My heart was hammering wildly, his eyes watching my every thought that crossed my mind. On one hand, I was relieved to find out who he was, while on the other hand, everything I’d ever heard about the Horde King was running rampant through my mind.
He lifted his hands and ran them through his hair, as if he was the one who was frustrated. “There is too much to tell you, and too little time. You are going to stay here, and listen without interrupting me. Please. I’m going to sit beside you and I will do my best to explain everything. After I’m done, you can ask me the questions I can see burning in your eyes.”
“Fine,” I replied, pulling up the sheet around my naked body. I watched him lower his gaze with anticipation burning in his golden depths. He smirked, and waved his fingers. I gave a small shudder of breath as I felt satin press and wrap around my skin. “Thank you,” I whispered, and scooted back against the mountain of pillows piled against the elaborate headboard.
He moved closer, as if he was afraid I’d run away from him. I felt my skin tingle with the raw current I’d always felt when sitting or standing too close to him. He pulled the sheet from my body and smiled at the red satin bathrobe he’d glamoured for me.
“Red suits you, Blood Princess,” he murmured as his fingers trailed over the naked flesh of my leg.
“I’m waiting,” I replied, afraid to allow him to waste time with the questions burning on my tongue.
“Always impatient, Pet.” He moved closer to me and lay back against the pillows. His mammoth wings rustled, and folded back neatly, as he settled in comfortably.
“Just over twenty two years ago, my father was killed by my hand. I am sure your parents and your brother told you how he was abusing the other Castes of Fae. What they may not have known, is that he was abusing his own people first. Power can corrupt even the strongest of beings. In the beginning my father was much like your adopted one. In my eyes he could do no wrong. He was everything to our people, and exactly the creature that Danu wanted him to be.
Over time, something changed within him like a sickness. He started making demands of our own people, and eventually when he got bored of that, he took more. He took the daughters of our enemies, as well as our allies. Gifts he called them, and he spared those who gave them freely to him, and he took what he wanted from those that would not and levied huge consequences for those who defied him. He wanted something tangible to assure they knew he had the power. Any slight, real or imagined from one of the Lords or other Kings would result in the abuse of their Gift.” He exhaled slowly, as if the memory was more than he wanted to remember. His eyes took on a hued glow of amber and obsidian.
“My uncle, Kier, saw it happening, and tried to stop it. I think Alazander had been sick long before we caught sight of it in him. Not only did he abuse the female Gifts, he had been handing them off to others of the Horde to use at will. He did more than just use those he took from their families. He shattered many, and then they were handed off to his Elite Guard. We’re not human, and I’m not proud of my father, or of what I did at his bidding. I used those females, willingly or not, I took them. I did what he wanted, what he expected of his sons. I’ve done things that, looking back, make me sick, but I enjoyed it at the time. I was raised to be of the Horde, and that meant I was raised to be hard, fierce, merciless, and take what I wanted.”
Something in his eyes told me that he hadn’t enjoyed what he’d done. He wasn’t as much of a victim as the poor women had been, but he was still guilt ridden from what he’d assisted his father in doing.
When I refused to comment on it, he continued. “I was there when your grandfather was betrayed, and killed,” he said softly. “I was there when he killed Anise and put that idiot Dresden on the throne. I have always been at his right hand and led his campaigns. I was the one who led the Elite Guard you saw today.”
I stared at him, dumfounded. “How old are you?” I whispered.
“I have lived over a thousand of your years,” he replied steadily. I sucked in air as I was trying to wrap my mind around this. “I have always told you that I am not proud of many of the things I have done, and I have done some very bad things, Synthia. Many of my regrets were for what I stood by and allowed.”