jagged ledge. I did it several times before I reached halfway up the steep climb, and pain shot through me, forcing me to lose my grip suddenly.
I turned my body mid-air, intending to sift, only to remember I couldn’t. I landed hard in the dirt, the wind leaving my lungs as my body crumpled. Whimpering, I fought against the pain rushing through me as I started to sit up to pull air into my lungs. More pain rushed through me, forcing me to curl into a ball as a bloodcurdling scream ripped from my lips. I coughed, unable to bring air into my lungs as blood expelled from my lips.
“This is not simply a cave; it’s a cage built by your mother to hold her offspring. Do you know why this cage held the Seelie within it for so long, Synthia? It was created with god magic to imprison Danu’s creations she deemed a failure—or just didn’t like them—locked up and hid them from the world forever. You are hers, are you not?”
“Ryder,” I whispered through the immense pain, waiting for the spell assaulting me to subside. I rolled onto my back, staring up at him as the taste of blood coated my lips and mouth. “Don’t do this.”
“I’m not; you are. Maybe if you have enough time alone, you will come to terms with what you are. Your old life is gone. You’re still a caterpillar, and you need to be a butterfly. A caterpillar doesn’t become a butterfly just because it grows wings. It hides in the darkness and doesn’t come out until it has finally grown its wings and knows how to use them. Grow some fucking wings, Synthia. This world needs you. Your old world is gone for you. It won’t accept you now, and Faery is begging for you to just take what it is offering.”
“I don’t know how to remove my humanity!” I hissed, getting to my feet to stare up at him. “I don’t know what to do to get rid of it. I can’t just cut it out, nor can I just remove it!”
“I can’t do this for you, Pet. I can’t take it from you. You won’t let me.”
“I won’t stay here,” I warned him.
“Yes, you will. Only the most powerful of beings can enter this prison and escape it, and no one will come for you. The only people who know where you now reside are us. I’ll be back in a few days to see if my pretty little caterpillar has sprouted her wings.”
“What if I’m no longer me anymore?”
He stared down at me through narrowed eyes, smirking as his jaw ticked. “I have loved you through every change you’ve been through. I have been at your side regardless of what you became. We’ll survive this too, sweet girl.”
“What if I am supposed to keep it? I’m the Goddess of the Fae, the people. I was taken to the humans to learn compassion. To learn that faults are normal. I know how to forgive and how to be understanding. That is my humanity. You wouldn’t have cared if those children died, Ryder. My job is to protect our people.”
“But you can’t, because you won’t shed your skin and allow yourself to accept the land. We have stood by and let you do it your way. You assumed all you had to do was show up to the party and be here. That’s not how Faery works. You know that, and yet you still have relinquished nothing to become what you are meant to be.
“Now, we do it my way. I told you, I won’t lose anyone else because my wife can’t give up her hold on her old life. You transformed. You are a part of this world, but you can only touch upon basic god magic. You create beautiful palaces, though, but that isn’t your job.
“Zahruk trained you to fight, and Ristan helped him. Dristan, well, he taught you our history. He told you of the changes we go through, what the gods go through, and you weren’t listening. I played your dutiful, loving husband, and all you