“That’s the difference between us. I have no humanity, Synthia. I wouldn’t give a shit. I love very few things. My brothers, my wife, and the lives she and I create together. This world? I’ve never pretended or told you otherwise. I care about fixing it and preventing the loss of life, but only because losing them hurts the woman I love. I was in your world to find you, and I did. I found this beautiful creature with a fucking mouth on her that drove me bugfuck crazy. She argued with me. Me! The one creature no one inside Faery tried to challenge, and yet here she was, this tiny little firecracker that stared me down with the passion and fire of a thousand burning suns. You were the most infuriating, stubborn, pigheaded, and most beautiful thing I’d ever dreamt of or seen.
“The first time I fucked you, your pretty gaze ignited and glowed with pleasure. And then you came undone, screaming for me, and I realized right then you’d never walk away from me. I wouldn’t allow it, and I still won’t. Then you fucking died, and my world stopped turning, and I knew. I knew this crazy fucking thing you called love was real. I felt a void inside of me that would never be filled. You marked me deeper and harder than any brand could ever do. I love you, Synthia Raine. I love you so fucking much that you make me ache with the intensity of it. But I really need you to turn off your humanity, because time isn’t something we have a lot of right now.”
“It isn’t that simple,” I whispered, tears burning in my eyes. “It’s not a switch that can be turned off. You can’t just say to turn it off and expect it to be done. It’s ingrained inside of me. I was raised with humans. I was born thinking I was one. This isn’t something you can fuck out of me, Ryder.”
“You can either turn it off or watch Faery die around us. I told you I wasn’t your fucking prince. I’m the king. I am the one thing holding this court in place. Since you have been down, exhausted from having your greedy little cunt fed, the world has begun to reshape itself. I am reshaping it. Either get on my side or get the fuck out, Synthia. You don’t get to straddle both worlds anymore. I lost my brothers because you can’t be what this world needs. Ristan lost Olivia because you can’t man the fuck up and shed that little sliver you’re grasping on to. I won’t allow myself to hold on to you if we’re not what you want.
“I’ll give you twenty-four hours to figure out on which side you belong. It’s either ours or theirs, sweet girl, because you can’t have both anymore. You can’t straddle that line anymore because we will not win this war if you do. At the end of the twenty-four hours, if I don’t receive an answer, I will begin hunting you down.
“I will place god bolts into your body and toss you into a fucking cage if that is what it takes to be certain you are safely tucked away from those who seek to murder you. I can’t have you fighting against me because you’re the one thing I can’t fight. Tick-tock, little one, time is wasting. Do whatever the fuck you need to do, but you’re either on my side in this world or you’re not. If you choose the human world, know that I will never stop hunting you down. I will never rest until I capture you and know you’re safe from harm and protected from this war. If I were you, I’d start making my decision soon.”
“You’re kicking me out?” I snapped, struggling to get up.
“No, I’m choosing us, our family, and this world. You’re not. You’re hanging on to the scared, confused little girl who grew up in the human realm, instead of the fierce fucking goddess who belongs at my side. You’re a fucking liability right now, our weakest link. Everyone stood beside you. They said you did every-fucking-thing you could to protect the ones we lost in the