“I have come for AmiraandOrion,” he corrected.
His voice was clipped, and he was tense as if it were taking great effort to restrain his violence. He had been so sweet and gentle with Amira in Uile Breithà that he did not even seem like the same male. There was a palpable threat of savagery hanging in the air around him that let me know that one wrong move would be fatal. I had to diffuse the situation quickly or a lot of people were going to get hurt. Starting with my mate and my friend.
“We have not hurt them. We only took them so you would not ally yourself with Queen Aoibheal and collapse our court like—”
“Do you think that was intentional?” snarled Riordan, his golden eyes flashing. And I suddenly became worried that he might be too angry to actually hear any logic.
“No,” I admitted honestly, my heart pounding harder with growing dread. “We needed to protect ourselves.”
Riordan stepped forward. Sage tried to put himself in front of me, but he was shoved to the ground by someone who then put their foot on his back to hold him. I tried to soothe my mate with our bond so he stopped struggling, but the Griffin King grabbed me by the jaw. I felt Ciaran being jerked away from me when he reacted defensively as well, but my attention remained on my friend’s mate. Riordan gripped me painfully hard as he half dragged me up off my knees by my face.
“Amira never stopped fighting for you. Not even when youjoined the enemy,” he rebuked me before he pushed me roughly back to the ground. He looked disgusted.
“Amira was not the one betrayed!” I shouted at him, unable to hold back when he exposed the raw insecurities that had plagued me before committing to the Wild Hunt. “How quickly you have forgotten that I was prepared to fuckingdieto protect the both of you.”
“But how long was it before you caved and told our enemies everything they wanted to know?” he scoffed.
“The Wild Hunt is not your enemy, Riordan! I did not forsake you. I found my mate. I found family and a home where my heart was finally safe and cherished!” I insisted as my tears blurred my eyes and streamed down my face.
Riordan was unmoved.
“You may not see me as your enemy, but you became mine when you came after my mates,” Riordan told me as he straightened. “And I cannot forgive you for it.”
“They were never harmed, Riordan!” I shouted at him in frustration, but he was no longer looking at me.
“The powder worked on them. It will work on Rian,” he said to Ares who nodded in agreement. “Take him and his Seer to the tent. I will deal with them there when I go to retrieve Amira and Orion.”
Ares bowed deeply before gesturing at several of the Autumn fey. One of them formed a portal for him while he glared at Ciaran, and then Ares signalled three griffin warriors to join them before they departed.
I could only hope that Nuala would be able to warn Rian in time. Although as depleted as he was, I was not sure there was anything he could do against Riordan.
The Griffin King turned toward the female with dark hair who I noticed was staring at me pensively with her corded arms crossed over her shapely breastplate.
“Go to them. I want them to know that I am coming for them once I am done here,” Riordan instructed her.
The female nodded but did not move to do as she was told as eagerly as Ares had.
“Are you sure you want to do this? Amira might not forgive you for it,” she warned him seriously, and I saw Riordan’s jaw clench.
“It was a necessary trade to make her and Orion safe and to deal with Rian.”
The female tilted her head to eye him carefully before she nodded and bowed.
“As you wish, Your Majesty,” she yielded and stepped toward another fey who took her into another portal.
“Where did you get it? Thechukapowder,” I clarified anxiously once Riordan had finished issuing orders.
But the Griffin King didn’t spare me another glance as he stepped back from us. The griffins who were holding Sage and Ciaran also stepped back along with everyone else remaining so there was a wide berth around us.
I was about to ask what the fuck they were all doing, but then I heard the unmistakable snapping sounds from someone Tree Walking. My head whipped around in the hopes I was wrong, but I already knew better before their familiar forms emerged from the dark. I felt sick as the torchlight flickered across brown skin faintly marked by white spots and stripes. Their hair was elaborately braided around full antlers wreathed in beautiful Summer foliage. And they were all clothed with the plant and animal parts that had been grown from their own skin.
Sage slowly rose to his knees to press closer to me in an effort to protect or comfort me, but I quickly shook my head at him. The last thing I wanted was for the Ruadhán to know that I had ananamor anyone else I loved.
I could not breathe as a dozen male dryads surrounded us in an austere silence. I could tell from the calculated way they moved that they were not inexperienced like the ones who had attacked us in the Vale. These males were a part of a warband for one of the more powerful Tiarnaí. Possibly even my father.
“You,” snarled Ciaran suddenly. And I turned to see he was glaring at a familiar dryad with white-blond hair and icy blue eyes. The one who escaped Prince Faolán.
Which meant this warband had been sent by Laisren. Myhusbandaccording to dryad law.
