“You feel it because you're bonded to her, Adam, not because you love her in that sense,” Adrian said from across the table, finally speaking.
“It could be, but what if I actually love her? If we can save the world, then isn't it worth a try?” Adam growled.
“You just said children were dying, right?” I asked as I turned to the Dark King.
“Yes, and you can call me Kier.”
“Okay, Kier, so say we have a baby and it dies because the land rejects it…What then?”
“I don’t think that will be the case, but if that happened you would need to try again until one lived,” he said with a sadness set deep inside his vivid sky and sapphire blue eyes.
“So we just keep trying, going until we have one that lives. I can't lose anyone else. I'm sorry, I really am, but I couldn't do it.”
“Fertility is not as big of a problem as getting them to Transition alive is. We have every available resource being put into a cure. Even the reclusive Blood King has begun to send healers and scholars to help in the fight for the cure while still battling the Horde.”
“Why is the Horde battling the Blood Fae? I mean, if their king is missing, who is leading them?” I asked.
“The Horde King has many sons to lead his army. The Horde does not produce females often, and they are overrun by strong son’s, which allows the King to be gone for extended periods. It seems that the two castes had a nasty falling out, and the back and forth between the two of them had gone on for a very long time. I understand that they had finally reached an agreement, and the Blood King reneged on his promise, so they are back at it again. As the Dark Fae are allies of the Horde, it puts us in an uncomfortable position of choosing sides.”
“Do you know where he is?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.
“No, I don't have any idea where he is,” he replied, looking at me directly in the eye. Well shoot, I was hoping he would know, seeing that he and the Horde King were friendly.
“What did Ryder have to say about all of this?” I asked, holding his eyes level with my own.
“He has no say in this. Synthia, you and my son are bonded already. If I petition the Light Fae, they will give you to Adam. They are trying to avoid war with the Dark Fae after what they did with Arianna. The Dark Fae are a good deal stronger than the Light Fae, and they would prefer to avoid an all-out war with us. The Light Fae would prefer to publicly behave as if they are our dearest friends, and, in secret, they are always looking for a good place to stick a knife into our backs. The Light Fae deny that Faery is dying because this ‘plague’, for lack of a better word, strikes the stronger castes first, so they have not felt the full impact of what the rest of the castes have. My sense is that they hope the rest of the stronger castes will succumb to the affliction and then they will be the strongest caste by default. I only speculate this because they have done everything they can to stall or stop our efforts, so we are forced, for the most part, to go around them. At this point, our relationship with them is becoming more and more contentious. Eventually, they will wake up to what is going on and need the ‘cure’ as much as the rest of us do. However, my fear is that it will be too late by the time they wise-up and stop deluding themselves. We will give you time to decide, but, since you are almost fully through Transition, you won’t have long to give us an answer. We would need to have the marriage blessed soon, and a child produced as quickly as could be managed.”
Chapter Twenty Seven
I was curled up on the bed in the room I’d been sharing with Ryder as I waited for him to come back. I’d sifted here directly from the meeting with Adam and his father to be alone. Unable to hold the emotions in any longer, I’d lost it and cried until I’d felt drained. Childish, yes probably, but it was as if life was throwing every curveball it had at me. It was getting harder to duck when they came sailing at my head.
The clock was ticking by with agonizing slowness as I waited. I could hear the minute hand from across the room, and sleep wasn’t coming. I’d opted out of comfort from Adrian, not because I didn’t need it, but because I had to think. Or so I had thought, but thinking wasn’t helping. What I needed was for Ryder to show up and tell me he wouldn’t allow this to happen.