Seducing Destiny

I paused as my throat grew tight with an emotion I hadn’t felt in a while. Pride at something I had done—in this case, created. “Shit,” I said and then paused. “Crap! Don’t say that,” I watched as a small smile played on Zander’s tiny lips.

“I’m not sure you should be speaking of spankings with our children,” he whispered as he leaned over to kiss my cheek softly.

“We’re parents,” I whispered. “Like, we made little people,” I sat up with Zander held against my chest. “Three of them,” I mumbled.

“Motherhood just hitting you?” he asked with a seductive smile.

“No, it’s the reality of it. How are we ever going to have sex again?”

He threw his head back and laughed.

“Like this,” he whispered as he placed Kahleena on the bed, and clapped his hands.

I watched silently as the handmaidens I no longer needed for myself walked in and started picking up my children. Darynda paused in front of me and smiled. “Can I have the little one? I promise to protect him,” she said and I noticed she had a smile on her lips that I hadn’t seen on them before. It looked nice, and I wondered if she’d settled whatever was going on between her and Zahruk.

“Here,” I said as I stood and kissed Zander’s cheek before doing the same with his brother and sister. When they’d left the room, I smiled. “Well shit, that was actually pretty easy. I’ve heard horror stories about no alone time with babies, and yet you seemed to accomplish the impossible with a simple clap of your hands,” I said as I turned and looked down at him.

“We will need the time to start on the next batch,” he said as he sifted to stand behind me, and his lips nibbled at the sensitive flesh below my ear.

“As will I,” Adam said from my right. “I was also raised in the Guild and I offer my hand in peace and support you if you ask.”

“As will I,” Liam said with a smirk. “I however was not raised at this Guild, but I will fight at my sister’s side anytime she needs it.”

“I will make you this promise as well,” Ryder said as we got ready to sift out. “If my people are unjustly accused, and murdered, I will bring a war to this world unlike any the Human race has waged before. Do not piss me off, and do not think these accusations have gone unnoticed by others who will try to gain support against us. I suggest you do not join them, for they won’t be alive much longer. I plan to eradicate them all. Your Gods can sort them out. I am the Horde King, but unlike my father before me, I choose to protect Humans as well as my people. You have Synthia to thank for that.”

Ryder held Kahleena; she made little noises and he made them back to her. It was almost surreal, watching my beast as he cooed back to our precious daughter. “You know she’s going to give us hell, right?” I asked as I moved to our bed and lay next to the boys, who watched their father silently.

“She’s your daughter, Pet. You actually think she’d give me anything less than hell?”

“No, I plan to teach her just how to do it,” I admitted. And I planned on it.

“My sister wants us to hurry with the wedding,” he said offhandedly. “I am anxious as well, since you seem to be bipolar,” he laughed.

“You did not just call me bipolar.”

“I did, and if you’d like me to give you an example…I have many to choose from.”

“Suck it, Fairy. I’m not the only bipolar headache in this room,” I said as I picked up Zander. “I’m actually hoping they plan the whole thing and that we only have to show up.”

“You won’t get that lucky. Ciara is a diva, as your people call women who are over-the-top. She will make your head spin.”

“Maybe, but I’m more worried about Ristan. I think Olivia was trying to tell us some of the truth, and I can’t shake this feeling. I know I said I wouldn’t interfere, but…”

“Stay out of it, or I will spank you.”

“Shit, that’s incentive!” I joked with a smile on my lips. “You hear that little man? Daddy is going to spank to mommy!”

You know the laws, and yet you chose to feed openly?” I asked the Fae that were being held down.

“She is our Queen!” one shouted, speaking for the entire group.

“No, she is no longer a Queen. She was deposed and banished from Faery. Now she will be marked, and she will also find death, as you do now,” I said softly.

“You are not a Queen!” he raged.

“Not yet,” I agreed. “I’m sorry you chose to follow her.”

I shook my head and then looked up as I felt one of the Witches tried to spell me. “I wouldn’t do that,” I said with a small smirk on my lips as I broke the incantation she tried to cast on me; as if it was a spell from a novice

I turned back to Harold and watched him as he looked at the dead Fae. “You’ve accused us of attacking the Spokane Guild.”

“We have proof!” he shouted.

“You only have proof that we entered it,” I replied. “Alden is going to explain the rest, but I will warn you once. Only once, Harold,” I said with enough warning in the words, that his eyes narrowed with the tone of it. “If you try to accuse him, or charge him here today without hearing him out, you will get the war you want. Look into the crowd and tell me what you see,” I whispered.

Ryder had changed forms. His warriors were decked in full armor, including the masks that concealed everything but their eyes. The crowd moved away from them as the veil of invisibility disappeared. Adam had come with his Shadow Warriors, Liam had brought a few of the Blood Warriors as well, and the army looked positively evil, and awe-inspiring.

I could see the cameras flashing pictures of the warriors, a rare sight in the Human world, since marching in full armor with this many would cause even the stoutest of heart and courage to cower.

“That’s…” Harold whispered and I watched with a mixture of annoyance, and pity.

“Man up; it’s the Horde King. It is also my fiancé, and the father of my children. I suggest you consider and weigh your options before you make any hasty decisions. Make no mistake, Harold, we don’t want a war with the Human race, but we will fight if you push us. I am the same girl who fought for the Spokane Guild, but at the same time, I am Fae. They are my people, and I will protect them at all cost. We came because you’ve accused us, so lay out the charges and one of our own Elders will speak for us.”

I moved to the bottom of the stairs where Ryder and his men now stood; since the crowd had given him and his men a wide berth. “I took their power to create war away. Alden, tell them what happened at the Guild. If you see parents of the children we have, we will bring them here to be reunited with them. The others will have to come later when we discover who they belong to. No child is to be returned to the Guild if they don’t have parents to claim them,” I said, making sure Harold heard it.

“I’ve got it from here, kid,” Alden said proudly as he squared his shoulders and moved to stand in front of Harold. “I’m here because you’ve accused me and my niece of betraying the Guild, and I’ve never done anything to endanger the Guild or anyone inside of it. The Spokane Guild was attacked, Harold, but that attack came from within. The Guild itself has been compromised,” Alden said sternly, reminding me of the strong warrior he is.

“You lie,” Harold said as he looked around to the Humans who now looked worried, and unsure of who to believe. “There’s no proof of what you say.”

“I am proof, and I also have the children that you’ve accused us of slaughtering. A lot of them died at the hands of Witches and Warlocks who were supposed to protect them, Harold, and that is a hard loss for us all. I was drugged by one of my own librarians; she was only a librarian, one I trusted and helped raise, so she had to have been under the orders of another. Someone she thought she could trust.”

“Olivia,” one of the women said as she pushed her way through the large group on the stairs. “Tell me, is she still alive? She and Alden both will face charges for betraying us. You did say that it’s only fair that we judge and sentence our own people,” the woman said, and I watched her carefully.

“Olivia is dead,” I said, and watched as relief pinched her features.

Interesting.

“That’s unfortunate,” she said and there was nothing but relief in her features. No sorrow at the loss of life, and no regret that someone who had taught the next generation of Witches and Warlocks the past history of the Guild and had done so much with the archives and recording our history was now lost to us.

“Is it?” I asked as I watched her. “Every person in this Guild and the one in Spokane deserve to be mourned if they pass, and yet I can’t help but notice you look more relieved that she is lost to us.”

“You misread me. I’m relieved that our history didn’t fall into the hands of our enemies,” she said smoothly as her brown eyes watched me.

“I already know everything that she knew as a student at the Guild. I was taught what she was, but where she left us to learn the archives, I learned weaponry. If only Humans couldn’t lie to me. I wonder…If I asked if you’d been in on it, would you tell me the truth? Would you answer me honestly if I asked if you’d betrayed the Guild?” I whispered inside her mind.

“Get out of my head, Fae!” she growled.

“You were there, Caroline. I saw you as I was being tortured. Whatever your reasons were, you did nothing to save the lives of the people you are under oath to protect. Shame on you, woman,” Alden accused. “Harold?”

Harold was watching the woman. “Caroline?”

“They lie, they’re grasping at straws, and desperate to place blame on us!” she seethed.

“Still,” Harold said as he watched Ryder closely. “Another Elder has accused you, and the process and rules must be upheld. Take her away,” Harold said and we waited as the Witches took Caroline away for questioning.

By questioning, they usually meant torture and then retirement. Retirement to the Guild meant she’d be dead by morning.

“Alden, you have been accused as well,” Harold said and when I growled he held up his hand. “However, in light of the new information you’ve brought us, we will request some time to review what you’ve told us. You will be—”

I shed my invisibility glamour and quickly moved until I was walking up the steps.

“Stop her!” one of the Witches screamed, trying to be heard over the music.

“Let her try to save them,” Harold said, and I narrowed my eyes on him. “Well, well, it’s Synthia McKenna, from the Spokane Guild,” he sneered as he moved to the iron.

I smiled and then moved with inhuman speed. The same speed that Danu had, which was faster than light. I knew the cameras were watching. I also knew that I didn’t have the time to be diplomatic right now, not with the Fae in the crowd planning to attack the Guild in front of the cameras. It would be war for sure if they did that.

“Oh, I’m not here to stop you. I’m here to deliver punishment to my people. The Fae do not punish you when you break the laws. It’s only judgment if both parties agree. Luckily for you, I do. I was, after all, part of this world. I followed your orders, and I was one of your best Enforcers, Harold. Do you not agree?” I didn’t wait for his response as I began the judgment of these unfortunate Fae.

“You did good, Synthia,” he said.

“I had no idea what I was doing,” I admitted.

He smiled against my neck. “I meant with our children. They’re truly beautiful. Just like their mother.”

“They are, aren’t they?” I whispered with a smirk on my mouth that he couldn’t see. “I think they have a touch of the devil in their eyes, though. That’s all you.”

He laughed, and I enjoyed the rumble of it as his arms tightened around me

“No, but if you don’t breathe and release the monster grip you have on my fingers, they’ll break.”

“Oh,” I said and loosened my hold on his hand

We watched in silent respect as the wood was brought over, and placed a short distance from the rowan Tree. When it had been piled high, Savlian tossed a torch on the pile and we watched in silent hope. It wasn’t working at first, but as we watched, the ground began to thaw, and the moss returned to its lush, emerald-green color.

“It’s working,” I whispered past the tears that filled both my eyes and my throat. “Ryder, its working,” I said a little louder