I needed to speak to Danu, and she hadn’t answered my call for days. She was probably dealing with her spousal issue, or whatever you wanted to call it. Hopefully she’d had more luck than we had if she was looking for a definitive way to remove the spell on the Tree. If she could break her husband, we could have a huge advantage for the upcoming war.
“Synthia,” Adam said as he held his long tapered fingers out for me as he pulled out one of the chairs in the nursery.
“Adam,” I said with a small smile on my lips and took the seat he offered.
Adam scooped Kahleena out of the crib and passed her to me, and picked up Cade who was fussing for a bit of attention.
“You really think you can do this?” he asked as Cade stared up at him.
“I do,” I whispered as I rubbed her cheek to try to get her to feed from the bottle. “It’s crazy how much has changed in our lives in so little time.”
“I wish you’d have called for me before you’d gone all Leeroy Jenkins into the Guild,” he said. “I still can’t believe it’s actually gone.”
“There wasn’t time. I feared that if we waited, we’d have lost both Alden and Ristan. Ristan still isn’t back to himself yet, and Olivia is his personal toy right now, or at least that’s what I gathered from Zahruk.” I frowned. “Actually, that sounds like something the Demon would say. Anyway, they’re keeping an eye on him, since he hasn’t been this out of it since Alazander took his wings and tail. Did you know Demons really do have horns? Like actual swear-to-God horns.”
“No,” he said and smiled as Cade cooed. “You have three babies,” he said and lifted his tricolored eyes to meet mine. “And you’re actually getting married this time, unless someone else steps in and kidnaps you,” he said with a wicked grin on his lips.
“I don’t think anyone would dare try to steal me from Ryder, not now.”
“Faolán is still out there,” he said as he continued to watch me. I blinked and noted that he’d frozen, and I looked up to find Danu standing over me, watching Kahleena.
“You have to get her to the Tree,” she whispered, and I noted that yet again she was a mere shimmer of light.
“What’s wrong with you?” I asked softly as I placed the bottle aside and really took her in. She had a red dress on, but where she was normally vibrant, she looked pale and tired.
“You feel it as well, now,” she whispered softly as she touched Kahleena’s forehead. “The pain and torment; there’s a reason I made you the Goddess of Faery, Synthia.”
“Can we skip the riddles? My daughter’s life—your granddaughter’s life depends on it.”
“Don’t you think I would if I could? Think, Synthia, who is watching us? When a Goddess is born, she’s given powers for a reason. Why would I make you the Goddess of Faery?”
“Who is watching us?” I looked around.
“Synthia, stop thinking like a Human or Fae, and started acting like the Goddess of Faery!” she shouted and I flinched.
“I am!” I growled and moved to place the sleeping girl in her crib. “I am thinking like the Goddess, but I don’t know why I was given that damn vision, or how to fully articulate what it needs!”
“Why are you shouting, and who are you talking to?” Adam asked, and I spun around to look where Danu had stood just seconds ago.
“Nobody, obviously,” I whispered.
“You think Destiny knew you’d be this person, the Goddess of Faery?” he joked but my mind was back on the Tree.
“We’re running out of time. We have to go now,” I whispered as a sliver of unease passed through me.
Chapter Thirty-One
Ryder had called all of the Elite Guard to the war room to finalize the logistics of getting that many Fae to the Tree and a tentative outline of what we could potentially face. Ristan had reluctantly joined us; he still wasn’t quite himself and Ryder had confided to me that Ristan had taken both his mother and Olivia somewhere and refused to discuss any of the details with anyone. Not even his King.
“Zahruk,” Ryder said as the last of the guard walked in. “Floor is yours,” he finished, sitting beside me and reaching for my hand.
I looked at where our fingers were combined. As his thumb rubbed tenderly in the palm of my hand, I felt his love, and it gutted me to know I felt empty inside instead of whole. I loved him, but the idea of losing our daughter and sons was all I could think about. I had to save the Tree, and I needed to concentrate on it and it alone.
I rested my head against his shoulder as Zahruk went over the final details, and I felt the pain as if it was my own. I knew it wasn’t, and I’d begun to think this eviscerating pain wasn’t only mine. I was a part of Faery, and Danu’s words kept playing in my head.
She’d created me as the Goddess of Faery, and if so, what did it include? Was my pain tied to a dying world? If it died, did it mean I would also die? Or would I cease to be the Goddess of anything and just continue on? I’d tried calling for her again after Adam had gone to inform the Dark King and Queen of the situation, but nothing had happened.
“Synthia,” Zahruk said softly.