“Tell me I didn’t intervene. Tell me my children will not pay for what I just did!” I demanded.
Her eyes bulged and moved to Ryder and then back to my glowing body. “What happened?”
“I forbid a babe from dying. He wasn’t breathing, and I forbid it from happening, and then I began to glow with power. Tell me my children are safe. I didn’t mean to use my powers.”
“Oh, Synthia. You did what you’re meant to do. You saved a child of Faery. No one can intervene with whom you save when being born. Your children will not pay for you forbidding a life from ending before it has even begun. You are Goddess of the Fae, and therefore the only one who can forbid death from occurring in the first stages of life. You saved a babe. It’s part of the job you perform for your people. The only thing you cannot do is bring life back from death. Although he never breathed, he wasn’t dead. He just needed your help to take his first breath.”
Relief slammed into me, and I sagged. Wiping away the tears of fear, I doubled over, placing my hands on my knees, exhaling a ragged breath. I nodded to Destiny, knowing she needed to be elsewhere. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. Your mother knew this world needed you. I voted to end your life,” she said with a shrug. “Now, go enjoy the happiness of his birth. You’ve earned it.”
Inside the room, Eliran was checking the babe’s stats. He lifted his gaze and nodded to me. “It’s a boy,” he announced.
“I’m very aware. He peed on me.”
Arms wrapped around me while the room became chaotic. “You saved my nephew, Pet.”
“No, I just wouldn’t allow him to go before his parents knew him. It terrified me to lose the baby before Icelyn and Sinjinn had gotten a chance to love him, or even hold him.”
“I know, I felt it,” Ryder growled at my ear. “We all did. I knew you could do this. You’re the bravest woman I know.”
“I have a son.” Sinjinn smiled proudly through tears swimming in his vision as Sevrin peered down at the tiny red infant. “I have a son blessed by the Goddess of the Fae.”
“You have a beautiful son, but he had a tough birth. Icelyn did amazing, but everyone needs to give Eliran room to deliver the other babe. Anyone who doesn’t need to be here should leave,” I ordered, expelling a shaky breath. “He is perfect, Sinjinn.”
“Thank you. Thank you for saving my son.”
“He’s family. We don’t give up on family around here,” I uttered thickly, leaving the bedroom to check on my children. At the door, Sinjinn called out to me.
“His name is Finn.”
Chapter Three
Outside the protection of the tower, I surveyed the horde partying below the balcony as Ryder held me tightly against his body. He hadn’t let me go since the moment I’d stepped outside, as if he feared I would vanish. He could sense my anxiety and the anger that hummed through me with the helplessness I’d known in that room. I never wanted to feel that powerless again so long as I lived.
I wanted to argue his stupid policy and evacuation plan, and yet I understood it now more than before. If Icelyn had been in labor while we were under attack and the mages got inside these walls, we’d have lost all three of them. I hated that his plan made sense. Admitting it to this man was like eating crow.
It didn’t change the fact that Ryder had put me in the tower, and I’d been blind to what was happening with him and his men. My emotions had risen, and when the surrounding women had looked for me to lead them, I had nothing to give. War, I could handle.
Childbirth?
Apparently, that wasn’t my strong suit. Luckily, Eliran had delivered Fiona, Icelyn’s second babe, without any problems.
I experienced a sense of desperation in that tower, and it burned. I hadn’t been able to call to Ryder, and that had terrified me in a way I couldn’t express. The wind howled in the distance, and I watched as the trees swayed and cowered against it while flames from fires below danced to its seductive force.
“Spit it out, Synthia,” Ryder murmured huskily, rubbing the shell of my ear with his nose. His hands held me firmly, calming the storm of emotions that continued to rage inside of me.
“You put me in a fucking tower like I’m some damsel in distress.” He kissed my neck, pushing his fingers through my hair to expose more of it to his hungry mouth.
“No, I did not. I put the biggest, most powerful warrior in my arsenal between our enemies and our kids. I placed you there because I know no one else will protect our children as well as their mother. I didn’t put my sweet, impish pet into the tower to shield her. I put her there to safeguard the ones that needed it the most.”
I exhaled slowly, the truth of his words calming the storm inside of me. He pushed my body against the railing, and my hands tightened around it. His warm mouth kissed along my bare shoulder, sending a wave of butterflies dancing through my belly. Soft, velvety lips danced over my flesh while men and women moved about below, unaware of our presence as they celebrated their victory.
Ryder’s boots nudged my feet apart until my legs spread wide enough apart for him to gain access to the part of me that always yearned for his touch. He chuckled darkly as his hands slipped up the back of my thighs, slowly trailing his fingertips along my skin, causing goosebumps to appear all over my body. At the curve of my ass, he paused, pushing his fingers against my clenching sex.
“Ryder, what are you doing?” I stared down at the tents and campfires that stretched farther than the eye could see along the walls of the fortress. Music played loudly, and cries of victory continued as warriors drank and brawled playfully below, unaware their king and queen were watching them.
“I’m about to fuck the Goddess of the Fae in the presence of the entire horde, so they know she belongs to me. You’re mine and only mine, woman.” His hands lifted the skirt of my dress, bunching it up over my hips and forcing me to lean over the railing precariously, my ass lifting to his touch with violent need.
“Someone will see us.”
“That’s the fucking point. I’m going to fuck the Queen of the Horde while they celebrate the slaughtering of mages. You’re my fucking victory trophy, woman,” he laughed darkly, ripping the panties from my body as I gasped.
Ryder’s fingers pushed through my wet folds, and he growled hungrily against my ear. He stepped back, going down on one knee as he lowered his head. Slick fingers entered me again, and his other hand opened my flesh as he began licking and flicking my clit with his tongue until a soft moan exploded from my lips.