began to suffocate everyone.
“I found her like that on the floor, My King,” she cried through trembling lips, wringing her hands in the skirt of her dress nervously.
“I’m okay, guys.” I hoped if I said it enough, they’d hear me. I struggled to sit up, but large, strong hands pushed me down against the mattress until I was flat on my back. Glaring up at Ryder, I watched as worry flooded the amber eyes peering down at me with fear.
“What happened?” Ryder asked, using his thumbs to push the blood away from my eyes. His hand cupped my cheek, and he studied me carefully as if he could see what was wrong if he stared hard enough.
“Bilé or the mages just killed a large number of fae.” I allowed Ryder to lift my head as I sipped from the glass he held against my lips. I drank slowly as fire burned and banked in his obsidian depths, igniting amber stars.
“I know their deaths have been causing you pain, but how long has it been happening to this extreme?” His deep, rumbling growl filled the room as his thumb wiped the water from my lips before he rested me against the insane amount of pillows he had just glamoured onto the bed.
I gazed up at him with a sad smile playing across my mouth. “It started happening more often a few months ago, but this one started earlier today and became worse than any other time. I’m guessing we just lost an entire village of people in a matter of moments. My body weakened quickly with the number of lives that were taken.”
“You stood beside me all fucking day while in pain, and you said nothing to me?” Ryder asked, frowning as hurt entered his gaze. “You should have said something, woman.”
“There’s nothing you could do to keep it from happening. What good does it do to tell you when I am in pain if you can’t change it? Telling you will only make you worry, and I can handle the pain on my own, Ryder. You have to focus on the armies and where they’re needed, not worrying about me.”
“Get Eliran up here, now,” Ryder ordered in a harsh tone, sitting beside me as concern etched the lines of his beautiful, masculine features.
“Do not get Eliran, Zahruk,” I growled, watching as he stared between us before stepping to turn on his heel to do as Ryder had demanded. “If you pull Eliran away from people who need him, I will stab you, asshole!” Zahruk’s sapphire eyes held mine while he warred with indecision on whose orders to follow.
“You’re bleeding from your nose and crying blood, Syn. It’s not open for fucking debate. You’re my wife, and it is my job to keep you safe and in good health, which I cannot do if you won’t tell me when you are in fucking pain!” Ryder’s growl vibrated through me as he opened his mouth to shout at his brother for not having done as he had instructed. Worse than that, there was an accusation in his depths that sat ill with me.
“You’re not listening to me,” I snapped irritably, sitting up to accept the cloth that Darynda handed me. “There is no medicine Eliran can give me to stop this pain from happening. I’m not sick, Ryder. I am the Goddess of the Fae, and they are being slaughtered by the thousands daily. I feel every single one of their lives ending. It creates an aching pain within me, one that hurts for a short time, and then vanishes.
“When Faery hurts, I feel it too. I am a part of this place and its people, as was my mother. A doctor cannot fix what is wrong with me because there’s nothing to fix. The only way to save me from this pain is for us to end this war. It won’t kill me; weaken me, yes. Danu made sure that we could leave Faery if the need arose, and take the people someplace else. Bilé is aware that I am connected to Faery, and he’s trying to weaken me. We have to take him out