tip of my tongue. I nipped his lip, enjoying the growl that rose from deep within him. My hands touched his chest, turning my head to watch as Lucian and his men formed a circle around us. I wanted to ask what was happening but guessed they needed silence, or Ryder wouldn’t have tried to quiet me.
I observed Lucian. His midnight-blue eyes sparkled with flecks of sapphires mixed into the glowing onyx irises. Lucian and his men reached their arms out, linking themselves together by the touch of their fingertips. Instantly, the room erupted in a raw, electrifying current that made my hair float around my head.
I gasped at the power oozing from them. Sparks leapt from their fingers, lightning igniting in their eyes as if they’d somehow captured it within them. Spyder smirked the moment my gaze moved to his, and I observed the shadows that swirled around the men, forming a barrier between them and the walls to shield us from anyone who could be spying.
“We need to talk, Synthia,” Lucian announced darkly, his voice echoing in my head. “You’ve got a problem, one sent here to destroy the horde, and meant to keep them chasing their tails while your enemies slaughter your armies without you ever knowing.”
“I know, Lucian. Why do you think I called for you? I am fully aware of the problem.” I materialized the nasty golden apple I had recently found and tossed it to him. “I need you to handle that, and the rest of you, I need you to listen closely to what I’m about to tell you.”
Chapter Seventeen
Three days had passed since the dinner party, and every day more chaos and fighting started within the stronghold than outside of it. Learning Ryder hadn’t betrayed me after all had eased my mind, but we each had parts to play in the game unfolding within the fortress walls. Each day Ryder and Zahruk left to plan for the war, knowing someone in the castle had eyes and ears on us, monitoring everything we said and did—it unnerved me.
This morning I’d broken up a fight between the chef and a couple of servers. It had been a bloody mess. Then the cook served up two of their heads on silver trays, bringing the supper in himself and unveiling his masterpiece before trying to add Ristan to it for dessert when he had the audacity to laugh at the meal.
The entire kitchen, along with the staff, was covered in blood and gore. Three servers had fought to survive the cook and his butchering block. It turned out that a server had mentioned the steaks were overcooked and were medium rare instead of rare. It led to her head placed on a tray, presented to Ryder like a delicacy.
Smaller fights had broken out between couples, but they were less frequent since I’d discovered the golden apple and asked Lucian to hold on to it. Not that he’d been pleased with the idea. I’d done what I could to separate couples, locking the women in the tower with the men elsewhere, but that meant that the men had been at each other’s throats all day. The fighting had reached the point where I’d moved up the meeting with the goddess to the morning. I had to put my plan into motion now.
I’d extinguished most of the light in the bedroom before pouring the potion into the ambrosia and placing it on the table before the large chesterfield sofa. Once I’d finished, I almost chewed my lip raw from nervousness at what I was about to do. Power ignited inside the room, kissing my flesh, causing goosebumps to rise with the awareness of Ryder’s presence.
Turning, I studied him where he stood in the shadows, golden stars lighting his inky depths. If I hadn’t felt his power caressing my skin, I’d have missed him in the darkness of the room. The candles ignited, bathing me in their glow as his hungry stare feasted on me.
I’d dressed in a soft pink baby-doll bathrobe that left little to the imagination. It had lace edges and a dark pink ribbon of silk holding it closed. Beneath the robe, I wore a simple pair of panties that tied on