“This isn't fair. This freaking sucks! We just barely found out we were Fae and now we get this tossed into our laps?”
The Dark King continued. “The only other option for your heritage is that you are a second heir—which has happened before, but it’s extremely rare. We have no way of knowing, since the Light Fae, like any Fae, only allow us to know what they want us to, and of course what information they allow can always be misinformation. A good example of this is the situation with Arianna. The Light Fae offered the Light Princess, Caitlín, to us because they knew that we had been looking for her as part of the prophecy. They said that they couldn’t completely vouch for her because she was illegitimate and, therefore, the paternal bond between Fae father and child couldn’t be used to verify her identity. Of course we thought this was a bit off, with the huge uproar and accusations that were flying around after she went missing; that miraculously, after all these years later, she would suddenly turn up and they immediately offered her to us. When you combine this situation with all of the rumors of the Light King sending assassins out for her, you can understand why we were quite suspicious of her. Now, we did accept her as it suited our needs at the time, and our plans did work by the way, but you can see how the chain of misinformation can be problematic.” He rubbed his chin thoughtfully for a moment before continuing. “You can't be part of the Horde, because you show no signs of their brands. Blood Fae yes, you carry their brands, but, at the same time, yours are unique. Almost too unique. No, once you add up everything, it makes the most sense that you are Caitlín. We have many royal Fae, Synthia, every caste does. We don't die easily once Transition is complete so you can understand why we'd have so many. However, heirs are a very small percentage of royal Fae as the Goddess herself chooses them.”
“Maybe they should find some Fae birth control,” I mumbled under my breath.
“Nature takes control of that my dear. Our females can only breed within the first year immediately after our Transition, and every ten to fifteen years after it. Time is of the essence, which is why you would only have a short time to consider Adam's offer.”
“Adam's offer?” I asked, narrowing my eyes. Adam hadn’t made an offer, and I was afraid of him making any offers now.
“Syn, we've been friends since the day I came to be with you maybe even before that and I'd like a chance to court you; see where this could go. If you are the Light Heir, you and I can help save Faery. If Faery dies, they will come here. We need to consider the consequences, and we need to make the right choices to protect both worlds. We are part of something that could save thousands of innocent children.”
“So, you want to make a baby?” I replied bluntly. Brilliant! “Can’t we just do like some Fae ritual, put a funky headdress on, and call this Goddess down for a chat or something? Anyone?” I looked around at the faces in the club. Yup, no one was going to say yes to that! Damn.
“No, I want to save the world, and maybe save Faery while we are at it. And I don’t think you can just call a Goddess down to have a chat,” The Dark King replied sternly, even though his eyes flashed with a hint of suppressed laughter.
“Okay, this is too much. One, I don't want a baby with anyone. I'm not mother material, period. I'm screwed up, and everything I love ends up killed, or tortured. Adam, you already know that, so why the hell would you want me?” I asked, confused and a little panicked that this wasn't an offer but a demand. Sure they could say it was an offer, or call it anything they wanted to, but this was still a demand.
“You're not cursed, Syn. Bad stuff happens in life. You taught us all that. You know what the Fae coming into the human world could do to it, probably better than anyone. Is that something you could allow to happen because you think you're cursed, or is it because you’re scared?”
Damn right, I was scared! I wanted to scream that this wasn't fair. As if finding out I wasn't a Witch—that I was one of the creatures I hated most—wasn’t bad enough, but now this? “Adam, in the last month alone I have found out that I was adopted, and I got the two humans I loved and cherished the most killed, and my ex-boyfriend came back from the dead. I had to work beside the enemy to bring down a serial killer, which resulted in getting my best friend killed. My other best friend and I turned out to be the same race as the enemy, and we both went through Transition. My house got blown up. I'm jobless, homeless, and I have lost everything. You can't just walk in here and drop this on my head, and expect me to say okay.”
“You left out the part where you were tortured,” Adam said, pulling me closer to him. “Syn, I can give you things I couldn’t before. We can be together, and this need I feel for you might finally go away.”