“I’m aware that we caused a stir when I refused to die. I don’t want this war, either. Faery never asked for this war, but we will fight to secure peace. We’re not the bad guys here. My family is fighting to survive. The fae are fighting to live so our children and their children will know peace within this world. If we fail, you’ll be rather busy since there will be nowhere else to flee than the human world. I am trying to prevent the humans from paying that price, as I’m sure you’re already aware of the chaos unfolding there.”
“To wage war against the mages, you will lose people,” he stated softly. The fire burning in his depths intensified as he spoke, and shadows swayed around him, catching and merging into his robe. “Hold tight to the ones you love and keep them close. Tell them you love them today, for tomorrow is never promised to anyone, not even the gods. Send your children to the City of Gods for safekeeping, where no one can reach them. You can weep the loss of their childhood, but if you don’t make that sacrifice, you will lose them; this is the only warning I can or will give you. Consider it a debt repaid for the favor your mother granted me long ago. Anything else, and I jeopardize doing more harm than good.
“I’m not here as your enemy, nor am I here to hurt you. I am here to take those you lose in this fight from the agony they will undoubtedly know without my ability to end their needless suffering when they fall. I’m merely here to ease their passing to the Otherworld and ensure they’re not cursed to walk endlessly through the shadows of Faery and the dead. Good luck, Daughter of Danu, Queen of the Horde, and Goddess of the Fae. May you survive this war to prosper and create many more pretty little girls, like the little one with eyes the color of fresh honey, sparkling from within. She is a rare beauty, sweet goddess, hold her tightly.” Thanatos vanished into a plume of smoke that billowed into the air the moment he spoke the last of his chilling words.
I swallowed down anger at his parting words. He’d seen my daughter, and that bothered me. Thanatos was one of the gods of death in mythology, so what the fuck was he doing here? Faery wasn’t his playground or where he belonged. It wasn’t his monkeys or his circus, yet he’d been right beside me. How was that even possible, and how was he allowed to intervene with this world? There were rules, and if he broke them, that meant he could be removed from Faery.
“He cannot stay away for long. Thanatos will be drawn to this world once souls begin weeping to be harvested. What are your orders, Synthia?”
“I will prepare my children to go with you. First, I want you to do what you offered. If I die, I must know my family will go on. I need you to go to the Fates and be certain they can see their future with this path, should we choose to follow it. All of them. Make sure they see my babes and my husband’s futures, even if I am no longer in them.” Turning, I peered into the bedroom, where Ryder and my children awaited me. I could hear the happiness in their laughter, which was music to my soul. “Once you have completed your task, return for my kids, and I will poison Ryder myself.”
“If he turns, and you don’t tell him? He may never forgive you, and may even hate you for doing this to him.” Her warning was clear. “Can you live without him?”
“No, and that’s the point, isn’t it? Hate, I can endure. His death would make me into a monster. I would never return from that, and we both know it. Destiny has already told me the Fates have yet to see my future. I’m not scared to die or frightened of the unknown. I am afraid of living without that man at my side. I have not walked through the fires of Hell to lose him. If it’s a choice between Ryder hating me or dying, there’s only one option with which I could live. His sense of betrayal will lessen in time. We are endless. We have all the time in the world. After this war is over, we will deal with the consequences of what I’ve done. Now go, do as I have asked, creature. I’ll have the children ready to leave with you when you return.”
She nodded, and I studied as her slim form vanished into a heavy mist that a powerful gust carried through the air allowing her to disappear into the dark skies above the stronghold. Her ominous warning echoed in my ears for a long moment. I made my way into the bedroom, stopping to gaze lovingly at the family we’d created as my gentle beast played with his little beasties.
Smiling softly, I watched as Ryder tickled Kahleena while she squealed with laughter, pointing at Zander, demanding her father get her brothers instead.
Cade silently observed them from where he rested against the pillows, peering down at them with large violet irises as his black curls curved around his chubby cheeks. Cade was more intense than his siblings.
His pensive stare missed nothing, and he reminded me of Zahruk, always ready for battle, should the need arise. He’d traded places with Zander, who was no longer the somber and carefree one of the triplets. My brother Liam had a lot to do with it, and that was something I’d never be able to thank him enough over.
“Daddy,” Kahleena panted out of breath, snorting as she pointed her tiny finger at Zander, who had crawled up behind Ryder to attack him. Her golden eyes sparkled with a multitude of galaxies within their amber depths as she laughed loudly.
“I got you!” he shouted, jumping on his father’s back to save his sister from the tickles her father loved to give. It had become Ryder’s favorite sound, the laughter of the wee beasties as he tortured them playfully. This was the light in our darkest hour. Their giggles and sounds of their happiness were everything good in the world. They would drive us through the upcoming war, reminding us of what we fought to protect.
“Is that so, my little princeling?” Ryder growled, flipping Zander upside down beside his sister to tickle him.
“Cade! Save us,” Kahleena pleaded urgently, her giggles enough to work the corners of my mouth as I slowly made my way to where they played.
“Momma,” Cade whispered softly, his voice barely audible. “Is the man in the shadows going to take you from us?”
Ryder’s golden eyes were slowly swallowed by the obsidian beauty of the beast’s stare, peering into the darkened corners of the room, searching for unknown enemies. He pulled up from where he played with the children, staring at me over his shoulder, watching while I slowly walked toward him. “Is something wrong, Pet?”
“No, he was just an old friend come to check on us and make sure we were okay,” I assured him gently as I settled on the bed, stroking Ryder’s sharp jawline with the tips of my fingers. He leaned over, nipping my ear as the kids studied us. “It seems our bed is rather full of little beasties tonight, Fairy,” I murmured huskily. Already our babes were children, and time within the City of Gods would take whatever childhood they had left away from them—and us. It wasn’t a choice any longer, not when war marched toward us by the minute. Not with the message Thanatos had given before dissolving into shadows, vanishing without causing a disturbance in the air.