“I think, since Danu created Faery around him, he’s immune to fae magic. There’s nothing about this situation that makes sense. One minute she’s telling us we have to kill him, and the next she is informing us we can’t, or Faery will die without him.”
“Who took the souls?” Vlad asked, and I blinked.
“Thanatos,” I admitted, frowning.
“Why the fuck would a god from a different pantheon come to collect the dead fae?” His silver eyes studied me carefully.
“Thanatos said it was to rebuild the walls of Hell, or so he explained when he first appeared.” I shrugged at his narrowed gaze, rubbing my eyes as exhaustion weighed me down.
“All life is supposed to return to the Tree of Life,” Vlad said softly. “However, it doesn’t seem to be accepting new life, and isn’t receiving the dead, either, if Thanatos was called in to take the souls of the fallen.”
“Maybe it isn’t working the way we assumed.” Ryder’s deep, somber tone resonated.
Vlad and I turned to look at him, and I frowned, watching the exhaustion play over his face. He had gone to war only to turn around and rush back here to protect us. Not being able to reach us in time was weighing on him. Ryder blamed himself for failing to be here or foresee the outcome. He wouldn’t admit it, but I knew that’s how he felt—or worse, he held me accountable.
Savlian sat alone, staring at the glass in front of him as Zahruk studied him. I stood up, smiling at Ryder when he reached for me.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I’m fine,” I lied, smiling tightly before I moved across the floor to Zahruk. “You. Spit it out.”
“Fuck off, Synthia,” Zahruk snapped as he reached for the bottle and poured himself another drink.
“No, I won’t. You have yet to speak since you returned.”
Ignoring me, Zahruk knocked back the amber liquid and refilled his glass. When he realized I wasn’t going anywhere, he glared at me. “You know, I liked you better when you didn’t like me.”
“That’s not true. You blame me, don’t you?”
“I blame myself, Synthia. I lost my brothers, and I hurt Darynda. I hurt her because I couldn’t stop myself. I fucked her hard like she was nothing more than a fucking whore. I didn’t hold back because I needed her to see me, to know what I liked when I fucked. She followed me around with those beautiful, vivid green eyes, thinking I was some kind of fucking hero. So when I saw her outside the feeder room, watching me take feeders with her wanton gaze, I pushed them away and beckoned her to me.” Running his hands through his hair, Zahruk leaned over and rested his elbows on his knees as he stared at the floor.
“She had no idea what I was like because I’d shielded her from the truth. I bent her over and fucked her, and worse. I shared her with Cailean.” Lifting his head, he glared at me with a haunted expression. “I wasn’t gentle like she deserved. I wanted to hurt her so she would finally move on. She took it because she wanted me any way she could get me. I made her come for me three times before I pulled out, and when I did, I fucked her virgin ass without mercy and spread her creamy thighs for Cailean to destroy her wet flesh as it was leaking my cum. I hurt her on purpose to make her hate me. What the fuck you got to say about that?” he demanded through gritted teeth.
I slapped him hard across the face, watching his glowing sapphire eyes slowly come back to me, and I hit the other cheek harder than the first. “Feel better, asshole?”
“I hurt her!”
“Yeah, you’re an asshole. Darynda was aware of it, but she was also in love with you. She had the choice to walk away. Darynda knew she could say no to you at any time. All she