Before he could follow his brothers to get Synthia back, Danu popped in and informed him that Synthia would die. The ill-boding vision she’d taken him on had shown utter devastation in both worlds if Danu or he did anything to try to save her. It couldn’t be prevented, and he hated it.
Hated knowing that soon, Synthia would be dead and there wasn’t a fucking thing he could do about it.
He couldn’t even warn his brother, because if he did, he could set into motion a clusterfuck that wouldn’t work in the end. She was going to die, and he was going to have to step away from it and wait for his part to play out.
He waited, willing himself to stay out of the ward for now, listening as Ryder screamed for Eliran, and yet he still held back from entering the birthing room. There was no point. It wasn’t time yet, from what he’d been shown. He listened, his mind racing with the hurt his brother was feeling. They all felt the Horde King’s pain because they were all linked.
What Ryder felt in emotion, they did, too, as his Elite Guard. He choked on bile, knowing his part was coming. He would hate himself for it, but in the end, those babes would be his and this world’s salvation.
“Fuck that; you save them! All of them!” Ryder demanded, his voice shaking the walls of the small room they were in.
“Get them out,” Synthia begged, her voice just barely audible through the doors.
Ristan entered the room, his eyes taking in the carnage as blood dripped on the floor. He felt the link between Synthia and Ryder break, and knew she was dead and there hadn’t been a single fucking thing he could do to stop or prevent it.
“Save her!” Ryder shouted at Eliran.
“Save the babies, Eliran; it’s what Synthia wanted,” Ristan pleaded with Eliran, knowing the healer was frozen with fear and indecision. “You have to save her children.”
“Call for Danu!” Ryder snapped, and Ristan’s eyes moved to him with sorrow.
“Save them now!” Ristan ordered of Eliran, and when the healer still didn’t move, just as Danu’s vision predicted, he shoved him out of the way. Eliran shook his head in alarm as he looked from Ryder to the Demon as if weighing which of them would kill him first.
Ristan moved, knowing what he had to do as he picked up a scalpel, and knowing that it could potentially be the last thing he ever did. Ristan’s voice broke and his heart shattered as he whispered a goodbye to one of the only women who’d held his heart without hurting him. “I’m so sorry, Flower. I wish you could have held on for us.” He pushed down on the scalpel and watched as blood trailed behind it as he opened her swollen belly to deliver the babes.
Ristan knew his brothers would help contain the beast, at least for now. He could hear the threats and taunts of the Horde King, but lives were hanging in the balance. Precious tiny beings that needed to be born, and he wondered if saving them would be enough to prevent what Danu had shown him.
Ristan could feel the seething fury of the beast that was the Horde King across the mental link he shared with his brother. Ristan tried to tune out Zahruk’s voice as he tried to calm the monster that was rattling inside his brother. The monster that was, even now, about to break free and end Ristan, and he no longer cared if he died.
“I’ll fucking kill you, Demon!” Ryder snapped, his anger palpable as Ristan continued to slice Synthia open. She was no longer in pain, and Ristan held back his grief, his mind focused on saving the babes, her dying wish.
Ristan finished with the cut and put the scalpel down, and moved back to pull out one of the babes. He handed it off to his brother, Eliran. The babe was blue and lifeless, but Ristan wasn’t done yet. Another babe needed to be saved. Their mother couldn’t have died so senselessly, only for her children to follow her in death.
His shoulders slumped as the first babe let out a lusty wail, and his hands slipped around the other infant. He handed it to Eliran as well, and when he turned back to Synthia, his heart stopped. Everything stopped as he saw the one precious thing that hadn’t been in Danu’s vision.
Ristan reached in and pulled out a third babe, and his eyes moved to Synthia’s empty eyes. She fucking did it. The female child was limp and lifeless. Ristan shook his head and turned to look at Ryder, who wore a look of utter devastation.
“She did it, fucking hell, she did it,” Ristan mumbled, as he stumbled back from Synthia’s body and handed the silent, blue, lifeless child to Eliran. “She gave you a daughter.”
“Save her, please, save my daughter,” Ryder begged. Ristan knew that his brother had never begged for anything in his entire life.
Ristan stepped back as Eliran and his medical staff moved into action, working to save the children. Three babes; Synthia had done the impossible and given birth to the first set of triplets in Fae history. His eyes moved to her face, and he stifled the grief that tried to escape. She was dead, and he was wrong. She wasn’t their salvation and he’d ruined her life by thinking it so. She’d be alive if he’d never been cursed with visions.
Danu had warned him that she was going to die and that he couldn’t stop it. No one could. What the fuck was the point of it? He’d argued with Danu, and she’d forbidden him from giving warning or preventing this.
She’d shown him a world where nothing existed. Nothing. Faery and her world had both collapsed, and he knew Synthia well enough to know that she would kill him if he allowed it to happen. He moved closer to her body and his hands shimmered with a silver glow of power as he closed the bloody incision, then glamoured a sheet over her body to give her some dignity in death.
Adam sifted in, and Ristan watched as he processed what had happened. He had to have felt their bond break, because he spun in a wide circle and then he was gone again. Ristan was surprised as Adam sifted back, Adrian and Alden in tow. They both gave in to the chaos and Ristan watched in silence as everyone waited to see how many of the babies would survive their difficult birthing.
He watched as a helper moved to his brother, handing off the firstborn son. Tears slipped from his brother’s eyes and it gutted him. His stomach twisted, his heart clenched, and he felt useless as he stood among his brethren, having never felt so alone in his entire existence.
Fucking Danu; she could go to hell.
Ryder broke apart. Ristan barely managed to hold his own grief at bay. He watched the most powerful creature he knew of as he crumbled. Ryder’s pain flowed through his guard, and Ristan wasn’t immune. He shook his head, unable to stop the pain. He watched as his niece was handed to her father.
“Your brothers hid you and protected you,” Ryder whispered to his daughter as he kissed the top of her platinum curls. She was a tiny replica of her mother. A perfect innocence, her beauty untouched or tainted by evil.
“What now?” Ristan asked as he moved closer to Synthia’s body.
“Don’t touch her,” Ryder warned as he thrust his daughter into Ristan arms and moved to the lifeless body.
She’s fucking gone. It slammed into them all as Ryder felt the loss. Ristan sensed what was going through Ryder’s mind, and knew he was going ask Ristan to find Danu.
“Ryder, she cannot be brought back. Danu has shown me what would happen if she intervened, and there was no world; no Humans, no Fae left. She’s gone, but your children are here, and they need you, brother, we all do.”
“What do you mean, no world?” Ryder snapped, his eyes narrowed on Ristan cautiously.
“Nothing. Nothing would be left of either world if you break the balance. This was supposed to happen, and you can’t break the balance by changing it. Synthia would never forgive you if you did, and you know it.”
“She’s my fucking world,” he replied in a gutted cry.
“Then tell her goodbye, brother, and let her go in peace,” Ristan whispered, and pushed some of his remaining strength into his brother. He gave him the strength he’d need to tell
the love of his life goodbye.
Ristan carried the babe, her small mouth already trying to suckle. Ristan pushed power into her tiny body, using his own power to make the tiny female stronger. She’d need his help; she’d need them all without her mother.
“Get out,” Ryder snapped even though most of them had felt his need to be alone.
The moment the door closed, Zahruk spun on Ristan.
“What the fuck? You’ve not had visions in forever, and now you get one, and it’s about a fucking apocalypse?” he demanded.
“Danu showed me what would happen if we tried to save Synthia. It was game fucking over for everyone. You can’t fuck with the balance, and not expect it to shatter. We all know that, brother. He’ll rebound; he’s resilient. He may become cold, but in time he’ll understand that the lives of the many outweigh his happiness, even though I wished to hell it didn’t. Try knowing what’s coming, and knowing that if you touch it, or stop it, you’d end everything and everyone. Try owning that for a fucking day, Zahruk.”
Ristan cradled the little angel in his arms, his eyes taking in the golden ones so much like her father’s. He’d been wrong before; the little princess was a mix of her parents, and she watched silently as grown men looked down at her in wonder.
“You’re loved, and you are wanted, little princess,” Ristan cooed to the infant as her golden eyes watched him with a look that tugged at his heart. “Your mother was the bravest woman I’ve ever known, and she loved you,” he said, as his voice broke and his head shook at the unfairness of the entire situation.
He was still holding her when Ryder’s call for vengeance went out through their bond, and he felt the pull to kill. Ryder was death, and he’d be seeking blood for blood. Ristan closed his eyes and allowed the child in his arms to bring him some semblance of peace, because soon they’d be going to war.
They didn’t even have a nursery for the children because no one had thought to create one yet. They’d thought they had more time. They’d been wrong.
It wasn’t until Ristan helped Ryder create a nursery in Synthia’s quarters that he handed off the little girl to be tucked into the bedding of the crib he’d glamoured for her. Aodhan brought in the two cribs that he had barely finished the detail work on, and the boys were settled into their blankets. Zahruk left to locate some wet nurses for the babes, which was going to be a challenge as there weren’t a good deal of lactating mothers in Faery.
Ristan and Adam realized at this point just how unprepared they were for the babes. The two left to gather supplies once guards had been stationed outside the room.
Glamoring items would be easier if they knew what the hell they were doing. They had made it as far as the portal and had been about to leave when he had felt Ryder’s unease, and he and Adam both sifted into the nursery, to find Synthia alive and on her knees before Ryder.
Fucking cunt! That dirty fucking bitch Danu had known she’d bring Synthia back, and she’d made him gut her? Ristan felt anger and hatred, raw and heavier than he had in a very long time. Danu had allowed him to believe he was losing Synthia and that he’d had no choice but to play a part in it that had torn his heart out. He backed out of the room and waited outside the doors for Adam.
How could Danu be so cold? One simple clue, and Ristan wouldn’t have felt as if he’d been the one to sever Synthia’s life. Unless that had been Danu’s sick game; to see if he’d do as she bid him to. It was possible, but if it was the case… Ristan would sever his ties to the Goddess, and let the chips fall where they may. He wanted to do everything in his power to help Faery, Ryder, and his brothers, but she was cruelly making him suffer in every way she could with his bond to her. She could kill him easily, but that would be something he’d deal with when it happened.
“She’s alive, that’s Synthia!” Adam exclaimed, and Ristan nodded in acknowledgment.
Yes, she was alive. She would find out pretty fast that he was the one who had cut her open on that table. Danu had taken another person from him, and he wondered if it had to do with her sick, twisted jealousy.
“Let’s go shopping,” Ristan said softly, his eyes holding Adam’s green ones. “She’ll need a lot of things for triplets.”
Chapter Ten
Ristan sat with Alden in the study carrel; scrolls, books, and files lay unnoticed on the table and desk. A half-drunk bottle of eighteen-year-old Glenmorangie was on the table between them. His telling of the birth was sitting heavily on them both. He’d explained what had happened and what was expected traditionally as the days passed for Synthia. The presentation of the babes and the Fae traditions were of great interest to the old man.
Alden was always a sponge for anything Ristan dished out, detail-wise, about Faery. It had been a few days since he’d been to the Guild since life in Faery had taken on an ominous turn and created different demands from them all. He explained what had happened to the Tree of Life, and what the tree meant for his world, as well as the impact this would have on the babies if a cure wasn’t found in time, and Alden had offered suggestions.
“He lets her do a lot of things that your own father wouldn’t have, doesn’t he?” Alden asked as they poured more liquor into crystal glasses. Ristan thought for a moment as to what he could tell Alden at this time. Finding out that Synthia was really the daughter of the Goddess might be a bit much for Alden so he stayed as close to the truth as possible.
“I wouldn’t say that. The circumstances are different in their dynamic than it was for my father, but he does test her a lot. He’s seeing if she can stand up to the Unseelie while seeing how they accept her. He’s smart, because if she didn’t have balls, they’d make her a target. He knows that, so he’s showing them that she’s a force to be reckoned with.”
“She is that,” he said as he moved away and started straightening the room for the night. “She was my biggest challenge, and my fiercest warrior, so I don’t doubt that Ryder is approving of her now. She’ll never be an easy target, though. The girl has a sense of when she’s in danger. She’s a lot like my sister was, even though they don’t share a shred of DNA,” he said quietly. A knock on the door drew their attention.
“Are you retiring?” Olivia asked from the doorway, her eyes on Alden.
“I am,” he said as he recorked the bottle of Glenmorangie, stowed it in one of the cabinets and picked up a handful of files.
“Mind if I speak to Justin on a few things I found?” she asked, and Ristan watched her.
What the hell was she playing at? He watched Alden as he nodded and said his goodnights before Olivia closed the door and moved deeper into the room. She looked at anything but him for a few moments, and then she turned and smiled at him.
“You need something, cher?” he asked
“Play with me, Demon,” she whispered, and smiled coyly as she lifted up her skirt, showing off her red curls.
His eyes lowered, and he shook his head. “She’s an innocent,” he mumbled, his throat closing with the need to bury himself deep inside the tight pink delicate flesh.
“She is. The poor girl’s never even had an orgasm. Why don’t we use her, and I’ll let her keep the memory of you giving her one?” Danu offered as she moved, using Olivia’s body, and grabbed Ristan’s hand, bringing it up to stroke the sweet flesh between her legs. Danu unbuttoned Olivia’s blouse and let it slide off her shoulders. Her lacy bra followed it a moment later.
“Don’t do this to her,” he whispered as he lifted his eyes and fought against the unfurling need that tightened in his belly. His fingers skimmed her heated sex, and he shook his head. “Haven’t you done enough?”
“I told you, Demon; some things not even I can interfere with,” Danu said as she sat on the small table and started spreading the girl’s flesh.
“You couldn’t have told me she’d live? Or that I hadn’t fucking gutted her? T
hen you pretend everything is fine, that ripping me apart and making me think I’d taken her life was just another lesson you had to teach me. What about her being your daughter, Danu? That is why you allowed us to be friends, isn’t it? Because you knew I’d protect her? Guess what? I’m sick and tired of your idea of lessons,” he gritted out angrily.
“Oh, my poor, poor, Demon; you want her, don’t you?” Danu asked sarcastically, ignoring his questions as she slid a single finger inside of Olivia and moaned as her own actions made Olivia’s body respond. His eyes were glued to what she was doing as his cock stiffened in response to the sweet sound of flesh entering flesh.
“Danu,” he warned, but she pulled out the finger and moved closer to him until she was straddling his lap. The finger that had been inside Olivia was pushed into his mouth, and he groaned unwillingly.
She tasted like ambrosia. Her lush tits were exposed to his eyes and he leaned back, his mind wondering what would happen if Danu left her body now. Would she be willing to finish what they’d be doing?
He sucked on her finger, as Danu’s immense power pushed through the thin sliver he’d been holding on to. Danu answered his mental musing. “She’d be in shock when I left her. Her sweet cunt would be ripped open. Yes, she really is a virgin and your giant cock would tear her apart, Demon. She’s so sweet and so innocent of what a man needs. She has a crush on you, thinks the angels hung stars just for you in the skies. Do you want me to ride your cock?” she pouted softly, her motions skilled and nothing like it would be with Olivia.
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