closer, his lime and grass-green eyes glowing like a beacon. He was normally pretty reserved aside from the occasional smart-ass comment; right now he looked as if he was intrigued.
“Stop looking at me like I’m a Fairy buffet,” I said, and turned back to Ryder.
“You are,” he said sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck.
“Adam,” Ryder said as he watched me. “Synthia, wait here for me.”
“We need to go,” I pointed out.
“Yes, but we need a plan before we move or take our children anywhere,” he argued and I hated that he had a point.
“Fine, Fairy,” I conceded. He placed a gentle kiss on my forehead and smiled.
“Synthia, try to stay in this room until I get back,” he said as I looked up at him.
“Do not kiss my forehead, please,” Adam said with a wink at me.
“Why would I kiss you?” Ryder asked and I hid the smile as he looked at Adam in confusion.
“You wouldn’t,” Adam said with a wide grin.
“Watch her,” Ryder said and sifted out.
I felt like I was jonesing for a fix, and that Tree was it. I’d pretty much told Ryder that we had to leave his castle unprotected and just get everyone to the Tree. I knew I was asking a lot, but we needed as many beings as possible to be at the Tree for Danu to gain her full strength and power to bless our children.
The Tree being enshrouded in ice was still a problem, and yet I knew somehow if I could just get there, that we could fix it. Ristan disappeared right after I had come out of the vision, so I couldn’t ask him about the visions and his sounded as if they were different from the one I had.