Escaping Destiny (18 page)

Ryder looked at me, and the look in his eyes
was of sheer pain, and unmasked horror. Our baby had two freaking
heads!? “Can he live like that?” Ryder asked.

Can he live like that!?

Eliran shook his head and I felt my heart
shattering. He swept the wand over my tummy slightly.

“You misunderstand. Your babies each have a
head of their own,” he said with a bright smile on his face. Two
heartbeats could be heard like they were beating through a
tunnel.

“Say what?” I asked, unsure I’d heard him
correctly.

“Twins, you are having twins. There is no
mistake. See?” He pointed to one of the heads and followed the
lines with his fingers. “Two arms, two legs, and a head and torso.
And this,” he did the same again with the second one, “has the
same. It explains Synthia’s acute case of morning sickness.”

I wasn’t listening anymore. I was shaking as
the ringing in my ears echoed through my head. “Fucking Fairy!” I
growled, turning my eyes to Ryder’s face. I lost every single ounce
of the desire to throttle him as fast as it had formed. He was
staring at the screen with wonder in his eyes.

“How many other cases of twins have there
been in Faery, Eliran?” Ryder asked, ignoring me.

“None I know of personally.”

“One,” he corrected him and lowered his
smiling golden eyes to meet mine. “Shit,” his eyes lifted back to
Eliran. “How safe is it for her to have twins?”

“I have no idea, but I will ask around and
see if anyone has heard of twins being delivered by a Fae mother. I
do know that there was a case over millennia ago, but it didn’t
work out for the mother. The children, however, were born safely.
We have human technology, though, and I can look through the
information I brought back to learn everything I can about
delivering twins.”

“You do that,” Ryder whispered.

“Genders?” I asked, trying to ignore what
they were talking about. I had lived through Fae ripping my family
apart, a serial killer, and had faced the Horde King. No way in
hell would I die giving birth!

“Too soon to tell, but they look healthy.
Heartbeats are very strong, considering they are only two months
along by human standards. They look good, and so do you,
Synthia.”

Ryder’s hand lowered with a tissue and he
wiped the gel from my stomach without waiting for Eliran to remove
the wand. “Is she well enough to mission travel across Faery,
possibly for several weeks?”

“She is, but only if she is feeling up to
it,” Eliran said, turning his head and winking at me over his
shoulder.

“I’m ready to go,” I said, smiling up at
Ryder, who was even now holding out his hand to help me up. I
dismissed it and sat up.

“Synthia, I’ll do everything I can to ensure
you are okay. Twins are a good thing; it will give the people
hope.”

“Of what? That the Horde King can shoot an
egg and fill it twice?” I asked, raising a brow. “Or that he’s
virile as a flipping rabbit?” I glowered when Ryder snorted and
grinned devilishly at me.

“Let’s go, Pet. I have a meeting with the
Guard to go to, so that we can plan this out and we will have to
make a few adjustments if you are going with us.”

Less than an hour later, we met up with his
Guard in a warded meeting room. A sense of excitement stole over me
as I moved toward the table…that was round. The sight of it made me
smile. “A round table?” I asked, tossing a curious look toward
Ryder, which he caught. I watched his lips turn up in the corners
before he sat down.

I moved my eyes to look around the room,
taking in the wards that lined the walls. I’d been in a room like
this in the mansion, one that had knocked Larissa to her knees. It
had been the first indication that I was Fae, and I’d done my best
to ignore it.

My eyes slipped back to Ryder, who was
watching me closely. I rolled my eyes as his grin grew into a
blinding smile as if he was thinking the same thing. I sat down in
a chair. At least this time I didn’t feel like I was the hired
help.

Ristan stormed in through the door and
stopped cold looking down at me. His eyes lowering to my stomach,
and filling with a look of absolute wonder as Ryder’s had done. He
took the seat beside me and Ryder swung into leader mode
effortlessly.

“Okay, so we know that the relics in
Tèrra
have all been relocated,” he said and
glanced at me. “
Tèrra
is what we call your world, Synthia. Zahruk
and a few others have confirmed they are being moved once a day,
easily obtainable in transit. Alden, with the help of one of the
Guild’s librarians has discovered a scroll written in our language.
It’s believed that it was obtained some time ago, but we are unsure
of how it ended up in the hands of the Guild,” Ryder said
smoothly.

“Alden is still at the Guild?” I asked,
feeling my stomach sink with the knowledge. It was too dangerous
for him to be at the Guild when we now knew the Mages were running
it. Leaving him inside was asking for trouble.

“Alden is fully aware of what he is doing,
and the danger of being inside the Guild. Ristan is keeping in
touch with him and if he even thinks Alden is in trouble, he will
pull him out and bring him here,” Ryder said with his eyes watching
me for any sign of objection.

I turned and looked at Ristan, who was still
looking at my abdomen. He looked as if he was trying to see inside
of it. “Ristan?” I asked, watching as he lifted his eyes to
mine.

“Twins,” he said softly, “how the fuck did
that happen?”

“Well, do you want the short version or the
long one, Demon?” I asked, grinning from ear to ear. I was scared
shitless of having twins, but I wasn’t passing up an opportunity to
mess with the Demon.

He gave me a blank stare before he lowered
his eyes again. “She didn’t let me see twins, Flower.”

“I would hope not, Demon, because had you
seen them, and not told me, I’d be kicking your ass.”

His eyes lifted to mine, the silver inside of
them shining. “Only you would have twins, just to fuck with
me.”

“I blame Ryder,” I said, and smiled as snorts
and grunts of agreement filled the room.

Ryder was smiling, as were his men. He shot
me a smoldering look before he got the meeting back on track. “Like
I was saying, the scroll that was found indicates there are more
relics than we’d originally thought. We have one out of four that
were hidden inside
Tèrra
, but this document shows that there are more
pieces to the puzzle. Each relic has two pieces. These counterparts
that were hidden inside of Faery are the activation pieces for lack
of a better word of what to call them.” He paused and looked around
the room before continuing. “I couldn’t make the scepter work
beyond coming to life, but at least now, we know why it wouldn’t
work correctly. Based on the scroll, Ristan was able to locate one
of the secondary pieces. The problem is, it was hidden by the Fae.
We hid it, and it won’t be as easily obtained as those inside the
human world will be. Ristan, the room is yours.”

“I think the secondary piece was hidden to
protect the power of the relics from being used by the humans, or
in this case, the Mages. We had always thought that the relics
would only work in the right Fae hands. However, the Mages have
proved resourceful and they have been systematically finding ways
around many of our magic. I think the ancients knew what might
happen, and put safeguards in place for the relics. Those who have
gone into slumber are even now being awakened. They would be able
to tell us what they know, and exactly why they were hidden.
Unfortunately, we don’t have the luxury of waiting for them to
become fully awake. The Mages have followed us here, and we know
they are not stupid.” Ristan nodded to Zahruk, who then took over
the room.

“Okay, so it’s the same as last time. It’s
going to be heavily guarded magic, but we have no idea of what
kind, or if there are creatures set in place to thwart us from
entering. What we do know is it won’t be as easy as the last one,”
Zahruk said, winking at me.

Shit, if that was easy…what the hell were we
in for this time?

“This is what we think is going to be there.”
Zahruk flipped on a monitor and worked the flat screen from where
he sat beside Ryder. On the screen were drawing and diagrams for
what looked to be a huge cave. “This was set up by the previous
Dark King; it’s the labyrinth.” Several strings of violent curses
erupted from around me before Zahruk turned his eyes on me. “For
those of you who don’t know what that is, I’ll be explaining it,”
he said slowly, as if I was lame in the brain department.

“It’s where the Dark King used to send his
warriors as a final test. If they made it through the course, and
most didn’t, he would place them in his secret guard. Only very few
of those who went inside, made it out alive. Which is why Kier shut
it down when he took the throne,” I said, trying to pull all the
data and information from my brain. Details about this place were
sketchy, but I had come across some information about this bad boy
before breaking into the Dark Fortress.

“Impressive,” Zahruk said with a tilt of his
head. “But it’s not that simple. Those who make the journey can use
no glamour, no magic. Those who journey with us can use simple
glamour, but not to assist those who will try to enter the
labyrinth.”

“Define simple glamour, because nothing with
you guys is ever simple,” I quipped, eliciting snorts from the
men.

“Fair enough,” Zahruk mused, with a sexy
smirk lifting the corners of his mouth. “We can glamour things like
food, water, and fire. Basic survival items only, nothing
defensive, meaning no weaponry so we will have to glamour what we
think we will need ahead of time and bring it with us. This
actually applies to as many of our basic needs as possible so we
won’t be tempted to use magic unnecessarily. No sifting as we use
the ability in battle, so this trip will be on horseback. Break the
rules governing the labyrinth, and you cannot go inside.”

“Shit, so you guys will be roughing it.” I
laughed, the men did not look happy about this thought.

“Well, anything regarding the labyrinth is
called a trial for a reason. It is supposed to test your mind,
body, and resolve,” Zahruk countered.

“This is going to be good. I can’t miss or be
tempted by something I hadn’t gotten the hang of yet. You guys on
the other hand…” I teased them with a small smile. “I studied what
information was available on the labyrinth before I took on the
Dark Fortress. If Kier shut it down, does he have any idea of what
is inside? We can’t afford to go in blind. It’s a Fae creation, so
it’s gonna be full of tricks and crazy shit.”

“We know a little about it. Kier has given
Adam a rough draft idea of what should be there, but like many
things in Faery, it will have changed with time since it was given
life from Kier’s father. Everything in Faery changes. Unlike your
world, Synthia, Faery gives rights to the land. Which means it’s a
living breathing world. We are going to have to go in fairly blind,
and hope for the best,” Zahruk replied.

Every eye in the room turned to Ryder as he
made a disgruntled sound. “Kier said whoever we send through it has
to be pure of heart, pure of intention, and sane of mind. There’s
nothing in the Dark Kingdom that shows how to make it through this
labyrinth. He sent Adam to help us, since we need someone from the
royal line to access the start of the labyrinth.”

“Question, the Light Fae had all the relics,
so why didn’t they know about the other pieces?” I asked, thinking
out loud.

“The Light Fae wouldn’t use the relics. The
Queen wasn’t stupid. She was blinded by the love of her child. We
think one was hidden by the Dark King, and one by your grandfather,
Synthia. Two were hidden by my father, and those we will save for
last, since he was a sadistic prick.”

“So the ancients might have known about these
safeguards, and this scroll had the information on it. I’m
surprised that at least the Heirs weren’t told about it. Seems a
bit short sighted to me.”

“Not necessarily.” Ryder mused. “I was barely
through Transition when they hid the relics, and even though I knew
most of what my father was up to, he didn’t tell me everything.
This would have happened sometime around the eleventh century. Our
history is much like yours. Over time, it becomes useless and
forgotten. Unlike you, we don’t always teach our children of our
history in books. The fact that your Guild has our scrolls is
telling, because that means the Mages infiltrated one of the
Castes. That’s the only way to explain how they would have obtained
it. Alden is looking for more, but we are out of time. We need to
start collecting them before the others figure out what we are up
to.”

“Okay, so we have the Dark King’s son helping
now. You also have me to open the Blood…err whatever theirs is
called, or where it’s hidden. And, we have you to find your
father’s. So why are we still sitting here?” I asked, tapping my
fingers on the table as I watched him.

“Because we need to be fully fed before the
trip, and since you are coming with, I’m bringing more people than
I had planned to. Eliran will also be coming with us, as well as a
few others. This won’t be a simple thing, Pet. We can’t sift until
the trial is complete, nor can we use magic for protection. Riding
there will take weeks.”

“I don’t need to travel with a doctor, Ryder.
I’m pregnant, not sick.”

“You’re pregnant with twins, Synthia, and
that is a rarity within the Fae. You also carry
my
twins in
your womb, so plan on being at the back of this retinue with armed
guards protecting you at all times. You will be guarded and kept
safe for the entire time we are out of the kingdom. Do you
understand? There are many who will want you dead for the simple
fact you carry my child in your precious womb. Say no to any of the
safeguards I have put in to place, Pet, and you stay here in
fucking bubble wrap.”