“I followed a fresh scent from the woods to a tunnel by the shores. There’s a cave beneath the castle that leads into the dungeons of this place,” he announced as everyone returned their weapons into their scabbards. “Probably an escape route, should the castle ever be besieged,” he mused. “Too bad they didn’t use it when we came.” His eyes held Ryder’s in solidarity.
“They couldn’t use it; we flanked them and sent soldiers to the beach in case they had one. It was searched as well, to be sure no one survived,” Ryder explained.
“Someone else has been here, or someone survived and is plotting revenge,” Zahruk growled, ignoring the tinge of guilt in Ryder’s tone. They were connected in ways that I’d never be able to understand, but I knew enough about it to know that if Ryder felt something, his brothers knew exactly what it was. “There’s something you need to see.”
We followed him down a winding path, one that led into a room in the bowels of the castle. Sword blades reflected the candlelight. I picked one up; it was light despite the blade being forged from iron.
“Dragons were Fae, right?” I pressed.
“Aye,” Aodhan agreed.
“Why would Fae have iron blades made?”
“They wouldn’t, but Mages or our other enemies might,” Ryder growled.
“I think we just stumbled upon a store of weapons for the upcoming war.” I smiled grimly. “Let’s destroy them, shall we?”
“No; replace them with a similar-weighted metal,” Ryder ordered. “Let them come to us with weapons that won’t harm us as easily as iron can. Let them think they are safe here. At least we can monitor it now that we are aware of it. Let’s figure out where this tunnel leads to and go from there.”
Chapter Six
Days had gone by, and with every passing moment, I missed my children more and more. I couldn’t place them in danger, and with war looming closer every day, I didn’t dare sneak away to see them. I feared for the Fae, and for the humans who had become their victims.
Vlad had brought us news of human murders that he and Adrian had investigated and believed had been killed by Fae. The instances of humans becoming FIZ were increasing at alarming rates. Likewise, the clubs had been packed with Fae who’d sauntered out of Faery into a new world, where they’d have unlimited food and entertainment at their fingertips.
It had gotten out of hand rather quickly, which was why I stood with half of the Elite Guard in front of the Spokane Guild. I’d sent a message to Lucian through Vlad, cancelling the meeting I’d requested with Alden. I didn’t want him out here, exposed. I could feel the eyes of the Enforcers on us, and knew they wouldn’t attack us here and now, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t if they threatened us. Alden would have been thrown into the middle of it, and he didn’t need to be.
“How many?” I asked, not bothering to turn my head as Adrian returned.
“Five or more, but they don’t seem to be making a move yet,” Adrian confirmed as he moved back to my side. “None are familiar to me. Not that I was around when the last group graduated to Enforcer ranks from this Guild. I’ve been gone longer than you have.”
“They won’t make a move against us, not here. They would be exposed, and we have the advantage. There are also too many unknowns. Right now, the only thing they’re sure of is that we can kill them. We outnumber them. We also hold the wild card on power and they can feel it. I made sure to tap the Leyline so that it would be felt by any close enough to get in our way. It will give them pause with the amount of power I used to do so.”
“Sending a message?” he asked, his turquoise eyes watching me with a sideways glance.
“Go big or go home, right? We’re moving in, and they need to know we won’t allow them to interfere. They can choose to get out of our way, or be put in the ground. Either works for me.” I blinked, startled as Ryder materialized in front of me. “Still protected?”
“It’s stable, but a fucking mess. Lucian wasn’t the only one trying to get in. From the look of it, I’d say we had a few interested parties trying to get past the wards,” he replied, his eyes looking past me, over my shoulder to where the Guild Enforcers probably hid.
“Ignore them; they’re just curious little monkeys, come to see what we’re all about,” I smiled.
“They’re an unknown, and I don’t like unknowns—or surprises,” he growled as he stepped closer, his eyes moving from me to Adrian and back with annoyance.
“Play nice, Fairy, we’re on their turf. It can’t be easy to watch us take it from right beneath their noses.”
“They’re coming,” he warned, and I turned, looking over my shoulder.
“Sure as shit, they’ve got balls. I’m impressed.” I gave them a cheeky grin, hoping they behaved, since Ryder could wipe them from existence with a single thought. I turned, crossed my arms, and waited.
“You need to leave here; the Fae have no right to be inside our Guild,” the leader shouted, even though I was close enough to hear him just fine. He was a thirty-something, blonde and blue-eyed little thing, but he held enough power to do damage; just not to us.
“No?” I countered.
“No, now turn around and get out of our world,” he sneered.
I moved without hesitation, grabbing his arm and bending it behind his back, and forced his head to the side as I held a knife to his throat with my other hand. Then, I looked at the others with a determined grin. “I don’t recognize any of you, so you aren’t from this Guild and have no right to be proprietary here. I am Synthia, born of the Fae but raised in this Guild. I may not have a right according to the Guild laws, but this Guild? This one is mine. If you think to take it from me, you better bring more than this little group of Enforcers, because I have the Horde and Faery in its entirety standing with me.” I looked at each of the startled Enforcers meaningfully. “It’s united, and while we don’t want war, I will fight to keep this Guild. I will personally tear down every fucking Guild in this world to keep this one safe, so I hope when you return to your Elders, you make it known that we are Faery. We don’t want war, but if you try to stop us, we will wage it—and make no mistake, we will win. We are here to take down the Fae who feed upon the humans against their will and to their detriment. However, we will no longer allow you to publicly assassinate them on the stairs of your Guilds to breed hostility and hate among The Guild or with the humans. After what the Seattle Guild pulled, you’re lucky I haven’t demanded blood. You get a pass today, but there won’t be a second one. The Guild has an infestation it needs to work on eradicating. Any attempts to interfere here will be considered an act of war, and we won’t hesitate to retaliate. Now leave, and if I were you, I’d start running,” I growled as I pushed the Enforcer away from myself, and watched him swing around at me. I didn’t flinch.
“You won’t get away with this,” he sneered, and I smiled coldly.
I let my power wrap around him, feeling the moment the Fae behind me followed my lead. The air crackled around us until Ryder released his and the lights around us shattered. Street lamps blew out, car alarms went off, and the air around us was thick with the rich scent of ozone. I’d missed his unique power; the shit was addicting. It slithered around me; the hair on my arms rose in awareness of the raw electricity that sizzled from him. I pushed more, seeing if I could match his, and windows of the cars and buildings around us exploded outwards and rained down on everyone in a glittery, prismatic display.
“Too much?” I asked Ryder, feigning innocence and ignoring the sheet-white faces of the Guild Enforcers.
“Yeah, just a little bit; dial it back a notch and try again,” Adrian laughed, his eyes smiling as he turned to me and winked.
“Do we have to pay for the car windows?” I winced.
“We could leave notes,” he offered.
“Yeah, let’s tell people to bill it to
the Guild—you know, their Guild, not ours. I would hate to start off in debt—and they kinda owe us.”
“What the fuck are you?” the Enforcer demanded, which forced me to stop joking around with Adrian.
“Something that you couldn’t even imagine in your worst nightmares,” I growled. Adrian laughed. “Too much again? Damn, I always wanted to say that.” Okay, so I was a dork, but I could live with that. “Seriously, though, we’re the Horde. You know, the ones whispered about in the Guild history lessons. The ones you know nothing about because the King was thought to be on a walkabout? Well, I found him, and he’ll be helping me run this Guild, so make sure that when you tell the Guild you got your ass whooped by Synthia McKenna, you tell them I brought friends to restore this Guild that we are claiming for Faery. Now, run.”
I watched as they stood still, watching us as they considered what the best option was. I tapped my foot, wondering where the hell they’d found this group at. “Adrian, how many of them do we need to let live to deliver a message to the Guild?”
“One.” He smiled coldly, and we watched as they turned and tucked tail as they ran for their lives.
“They’ll be back soon, Pet.” Ryder nodded after the retreating Enforcers.
“I’m planning on it.” I smiled and then grimaced as I looked at the silent Guild. “Now, let’s go check out the damage.”
“Troublemaker,” Ryder smiled. His head tilted and his eyes narrowed as I watched him. When he righted his head, he looked torn.
“What is it?” I asked.
“We have a lead on Ciara,” he replied softly, his eyes searching mine as he frowned.
“Go,” I said as I stood on my tiptoes to kiss his lips. “Go find her. Bring her home to her family. I’ll stay and take care of this.”
“I’m not leaving you,” he argued.
“I’m not alone, Fairy. I have Adam, Adrian, and Vlad with me. I’ll be perfectly fine. You take Ristan and Zahruk with you,” I replied confidently. “Your men have already made sure that it’s safe for me, and they’ve been scouring every inch of the catacombs for any threats. I can do this; you go and find your sister,” I purred as I stood on tiptoes to kiss him again. “No one said it would be easy, but then again, nothing worth it ever is. Two worlds need us,” I smiled as I placed my hands on his chest. “Yours and mine, remember? We can’t be locked at the hip every moment of the day. I can handle the rebuild while you search for Ciara.”
“You better sift if there is any sign of trouble, woman,” he growled as he placed a soft kiss on my forehead. “I want you home tonight; we’ve no babies in our bed, and I plan to ravish you.”
“Ravish me? That almost sounds like a threat?” I teased.
“Jesus,” Adam grumbled in mock disgust, his eyes smiling at me.
“Vlad.” Ryder gave the man in question a pointed look. “She doesn’t leave your side,” he warned as his fingers softly threaded through mine as he brought my fingers to his lips. “Under no circumstances does she leave your sight.”
“I don’t need a babysitter,” I mumbled as I pulled my hand away and placed them on my hips. “I’m a grown ass woman.”
“I just got you back, Witch. I’m not taking chances with you,” he laughed as he winked and sifted out before I could argue further.
Chapter Seven
The inside of the Guild appeared to be in the same condition it was in the last time we were here cleaning it up. Piles of debris still littered the floors and a fine sheen of dust covered everything. It wrenched my stomach and tugged at my heartstrings to see it in such disarray. What had once been a proud, strong fortress and sanctuary for misfits and orphans had become nothing more than a sad pile of rubble. I’d spent most of my life here within these walls, thinking I was part of something. This Guild was a part of me, and seeing it like this, well, it broke my heart.
“Hard to see it like this.” Adam’s voice was soft as he looked around at the debris. His thick black hair clung to his forehead from Spokane’s unusually hot spring. Tri-colored eyes in shades of emerald and lime green looked at me with a shared loss. It mattered little what we had become; this place was a part of us and always would be. “Not sure why you want to even bother with this.”
“This was our home, Adam. We can’t leave it like this,” I muttered. He’d been here since it had been leveled, we all had. Walking through it now, I saw what he saw. It would take a lot to get this place up and running, but now more than ever, it was needed. “Vlad reported that the Seattle Guild turned away two orphans last week. I fear it’s because of us, because we were orphans who turned out to be Fae instead of Witches. It’s our fault they’re being turned away. The two orphans are in human foster homes for the time being, and you know that won’t work out well, so I want this place up and running, at least well enough that we can take the ones that the Guild rejects as soon as possible. This world is also about to be invaded. With the portals opening randomly and widening, someone has to stand between the humans and the Fae. We can save people again,” I whispered with excitement. “Don’t you miss it?” I did. I missed the thrill that came from the hunt, from the missions that came with saving the innocents.
“I miss it,” he agreed with a firm shake of his dark head. “I also have other shit going on, Syn. Never in my wildest imaginings did I ever think I would have the kinds of responsibilities I have now. I have duties to an entire race of people. Oh, and not to mention, I still have to find the Light Heir.”
“And what do you plan to do with her once you’ve found her?” Now that he was bringing her up, I was curious to know his feelings on the matter at hand.
“Fuck her,” he grumbled dejectedly. “Put an heir in her belly.”
“Come again?” I coughed to hide the shock I felt at his jaded words.
“You heard me,” he muttered softly.
“Is that all she’ll be? A womb to house the child of prophecy?” I returned, watching him carefully.
“That’s all she’ll ever be to me, yes. I’ll do what is needed to secure an heir, but don’t expect me to love her. I had the love of my life and I lost her,” he snapped, his eyes glowing a luminescent green as he stared at me in open challenge. He wanted me to argue, but it wasn’t because he was mad; he was still hurting.
This wasn’t the Adam I knew as well as I knew myself. That Adam was carefree—always smiling and joking around Adam. That man was my familiar, or had been until my body had died and I had come back as a Goddess. Adam post-Larissa’s death, post-Transition, post-losing everything that he knew and understood, was someone that made me constantly feel like I needed to walk on eggshells when I was around him.
A troubling thought flicked across my mind. Was the reason Adam was so complacent to marry me when he thought I was the Light Heir because it was a way for him to be able to fulfill what was expected of him? It was a way for him to fulfill his duties without being forced to try and love someone and feel like he was betraying Larissa. At the time, we were comfortable with each other, but there wouldn’t have been that soul-crushing type of love between the two of us, and he knew I didn’t expect it of him.
“We both lost her, Adam. We both loved her,” I whispered as I tilted my head and frowned as I watched his throat bob with emotion. “It’s okay to love again; you know she’d want you to. Larissa was never selfish, nor would she want you to live without love. She expected us to let her go; she even asked for us to let her go, and we haven’t yet.”
“I can’t, end of discussion.”
I watched as he walked ahead of me, his hands fisted tightly. He was mourning, but instead of hitting the final stages, he was stuck in anger. Keir had reported to us that Adam was feeding gluttonously, without care for who he fed from. The Fae who preferred to feed from pain tended to gravitate towards Adam, some had taken to following him around, which spoke volumes t
o how much pain he was in. I wanted to grab hold of him and shake him, but grief was tricky. Everyone processed it differently.
“He’s hurting,” Vlad murmured from beside me, my silent bodyguard.
“I know, but eventually he has to let her go.” I turned to look at Vlad, noting how carefully he was watching me, so I swiftly changed the subject. “The builder is here?”
“You have to let her go too,” he said softly, refusing to let me off the hook. “The builder is here, and while you won’t be happy with what it is, you will be happy with what he can create.”
I side-eyed Vlad and frowned at his cryptic meaning as we progressed deeper into the rubble of the Guild. He nodded to the broken staircase that led into the library area of the Guild, and I suppressed a groan as the entourage slowly moved towards it. Once there, Vlad sifted us without waiting to see if I would do it myself. Always the gentlemen, he cleared us from the debris and released my hand as we stepped through the wards the Fae had placed the last time we were here.
“I can hear your heart hammering, Syn,” Vlad mused with a smirk.
“Nosferatu,” I hissed with a seductive smile on my lips.
“Indeed, beautiful girl.” He smiled genially as he held out his elbow in silent invitation. I accepted, slipping my arm through his as he sidestepped debris that littered the floor. The Fae had done their part, fortifying the ceilings the last time we’d been here. We made sure it was safe enough for us to enter it without fear of it collapsing on our heads.
I was lost in my thoughts of what we’d have to face by rebuilding it when we turned the last corner and the monstrosity came into sight. I stiffened at Vlad’s side; my stomach flopped as nausea and hate churned in my belly.