I was in a nightgown and resting in my bed when Danu showed up. She was dressed in black leather pants with a tight ruby red halter top. “Sorry about that, Synthia. You carry my grandchildren, so we will have to be more careful moving forward,” she said thoughtfully.
“Thanks for the reminder, but it wasn’t like I walked in there expecting the poor woman to take me for a ride through crazy town.” I’d mumbled it and knew she was going into another lecture as her eyes flew back to me.
“I’m serious. You may have my blood and the Fae’s, but Fae women and infants can die in childbirth—and they do, a lot more now than they once did.”
“Is that why you came?” I asked with more attitude than was necessary.
“I came because you’re my daughter and I needed to know you were all right. You need to worry about yourself, Synthia. Besides, I asked Ristan to show you Ryder’s mother. I thought you might be able to reach her where I had failed to, but it’s apparent now that she’s a lost cause.”
“Lost cause?” I asked as I turned on my side, trying to ignore the twins who were practicing their kicking skills on my ribcage.
Danu’s eyes lowered to my stomach where it moved in a frenzy of activity. “Nothing has gotten through to her and worse, based on what she did today, she’s becoming more unstable. Alazander crushed her mind and he had finally broken her just before he died. Now she goes into fight mode when others get too close to her, and I’m not sure she’s strong enough to come back from that. I had thought maybe she’d see you as a victim as she was, but I was wrong.”
“That’s bullshit,” I whispered, remembering coming back from Larissa’s death. I didn’t want to; in fact I’d been inside my mind, and it had taken Ryder coming in to get me. She just needed someone to do the same for her. “It’s easier to hide from our feelings, from reality. She was abused mentally and physically. It makes perfect sense to give up when you can’t see light at the end of the tunnel, but there’s light now. She can come back from it, she just needs help.”
“He comes,” she said as her silhouette shimmered and then faded. I looked at the spot where she had just been and turned in time to see the door open as Ryder walked through it. He was beautiful, with his large velvet wings that swept the frame with their width.
“Pet, how do you feel?” he asked as he took me in with his golden eyes. He looked tired from playing war games with the Mages, and I felt bad for disturbing him from them. He’d missed being with me and Eliran for the quick check up after the disturbance with his mother, as something had called him away.
“I feel fine. Eliran said it was just Braxton Hicks contractions, which is a fancy way to say my body is preparing for birth, but he said they can be just as scary and painful as regular labor contractions,” I said feeling a twinge of embarrassment at knowing beforehand what was wrong with my own body. “It had nothing to do with your mother,” I said softly as tried to keep the blush from taking color on my cheeks.
“Do you need anything?” he asked, but I could see he was torn between staying with me and preparing his kingdom for their survival.
“Mmm, I’m good. I’m going to rest, but can you please send Darynda in after she’s done with Faelyn?” He tucked the blankets around my body and gave me a chaste kiss on the forehead, and held up a cup for me to sip. It was filled with an herb drink that Eliran said would help with pain. It relieved the pain, but it also made me sleep like the dead.
“Synthia,” Darynda’s voice penetrated my sleep-riddled mind. I looked up to find her green eyes peering with concern at me. “Are you well?”