“You look a little different,” he growled as he tried to puzzle it out. “I felt you die; the mark is gone.”
I hadn’t even considered how I looked, but then I’d been in a hurry to get to my babies. “I was reborn, and I don’t know the hows of it, only that I was.” It was so quiet in the room you could have heard a pin drop.
“Prove it’s you,” he demanded.
“How?” I asked narrowing my eyes on him.
“Do something that my Synthia would never do,” he growled.
I smiled and dropped to my knees in front of him and his men. I placed my palms to the sky and tilted my head. “I give up,” I smiled impishly.
He dropped to his knees and crushed me into his arms. “My girl would never surrender without a fight,” he whispered and then kissed me. When he pulled away from the kiss he looked at me, uncertainty shining in his eyes. “You taste different,” he admitted.
“I’m the same person; my soul is the same, but I think I changed a bit physically with the new body and all,” I whispered. He just watched me, as if he was still afraid to look away. As if he was afraid he’d blink and I’d disappear. I brought up my hands and cupped his face before I leaned in to place a gentle kiss on his lips.
“Ryder—” Eliran said as he entered the room and then stopped. “Uh, Synthia…you’re…” he scratched his head and then shook it. “I swear you’re half cat. The babes look good, and the little lady is improving.”
“That’s great,” I said and then looked to Ryder for answers.
“She had a hard delivery,” he explained.
“I missed it…” I said as I sat back on my heels. “I missed it all. I just remember talking to you…and then nothing.”
“You died,” he said with unshed tears in his eyes. “You said you loved me and our children and then you died.”
Chapter Eleven
Ryder had transformed my room, or what used to be known as the Queen’s chambers, into a nursery to give us a place nearby to protect them. The nursery was done in a soft green color with small cribs for each child that had been made from white ash wood. Aodhan had crafted a few rocking chairs for us out of the same wood, which we had settled into with the babies. Ryder had to add a crib which he made from glamour for the daughter we hadn’t known about. Aodhan had already started on the wood for the third, since he insisted she have a matching one to her brothers.
Danu shimmered in, allowing Ryder to see her for the first time since she had chosen him as an Heir and explained to him what she’d done, and what the repercussions of my death and rebirth would be. After all the mistrust created when I found out she was my mother, and I’d kept it to myself, I thought it best that he be present as she answered my questions.
“How do you propose for us to make enough Fae want to come here? You do realize that most don’t understand the laws, or the way that the Tree works, and they certainly will not understand why they need to give you enough power for you to accept your grandchildren,” Ryder said softly, his eyes taking her in and I was sure he was sizing her up. “We are surrounded by allies, prepared to go to war on our behalf, is that not enough to draw power from?”
“I’m getting to that,” she said waiving her hand impatiently. “You have other concerns to take into account with all that happened. Synthia died, and when she did, her bond with Lasair broke. That means he knows she’s dead, but more than that, the power she held is now in limbo until I decide on a new host. Liam is the likely one to inherit it,” she mused thoughtfully as she watched me. “He’s my choice, even though he’s a little damaged,” she mused as she shot an accusing eye at Ryder. “The Blood Fae are currently on their way here now, and the Light Fae won’t be far behind them. Kier has his family here already; they came when Adam sifted out abruptly. He felt the familiar bond break, and knew she was dead—it was the same with her father. Lasair, Kier, and Adam also felt the power shift, which the Light Fae will have felt as well, and it’s drawing them here. They will want proof of her death, and you will give it to them. You, Ryder, will call for Sanctuary and they will be admitted for the grieving period. They will need to see her body, and the children she birthed. You will then announce that we have a new Goddess of Faery,” Danu said as she eyed him cautiously.