by Unknown
“I missed you too, Dex,” I hugged his lion-like body, four of his legs on the ground while the other two gazelle-thin limbs hung over my shoulders. His sleek tail swung happily behind him, its lethal barb hidden in the tuft of fur at the end. I eased him down, giving the thick ruff around his neck a scratch, and faced the dragon.
Dexter sat beside me, his long tail curling around my legs as he leaned his head into my upper arm. Yes, upper arm, he was that big. The gravelly sound I knew to be his purr, started rumbling out of his chest and vibrating into me. He had accepted my appearance with the unquestioning ease and instincts of an animal but I had a feeling Arach was going to take a little longer to convince.
The deadly dragon before me tensed and then began to shake, shivers running beneath his blood-red scales as his muscles spasmed. The ground trembled as the Dragon King took a step forward. Then another step; massive tar-black talons tearing into the vulnerable earth. Those powerful legs, with their bulging muscles strong enough to crush a carriage, began to buckle and then bent, bringing the King of Fire to his knees. His sleek head collapsed forward with a wave-like undulation, giving me a glimpse of an obsidian belly before it landed right in front of me. Blackened nostrils flared and Arach breathed deep, drawing my hair forward over my shoulders. Those shining, slit, sun-colored eyes stared at me like I was a demon from Hell. Kind of an ironic look coming from a dragon.
“Begone, Spirit,” he huffed, blowing my hair back and ruffling Dexter's fur. “I can take no more of your taunts.”
Dexter leaned in closer but never stopped purring.
“Begone, Spirit?” I laughed and smacked Arach on the tip of his nose. He jerked back in shock. “What is this, Macbeth? Get up, you ludicrous lizard, and turn into a man so I can hug you.”
“I...” his huge eyes were blinking rapidly, their slit pupils constricting as he focused on me more intently. Then he took another deep sniff. “Vervain?!”
“Yeah, Puff, it's me,” I said softly. “Now change back, will ya?”
Instantly, he shifted into his man form, naked and as beautiful as ever, though a bit haunted around the eyes. He rushed forward and scooped me up, burying his face in my hair and bawling like a baby. I held him until the tears slowed and his shoulders stopped shaking, then I held him some more. All the while, Dex wound himself around the both of us, comforting us as best he could.
Arach's outburst was almost as startling as Fearghal's had been. I'd seen Arach upset before but this was much worse. He was the type of man who was calm right up until the point that he wasn't but that point was usually one of anger and if you were around to see it, you were either very confident in his affection for you or very unfortunate. His tears were rare. For him to wail like a child was something I would have previously labeled impossible. I reached out and stroked Dexter's head, glad that he'd been there for Arach.
“Tell me you're real,” Arach whispered, “and if you're not, say it anyway and let me live in this madness forever.”
“You're not hallucinating,” I pulled back and stroked the red scales at his temples. “I'm here. Samara brought me forward using our ring... rings... whatever. I'm here. We're here,” I rubbed my belly and Arach dropped to his knees with another sob, hands and face pressing to my stomach.
“My son,” he whispered. “Rian.”
“Yes, your son and your wife,” I sighed. “Here we are, you big idiot. What have you done?”
“I tried to rule Faerie,” he looked up at me like a penitent and I, the priestess who could absolve him of all his sins. “And I failed, Vervain. They killed Rian and then they killed you. I nearly destroyed the other kingdoms with my vengeance.”
“Yeah, I heard,” I grimaced. “I'm going to try and change that but I need your help to figure out why I didn't stop you.”
“Stop me?” He blinked up at me.
“From going to war against the rest of Faerie,” I shook my head. “What the hell, Arach? Why would you even want to rule Faerie?”
“To protect you and our children,” he whispered and I finally understood.
A dragon-sidhe was just another type of animal when it came down to it. Their instincts were tempered by their feyness but in the end, the beast was a strong motivator and the strongest of those motivations was to protect their young. The birth of our children must have lit a fire in the already hot tempered Fire King. He must have seen enemies within every shadow and every smile. He wouldn't have been able to rest without knowing his treasure was safe.
“That wasn't the way,” I whispered and he groaned, hugging me to him. “Why didn't I say anything or do anything to stop you, Arach?”
“I don't know,” he whimpered. “I don't know. I don't know.”
“Get up, honey,” I ran my fingers through his long, crimson hair. “It's time for you to pull yourself together and remember the past. It's the only way I can save our future.”
Dexter gave a yip of agreement.
“Alright, A Thaisce,” He whispered and stood on shaky legs. “I'll try my best.” He reached down and stroked Dexter's silky black fur. “He wouldn't leave your body. No matter how I growled or snapped at him, he stayed; guarding you with me until I finally gave up and let him.”
“You're a good boy, Dex. Thank you for looking after our guy,” I scratched the nurial's head and he started purring again. Then I looked back at Arach. “Speaking of my body,” I waved a hand towards the glass box he'd been wrapped around, which was actually a coffin containing my corpse. “What am I, Snow White? Where are the damn dwarfs, huh? They out mining for gold and singing Hi Ho?”
“I killed them all,” Arach said seriously, ruining my joke. “I killed almost all of the earth fey.”
“I don't think Prince Charming is supposed to kill the seven dwarfs,” I said dryly.
“I'm not a prince, I'm a king,” Arach lifted a perfect winged brow.
“And not a very charming one either,” I added. “I think I'll call you King Narcissist instead. The Bloody King Narcissist, you dwarf killer.”
That's when he began to laugh and laugh and laugh. It went on so long that I started to get worried, though Dex thought it was the grandest thing ever and began to leap around, barking delightedly. Arach's laughter was still echoing through the cavern when he scooped me up and spun me around.
“It is you!” He exclaimed and kissed me.
That kiss turned into something too passionate for a magma warmed cavern which also happened to contain my corpse. I stopped him and told him as much and his solution was to simply lift me up into his arms and run all the way to our bedroom, with Dexter chasing after us. Honestly, I was glad to be away from my dead body. I wasn't sure if I could resist the urge to look closer and I really didn't want that image in my head.
Of course getting closer to Arach's body was a definite plus and although I knew we needed to get to work on figuring out where it all went wrong, I also knew Arach's dragon nature would never be satisfied until he claimed his mate in every way that mattered to him. So I sacrificed myself -insert dramatic sigh here-and allowed him to ravish me. Poor Dexter got locked in the bathroom because he refused to lay nicely in his own bed.
It was probably the most bittersweet moment I've ever shared with Arach. It had started wild, a race to get skin to skin, and then progressed into a desperate slide of hands across my body. My face. My hair. As if touching me could erase the trauma he'd experienced. I went along with every transition and let him direct our passion until he was sliding inside me and framing my face with his hands. He just stared at me as we came together, those bright eyes glowing with intensity, and then he gave one last surge and groaned; falling into me, his face nestled into my neck.
After a moment, his whole body began to shake as he cried. No, he sobbed. He poured out his sorrow in stuttered, anguished shouts and a flood of tears. I was soon crying with him, holding him to me like I could take the misery away by simply absorbing it. I wrapped my whole body around him and whispered that everything
was going to be alright, that we'd fix the past and he'd never have to know this pain.
He shifted finally, sliding down to lay his head against my rounded belly. His palm spread over it as his other arm slid beneath me and around my waist, to pull me tighter against him. He didn't speak, just clung to me and pressed his ear to my stomach. I went silent as well and let him take all the time he needed to come back to himself and sanity.
We stayed that way for quite awhile; him laying against me and me with my hand on his hair. Though I did get up at one point to let Dexter out of the bathroom. Dex jumped up on the bed and curled around us both as we went back to quietly holding each other. We were all content to just lie there and I honestly have no idea how long we did. It was long enough that Samara finally came to our door to check on us. I told her we'd be down in awhile, to just give us a bit more time, and she'd gone away. But it had been enough of a disturbance to stir Arach. He lifted his face and stared at the door, as if trying to figure out who I was talking to.
“That was Samara,” I whispered and stroked his cheek. “Our daughter.”
“Our daughter,” he frowned and then exhaled roughly. “We have a daughter, Vervain. You gave me two children. Two.”
“I know, honey,” I smiled at him sadly. “She's the one who came and got me from the past, remember? I told you about it earlier.”
“Right,” he took a deep breath and sat up. “Right, you're past Vervain. My Vervain is dead.”
“I'm your Vervain. I will always be your Vervain,” I leaned forward an hugged him. His arms went around me desperately. “I'm here now and we're going to fix this so I don't end up in that fairy tale coffin you put me in.”
“Glass,” he swallowed hard, “so I could see you. I took you out every day and held you. You're under a preservation spell.”
“Yeah, I get it,” I drew back and looked into his eyes. The glow was fading to a normal yellow and he was starting to look like himself again. “You lost your mind, baby. Went over the deep end. Completely bonkers.”
“All the best people are,” he whispered with a little smile.
“Look at you, quoting my favorite movie,” I teased and tapped the end of his long nose. “You are feeling better.”
“A Thaisce,” his face crumpled and I pulled his forehead down to mine.
“Shh,” I angled my face up to give him a quick kiss. “It'll be like a bad dream soon. Just let it go, listen to my voice and let it go. I'm here with you now. I'm alive and so is our son. Everything will be okay.”
“How do you always know exactly what to say?” He smiled and leaned back to look at me.
“I've been there, remember?” My smile faded. “Odin.” A shiver coasted over me as I said his name.
“Yes,” he whispered. “Your ex-lover.”
“My ex-lover?” I blinked and then remembered.
I had let Odin go. I guess a small piece of me hadn't believed that was the end of us. I'd thought that one day he'd remember who he was and come back to me. We'd gone through all of that before and he had come back. He always came back. Then I recalled how permanent it had felt this time. Odin had told me the truth. This time is the last, he'd said and he'd meant it. He didn't come back.
“What happened to him?” I asked quietly. “Do you know?”
“He died,” Arach said simply. “He became human after he left you and he lived a normal human lifespan.”
“Odin died as a human?” I gaped at Arach. “How ironic. He once begged me to become a goddess but I wanted to remain human and I died so. Now he goes and does the same thing. Maybe it's more poetic than ironic.”
“Or hypocritical,” Arach shook his head. “You were over him by then and his death wasn't as hard on you the second time around.”
“I got over him?” I looked away from Arach, trying to work through the weird feeling this was giving me. Dexter laid his head into my lap, sensing my distress, and Rian shifted within me so that he was pressed against Dexter. I stroked Dex absently and sent calming energy to my son.
“Things went poorly after you died,” Arach looked at me steadily. “Not just here but in the God Realm as well.”
“Yeah, I heard,” I sighed. “Trevor's dead.”
“Yes,” Arach nodded. “Azrael shut himself up in Shehaquim and Kirill is in Pride Palace, defending your daughter.”
“Azrael shut himself up in Shehaquim?” I frowned. “What does that mean?”
“I don't really know,” he sighed. “Kirill came to see me once. He wanted your body. He said Azrael needed to see it, that he couldn't accept your death without seeing the proof of it, and that he'd shut himself up in Shehaquim.”
“You didn't ask him what he meant?”
“I was a little self-centered at the time,” Arach pointed out. “The only reason I didn't kill Kirill is because I knew how much you had loved him. I barely listened to him, just wrapped myself around you and went back to sleep.”
“Arach,” I swallowed hard and took his hand.
“You killed us all when you died,” he whispered. “Trevor was the lucky one and went quickly. The rest of us were consigned to a much slower demise.”
“Samara said I had a son with Trevor,” I ignored his talk of a slow death. Not that I didn't believe it, I believed it completely. I had died that slow death before after all. But I couldn't let thoughts of their suffering overwhelm me or I wouldn't be able to do anything to change it.
“Vero,” Arach got out of bed and started to get dressed. “He lives in your old house in Hawaii and runs Moonshine. In his free time, he hunts evil gods.”
“He does what?” I paused in the middle of pulling on some underwear.
“He wanted to continue your work,” Arach shrugged. “Your other husbands stopped helping your little god group.”
“The God Squad,” I corrected absently.
“Yes, them,” he rolled his eyes and I smiled delightedly to see the old Arach returning. “So Vero joined them and he's supposedly a lot like his mother.”
“Supposedly?” I lifted a brow. “Have you never met him?”
“I've met him,” he shrugged, “but I haven't seen him since your death.”
“What about the children I had with Azrael?” I asked.
“The twins,” Arach belted his tunic. “I don't know what happened to them. I assume Azrael has raised them to be angels but I don't know what type. If they're more like us or him.”
“Us or him?” I blinked.
“If they've become more demon, looking like us in our half-forms,” Arach shrugged, “or more angelic, like their feathered father.”
“Feathered father?” I chuckled.
“Come now, A Thaisce,” he helped me slip into my gown. “Let's speak with our advisers and see what we can do to prevent your death and my insanity.”
“Sounds like a plan,” I let him lead me forward but right before we left the room, Arach pulled me into a scalding kiss.
“Don't ever die again,” he whispered against my lips.
“I'll try my best not to.”
Chapter Twelve
“Queen Vervain?”
I was headed back toward the dining hall with Arach when a familiar voice stopped me. I started to smile as I turned around but the smile faded into confusion.
“You're not Fionnaghal,” I cocked my head and looked over the faerie who was obviously a Hidden One but not the right Hidden One.
This female had four arms like a Hindu goddess, two legs, and a tail hanging out from beneath her short, scarlet dress. The sleek tail swung in an agitated manner around her legs. What I could see of her skin was covered in short, golden, lion-like fur and her round eyes were as red as Arach's hair. She had a flat nose, wide and brown, and paws instead of hands. She was the first Hidden One I'd ever seen wearing clothing and it made me smile a little.
“I'm her daughter,” the Hidden One frowned. “Don't you remember me, Aunty Queen?”
The air rushed out of my lungs and I had to g
asp before I could whisper, “Mini V.” I grabbed her around the shoulders and pulled her into a hug. Her fur slid softly against my cheek. “Of course I remember you but I've come from the past, where you were just a little thing.”
“It's true then?” She pulled back and swiped quickly at the damp fur around her eyes as Dexter circled happily around us. She reached out absently to scratch his head as she went on. “You're going to change things? Make them better?”
“Yeah,” I smiled and stroked back the fur at her temples. The fur on her head, from forehead back, was longer and thicker, resembling hair more than fur, but it was still as soft as any animal pelt. “Where's your parents and your siblings? I'd like to see them.”
Vervain, who had been named after me but who I called Mini V in order to prevent confusion, went silent. Dexter whined and pressed against us.
“They all died, Vervain,” Arach's low voice came from behind me.
“What?” I turned to look at him. “All of them?”
“Fionnaghal died defending her children and they in turn tried to avenge her death,” Arach sighed.
“My father sacrificed himself to save me,” Mini V added. “I was the only member of my family to survive.”
“I'm so sorry, Vervain,” I said. It felt awkward to address another person by my name but the moment was too serious for a nickname.
“Just bring them back, Aunty,” she sniffed. “Please.”
“I will,” I swallowed past the hard lump of heartache that had lifted into my throat. “I loved them very much.”
“They loved you too,” she gave me another quick hug. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Mini V, and you're wrong; you're not the only member of your family left. I'm your family too,” I pulled back to see her nod and give me a shaky smile. Then I turned to Arach. “How many did we lose?”
“Hundreds,” Arach said grimly. “But not as much as the rest of Faerie.”
“But the Hidden Ones?” I shook my head in disbelief. “They were able to kill Hidden Ones?”
“They killed you,” Arach said as if that were even more impressive.