“I’m fine,” I whispered.
“Give me your hand. I’ll sift you to a room where we can see how bad it is, and explain why we did what we did; to protect you. You have nothing to fear from us. What we did was out of love. Our only intention was to protect you,” Lasair said, but something in his eyes made me hesitate.
In the end, I gave him my hand, because I was about to collapse. We sifted to a very pink room, and, inside, was a crib, with a blanket that had the name Sorcha sewn in to it. I looked around the room, and noticed it looked exactly like the one I had as a small child. “This room,” I said, but he stopped me.
“I manifested the one they gave you. I wanted you to remember us. It was the least we could do. I need you to know something before my wife comes back. This has not been easy on her. Giving you away was the hardest thing she has ever done; she has been devastated since she gave you over to your guardians. It only became worse when Faolán announced your death. Be kind to her. I can see the hesitancy in your eyes, and we deserve it. I can also feel your need to run from us. Know this, little daughter, I am your father, and our blood is connected. Our bond has been re-established. If you run, I will find you. We deserve your hesitancy, and the coldness you harbor for us. After we tell you why we did it, maybe then you will see it in your heart to forgive us, or at least your mother.”
“She’s a good woman, and, as you can tell from the state of the rocking chair, she is in this room a lot. She has never forgotten the child she had to give up. Have a seat, child. I think you should hear the full story from me, so that you understand why we did this,” he finished.
“You mean the reason you gave me to humans?” I said, eyeing the chair with longing.
“Sit down, Synthia, so I can heal your wound. I only sent your mother to find a healer so we could talk before she came back. It’s deep in the tissue. No organs seem to have been harmed, or you would not be standing upright.”
I sat in the lone rocking chair and eyed the pink crib. It looked as if it had been crafted with loving hands. The carpet was a plush pale green, with a yellow color on the outskirts of the room. It was a beautiful nursery.
I felt his magic pulsing inside the room as he allowed me to feel it. Instinctively, I tensed against it and reached for the magic within me, but he stopped when he felt me pulling my own around me.
“I would never hurt you. I need you to relax and trust me for right now,” he said leveling me with those expressive eyes; where mine were just as blue, his were a beautiful shade of cobalt.
I relaxed, but kept my eyes locked with his. Again, I felt the magic pushing into the torn skin, and further inside of me. He was healing the wound from the inside, and I felt the blood vessels, along with the damaged skin, begin to regenerate as they started to heal. When he had finished, I pulled my first deep breath since the explosion, and found the injury completely healed.
He smiled reassuringly as I nodded my head and thanked him.
“I’m going to start at the beginning. You need to know the entire story to see what we were up against.” He flicked his wrist and a wide, comfortable looking leather chair materialized, and he slowly lowered himself into it.
“Danu prefers balance between all castes. Each of the monarch’s wield power, and the one who holds the most of us all is the Horde King, as he oversees the most dangerous of Faery’s creatures. When Alazander ascended to his throne several millennia ago, he was a powerful yet peaceful king with the other realms. He began taking in anyone who was casteless and his power and realm grew. Unfortunately, as his power grew: he began to abuse his powers and started to attack the other castes. A little over two hundred years ago, my father made a deal with the King of the Horde. My father agreed to not raise arms and going forward he pledged that the Blood Fae would be obedient to the Horde King. He was deceived, and when Father presented his weapon in obeisance, he fell to the treachery of the Horde. The Horde King is the only Fae who can kill another Fae outright, without needing weapons. It makes him the deadliest creature in our world,” he said bitterly and held up his hand as I started to interrupt him.
“Let me tell you this, as it does pertain to why we did what we did to you, Synthia.” I had no idea what the hell anything that happened two hundred years ago would have to do with me.
“I picked up my father’s sword, and struck against the Horde in anger, and we have been at war with the Horde ever since. Now, the Fae fight wars in a very different manner than humans. Skirmishes happen up and down our borders, but actual battle is rare, and I had no fear of my father’s fate unless I faced the Horde King himself in battle. So far, our war has consisted of the Horde attacking and Blood defending—to attack his lands directly would make matters worse.”