The Tainted Web (The Godhunter, Book 7)

by Sumida, Amy

  “Yes,” he laughed and shook his head, “that's what I meant.”

  Chapter Forty-One

  Trevor gave me an odd look when I came out of the bedroom. I must have been in there awhile but I'd had to compose myself after the heart to heart I'd just had with Arach, oh and then there was that possible dying thing.

  I motioned for him to come back to the bedroom with me and then told him everything. He reacted with the expected amount of snarling, growling, and general cussing, before settling down and trying to come up with a solution. Surprisingly, one of the solutions he thought of was leaving me in Faerie until Iktomi was dealt with. I didn't like that solution.

  I finally had to stop him, reminding him that Kanaloa was waiting for us with a tied up, killer kelpie, and that we should probably get going to Faerie. He agreed, grabbing a T-shirt from his drawer before heading out the door.

  “What are you doing with the shirt?”

  “It's for our bare chested Hawaiian friend,” he grinned but it lacked its usual luster. “We can't let him go to Faerie like that. They might think we're all a bunch of barbarians.”

  “Says the Werewolf Prince,” I laughed.

  “I'm house broken,” he put his arm around me as we headed back into the living room.

  “Shall we?” I gestured to the door as Trevor grabbed Kael and heaved him to his feet.

  “We can trace to Faerie from here?” Kanaloa walked over and took my hand.

  “Yep, you ready?”

  “I'm ready, I'm ready,” he laughed, “let's go.”

  So I traced with Kanaloa, and Trevor took Kael through the Aether and into Faerie.

  We arrived at The End of the Road, a tracing point in front of a huge tree that was, go figure, at the end of a road. The road in particular led to the Castle of Eight, and was where we'd traced in not so long ago to go to the Faerie-God Ball. It was, in fact, the only tracing point in and out of Faerie.

  Waiting for us was Arach's carriage, its black, polished wood shining like jet in the streaks of sunlight that made it past the barricade of branches above. On the door was the crest of the House of Fire, a red dragon with wings spread up, the tips coming to a point above its head, and fire coming from its open mouth to form a sharp point below it. The wings and fire formed the outline of a shield.

  The fey horses tethered to the carriage were sleek, black creatures with manes tipped in red that sparked when they flung their heads but it was their burning red eyes that always caught my attention. They held knowledge in them beyond that of simple animals. The horses stamped the ground restlessly, the grass to either sides of them actually pulling back from their feet instead of lashing out at the rude behavior.

  Around the carriage was a retinue of redcaps, I smiled at them as they parted, and Fearghal opened the carriage door for Arach. I went forward to meet him, Trevor hanging back for a moment with a wide-eyed Kanaloa and trussed up Kael.

  “Hey,” I was shockingly shy now that I'd decided to give Arach and I a chance.

  “A Thaisce,” he held out a hand and I took it, allowing him to pull me forward into a tight embrace. I felt him shudder around me and then felt the answering shaking that came from my own body, the exhausted relief that comes when you're finally in the arms of the lover you've been waiting for. Then Faerie reached out, seeping into my skin and welcoming me home with a shivering rush of magic that flowed up through me and into Arach. He pulled away and looked down at me in shock. “Was that Faerie?”

  “Yes,” I smiled. “Did you hear her?”

  “Yes,” his eyes filled with tears as one of his hands reached out into the air to drift in the currents of energy around us. The horses gave excited whinnies and the redcaps shifted, murmuring among themselves. “It's the most beautiful voice I've ever heard.”

  “What is?” Trevor had given up on waiting and was at our sides.

  “Faerie speaks to Vervain,” Arach stood back and then reached out a hand to Trevor.

  “Speaks to her?” Trevor shook the offered hand automatically.

  “Faerie speaks to our Queen?” Fearghal interrupted as the redcaps burst into chatter. “The House of Fire has truly been honored.”

  “Yes,” Arach casually wiped his tears away, it was the most masculine crying I'd ever seen, “we are but we've other matters to attend to, like our prisoner here. Fearghal, will you secure the traitor and see to his imprisonment at Castle Aithinne?”

  “Yes, King Arach,” Fearghal nodded, gave me one last awe-filled look, and went to collect Kael.

  “Arach,” I waved Kanaloa forward. “This is Kanaloa, God of the Sea, Darkness, and Squid.”

  “Squid?” I heard Trevor whisper to Kanaloa. Kanaloa chuckled and gave him a quick nod.

  “Kanaloa,” I cleared my throat to get their attention. “This is King Arach of the House of Fire, leader of the Host.”

  “Thank you for helping my Queen apprehend this traitor,” Arach held out his hand to Kanaloa.

  “My pleasure,” Kanaloa shook the offered hand. “I think it's going to be a fair trade.”

  “Yes,” Arach stood back and gestured to the carriage. “I'm here to offer transport to the Castle of Eight, where I'm told King Guirmean of the House of Water already eagerly awaits us.”

  We all piled into the carriage as some of the redcaps tromped off with Kael in tow. He'd have some time yet to ponder his fate at the hands of the Wild Hunt. Wouldn't the Host be excited, to hunt the same fey twice? I bet that had never happened before.

  “What did she say to you?” Trevor interrupted my musings as the carriage jerked forward and we began our trek to the castle in the center of the Forgetful Forest.

  “Who?”

  “Faerie, Arach said she spoke to you.”

  “Oh,” I smiled and was surprised to see not only Trevor and Kanaloa listening intently but Arach as well. “She welcomed me home.”

  “Home,” Trevor's voice was low, almost a growl. “This isn't your home.”

  “It's one of them now,” I sighed. “Trevor, I was going to wait till we were all together to talk to you about this but I see that it needs to be said. Faerie has given me a bit of an epiphany. I'm a trinity being, a person of three aspects, and I can't choose to be any one of them. I must be all three to be complete.”

  “A trinity being?” Trevor frowned. “Is that what Faerie called you?”

  “Yes,” I laughed a little, it seemed a little silly when I said it aloud but I was beginning to remember more of the actual words Faerie had used when she spoke to me and in my memory, it had sounded beautiful. “I know it sounds strange but it's magic and magic likes trinities, you know that, the Binding is based on the Law of Three.”

  “Yes, but a person can't be three things at once.”

  “Yet there she is,” Arach sounded as overwhelmed as Trevor. I guess it was really starting to sink in for him now that he'd heard Faerie too. “Who are we to tell her what she can or cannot be? Who are we to contradict Faerie herself?”

  “I am not becoming fey,” I took Trevor's hand. “I am fey, I always was, just as I've always been human. It's the goddess aspect that's new. The only changes made to me were done by gods. It was this new magic that shifted me from duality to trinity and somewhere in that shift, the magic bonded, becoming something greater than the sum of its parts. This is what Faerie told me, showed me, that trying to become only one of those parts now would mean severing the rest away and destroying myself in the process.”

  “It's starting to make sense,” Trevor finally acceded. “I guess it's a bit of a relief, that even Faerie doesn't want you to turn completely fey.”

  “I'm glad you see that,” I relaxed back into the cushioned seat. “I feel like my life has become a delicate balancing act. Human, goddess, and sidhe. I was going a little crazy trying to figure out which one I was.”

  “You do realize that you're more than one trinity?” Trevor raised a brow at me and instantly had both mine and Arach's intense attention.

&
nbsp; “Whatchu talkin' bout, Willis?” I cocked my head.

  “Yes, whatever she said,” Arach nodded.

  “You're human, fey, and goddess,” Trevor smiled at us. “But you 're also wolf, lion, and dragon. Two triple aspects. Do you think the magic will find a way to make a third? It almost feels incomplete to me without one.”

  “Three times three,” I whispered and looked over at Arach.

  “What will be, will be,” he held his hands out to the sides. “Don't worry about that now. We have bigger concerns.”

  “Bigger concerns than another possible trinity?” Kanaloa looked us all over. “You must be in some deep water if that's the case.”

  “Indeed,” Arach looked at Trevor. “I assume she told you about our conjecture over her absence in Faerie?”

  “Yes,” Trevor's face darkened. “I want her to stay here while we handle Iktomi but she refuses.”

  “I can't hide in Faerie because I'm afraid of a spider,” I huffed. “We don't even know for sure that my death is what stopped me from returning.”

  “You said it yourself,” Arach leaned forward in his seat across from mine. “Nothing else would have prevented you from returning.”

  “Wait,” Kanaloa was trying to follow our conversation, poor guy. “You're gonna die?”

  “Everything dies,” I said softly.

  “Not immortals,” Trevor said.

  “Not the fey,” Arach said at the same time.

  “Actually, both of those do,” I raised a brow, “I know because I've killed them. I hunted gods alone for years, I'm not going to hide now when I'm much stronger and have so many others backing me.”

  “Let's talk about those others, Vervain,” oh, Trevor called me Vervain instead of Minn Elska, this was going to be a lecture. “I will die if you die and the Intare will go insane, not to mention how Odin will take your death, or Azrael, and how about your fire fey, your... well,” Trevor glanced at Arach and then back at me, “well, what is he? Have you decided yet? Or are you going to wait till you're dead, so you don't have to make the choice?”

  “Harsh, babe,” I blinked at him as both Kanaloa and Arach inhaled sharply. “So what you're saying is that I'm more crippled now because people depend on me, than I was when I was alone and had no one to help me? Oh and that I don't like making decisions?”

  “I'm sorry,” he sat back and rubbed at his head. “The thought of you dying makes me panic, especially since we have no idea how this possible death is going to happen and this guy has already abducted you once.”

  “He's what?” Arach narrowed his eyes on me. “You made no mention of an abduction.”

  “And torture,” Trevor added quietly.

  “Someone dared to torture my Queen?” Arach's eyes were starting to slant higher up on his face.

  “And we're going to kill him,” I glared at Trevor.

  “You were tortured, Minn Elska,” Trevor sighed, “and I know it must have been bad because you refuse to talk about it. What else can I do? I need all the help I can get.”

  “I know,” I stroked his leg. “And I've made a decision by the way. About Arach.”

  “Well?” Funny enough, it was Kanaloa who broke the silence.

  “I've decided to give us a shot,” I shrugged.

  “Then you'll be fine with staying here while the rest of us handle Iktomi,” Trevor said with satisfaction.

  “Trevor,” I groaned. He must have really been afraid for me if he wanted me with Arach.

  “We have arrived,” Arach announced as the carriage started to slow. He looked like he wasn't sure whether he should be happy over my announcement or upset over my abduction.

  I looked out the window at the magnificent sight the Castle of Eight trees made and then quickly glanced over at Kanaloa to see his reaction. He was open-mouthed with shock, his head practically hanging out of the window as he stared. Yep, I knew how he felt, my first time seeing the castle had been in the air, and it was even more beautiful when you could see it all laid out before you.

  I reached up and undid the coil of my braided hair, which I'd put up to go hunting Kael. My scalp relaxed and I sighed as the heavy weight of my dark hair fell around me in waves. The smell of my shampoo filled my nose for a second, so strangely mundane against the backdrop of Faerie scents. Arach caught my gaze and smiled as he reached out a hand and took a lock of hair to rub between his fingers. It was long enough that I didn't even have to lean forward, the length of it just stretched between us like a silken cord of binding.

  “You should wear your hair down more often,” Kanaloa said, breaking the spell. “It's very pretty.”

  “Thanks,” I flung the rest of it back, over my shoulders, to pool around my hips on the seat. “I normally do but it gets in the way of a hunt.”

  “I can see why,” he laughed and went back to staring at the castle we were pulling up to. The fey milling about the courtyard were probably pretty interesting as well. Hell, everything outside the carriage windows was more interesting than my hair.

  We stopped in front of the stairs leading into the main tree and one of our remaining redcaps came to open the door for us. He smiled a jagged-toothed grin at me, his head with its huge hooked nose, level with mine for a moment before I descended the steps. His big hand held mine carefully so I wouldn't trip.

  “Thank you, Taran,” I didn't wait for the others, just went up the steps to the waiting cat-sidhe, who was holding out his arms to me.

  “Vervain!” Roarke called with delight as I closed the distance between us.

  “Hey, cat,” I hugged him, surprised at how much I'd missed his scampish behavior. “How's life? Caught any rats lately?”

  “No, but I hear you have,” he winked at me as he pulled away. “King Guirmean is waiting with the High King and Queen in the throne room. There have been whispers about you catching Kael in the Human Realm. Care to deny or confirm?”

  “Confirmed,” I laughed as the others caught up with us. “This is Kanaloa, he helped with the rat catching and King Guirmean is going to show him around the Water Kingdom as his reward.”

  “Uuuuggghh,” Roarke shivered theatrically. “Better you than I. Cats don't like water.”

  “Well, squids do,” Kanaloa grinned.

  “Can you actually shift into a squid?” I asked, looking back at him in surprise.

  “Yes, of course,” he shrugged. “Why be a god of squid and not be able to turn into one? I can do octopus too.”

  “Cool, octopus, huh? Don't they have three hearts?”

  “The better to love with,” he grinned. “I can also do interesting things with my tentacles.”

  “Oh, okay then,” I looked over to Arach while Kanaloa laughed. “Shall we, my King?”

  “We shall,” he nodded and extended an arm to me. He wasn't the least bit intrigued by Kanaloa's declaration but then I'm sure Faerie had stranger than he.

  “Oh please,” Roarke rolled his eyes as we strolled past. “What happened to the funny, part-human girl? Can we have her back?”

  “I'm still her,” I winked at him over my shoulder. “But I'm a Queen too so you better watch it, cat.”

  “Great, she's turned into another snotty faerie queen,” Roarke continued to gripe.

  “Faerie/goddess/human queen, actually,” Trevor knocked Roarke's shoulder with his own, sending the cat stumbling.

  “Hey,” Roarke righted himself. “Wait, what?”

  “I'll tell you later,” I called back to him as we made our way to the throne room of the High King and Queen of Faerie.

  Chapter Forty-Two

  The throne room was crowded, as it always seemed to be. I'm not sure why I wasn't expecting it. A central path opened for us, leading straight to the occupied thrones. King Guirmean stood at the base of the dais, to the right of the High King, looking excited. They were all smiling broadly by the time we made it to them.

  “King Arach, Queen Vervain, Prince Trevor, and,” the High King smiled brightly, almost as bright as his
golden hair and shining skin. “I presume this is the sea god you spoke of, Queen Vervain?”

  “Yes, High King,” I gestured to Kanaloa and he stepped forward, looking over the fey royalty with avid curiosity, almost as much as they showed for him. “This is Kanaloa, God of the Sea, Darkness, and Squid.”

  “Squid?” The High Queen peered at the tattoos partially hidden by the T-shirt Trevor had given him. A T-shirt advertising our club Moonshine, where it was all moon, all the time, according to the writing. I almost rolled my eyes at that.

  “Why do people always get hung up on the squid part?” Kanaloa grinned endearingly and the fey fell for it; hook, line, and sinker.

  “Charming,” High Queen Meara smiled, flashing a little fang that had Kanaloa blinking in surprise.

  “I am High King Cian,” the King announced before waving to his Queen, “this is my Queen, Meara, and here is King Guirmean of the House of Water. He will be hosting your visit to the Water Kingdom.”

  “A whole kingdom of water,” Kanaloa grinned. “Sounds fantastic.”

  “We water fey think so,” King Guirmean grinned and then turned to me. “It's good to see you once more, Queen Vervain. Faerie has missed you.”

  “So she said,” I joked before I realized what I'd said.

  The room got quiet except for Arach's chuckle and Trevor's groan. King Cian's brilliant eyes honed in on me and pierced me in place. I glanced around the room, finding similar intense expressions on most of the fey.

  “What did you mean by that, Queen Vervain?” King Cian finally asked.

  “Faerie has spoken to my Queen,” Arach stepped up beside me and laid a hand on my shoulder. I breathed a sigh of relief. “And today, when I held Vervain, Faerie spoke to me as well.”

  “Impossible,” the High Queen whispered.

  “Be assured,” Arach continued as if she hadn't spoken, “that we have no aspirations to your thrones. I'm certain the thought hasn't even occurred to Queen Vervain.”

  “Thrones?” I looked from Arach to Cian. “Whoa there!” I waved my hands in a negating gesture. “High King, I don't know why Faerie speaking to me might mean I'd want your throne but there's no way. I can barely handle the responsibilities I've got. You're much better suited to run Faerie, I wouldn't even know where to begin.”