“To wage war against the mages, you will lose people,” he stated softly. The fire burning in his depths intensified as he spoke, and shadows swayed around him, catching and merging into his robe. “Hold tight to the ones you love and keep them close. Tell them you love them today, for tomorrow is never promised to anyone, not even the gods. Send your children to the City of Gods for safekeeping, where no one can reach them. You can weep the loss of their childhood, but if you don’t make that sacrifice, you will lose them; this is the only warning I can or will give you. Consider it a debt repaid for the favor your mother granted me long ago. Anything else, and I jeopardize doing more harm than good.
“I’m not here as your enemy, nor am I here to hurt you. I am here to take those you lose in this fight from the agony they will undoubtedly know without my ability to end their needless suffering when they fall. I’m merely here to ease their passing to the Otherworld and ensure they’re not cursed to walk endlessly through the shadows of Faery and the dead. Good luck, Daughter of Danu, Queen of the Horde, and Goddess of the Fae. May you survive this war to prosper and create many more pretty little girls, like the little one with eyes the color of fresh honey, sparkling from within. She is a rare beauty, sweet goddess, hold her tightly.” Thanatos vanished into a plume of smoke that billowed into the air the moment he spoke the last of his chilling words.
I swallowed down anger at his parting words. He’d seen my daughter, and that bothered me. Thanatos was one of the gods of death in mythology, so what the fuck was he doing here? Faery wasn’t his playground or where he belonged. It wasn’t his monkeys or his circus, yet he’d been right beside me. How was that even possible, and how was he allowed to intervene with this world? There were rules, and if he broke them, that meant he could be removed from Faery.
“He cannot stay away for long. Thanatos will be drawn to this world once souls begin weeping to be harvested. What are your orders, Synthia?”
“I will prepare my children to go with you. First, I want you to do what you offered. If I die, I must know my family will go on. I need you to go to the Fates and be certain they can see their future with this path, should we choose to follow it. All of them. Make sure they see my babes and my husband’s futures, even if I am no longer in them.” Turning, I peered into the bedroom, where Ryder and my children awaited me. I could hear the happiness in their laughter, which was music to my soul. “Once you have completed your task, return for my kids, and I will poison Ryder myself.”
“If he turns, and you don’t tell him? He may never forgive you, and may even hate you for doing this to him.” Her warning was clear. “Can you live without him?”
“No, and that’s the point, isn’t it? Hate, I can endure. His death would make me into a monster. I would never return from that, and we both know it. Destiny has already told me the Fates have yet to see my future. I’m not scared to die or frightened of the unknown. I am afraid of living without that man at my side. I have not walked through the fires of Hell to lose him. If it’s a choice between Ryder hating me or dying, there’s only one option with which I could live. His sense of betrayal will lessen in time. We are endless. We have all the time in the world. After this war is over, we will deal with the consequences of what I’ve done. Now go, do as I have asked, creature. I’ll have the children ready to leave with you when you return.”
She nodded, and I studied as her slim form vanished into a heavy mist that a powerful gust carried through the air allowing her to disappear into the dark skies above the stronghold. Her ominous warning echoed in my ears for a