Escaping Destiny (35 page)

“Why are you still talking?” I demanded, as I
swayed my ass invitingly to him.

I was ready for him to enter me. I was soaked
already. I wasn’t, however, ready for the slap that landed on my
cheek from behind, or the one he issued to the other side. “That’s
for scaring the shit out of me.”

“Ouch,” I said playfully. “Oomph!” I cried as
his magic entered me, filling my core until I could take no
more.

“Fuck, you’re tight,” he ground out as his
magic penetrated me, and started to move.

“Mmm,” I moaned as he flipped me over and
held my legs apart. I looked to where his eyes were locked. I could
feel his need burning in his golden eyes, even as he licked his
lips.

“Good girls get special kisses. Do you want
to be kissed?” he murmured softly.

“Yes,” I whimpered as the orgasm built hot
and fierce inside of me with the movement of his magic alone.

He lowered his mouth and claimed my clit with
his lips, and then licked from one end to the other. His magic
swept over me, until my entire body tingled from it. His breath was
hot as it fanned my sensitive skin. He pulled up and looked at me.
“You want to come, don’t you?”

“I need to,” I begged.

“Then come for me,” he encouraged as his
magic increased its speed inside of me, and his mouth continued to
kiss my exposed flesh. My entire body trembled and shook as the
orgasm exploded. I screamed from the sheer turbulence of it, as he
lapped at it, sucking and kissing until I thought I would shatter.
He pulled his mouth up and licked his lips. “Little girl, who
taught you to come like that?” he grinned wickedly.

“You did,” I whispered through the hoarseness
in my throat.

“Good answer,” he replied as he held my legs
apart and slid inside. “I love the way you take me into your body.
I love the way your sweet pussy sucks my cock off while I fuck you.
The way your nipples harden when I invade and conquer you. You are
my perfect drug, Synthia. Your body is mine, as well as your soul,”
he whispered as he rocked his hips and increased the pace. I came
again, violently, as he rode my body.

“I didn’t say you could come again,” he
growled and flipped me over until I was on my stomach, and my legs
were lifted from behind me in his hands. He spread them until he
fit between my legs. He rammed himself home and buried his
throbbing need to the hilt. I cried out with the intense pleasure
from it. “Take it,” he growled as he increased speed and held my
legs up further, giving him further depth as he fucked me. “So
fucking good. So mine,” he growled.

He exploded, and I felt my body feeding from
him, right up until we both collapsed on the bed. “You have five
minutes before I turn you over and fuck you again. I suggest you
use it wisely.”

“Is that so?” I asked as I fought to catch my
breath.

“It’s so,” he said, smiling as he lowered
himself down beside me. “You are mine now, and nothing will change
that. I won’t let anything stand in my way.”

“Mmm,” I said with a smile on my lips and
waited expectantly.

“Three minutes,” he whispered as his eyes
locked with mine.

I felt my heart stutter, and my stomach
flutter.

He didn’t say anything more as he ticked off
the minutes until he entered me again. We slept in the same bed,
but my heart was heavy. I’d expected more. I wasn’t sure why, since
he’d said he wanted to renegotiate the contract with Cornelius. I
had just thought that if he wouldn’t let anything stand in his way,
he’d ask to marry me.

*~*Ryder*~*

I walk in the direction of my office,
considering what I have to do. I want Synthia. It’s as simple as
that. She’s mine, and soon she will become the mother of my
children. I can’t make her just another concubine. She won’t allow
it, and even if she would, I couldn’t do that to her.

My mind brings back the events of last night.
How Syn’s eyes changed from blood red to blue and purple after the
heat of battle had passed. Her brands remained as representation of
all four Castes in one beautiful package. It’s best to leave the
knowledge of what she said between us. No one else needs to know
how important she might be to this world—not yet anyway.

Cornelius will concede to what I am going to
offer; he has to. I am the fucking King. I could easily become the
tyrant my father had been. Easily. Abiageal deserves better. Why
these assholes throw their daughters at us—fuck it, it’s
disturbing. I respect the Blood King. He was the only one who
refused to cave until we gave him no choice.

His daughter is a lot like him, strong of
mind and pure of will. She’s everything I want, and need. Marrying
Abiageal could undo what we have, and I refuse to lose Syn. Not
when I have the power to take care of this easily. I push through
the door of the wide office and head for the old oak desk that my
father used.

It’s the third time I have used his office
since I took his head. The beast stirs as I approach the polished
desk and pull back the wide chair that is big enough for wings when
I take that form. He likes this room; he likes what happens here.
He likes the power that is exerted here. Even now, he is pushing
and prodding me to take the form of the Horde King. He wants me to
frighten Cornelius, cow him into submission. I scan the shelves of
scrolls. My father had many contracts. It’s filled with them.
Scrolls created on the skins of traitors. Syn would hate seeing
this place. She would hate what has happened in here.

A knock sounds at the door and I growl. “Come
in.”

I sit behind the desk, settling into the
chair as Cornelius walks in like a fucking peacock ruffling his
feathers. I don’t respect him. He’s loose with his words and thinks
he’s entitled. He sent Claire to us like a fucking gift basket.

He smiles when he sees me behind the desk and
closes the door. “Your father would be proud of you, at what you
have become,” he says, attempting to remind me that he was close
with my father. If he thinks that, he wasn’t as close as he
believes he was.

“Would he? Would he be proud that I took his
head as well?” I remind him that I killed my father. His eyes
narrow.

“Your father was a complicated being,” he
replies easily. I hold my tongue as he seats himself in the chair
that is strategically placed on my left. It makes those who sit in
it feel safe. They forget that when I am in the form of the Horde
King, that my wing span could easily kill them from where I sit.
“Now, let’s talk about your marriage to my daughter. I want the
Blood Heir removed from this kingdom. She is a threat to my
daughter.”

“Synthia is not a threat to anyone who
doesn’t fuck with her first,” I reply with a calculated look. He
has a plan. I’m curious what he thinks he has that I want. I want
Syn, period. He can’t give her to me, so anything he thinks he has
is worthless.

“By marrying my daughter you will gain my
alliance,” he points out.

“Do I not have your alliance now?” I ask. He
knows this question is loaded. He’s smart, but not smart enough to
fuck with me.

“Of course, but Abiageal’s dowry comes with
forty thousand troops.”

“I want you to consider other options for
your daughter and the contract you and my father negotiated,” I
say, and watch as his face turns red with rage.

“No, I will not! You will marry my daughter
and she will become the Queen of the Horde! I’ve worked too fucking
hard for you to fuck this up. You will do as I say!” he shouts.

“Do I need to remind you of who I am, and
what I can do? I am the Horde King, and I can easily rule as my
father did. There are many ways for us to settle this. You and my
father agreed to these terms, not me. I signed because it was my
father’s wish for me to do so. Do you not wish better for your
daughter than a life spent in the pavilion?”

“She’s a daughter! The only thing they are
good for is building alliances. That contract is unbreakable! You
will marry her, or you will step aside and let one of your
brother’s rule!” His face was turning mottled with his outrage.

I smile at him. “Cornelius, you forget
yourself and how Danu works. None of my brothers is an Heir. I was
being polite. You will consider one of my brothers for your
daughter’s hand. You will seriously consider it. I’ve already
abolished arranged marriages. I wrote it into our laws last week.
These are your options: Allow your daughter to select her own
husband from one of my many brothers, or go to war. Do you really
wish to make an enemy of the Horde? I’m trying to be reasonable.
The first option that I offer, it allows you to keep your head. You
need to remember who my father was, and how he ruled because I can
easily become that. I would rather bring the entire Horde together,
and unite the Realm. You are either on my side, or in my way. I
suggest you choose the right path for your people, Cornelius.”

“This is outrageous!”

I smile as I allow the beast form to take
over. The fear in his eyes excites the beast, and I smile inwardly.
“I suggest you sleep on it. I have many brothers suitable for your
daughter’s hand in marriage. I recommend that you consider your
daughter’s future in your choice. If you want to keep in my good
graces, then choose wisely for only one of the choices presented
today ends with your head on your shoulders.”

“So I either bow to you and your concubine,
or I lose my head?” He puffs his chest out and glares.

“Synthia is not my concubine, Cornelius.
She’s so much more than you can see right now. She’s also higher
ranking than you and your family, and I intend to offer the Blood
Kingdom an olive branch through her. We are at war with the Mages,
and soon they will attack in force. If the Four Castes of the Realm
of Faery do not work together, we may not have anything left when
they are finished.”

“They are Changelings! Easily killed,” he
says.

“Easily killed? Did you not notice that they
breached our fucking defenses last night? They have been brewing in
hate for centuries. If you do not see them as a potential threat,
then open your eyes. They can conceal who they are from us, as they
did with Arianna. They breached my defenses, which you yourself
know is an impossible feat. They have centuries of preparations on
us. This isn’t some half assed plot they just worked up. This has
been centuries of planning on their part. There aren’t a handful of
them bent on revenge, there are thousands of them. If we plan to
save this world, and I do, we need to stick together.”

“Zahruk,” Cornelius sputters. “I choose the
second born prince for my daughter’s hand.”

“You weren’t listening. I will not force your
daughter on any of my brothers. I will not sign their fate over to
you. I will allow your daughter to court them, and if they make a
match, I will honor it. I will allow her free choice, as will
you.”

“That’s ludicrous!”

“That’s how it will be. I am the Horde King,
and this is my will. Agree to the terms, Cornelius. Do not make me
become my father to see them fulfilled. That would become messy and
I’d rather not slip into that role anytime soon. I will, however,
if pushed.”

“I will take it under consideration. However,
I need to pass it by my advisors.”

“Do so, and remind them that they can be
found, and replaced,
easily
.”

*~*Synthia*~*

I woke up early to find Ryder already gone
from his chambers. I sat up and felt another presence in the room.
Danu turned around and pushed the hair from her face before she
spoke.

“I am sure you have more questions,” she said
quietly.

“Um, yes, how about we start with the whole,
you could even be considered my daughter business. You’re my
mother?”

“In a way, yes, Synthia. You were created
from an egg that I took from my womb and planted into your
mother’s. Easy feat for a Goddess, but I needed to be sure you
would be strong enough to fight for this world. You are tied to it
more than anyone else, and yet you seem to fight it harder than
anyone. You hold onto humanity, when you were born without a shred
of it in your being. You are my daughter, you are the child of a
Goddess, and yet you are pure. Your heart is untouched by the
influence of me, or anyone else in Faery. You fight for what you
love, and I needed you to have something that I knew you would be
willing to fight for. So I set Ryder on your path. I made you for
him so you have everything that he needs and wants. He just doesn’t
understand it. His beast doesn’t have to understand it, he just
accepts it. He is everything you want, and I need you for the
stability of this world if it is to survive. Strong of mind and
pure of heart is the only way to hold the relics. You need them to
fight the Mages. You need them to protect your unborn
children.”

“Back up,
you
are my
mother
!?”
I stammered, even though she’d said it. It was sinking in fully
now.

“I said you are the perfect Queen for Faery.
As a whole. Ryder could be the King of Faery and I want that for
him, but I can’t allow him to have it unless he is balanced. Like
his father before him, he has the drive to take it by force, and
he’s not pure of heart. He would be easily corrupted if he doesn’t
have something to keep him leveled. That’s you. You are his equal
in every way. Stronger, well he does have you there. He does have
every creature of the Horde pouring through his veins. You; well,
you have me. You have the blood of a Goddess running through your
veins and countless others who are part of me. It’s why you can
heal, and also why you feel so much and fall so hard. It’s a bitch
to balance, but you do well, considering.”

“Ryder’s beast mentioned that he was all of
the creatures of the Horde, and that’s what makes the difference
between Fae and the Horde King.”