Unraveling Destiny

by Amelia Hutchins

  “Do you know if he is able to walk?” I asked.

  “Doubtful; they rather enjoyed hurting him. We did add a spell to keep him awake, but I cannot say that we did not do anything else to him. If we hadn’t, the Mages would have noticed. They wrapped chains that had been enchanted around him, and then they positioned quite a few Guild Enforcers that had been drugged in the chamber with him. Their plan was to have the King break free and rip the Enforcers apart. The other Guilds would condemn him for his actions and it would rally the humans to their cause. He was to take the fall for the mess here if the Mages couldn’t hold it.”

  “And the children of this Guild, where are they?” I questioned.

  “In the chamber with the King, so that when he grew weak, he would be unable to stop himself from feeding; he would feed off the innocent lives around him.”

  “You can go,” I said with meaning. They didn’t move, not even when I turned to the Horde.

  “Goddess,” Hannah called before I could step away from them.

  “What?” I snapped, hating that once again, we’d look like monsters to the humans.

  “They’ve spelled this place to prevent my sisters from leaving. I kept up my end of our agreement, please keep yours.”

  “I said I would get you to your sisters. I said I would allow you to leave this place, but I never agreed to help you do it.” I could leave them here. I’d know right where they were, but I knew how they felt. I understood their anger and reasoning. They couldn’t undo what they’d set into motion.

  Hannah moved closer to where I stood and leaned close. She whispered into my ear and pulled away from me. I shivered and nodded at what she had said. I swallowed more pain as it tore through me, and turned to her sisters.

  “Humans are off-limits; say it,” I demanded.

  “You don’t know the evils they can do,” one argued.

  “I know exactly what they are capable of. I know who the real monsters are, and what they can do to us. We are not their judge or jury. What happened in the past is to stay in the past. If you bring about a war on their race, I will face you with them. This world has enough wars already, and murdering the descendants of those who wronged you isn’t the answer. It won’t bring them back, and it won’t make you feel any better. It won’t assuage the guilt you feel for losing them or being unable to save them. Trust me, nothing you do can bring them back. For every life you take, the Gods will take something from you, or at least that’s what I kept being told. It’s not worth the cost.”

  “You’ve never had to pick up the remains of your children’s children when they’ve been cast into the woods like trash. I hope you never have to. We will not wage war on the entire race; the Fae will wage that war for us. They are drawn to those who hold immense power. That is enough for me, for now,” one of the sisters said softly.

  “I won’t allow them to wage a war against the humans, ever.”

  “Good luck with that,” she laughed with a wide grin.

  “You are free, but remember, Hannah, I have eyes everywhere,” I replied, ignoring the taunts coming from her sisters. “There is nowhere that you can hide that we cannot reach you.”

  “We are even,” Hannah said softly.

  “I’m sure we will meet again soon enough,” I grumbled.

  “When war comes to Faery, call on us,” she said firmly. “You may not be of my line, but, for the love you bear for Larissa, I will forever be indebted to you and yours. Until we meet again, Goddess,” she whispered and moved to her sisters as they vanished together as one.

  My hands fisted at my sides as I moved back to the Fae, who observed me carefully. The pain had yet to let up, and every step was an effort to take. Once I was back to Ristan and Zahruk, I explained what waited for us inside.

  “Ready?” I asked, unwilling to wait any longer to get Ryder back.

  “The moment we cross the threshold, the timer starts counting down,” Zahruk pointed out.

  “Then there’s the part about not getting out alive,” Ristan added.

  “And?” I asked, knowing that somehow, we’d survive this.

  “And count me in.” Ristan shrugged, watching me. “Sounds like fun times.”

  The moment we started towards the doors, all hell broke loose.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  The sisters hadn’t been lying. Mages had been inside, waiting and listening to everything going on outside. The moment we breached the doors, energy balls sailed past us, hitting the walls around us. I erected a wall of magic as more were sent flying in our direction. I turned, catching sight of Zahruk as he beat against an invisible barrier that held him outside. Only Ristan, Lucian, his men, Callaghan, and the misfits had been able to cross the threshold in the initial charge. I scanned the floors until I caught sight of the runes preventing the Fae from entering. I used a pulse of magic to disturb the pattern that created the spell, forcing each rune to move from its perch to disrupt the magic and break the spell.

  Once the Fae were inside, the clock started on the bombs. I withdrew my swords, watching as Zahruk and the rest of the Fae followed my lead. Lucian led his men to the other side of the reception chamber and nodded in my direction as his own nightmarish armor materialized; smaller blades that extended into long wicked ones appeared, gripped firmly in his hands.

  I could smell death the moment the runes had been moved from their placement. The lifeless bodies of the Enforcers and Guild support staff littered the floor at odd angles, where they’d fought for their lives and lost. The sound of metal striking metal filled the Guild as I stood back, watching the army pour into the Guild and wage war against the Mages. The thick coppery scent of blood filled the evening air as I watched the fight unfolding.

  When a Mage lunged at me, I deflected his blow easily, slowly moving him around in a circle until the wall protected my back. I swung my blades without warning, severing flesh from bone as the young Mage moved into an attack position, one that he would never be able to follow through with as his body slid apart, pooling on the floor in an awkward angle.

  Ristan and Zahruk closed ranks, guarding me as we forced our way through the crowd that was fighting. Callaghan, Lucian and his men followed us deeper into the darkened Guild. I wasn’t afraid of the darkness—I could see as clearly as if it was day—but the deeper we went, the more bodies we found. Some had been torn to pieces with bite marks around their throats.

  The sisters hadn’t been lying when they’d said Ryder was to be blamed for this. The marks left no other plausible conclusion. I could hear the screams of the Mages as the Horde and the rest of the army continued to infiltrate the Guild. They would feed well tonight on the bodies of our enemies. That was, if we survived the bombs.

  “If the bombs go off with us inside,” Zahruk started to warn, but I was aware of what it meant. The Fae could live through almost anything, but bombs with iron inside of them would debilitate them.

  “I can get the bombs out if I know what we’re looking for,” Lucian offered and I stopped cold. He wasn’t Fae.

  “Do it,” I ordered. I pointed to a few I’d noted on the way in, and his men moved into action. “Here, in the plants. Some are inside the walls; I can hear them ticking. I turned in time to watch as Zahruk swung his blades at a Mage that lunged at us from the shadows.

  Both blades cut through muscle like butter, and Zahruk didn’t so much as flinch as he wiped the blood off on the Mage’s robes. He turned, his blue eyes scanned the shadows and, faster than my eyes could follow, he’d slid his swords into their sheaths that were harnessed to his back, trading them for daggers. Knives flew without warning, hitting their targets with a sickening thud that sent a shiver rushing through me.

  “Have your people comb the planters and any nooks and other hidden areas,” I whispered to Lucian as we started back down the long, winding
hallways of the Guild.

  No sooner had we started our push forward, when more Mages converged on our location with weapons and magic. I slid out of the way, watching as the men fought against them as I held my stomach as more pain ripped through me. Something was wrong with me, but I didn’t know what, or how to stop it.

  “Synthia,” Zahruk growled, forcing me to look up into his electric blue eyes.

  “I’m fine, let’s keep moving,” I lied.

  I wondered if it was the cost of meddling; for the lives I’d taken here. We moved through room after room, clearing it in haste as we descended into the Guild. I could sense Lucian’s men, removing the hidden bombs as fast as they could.

  Another warded doorway blocked us, and in moments I had it open using Andrew’s memories. We moved through it, finding remains of Fae who weren’t dead, but they weren’t exactly alive either. Some had been dissected, their stomachs cut wide open so that the Mages could watch how their insides worked. Zahruk issued orders in an angry tone, forcing some of the Fae who had followed us to collect those who had been experimented on, and take them to the front of the Guild, where the Fae who waited just outside of the threshold would take them back to Faery.

  We were working against a clock, one that we had no idea when it would go off. The grunts of the Fae echoed all around us, and the smell of rotting corpses was pungent down here. The rich scent of the earth around us did little to hide the smell of decaying flesh.

  The last room we entered was full of small bodies. I paused, hating the tears that filled my eyes as I stared at their innocent faces. My hands shook with the waste of life, the innocents that had been wiped out for just being in the way of the Mages.

  “They’re alive,” Ristan exclaimed in surprise as he knelt down and touched a little girl’s cheek. “They’re alive; we need to get them out of here.”

  “Start moving them, now,” I ordered, watching as both Ristan and Zahruk jumped into action. They sifted in and out, scooping up the children and moving them to the front of the Guild, where others would help take the little ones to safety. Once the last child had been moved I turned to Ristan. “There has to be a faster way. The Witches warned us that this was a trap to keep the Fae inside the Guild once they had gotten in. It looks like you guys can sift inside the building, but I’m not sure the Fae can sift out. I need for you to find and destroy whatever is keeping us inside this place.”

  “On it,” the Demon said as he sifted out.

  Zahruk, Callaghan, and I moved to the back of the chamber, where we found Ryder. He was chained to a table with thick coils of chain forged from iron. The Mages must have removed the God bolts just before they came out to confront me and the army. The unconscious Enforcers lay on the floor surrounding the table. I swallowed as I took in his unmoving form. Even from where I stood, I could smell the iron that they’d forced inside of him. I rushed forward, unable to stop myself as I touched him.

  His skin was ice cold, and yet the moment I touched his face, he thrashed against it. He growled as saliva laced with blood dripped from his mouth. Wild eyes met mine and he calmed a little, and yet, he didn’t fully stop fighting to break free from the chains.

  “Ryder.” I pulled at the chain crisscrossing his chest, managing to tug it free. “It’s me, Fairy,” I crooned as I lowered my face and kissed his temple.

  “Synthia,” Zahruk warned, sensing something was wrong.

  My eyes looked at the discarded chains and then back to Ryder, who watched me with mistrust in his eyes. He looked wild, untamed…like a true beast bred to kill anything that got too close to him. He was tracking every movement I made as I moved closer, and my heart raced with apprehension.

  No God bolts held him here, and yet those chains wouldn’t have been able to hold him alone. So why hadn’t he escaped? He stood slowly, sleek muscles moving as perspiration beaded on them.

  I took a step back, away from him. Zahruk moved in front of him, catching his attention and, before I could do anything, Ryder struck him, sending him sailing across the room without warning. Zahruk hit the wall with a loud thump, and slid down it. I trembled as my eyes moved back to the man before me.

  He was trapping me, cutting off any chance of escape as he herded me into a corner. I saw Callaghan moving into position to attack, and shook my head at him to tell them to stand down. I heard the others as they came rushing down the corridor and hallway, but I shook my head as they watched Ryder push me up against the wall.

  He growled; the sound was inhuman and heartbreaking as the fingers of one hand extended into claws and ripped at my armor before retracting again. Strong hands found one breast as the other pushed against my throat, stopping my air flow. He wasn’t my Ryder, he was a monster, experimented on, tortured, and left for dead with enough iron in him to kill a hundred Fae.

  “Ryder,” I gasped, using what precious little air I had left to reach him. I felt him loosening his hold, but only enough that I wouldn’t pass out. He used his knee to part my legs as he pressed his growing cock against my stomach.

  His hand hurt my breast; I could feel his claws sliding across my skin as they extended. The pressure more than I could stand, I cried out, but my eyes gave silent warning for the men across the room to remain where they are. I could get away, but something was forcing me to stay with him. To not give up; telling me that my Ryder was inside the monster that, even then, was licking my neck as if priming it to sample it.

  The moment his teeth entered the flesh of my collarbone, I cried out, which made him hesitate and pull away from my neck. I lifted my legs, wrapping them around his waist and using his own body to push his upper torso away from me.

  “Ryder, come back to me,” I pleaded. His hands rose, capturing my face as his mouth curved into a dangerous smile. His lips touched mine, but it was primal. His teeth scraped my lip, breaking the soft flesh as he kissed me like a starving man who hadn’t touched flesh in decades. I moaned against him, tears sliding down my face as he pulled on my hair, tilting my face until he had full access. His tongue delved inside, capturing mine as his teeth scraped me. I felt him growing larger; his cock throbbed against my belly as he rubbed against it, needing to feed.

  It hit me then. He was starving. He hadn’t fed from the children, so he was just what he looked like: A starving beast! I pulsed with power, forcing it into his system, forcing out the iron, as the men behind us gave warning. I felt his hands as he grabbed my waist, intending to drive that cock deep into my welcoming depths. The moment I thought we’d end up giving his brothers a bird’s eye view into our sex life, he paused. His mouth moved slower, deeper, and unforgiving in its conquest to claim ownership.

  I felt his claws retract, and his cock slowly deflated as golden flecks returned to his obsidian eyes. I swallowed a cry as I wrapped my arms around his naked form and cried.

  “Synthia, you need to get away, now,” Ristan ordered, not understanding what was happening.

  “He is in there, I know it,” I whispered. “He’s coming back.”

  “He could hurt you,” he argued.

  He’d handed over the pain to the beast. It was his way of escaping what they had been doing to him, but he was still inside there. He was becoming gentler with me, and yet he was struggling to control whatever it was that was holding him back. The beast was dominant, but so was Ryder. When he pulled his mouth away from me, I reclaimed it hungrily.

  I rained kisses over his face as he tried again to pull away from my mouth. I fed him enough power to run a small city, but nothing brought back the burning amber gaze I was searching for in his inky depths.

  “I love you,” I sobbed as tears slid down my cheeks. I closed my eyes against the denial that maybe I’d lost him. Maybe he was the price I would pay for coming to save him. “I love you so much, Ryder,” I whimpered as pain continued to tear me apart. “Come back to me, Fairy. Come home.�
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  “Pet,” he growled thickly as he wiped the blood from his mouth, on my shredded armor. I opened my eyes and cried out as golden eyes met my hopeful stare.

  “I’m going to kick your fucking ass, Fairy,” I cried as I wrapped my arms around him as he held me tightly. “I was so afraid I’d lost you,” I whimpered, exhausted from the fight to get him back. We still weren’t out of the woods yet.

  “I sensed you in this room; tell me I wasn’t crazy,” he whispered as he kissed my tears away.

  “I’ll tell you all about it, but right now we have to get out of here.” I was sensing the fighting above was dying down. “We have to go, now.” As Ryder’s armor materialized around his body, I pulled away and stood up, only to double over in agony.

  “Synthia?” Zahruk barked, stepping closer as Ryder also struggled to stay upright. “She’s hurt.” But I wasn’t, at least not wounded in the way Zahruk thought I might be. He searched me for blood, and found none. I tried to stand on my own and felt wetness between my legs, slowly saturating the leggings of the armor as it descended. “What the hell?” Zahruk picked me up as he scented the blood that was making its way down my legs.

  “I’m fine, help Ryder,” I demanded. “We have to get out of here before those bombs go off.”

  “Bombs?” Ryder asked, and I shook my head.

  “Not now, we don’t have time.” I wrapped my arms around my stomach as Callaghan pulled Ryder’s arm around his shoulder, supporting him while Zahruk carried me. We took off, racing through the hallways and back out the way we’d come. Luckily, Ristan had been successful in removing the spells that the Mages had cast to hold the Fae inside the structure of the Guild.