On one hand, it was exciting, considering I had lost everything, but scary to think he could actually figure it out and take me to them. What if they didn't like me? What if they thought I was a freak since I could still summon the glow that Alden had pigmented into my skin? There were way too many things that could go wrong. Hell! They could turn around and sell me to Ryder, since the Light Fae had an army of daughters.
“That was before Transition, though, so it stands to reason that she would drain easily if she used it too long,” Ristan said casually as if we were discussing a nice family vacation in the South.
“So you're saying I'm a royal bastard who came from an affair, and that the entire time I was supposed to be pretending to be the Light Heir, I was the Light Heir?” They both laughed. I was the only one who didn’t think it was funny. It would be my luck, though. If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no damn luck at all.
“Could explain why someone is after her though. There were rumors for years that the Light King had been trying to find the Light Heir so he could kill her.” Ryder looked at me with a smirk. “Just so you know, that was why we didn’t question it when Arianna’s guards said there were assassins after her, not that we were stupid.” I glared at him for omitting that little piece of information from me before.
“This makes absolutely no sense, you know that, right?” I grouched, already feeling the resulting hunger from hours of practicing magic today.
“Because you don't want to be a bastard? Or because…?” Ryder asked with a frown on his face.
“Because it's one thing to be Fae, Ryder, but it's an entirely different thing to be Light Fae. They’re the worst of the fucking Fairies. They’re a bunch of nauseating, sanctimonious prats that think they are better than every other caste of Fae. I'd rather be Horde than one of those pricks!”
Something silent passed between Ryder and Ristan, and then he leveled me with a stare that could have lit a wet branch on fire. “It doesn't change the fact that it fits—you fit, Syn. It gives us a lead on who is trying to kill you as well. Now all those rumors are taking on different meaning. It would make sense that she'd dump her offspring if the heir was not legitimate.” Ryder smirked. “Looks like some of what Dresden said was the truth.”
“I don't give a crap if I'm some royal bastard. What bothers me is that I don't want a family. I don’t need them. They didn't want me. I don’t need them to figure this out, and I sure don't need them to want me because I'm an heir. They threw me away, and whatever their reason was for doing it, it still changes nothing. I had a family, and I know who I am without the Light Fae, or them claiming me for that matter.”
“You don't want to meet your mother?” Ristan asked guardedly.
“No. I watched my mother be slaughtered by Fae, and nothing and nobody can replace her. She gave her life to protect me, Ristan. She was my mother, and she proved it with her sacrifice. It changes nothing.”
“We still need to know who's trying to kill you,” Ryder pointed out.
“So figure it out without telling the Light Fae you found me, or I’ll figure it out. I never agreed to a flipping Fairy family reunion. I agreed to give you a week, that was it, Ryder. If you push me, or push this, I will leave. I promise you that, I don't want anyone coming to claim me.”
“And if I can't find the guy who is trying to kill you?” he asked.
“Then I will.”
“Give it up. There is no way in hell I am allowing you to go hunt the bastard down. I’m going to figure out a way to kill him, and, when I do, it will be without you being used as bait.” He gave me a knowing little smirk. “I suggest we use this time to feed.”
Chapter Twenty Five
Later that afternoon, we were summoned up to the top floor of the club. Zahruk watched us closely as we approached the closed off entrance of the VIP section. He nodded to me briefly, and then we all started up the winding stairway that led to the private rooms of the club.
“Reconnaissance is complete on the first one, we have the extraction plan formulated, and we have men on the other sites, Ryder. I know you don’t like it, but it’s time to call in the contract,” Zahruk said carefully as he watched Ryder react to the news. Ryder nodded grimly, turning to me.
“Syn, I will release you and Adam both from the contracts I hold, if you help me recover the relics that will help me secure the future of Faery. This goes against my better judgment, as I did not want to involve you in this, but I need someone who can easily get in and out of tight spaces, which I know you can. After that, I will let you both go. These won’t be simple tasks, and it’s going to take us awhile to retrieve them all. I want your answer, now.”
I felt my throat grow constricted as the idea of being away from Ryder registered in my brain. I hesitated to answer him, and jumped when Zahruk’s voice boomed from ahead of us.