Page 18 of Whispers of Fate

“You think I merely want the realm, but you’re wrong. Danu took so much more before she achieved that victory. She fed my father and mother to her beasts and young. I tried to oppose her, fought her from the shadows for centuries. I reveled as I eradicated them from my land, but it became an unending war, and many died because of both sides. For a time, we discovered peace from the gods, and life slowly settled around us. Since we’d hidden away and discovered a way to avoid the gods, I agreed to take a queen, and she was everything pure and beautiful. In the glen where the waterfalls glow, I laid with her and we created a life together. Three months before we were to be married, they captured her.” He paused, swallowing hard past the words he didn’t wish to speak. “Danu shredded the flesh from her while she lived and then fed her to the newest pet she’d created—the Horde King. He feasted on the woman I loved, piece by agonizing piece, until death finally took her from the misery they forced her to endure. Danu knew I couldn’t reach any of them in time to save them as well. So, there I stood, within the forest, forced to watch her die because the trees prevented my army from moving forward. Your family has taken everyone I loved and slaughtered them.”

“Wedidn’t do that to you. Our people have suffered because of Danu too. She created me so that she had a way of hiding from the consequences of her actions. Danu set everything into motion so that I was born. They held my mother down, and Bilé’s creations tried to cut me and my brothers from my mother’s womb while she fought to protect us. My father’s family? They’re the horde, and Alazander tortured them, ripping them apart and murdering their siblings in front of them if they didn’t do as he’d ordered. I get that you’re angry and want your revenge. I understand your need, but she’s fucking dead. You’re only repeating the cycle, and that changes nothing.”

His sinister laughter escaped, and he adjusted on the bed to get closer to me. He swiped his tongue over his lips, wetting them before he spoke. “Everyone I loved was murdered and then I had my world stolen from me. You call it Faery, but we called it the Etherlands,” he stated, scanning my face before drifting the leaf he held down to my navel. “You’re about to tell me that Faery cannot survive without the fae within it because the Tree of Life will wither and die.”

His hair returned to the color of a raven’s wing, and his lips lowered, blazing a heated trail over my stomach, before he nipped at my skin.

“I know that, without your people, the world would shift. It shifted because they replaced my people with yours, and the soul of the Etherlands is, and will always be, its people. That tree isn’t indigenous to the realm, and neither are you, Kahleena. I am, and it’s calling me home. It’s calling all of us home, but the only way I’ll return is if we slaughter your people and their blood feeds my realm’s rebirth.” His hand slid lower, and I scooted my leg up to cover my exposed sex.

He only smoothed a palm behind my thigh, lifting it as he shifted, curling in beside me. Long, powerful fingers danced on the back of my leg, hoisting it to settle over his hip.

“My world doesn’t need your people to survive. My world didn’t want them, but it accepted them when I vanished. Faery isn’t accepting the tree anymore because it senses that I am near and preparing to return.”

“Arius,” I whispered as realization settled in and fear shot through me. My eyes rounded, and he smirked, chuckling softly before lowering to blow on my nipple.

“You’re not slow at all, woman. I’m Arius, newly crowned King of the Etherlands. I outrank you and your false king and queen who claimed the land for their own.” His eyes locked with mine, and he lowered his lips against my ear, whispering, “Your people merely adopted the courts and enhanced abilities.” The heated breath fanning my ear made my breathing grow ragged. “Could you imagine if one person held them all, and could wield them?” He dragged his lips over the curve of my throat, flicking his tongue against the thundering pulse in the hollow column. A shudder shot through me, which had nothing to do with the mouth trailing a wave of scalding heat drifting through me.

“You can,” I murmured as a tear rolled from my eyes as visions swarmed within my mind. A deep, resonating rumble of laughter escaped him, vibrating against my flesh. The palm he placed on my ribcage beneath my heart burned, causing me to tense and peer into his probing gaze. “You’re not just the king, are you?”

“No, I’m not.” He scanned my face, lowering his gaze once more. “How’s your threshold for pain, princess? For what I intend to do to you, I am praying it’s pretty high.” He waited for my answer, smiling before he removed his hand and pressed open-mouthed kisses to the flesh beneath my breast. He lavished his tongue over the skin until my back arched and my hands twisted the sheets. “I’m the forgotten heir to Etherlands and its rightful king. I control everything without needing to claim anything. I’m heir to the shadows, fire, water, air, earth, wind, and everything else that lives within the realm. Right now, Faery is under feet of snow, and I’ve been weakening them for months.”

“Then why do you need me?” I countered.

“Because you’re the key to everything,” he uttered. “You’re the key to their undoing, and soon, you will carry something I need within you.” Arius lifted, tilting his head, drawing a bull’s-eye around my belly button. “When the barrier Danu had placed on this hellhole faltered, I slipped through a crack to see what had happened. There were whispered rumors that Danu had perished, so I decided to verify them. The search for the truth led me to the City of Gods, which is where I saw you for the first time. Your eyes mesmerized me, and this sun-kissed flesh glittered with the same gold. That wasn’t what drew me to you, though. No, what drew me was the mark of mine that you wear, and the only way to remove it is for you to pass it to your child. I will hold you until I choose someone for you to breed with, and once you’ve given birth, I’ll place you in a cage and keep you around to watch me return the Etherlands to its former glory. Of course, this all has to wait until I’ve finished using you to destroy the others.”

“Assuming I let you.” I swallowed, trembling. “You think I care who the fuck you are? You want to raze Faery to the ground and rebuild your world? Do it, and we will leave. I mean, Faery is a shitshow that literally tries to devour you when you’re walking in the meadows. Do you have any idea how annoying that is? The animals? They’re freaking rabid. I had a rabid frog bite me! It was a friggin’ frog, for fuck’s sake! And don’t get me started on the water. I had something bite my vagina!My vagina!I was literally only home for one day. One freaking day, and the world literally tried to eat me. So, you want it? Take it. We can move and find somewhere that doesn’t have vagina-biting creatures in the water.” I sat up, only for him to shove me back down, frowning at me like I’d lost my marbles.

“It’s not that simple. If the others left, you’d remain. That mark you hold? It’s the other half of mine, and I want it back.”

I grinned, sparkling with mirth until my skin glittered. “Oh, I see. It’s Yin and Yang, boy! Wait—” I frowned, grimacing at the menacing look burning in his eyes. I opened my mouth, but Arius’s palm crashed beneath my breast and his mouth blistered against mine. Agony burst through me, and I tried to scream, but his tongue delved in, feasting on the pain escaping me. He moved above me, continuing to kiss me even as I tried to wiggle away. His kiss was furious, savage, and passionate.

My hands clasped Arius, digging my fingernails into his muscle, bucking beneath him as excruciating pain soared through me. Tears flowed from my eyes, and my vision smeared and swam until my hands stopped and then dropped to my sides. He lifted his head, peering down at the flesh he’d seared. When he finally looked at me, he flinched at the way I stared, unmoving from the agony consuming me within.

His mouth slid to my ear, and he kissed it gently. Pain scorched into my bones, and he exhaled a shuddering breath against my shoulder before softly raining kisses over the delicate curve. “You were always going to end up here, glitter girl. I knew that from the moment the ether revealed you to me. We were on a collision course designed by fate. You’re mine, at least for now. So, rest, and when you wake, you’ll forget the pain and everything I told you. The only thing you’ll keep is my name and the belief that you belong here with me.”

Chapter Eleven

Synthia

Tinglinginmyconsciousnesswoke me seconds before the sound of glass shattering exploded through the room. My heart thundered in my chest, forcing me to sit up, scanning for the threat or whatever had shattered the thick, balcony doors. The wind outside howled, battering the curtains into the room, along with a blast of frigidly cold air. After scooting to the edge of the bed, I stood and then carefully drifted to the ruined doors. My forehead creased, and I stepped back, turning on my heel before I flicked my wrist, sealing the doors with a barrier of magic to keep the chilled air out.

Stretching my deliciously sore body, I strolled back to the bed, scanning the room for anything out of place but finding nothing, and then crawled under the covers. I’d just managed to drift back to sleep when the same tingling shot through me, and I shot back up to sitting.

Above me, hovering in the space between the exposed wooden rafters, there was a sinfully dark creature that had my blood turning to ice. His narrowed, vividly blue eyes were focused on me. Huge obsidian-colored gossamer wings spread out behind him so the talons that adorned the ends of them spiked into the ceiling, securing him in place. Silver lines slithered over his arms, gliding from his wrists to his shoulders and over his neck to his jawline. Similar wispy markings decorated his chest, but they kissed his sides, drifting along the V-line of his hard, sinewy chiseled abdomen to vanish into the pants. The dark blond strands of his hair draped around his face, shrouding everything except his gaze from my prying stare.

He moved strangely, canting his head at odd angles. The power he radiated was wandering over me, crawling against my naked skin. The navy-blue, silver outlined stare shifted to the swollen mound that cradled the babe growing within. The creature emitted an odd noise that almost sounded soothing, as if he didn’t like my or my baby’s sudden alertness, or my anxious concerns. My hands twisted into the blankets, quietly following him and the manner his body moved in, which was almost too brisk to be noticeable.

Opening my mind, I tried to reach for Ryder through the link we shared, but slammed against an invisible barrier. Swallowing the uneasiness washing through me, I remained perfectly still. I tried reaching out for Ryder again, only to hit the same barrier as if the creature above was preventing me from seeking help. The rhythm of my heartbeat echoed noisily in my ears, and I was positive the creature above me received the sound clearly.

“You’re not welcome here,” I murmured, viewing its laser focus moving to zero on my lips.

It plunged, and I roared, calling out for the guards. Somehow, I rolled off the bed and managed to dodge the creature with my clumsy tumble. My body hurtled against the floor, forcing out a gasp of pain. I scrambled behind the chair, intending to use it as a shield to place a barrier between the creature, and me. The creature crept closer to me, and I expelled a breath before finding my footing to attack the bastard.

My body slammed into his, sending us both to the floor. Releasing a battle cry, I punched him in the face, but my strike only made him laugh. I jerked back and struggled back to my feet, hating that the uneven burden of my abdomen almost dropped me back toward the individual. I danced back, putting distance between me and the creature, but he just looked offended. The rich scent of male and sex assaulted my nose and pulled a shuddering breath from my lips.

“What the fuck, Syn?” Zahruk snapped, planting a palm over his damned mouth.

My lashes batted, gaping at the bastard that had been creeping above me, lingering on the ceiling. Zahruk straightened, and I blanched at his transformation. He hadn’t simply evolved. Zahruk had gotten a full upgrade from a soldier to here-are-my-panties-you-can-have-them-and-my-fucking-soul.

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