“And I’m supposed to just accept that?” he asked angrily. “Obviously you can lie, and have been.”
“Why would I lie about that?” I asked with tears blurring my vision.
“Why hide that you’re a demi-Goddess from me?” he countered. “Why keep this to yourself, unless you planned to keep it a secret forever? Or did you plan to leave me and take my children with you?”
“It’s not like that, Ryder. I wanted you to need me and want me for who I really am. Not for the reason that she made me—to be your favorite drug of choice. I hate that we feel this attraction because we’re ‘supposed’ to. They removed your choice, and instead made us feel it without knowing if we even like each other. You’re supposed to be attracted and addicted to me, not because you actually are, but because I was created to draw you in.”
I waited for him to say something, anything. He didn’t for a long while.
“Say something!” I shouted back at him with my hands on my abdomen as a sob threatened to let loose.
“You’re not to leave this room, at all. No one is allowed in to see you until I come back. Do you understand me? Nod, Synthia,” he said when I just stared at him.
“No. Screw you, Fairy! Say something, talk to me, please! Don’t leave it like this.”
“Guards will be posted inside the room until I can figure out where to go from here,” he said as he started to sift out, but I grabbed his arm and held him in the room.
“Don’t do this—don’t just leave me without talking to me. Tell me what you’re thinking, at least!” I pleaded to him, but his eyes said he was pissed, and unwilling to even touch me. “I won’t stay in a room where I’m guarded and controlled. I won’t be a prisoner here. I’ll leave before I allow you to do that to me or my children.”
“Your children?” he sneered. “Are they even mine, Synthia? You lied about what you are, so if you have anything else you want to disclose, now would be the time to lay it all out.”
I gasped as pain shot through my heart as it was crushed at his angry words. My hand dropped as if his flesh burnt me. “Fuck you, Fairy,” I said dejectedly. “I know you know they’re yours, and I know they can feel you. Why would you even ask that?” Tears choked my words.
He looked down at the floor, as if he was deciding what to say, but before he could, an alarm sounded. “Stay here, Synthia. If you leave me, I’ll hunt you down.”
I remained silent as I closed my mind off to him. My heart broke into a million pieces, useless pieces. “I’m so sorry, Ryder,” I whispered brokenly. “I didn’t mean to keep it a secret this long for the reasons you might think I did, but I won’t become something you keep locked away. Goodbye, Fairy.” I choked back tears as I sifted out of the room.
Chapter Five
I sat beside the huge rowan Tree that fed Faery with its magical powers. It was their version of the Tree of Life, and was a thing of breathless beauty. The small fairies flew around me but none of them tried to land on me this time around, unlike the time Ristan had brought me here in his vision.
I let my legs rest on the ground as the cooling moss soothed my aching feet and swollen ankles. I watched the fairies as they worked to undo the damage that the Mages had wrought to the Tree. The sky was cloudless, but the hues of the rainbow filled it in a beautiful war of colors. The air around me was filled with beauty. I inhaled the seductive fragrance of sandalwood, knowing this was why Ryder smelled of its intoxicating beauty.