as the world fell from beneath my feet, a viselike grip squeezing my heart painfully. Golden brands pulsed with untold power as he vigorously pounded his cock into a woman, his wings concealing her face. Tears slipped free of the hold I’d had on them, and I covered my mouth with my hand as the other held my stomach.
“Yes, My King! Fuck me harder!” the woman screamed.
“You dirty whore. You like that, don’t you? Being fucked by your king,” Ryder purred. “Come for me, you filthy little slut.”
I stood there in shock, a silent scream held in my throat while he continued to fuck her. The sound of his flesh meeting hers in ecstasy echoed in my ears as her screaming turned into incoherent babbling. She cried out her release, and he chuckled darkly, turning her in his arms before he sat in a chair, staring into my horrified gaze.
“Synthia,” he whispered with a wide, panicked look as guilt covered his face.
I turned, running from the room with tears streamed down my cheeks. I could hear Ryder bellowing my name, but I ran blindly. Everything inside of me screamed in denial, trying to convince my heart that my eyes had been wrong. The sob exploded in my chest as I rounded a corner and slid down the wall. This wasn’t happening. It couldn’t be, not when everything depended on us working together to end the war.
How could he do this? How could the man I loved more than I loved myself be in there with another woman? I held my hand over my mouth, pushing myself up the wall to make it to my room. People stared at me, whispering as I moved through the stronghold. Tears blurred my vision, and I ignored those who called out my name as I passed them. Ristan stepped out of a room, staring at me before he moved to walk with me.
“Flower, what is it? What happened?” he asked, studying me while I shook my head. When I didn’t speak or answer him, he grabbed my arm. “Are you okay?”
“How long?”
“How long what?” he countered carefully.
“How long has he been fucking other women?” I shouted, causing everyone around us to stop and peer in our direction.
“What?” he asked with concern burning in his gaze. “Synthia, Ryder wouldn’t do that.”
“No? I just came from the feeding rooms where I watched him fucking some whore! I saw it with my own eyes, Ristan.” A sob racked through me as wind gushed through the hallway. Outside, thunder rumbled, and lightning crashed close to the stronghold. “Tell me you didn’t know that he was in that room.”
“Ryder wouldn’t cheat on you, Synthia. He wouldn’t.”
“Tell me he isn’t fucking that whore!”
“You need to calm down,” he countered.
“I need to leave,” I replied, moving to do so when Ryder rounded the corner, dressed in all black, staring at me through an angry glare.
“You’re not leaving,” Ryder snapped.
“No? You think you can stop me?”
“I think you’re my wife, and you are staying.”
“I don’t think so, bastard.”
“I’ve had our children moved from the Blood Kingdom. If you wish to see them again, you will stay here.”
Bile pushed against my throat as I peered into eyes that watched me with something dark swimming within them. I stepped back, turning on my heel as the entire Elite Guard stood around me, blocking my path.
“Move,” I demanded, watching as they peered over my head for Ryder’s approval. Whatever they saw made them step back, letting me pass through their ranks, surveying me carefully, as if I’d attack Ryder in retribution.
At the opposite end of the hallway stood the female that had been with Ryder. Her hair was dripping with sweat, and a smile covered her mouth as she watched me approaching her.
“You didn’t think you’d get to keep him all to yourself forever, did you?” she