Embracing Destiny

by Hutchins, Amelia

  I could hear the women behind me, hurtling over corpses as we hauled ass into the room. Inside, bodies littered the floor. Sevrin fought against a male who turned, staring at me as his blade pushed through Sevrin’s chest, taking him down. Olivia was huddled on the floor, holding her stomach, Dristan beside her.

  “Bilé,” I screeched, drawing blades as he turned and lifted his. Defending Olivia and Dristan, I struck hard and fast, moving him away from their prone forms. I danced away from him, forcing him to follow me as screaming continued in the other room where the children were being held. His blade caught my cheek, and his smile was maddening.

  “Look at you. You’re the image of utter perfection,” Bilé murmured. “I’m going to enjoy you before I send you to Hades, little Goddess. You are an abomination. You weren’t worth Danu’s life!” he shouted, swiftly slicing his sword through the air. I blinked, and his blade almost found its place against my throat before another sword deflected the strike.

  “Fancy meeting you here, asshole,” Erie snapped, watching his eyes widen with the knowledge of who she was as the ravens on her shoulders took the forms of men. She swiped her blades, dancing around me as I stepped back, peering down to where Eliran lay lifeless, his features haunted in death.

  A sob ripped through me as I shook my head in denial. I’d assumed we were safe, never imagining Bilé would come to us. I’d warded against gods, but he wasn’t just any god. He was part of this world, which allowed him to pass through barriers others couldn’t. I picked up my swords, helping Erie as she cornered him, intending to scissor her blades through his neck, but he vanished.

  Erie turned, staring at me before she spoke low and clear. “He’s gone.”

  I dropped to the floor, holding my stomach as I fought the need to howl with grief. Ciara opened the door to the nursery, exhaling her relief as she rushed inside. The nurse, who had been trying to get the children out of the room, turned, crying out in relief as I stood in the doorway bloodied, my cheek sliced open. I looked down at the floor, my pulse pounding in my ears, quieting the sound to nothing as my eyes slid over the dead bodies littering the room.

  “Olivia, it’s okay,” I stated softly, hating the burning of my tears as they ran through the wound on my face. She held a sword in her hand, and Dristan lay over the top of her. She didn’t move. “Olivia, he’s gone. He can’t hurt you now.” I wiped the blood from my eyes and moved closer, pushing Dristan off of her, crying out as he fell to the floor in two pieces. “Oh, gods, no,” I sobbed violently, staring at Olivia’s sightless stare.

  I stood up, backing away from them, everything inside of me screaming in denial at what my vision was telling me was true. Everyone stared at me, and I realized I was crying hysterically. Ciara held Sevrin, Lilith held Eliran, and everyone stared at Olivia’s lifeless body.

  “No! No, this isn’t how it ends!” I screamed hoarsely. “I can save them. I can save them all,” I muttered, sitting down in front of Olivia, pushing power into her.

  “Synthia, she’s gone,” Erie said.

  “They can’t be gone. No, don’t you see,” I sobbed as tears rushed down my face. “No! No! Thanatos!” I screamed, watching as he emerged from the shadows. “You can’t take them all! I will fight you!”

  “They’re not here anymore. Save the one you can,” Thanatos uttered with a look of pain in his cold blue eyes. “Save the one who has yet to breathe their first breath. It’s the only soul that remains.”

  My hands glowed, ready to try again, and Erie grabbed me. I swung on her as I materialized blades, intending to fight her to save the dead.

  “Don’t do this,” she warned. “It is forbidden!”

  “Get out of my way,” I demanded, pulling my power to me.

  “Pick a child, Synthia. Kahleena? Cade, or maybe Zander? Who will you let them take from you for trespassing against Death? Your mother gave her fucking life to bring you back! Don’t do this. You will allow Bilé to do what he came here to do! He is trying to make you trespass against the gods! Do not let him win!” Erie pleaded.

  “But it’s my family!” I sobbed, holding my stomach as grief shook through me. “It’s my family, Erie. He took my family!”

  “He hit your family because they are your weakness,” she whispered. “Save the life you can and let the others go in peace. They’re already gone. They are not here anymore because they didn’t want him to win. They called Thanatos. He can only be called by the wails of souls wishing to pass through him to know peace.”

  “What life can I save? They’re all dead!” My gaze moved to Olivia, then lowered to her stomach. I shook my head, unable to even consider doing what they expected from me.

  “You’re the Goddess of the Fae. Bring back the babe,” she whispered softly. “Only you can bless your people. Save the baby.”

  I materialized a knife and stepped toward Olivia’s body. She’d want her child to live at all costs, even if that meant ruining her body after death. I dropped to my knees, shaking my head while the room held its breath. Breathing raggedly, I cut through her belly, dropping the blade when I’d gone deep enough to sever the flesh. My hands pushed inside the incision, sobs rocking through me as I removed the lifeless body of her child.

  “No,” I whispered, rubbing its stomach, then blowing into its mouth. Wards began to wail in warning, and Erie moved to stand behind me as the clanking sound of swords being drawn to defend echoed through the room. “Come on. You don’t get to go with your mommy. We need you. Your daddy needs you so much,” I pleaded, kissing the babe’s head. It glowed where I kissed it, igniting tiny brands that pulsed before a small cry sounded.

  Chaos erupted in the room as I stood, protecting the child in my arms. Turning, I stared over my shoulder at the door where Ryder stood, his gaze locked on the bodies that littered the floor. Ristan pushed through the crowd, stopping short of the corpses.

  “Olivia!” Ristan screamed, staring at me.

  “Stop him,” I said, sobbing as my head shook, unable to tell Ristan what sat behind me. “Ryder, stop him!” I pleaded brokenly.

  Ryder didn’t move from where he was rooted in the doorway. His eyes were stuck on Dristan’s body, wide in horror before they moved to Savlian, who shouted for Sevrin, finding his twin murdered, a blade still protruding from his chest. Adam held Eliran, staring up at Ryder, who still didn’t speak or move. Ristan pushed me aside, and his wail slammed into my soul. He screamed and sobbed helplessly at the lifeless body of his mate lying upon the floor with her stomach cut open.

  “Save her!” Ristan demanded, standing up to grab me, unaware of the tiny bundle I held in my arms. “You’re the fucking Goddess of the Fae, you save her!” he yelled through angry tears, shaking me.

  “Stop!” Erie demanded, pushing him away only to catch him as he lunged again and again.

  “Fuck you. This is between Synthia and me! I saved her children! She fucking owes me! She has to bring Olivia back. I don’t want to fucking live without her!” he shouted through tears.

  Someone grabbed for the babe, and I let them, turning to stare at Ristan, who was growing angrier by the moment. Bloodied hands ran through his hair as he shook his head, staring at me with a pleading look in his gaze. Pain was etched on his face, his blind need to bring Olivia back rushing through him. He lunged at me again, only for Erie to block him from reaching me.

  “I can’t,” I whispered thickly. “I’m so sorry, Ristan. I can’t bring her back. It is forbidden.”

  “You will do it! Dammit. Synthia, I love her. I love her so fucking much, please. Please!” He grabbed me, shaking me before Erie could stop him. I turned, looking at Ryder, who still stood motionless, staring at Dristan. “I’ll fucking make you!”

  “Choose one of her children, you bastard! Her daughter? Her sons? Or maybe Ryder? Which one would you have her sacrifice to bring your mate back? N
o? Don’t want to choose? Because the gods will make her! And when she does, because you know she’d choose Ryder over her children to die, they will kill her fucking children!” Erie screamed, forcing the room to go silent. “That is what they do! They take the one thing you love most, and they destroy it! So choose which child of hers you are willing to sacrifice for your mate because you can be damn certain she will lose one to bring Olivia back. I’m sorry, it sucks. That is the way it works, so choose one.”

  “I can’t,” he sobbed, shaking his head. “Olivia’s pregnant! She’s going to be a mother! We’re going to fill her frames with so many fucking pictures that she won’t know where to put them. I promised her!”

  “No, you will be a father, and you will fill the frames for her.” I stared up at him, watching the denial play across his face.

  He shook his head, and the room filled with the small scream of the infant. Ristan’s eyes moved, finding his mother holding his son. He stared at the tiny babe with red curls and bright blue eyes that swirled like his, but in the same shade of Olivia’s. A tiny tail slipped from Alannah’s hold as we took in the teeny horns at the top of his son’s head. Little black wings unfurled from his back as Ristan watched.

  “I can’t do this without her,” he sobbed brokenly, dropping to the floor beside Olivia. “I need her. I can’t do this alone.” He didn’t move toward the child, didn’t look back at him as he pulled Olivia’s body against his, rocking it silently.

  “You’re not alone,” I said, slipping through the blood to sit beside him. My arm held his as I stared at him. “You’re never alone, Ristan, we’re with you. We are all with you forever.”

  “Prepare the bodies for burial, and then alert the other courts of what occurred here,” Ryder stated, his tone cold and empty. I turned to gaze up at him, and he winced, taking in the damage to my face. “I want the Blood King and Dark King here to prepare to launch an attack immediately.”

  “Adam is the Dark King, and Liam is the Blood King. Three kingdoms fell to Bilé.”

  “Four Kingdoms fell,” he stated, moving to where Sinjinn held Savlian’s shaking form. “We murdered thousands of them, and yet they had enough to reach here and initiate an assault. Why wasn’t the tower secured?” he asked, accusation burning in his tone as he glared at me.

  “It was secured. I locked the door myself. They were all in here, cornered, where Bilé found them and lay waste to them as they used their bodies to defend the nursery. I fought Bilé’s men outside the gates and secured the castle. I had troops placed around the entire fortress to alert us should anyone try to gain entrance during the battle. We fought them, we won. I thought we’d won.

  “The alarm sounded, and then a nurse threw Fury out the window. They started throwing babes out the windows to save them while Dristan and Sevrin held the room, blocking the door,” I sobbed. “Bilé wasn’t supposed to reach inside. We expected him to be fighting you. I did everything you told me to do, and I lost. We’re losing this war because he is a god, one my mother invited into Faery. He is immune to the wards, unaffected by the magic in this world. He’s the fucking God of Death, and I’m not strong enough to fight him.”

  “You’re not alone,” Lucian said. “You have us.”

  “You have me, and I’m War,” Erie said. “The problem isn’t strength. You’re fighting the man your mother trusted with all of her secrets. Danu built this world for them, their own fucking oasis. They abandoned her people to create a new world, and she built Faery for Bilé. You have to stop thinking in terms of saving this world and consider letting him have it. It may have been your mother’s home, but it was his too.”

  “I can’t walk away from this place. My mother told me to fight for it.”

  “It’s not worth fighting for if you lose everyone to keep it. What do you plan to do when you have no one left to share it?” Erie asked.

  “We need to bury the dead,” Ryder said. “We have new kings to crown and plans to make. I’m done fucking losing. It’s time we fight them head-on. It’s time to call in all favors owed, all oaths. If we have to, we will leave Faery to the monster who wishes to claim it. I won’t lose any more family for a piece of land, Synthia. I didn’t kill my father to lose my brothers. I murdered Alazander to save Dristan’s life, and now that seems utterly worthless, doesn’t it?”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  I sat numbly on the chair beside Ryder, who watched the remains of our family and friends being placed on the pyres. He didn’t speak, but then what the hell did you say at a time like this? We’d lost epically, and the mages were probably celebrating right now.

  They were willing to throw bodies at us, allowing their armies to be slaughtered to hit us in a big way. We weren’t that cruel. We didn’t want the losses or want to kill our troops for one fucking hit. We wanted to throw the uppercut and have Bilé feel it without sacrificing thousands of our warriors’ lives to manage it.

  “I warded the tower,” I whispered to the wind.

  “The queen isn’t healing,” Ryder said, turning to look at where my face continued to bleed. “Call for Eliran,” he growled, causing everyone around us to pause and peer in our direction at the mention of Eliran’s name. “Fetch a healer, now,” he commanded, pulling me over onto his lap, uncaring who saw the act of affection.

  “They’re watching us,” I mumbled, my throat bobbing with emotion as the sting of regret and grief tore through me.

  “I don’t give a shit who the fuck is watching us, woman. Why aren’t you healing?” Ryder’s hand lifted, curving against my cheek as he took in the injury from Bilé’s blade.

  “Because I was attacked by a god defending Olivia’s corpse,” I whispered, barely audible to my own ears.

  “You didn’t call for me, why?” he demanded.

  “I couldn’t.” I lowered my head and worried my hands in my lap as I went over the security procedures. “I warded the tower against the gods to protect everyone inside. I warded it against myself, and yet Bilé got through. How the fuck am I going to protect us if I can’t ward against him?” I looked up into Ryder’s eyes as a tear rolled down my cheek. “I lost so many people, and yet I never even thought about him being able to get past the wards. I underestimated him, and we paid for it greatly.”

  Someone stood in front of us, and Ryder growled, causing the guy to jump. Ryder stared at the male, watching him before he dropped his eyes to the bag the man held.

  “I’m guessing she needs sutures, My King.”

  “And you are?” Ryder snapped.

  “Finley, I was Eliran’s understudy,” he admitted sadly, wiping away the tears that rolled down his cheek, uncaring of who saw his grief.

  “Fuck off,” Ryder growled.

  “With all due respect, her face is badly wounded. If you don’t want it to scar, please let me assist My Queen in her hour of need. It will be an honor to help her after she fought so bravely to protect us.”

  “I lost, in case you failed to notice,” I whispered, wiping away tears of anger.

  “You lost a few, but imagine if they’d gotten inside. We’d all be dead, My Queen. You may have lost some people, but you saved so many more. Eliran knew he could fall, and he trained me in the event that it happened. Please, let me help you.”

  I expelled a breath and returned to my chair, turning my face to allow Finley to apply sutures. He opened his kit and started working as I stared out over the dead, glaring where Thanatos stood in the shadows, watching me silently. Thanatos didn’t look as if he enjoyed his job, and yet he did it all the same.

  Someone moved through the crowd of people who gathered around us, and I paused, sitting up to see Fyra. She moved toward me, stopping to nod her head as she took in the damage to my face. I smiled sadly, watching her through tears that fell freely as relief washed over me. Of course, she’d survived. Who else would have been crazy
enough to fly at the castle to save the little dragon prince?

  Ryder’s hand reached for mine, and I lifted my eyes to his as he smiled tightly, even though it didn’t reach his eyes.

  “We’re going to be okay, aren’t we?”

  “I don’t know,” he replied, unable to lie. “Not today. Today we will mourn our losses and celebrate their lives, and tomorrow we will prepare for war. You fought against insurmountable odds and won. You fought bravely in the face of loss and uncertainty while showing no fear to our enemies. I murdered thousands of mages, and that, too, is a victory. We did what we were supposed to do, and you were right where you were supposed to be, Synthia. You can’t predict treachery. You can’t foresee another god’s ability to get past you. You did well,” he said thickly, tightening his hand on mine.

  “I don’t feel like I did well,” I whispered.

  “You took on an army, and you destroyed them. You didn’t allow any to escape, my fierce little wife. You demolished them, and you showed no mercy. The horde is rejoicing outside of the gates. They’re telling heroic stories about their bloodthirsty battle queen who stared down death and laughed in his face. You faced off with a god, and I’m thankful that Erie was here because, according to Ciara, you almost died too. So brush it off and sit up straight. Don’t let them see your tears. Fix your crown and stand proud, because you fucking earned it. I felt you fighting, and I knew I didn’t need to come save you because I knew you could handle it. No king has ever been prouder of his queen than I was of you today. We took a hit, but we also showed them we would stand and fight.”

  “Dristan,” I whispered, and watched Ryder nod as his jaw clenched tightly.

  “That one hurts the most,” he admitted. His throat bobbed, and his hand tightened on mine.