you to protect them. The men can’t focus without knowing their families are safe. Our children are safe, and we need to make sure their families remain alive and safe from this fight too. I need you here because if I am wrong, there’s no telling what will happen. Eris didn’t deliver our children to Bilé, which may have alerted him to the fact she failed.”
“Ryder…”
“We’ve been over this already, Synthia. You know the law. One of us must remain within these walls,” he growled, lifting my chin to stare into my worried eyes. “I can’t be in both places. Don’t argue it, please. Go tell the chef to cook a feast for the men who will leave tomorrow for battle. It might be awhile before we can return if the mages fall for our trap.”
“Fine,” I muttered, unhappy about being left behind yet again.
I understood the need for my presence at the castle, hence why I wasn’t arguing the matter with Ryder. I was still being placed on the sidelines, and we both knew it, but I was the only one of us wanting to dispute the law. It would be suicide to attack the horde on our own turf, which the mages knew.
The other courts were supposed to be gathering here within the week. Adam had come to say goodbye to the kids, reassuring me he was coming back the moment the Dark Kingdom was ready to join him. Liam told me Madisyn and Lasair were gathering the Blood Warriors to march to our fortress already, leaving Liam to guard the palace since the horde wasn’t the only kingdom that had the stronghold decree in effect.
This entire world needed to update their laws since most had ideals on women being weak, and repeatedly we showed them otherwise.
Inside the kitchen, I instructed the staff on what to serve during the feast and which wine and spirits would complement the meal. I carefully made my way to the bedroom I shared with Ryder while bracing myself against the wall, struggling against the burning pain that started back up. It was a lot worse lately.
Barely inside the door, I dropped and gasped as the pain ripped through me. My vision swam with stars as everything ached and burned until I trembled. I felt something wet on my face and wiped at it, staring at the blood that was warm against my fingertips. I groaned as violet flashes of color ignited behind my eyelids while nausea pushed at the back of my mouth.
I’d be willing to bet that Bilé and his merry band of mages had just slaughtered numerous fae while we’d been plotting against him. Pain from the fae dying was becoming more frequent, and it worried me endlessly.
It took everything within me to continue standing upright, planning against Bilé with the men. Whatever the murderous prick had been up to, it hadn’t been horrible until I’d left Ryder’s side. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out he was attacking defenseless villages on his way here; proof of that was the refugees showing up every morning.
We’d sent men to the outlying areas around the horde stronghold, begging our people to come inside the safety of the walls that protected us, but they refused.
“Synthia?” Darynda entered the room, finding me on the floor. “Help!” she screamed, rushing to me.
“I’m okay,” I mumbled, carefully peeling myself off the tile. Standing to my full height, I smiled to reassure her I was indeed fine, only to bend over as more piercing, debilitating pain sliced through me. Darynda shot forward, catching me before I could drop to my knees.
“Darynda?” Zahruk’s voice echoed through the hall before he entered the doorway, pausing as he took in the situation. He sifted to where she struggled to keep me upright, picking me up, rushing to the bed, and setting me down carefully. “What the fuck happened?”
The room erupted in power as Ryder entered, staring down at me from beside the bed. “Who did this to you?” Ryder demanded, turning a lethal glare on Darynda as power continually filled the bedroom until it