“That’s fine, Synthia, but nothing changes. In one more day, you go to the Dark Heir, to become his wife,” Zahruk said, lowering his eyes to Ryder’s closed ones. The tick in his jaw was hammering, and even through his anger, I could see the pain of the unknown. They loved him, and it showed in their eyes, even if they refused to show it otherwise.
I felt drained, mentally and physically. I closed my eyes and closed out the sound of everyone around me. It was odd. For the first time, I could hear Ryder’s heart beating through the brand on my hip. I fell asleep to its soothing beat. It was comforting, and told me he was alive, even if he was floating in a tank of water.
~~~~~~~~*
I awoke, warm and snug, to the sound of snoring all around me. Ryder’s men hadn’t left the small room and slept in uncomfortable positions around us on the floor. Sometime in the night, Ristan had gotten into the small bed with me and was even now curled around my body like a gigantic cat. I wasn’t sure if he had done it to protect me, or to push power into me like he had done before, as I felt really refreshed and strong. No matter the reason, he was going to know the moment I woke up, or moved.
I didn’t move, other than to turn my head to look at Ryder. He was still sleeping, submerged in the water tank. My hand hadn’t left the spot on the tank where it had been when I had fallen asleep. His hand had found mine, and was pressed against it. As if he could sense, even in his healing sleep, that I was there for him, waiting.
My eyes drifted slowly down his very naked body, taking in every red angry mark that had been an open wound only last night. He was healing, and it was a relief, since I would be leaving here soon, willingly or not. I flinched as my eyes landed on his leg close to his glorious cock. They’d tried to shoot him there. Sick bastards.
I exhaled softly, and lifted my eyes back to his face, and yelped in surprise as I found his eyes watching me. “Ryder,” I whispered, sitting up to look at him better.
“Shit, he’s awake. Aodhan, go get Eliran,” Ristan said, unwrapping himself from me and coming off the small bed to stand and stretch. He walked around to tap on the tank with a relieved smile plastered to his face.
Ryder tapped it back three times. His golden eyes met Ristan’s briefly, before coming back to land on me. Eliran was in the room within moments of being told Ryder was awake, and was now barking out orders. Zahruk grabbed my arm, and was a little sharp, but his words had me off the bed and following him without hesitation.
“He’s going to need to feed, Synthia. They will be bringing him to his bedroom; to you.”
I didn’t argue; didn’t struggle to remove my arm from his hand as he sifted us to Ryder’s entryway. “Strip, and be ready for him. He’s going to need everything you can give—and more.”
“Okay, I’ll strip when you get out.”
“Be under the covers when they come in, Syn, and, fair warning, he won’t be gentle.”
“Ryder doesn’t do gentle very often,” I said before I could stop the words from leaving my mouth. He’d been gentle once, and I remembered every single second of it. It wasn’t an actual lie, though. Ryder was, as a rule, rough—just the way I liked him to be. I nodded as Z made a grumbling sound, but left the room.
I looked down at myself and decided I needed to kill Ristan at the first opportunity. The demented pervert had cleaned me of all the blood and woad and had managed to dress me in a skimpy black baby-doll nightie and tiny black lacy thong. It’s a good thing that Ryder said he trusted the Demon. Ristan might mess with me, but he wouldn’t seriously do anything. I groaned as I realized he had been pushing power into me—he’d been getting Ryder’s ‘dinner’ ready. I closed my eyes, and the little baby-doll top disappeared with nothing more than a thought. It was one of the nice things about being Fae. Well, it was now that I was learning to use it. I quickly climbed beneath the covers as the door opened, and Ristan came in.
“Covered?” he asked with his eyes landing on me. I’d just barely managed to pull the covers up to my chin. “Damn,” he smirked impishly, but it was short lived as the others carried a limp Ryder in, and placed him on the bed. “All yours. This might get a little crazy, now, he might not know who he is feeding from. I’m going to be outside the door, just in case. If he gets to be too much for you, I can call another in to finish feeding him.”
As if! “I can handle him,” I whispered, lifting my hand to touch his cold face. The only sign that he’d been submerged in water was the small droplets still dripping from the tendrils of his inky black hair.
“Flower, I’m serious. If he hurts you, I need to know. If he gets too rough, it could be a sign that his mind has been infected by the iron. He would be livid if I allowed him to hurt you while he was unable to stop himself. Better one of the women who are here to serve the mass of Fae, then the fucking Light Heir. Understand what I’m saying?”
“Go. We’ll be fine.”