Claire was an obvious one for me, but she’d been submissive to the point of grotesque since the Mages attacked us during the coronation and Ryder called off the engagement to her sister. I wasn’t sure why she’d stayed, but she had. Every once in a while I’d catch her staring openly at my massive midsection, but today there was something else there—I just couldn’t figure out what it was.
I pretended to not see it as I headed to the library with the guards, trailing close behind me until I was safely behind the doors.
“So, what do we get to learn today?” I asked softly as all eyes turned to me. I had been in the Horde Kingdom for several months now, and even though I had learned a lot, there was still so much more to take in and Dristan had just been giving me the highlights of it all. I had also been getting daily rations of the language that the Horde used, which had to be learned. Evidently, it couldn’t just be magically understood as I had understood most of the other dialects so far. No, this one had to actually be taught, and I wasn’t making very much progress. I’d agreed to it for the sake of the twins, since I wanted to be a part of this world with them. I also wanted to be the one who taught them when they were old enough to learn.
Dristan scooted a stack of books my way and Ristan pulled my chair out for me. He was rarely in on these sessions since he had been spending much of his time at the Guild, so this was a nice change. Darynda sifted in quietly, as not to disturb the lesson, and smiled as she handed me a mug which was filled with chamomile tea and sugar cubes. I’d decided to reduce my caffeine intake to almost none, mostly because I was under the impression that it was somehow missing my system and going directly to the babes who then used it to kick the crap out of me.
I got engrossed in Ristan and Dristan’s lessons and it was about two hours and five trips to the bathroom later that I found myself exploding with laughter. We were on to the history portion of my day, or as I liked to call it, crash course of Fae 101. The lessons were extensive, but then, considering how ancient the race was, I had a lot to catch up on.
“He did not!” I smiled, tears in my eyes from laughing too hard. Ristan was telling me about their distant cousin who had gotten into Ambrosia right before one of the Horde’s skirmishes with my people; the Blood Fae and had made quite a mess of things from the rear.
“Okay, Demon. I have a question for you,” I giggled mischievously. “I thought that Demons had horns and tails, or like wings and stuff—so how come you and Alannah don’t?” I watched as my question put a guarded look in his eyes and his face fell. He actually looked at a loss of words for the first since I had met him. I lowered my eyes to watch his throat as it bobbed, before he finally spoke.
“Uh, Ryder is calling for me,” he whispered as his chair screeched as he abruptly stood and sifted out of the room. I looked to Dristan for the answer. The look in Dristan’s emerald eyes made my heart lurch. What the hell had I said?
“Did Ristan just lie to me?” I asked slowly and watched as Dristan nodded his head.
“He can and does,” he shrugged as the words flowed. “Don’t ask him about the wings and the things you think a Demon should have, Synthia.”
“Why, he tells me just about everything else. I didn’t think anything of it since even his sex life is available in all its sordid details upon request.”
“Ristan had them, Synthia. He had wings, horns, and the tail. For about two hours after he finished his version of our Transition. Alazander docked them just as he had with Alannah. He wasn’t perfect enough for our father, and so he made him as he wanted him to be. Ristan was born to be a true Demon; he just wasn’t allowed to remain so.”
I felt sick as I looked up at Dristan in unhidden horror at the monster that had sired him. “But wouldn’t they just grow back eventually? The Fae heal their wounds, even he did when the Mages tore him to pieces.”