by Unknown
“There are aspects of my territory that I have no control of!” He stood abruptly and shouted back. When I merely lifted a brow at him, he took a deep, calming breath and rubbed a hand across his face. “I'm sorry about that, Carus. You have every right to be mad. I should have confessed everything to you but it's something that I find both painful and humiliating.”
“Why?” I frowned.
“Like I said,” he sighed and sat back down. “I have no control over it. I've tried many times to stop the torture. It leads to insanity among those avenging angels and a type of decay in Shehaquim.”
“Decay?” I frowned deeper.
“The evil in that dark place needs to be fed,” Az clenched his jaw and then swallowed hard before continuing. “If the blood of the wicked doesn't flow, the earth blackens and the evil spreads through Shehaquim. It nearly infected the source of the holy rivers before I gave in the last time. And if those rivers were to be infected, they would sour the Tree of Life.”
“Son of a succubus,” I whispered.
“Yes, it would be bad,” Azrael's eyes twitched. “The burgeoning souls would be tainted. Babies would be born evil.”
“They wouldn't have a chance,” I concluded. “No choice to be good or bad.”
“Exactly,” he swallowed hard. “I've been crippled by the faith of humans. It's a bit ironic actually.”
“I'm sorry I yelled at you about it. I should have known it was something like that,” I said sincerely. “I should have trusted you.”
“Yes, you should have,” Azrael agreed, “but I should have been more honest and told you it all to begin with.”
“Make-up sex?” I offered brightly.
“Oh, yes,” he picked me up and tossed me onto his king sized bed. “I think it's mandatory.”
Chapter Forty-Eight
I reappeared in the bedroom I shared with Arach in Castle Aithinne. He was standing in front of the bed, waiting for me. It threw me a little since the last time I'd seen him, it had been in the future. I'd left Faerie from Arach's office and a part of me had been expecting to return there. I'd completely forgotten that the last time I'd departed the Faerie Realm in my own time, had been from our bedroom. Arach smiled brightly when he saw me but soon lost the smile when he saw my blank expression.
“Why can you never stay out of trouble?” He shook his head and took my hand. “What's happened now.”
“This time, my darling dragon, it was all your fault,” I said sweetly.
“What?” The blood red brows above his dragon eyes angled sharply downward.
“Well, maybe not all of it,” I amended. “The Vampire Queen who wants to drink our baby's blood had nothing to do with you.”
“What?!” He shrieked.
“It's being handled,” I grabbed his hand and pulled him over to our little dining table. A sudden thought occurred to me as I as I sat. “You know, we'll need a bigger table when the children are born.”
“Children?” He blinked. “As in plural? You're agreeing to have more?”
“We will have more. I've seen it,” I was enjoying messing with him and you have to admit, he deserved it.
“You've what?” He gaped at me. “What in flame's heart are you talking about, Vervain?”
“I was kidnapped by a vampire queen,” I began and then went on to tell him it all. Our daughter coming through time to get me, our son dying, me dying, all of Faerie falling apart. That stupid glass coffin. He sat in stunned silence through it all and then finally sat back in his chair and sighed deeply.
“Well, so much for conquering Faerie,” he finally said.
“You think?” I huffed as a scratching came at the door. With a wide grin, I got up to let Dexter in. “There's my baby,” I crooned as I leaned down to give him a scratch. He began to make his grating, rumbling purr as he slid around my legs. He was back to the size I remembered but I knew it wouldn't last for long. Someday he'd be bigger than me. I went back over to Arach and Dex followed. “We're going to have to get him a bigger bed,” I waved a hand towards Dexter's small version of our bed.
“Yes, I expected as much,” he eyed the nurial. “He really stayed with me down in the caves?”
“Never left your side,” I sent Dexter a sweet look. “I told you he loves you too.”
“It was probably just shared anguish,” Arach scoffed but at the same time, he reached down and gently stroked Dexter's face. Then his eyes shot up to mine. “We have a daughter too?”
“We will,” I grinned, “and she's pretty damn amazing.”
“Well of course she is,” he huffed.
“And we're going to let her choose her own husband,” I added.
“Vervain,” he growled, “a royal princess does not have that luxury.”
“But we gave it to our son,” I reminded him.
“It sounds to me as if you gave it to our son,” Arach corrected. “Samara will unfortunately pay the price for that.”
“No, she will not, Arach!” I slammed my fist into the table and he flinched back in shock. “I'll be damned if she suffers anything after all she went through to save us. She didn't even know if she'd be born after the changes were made and yet she still instigated them. That kind of strength deserves to be rewarded, not punished.”
“Then Rian will have to marry Sinnea,” Arach declared.
“I'm not forcing either of my children into marriage,” I ground out.
“The whole reason for having children is so they can continue our race,” Arach snapped. “If they go off and marry non-dragons, there's no point to it.”
“How about love?” I lifted my brows. “Family? How about the fact that you'll have four more dragons than you do now? How about averting war?”
“How will that avert war?” He grumbled.
“By preventing the blending of our kingdoms,” I lifted a brow. “Darkfire will never happen. Do you hear me, Arach? I will not allow it.”
“Do you think I would?” He asked softly. “After all you've revealed to me, do you think I would risk your life and that of our son on dreams of power?”
“No,” I sighed. “I don't think you would but I need to be certain. If preventing the war was as simple as telling you what would happen, then I would have returned sooner. I think they'll come a time when you'll be lured by the prospect of power again but this time, I will stop you.” I let out a shaky breath. “So many died, Arach,” I sniffed and then gaped at him as I realized I was crying.
“Alright, easy now,” he swept me up and carried me to the bed, setting me across his lap as he wiped away my tears. “No one's going to die.”
“All of the pixies did,” I cried harder. “All of them. Those brave little faeries, all gone in the very first battle.”
“They're small and their magic is weak but they have the greatest of hearts,” he nodded. “And I would never have known it if you hadn't shown me. You have ever been my guiding star,” he put his hand to my chest, where my nine-pointed star responded with instant warmth. “I will remember it better in the future.”
“You stop my world,” I whispered to him as I lifted my face for a kiss.
“And you save mine. Over and over again,” he whispered back, right before his lips met mine.
Chapter Forty-Nine
Much later that evening, Arach and I were wandering down towards the dining hall when we ran into King Guirmean and his fiance, Lady Nora. She was no longer Captain Nora now that Faerie had changed her into the first water phooka. She'd gone to live in the Water Kingdom with Guirmean and they were soon to be married, so she'd been given the title of Lady until she became Queen. Because it just wouldn't do to have a king affianced to a commoner.
My whole body tensed when I saw him and I reacted without thinking. I slapped his smiling face. As he, Nora, and Arach all gaped at me, I growled low in my throat, my lioness emerging.
“That was for killing Darius,” I blinked in shock, even as I spoke the words.
“What?” Guirmean loo
ked back and forth between Arach and I. “Darius is alive and well, I assure you, Queen Vervain.”
“Sorry about that,” I grimaced. “The lioness can be hard to control and I just got back from the future where you did kill Darius.”
“What?!” Nora screeched.
“Why don't we all go have some dinner and my wife can explain?” Arach waved us down the hallway, taking my arm firmly in his. “Perhaps that was not the best way to tell him,” Arach whispered to me as our friends trailed behind us.
“Yeah, I get that,” I whispered back. “I couldn't control it. Seeing him pissed me off.”
“Well please control your slippery tongue in the future,” he urged.
“My what?” I sent him a horrified look.
“That's what you call it when you say something you don't mean to, correct? A slippery tongue.” He stopped to frown at me.
“It was a slip of the tongue,” I corrected. “Use the verb, not the adjective.”
“Now you've lost me completely,” Arach shook his head.
“Slip, not slippery,” I heaved a sigh as we started walking forward again. “Never mind. It wasn't a slip, it was a gut reaction.”
“We're still behind you,” Nora grumbled.
“Sorry, Lady Nora,” I grinned at her over my shoulder.
We made it to the dining hall and headed straight down the center of the two lines of tables, laid end to end on each side of the hall. Guirmean and Nora joined us at the high table, placed horizontally to the others on its raised dais. As soon as we were seated, Guirmean and Nora turned expectantly to me and I began to tell them the long recounting of my recent adventures. Telling the tale over and over was getting exhausting but I did enjoy talking about my children.
At the end of the story, Guirmean's usually bright visage was grim and remorseful. “My most sincere apologies, Queen Vervain,” he said. “All I can say in my defense is that fatherhood changes a man and it sounds as if I was changed not only by my son's birth but by his death as well.”
“As we were changed by Rian's,” Arach nodded. “You owe us no apology, King Guirmean. It hasn't happened nor do I expect it to.”
“I'm sorry I struck you,” I offered. “That was unfair.”
“It's hard for me to accept that I possess the ability to kill an innocent man,” Guirmean sighed. “I appreciate your striking me for it will serve to remind me of that wicked potential and to keep me true to myself.”
“May your true self never be tested,” I reached across Nora to pat Guirmean's hand.
“I wish I could offer you the same hope,” Guirmean gave a grim smile, “but I believe your true self is fated to be constantly tested.”
“And constantly changed,” I agreed. “Things which I have learned to appreciate.”
“Well then, may you always do so,” Guirmean lifted his glass and I clicked mine against it.
“How is Darius, by the way?” I asked after taking a sip.
“He looks to be nearly as happy as I am,” Guirmean shot a loving look at Nora. “Which is to say that he's obscenely, absurdly jubilant.”
“I'm glad,” I laughed. “He came home to help me battle a vampire queen and save some Intare she'd abducted but I didn't get the chance to talk to him about his new life.”
“You battled a what?” Guirmean asked and then quickly waved his hand. “No, never mind, I don't want to know.”
“No, you don't,” Arach sighed. “Suffice it to say, my queen is not leaving my sight until our babe is born.”
“I'll have to visit the God Realm,” I squeezed Arach's hand. “Just every couple of weeks so I can see Trevor and play catch up with the time. I'll use the ring of course.”
“You will promise not to leave Pride Palace?” He asked immediately.
“I... will make every effort to stay there,” I sighed.
“Fine,” Arach gave in. “But my son will never leave Faerie once he's born.”
“Oh okay,” I chuckled as I thought of Kaitlin.
If Arach thought Rian was going to remain in Faerie forever when the woman he loved lived in the Human Realm, Arach was going to be sorely disappointed.
I guess all parents have plans for their children which must be adjusted when reality sets in. Unfortunately, faerie parents, especially royal faerie parents, have much grander plans and reality just wasn't the same for them. I was sure Rian would win in the end but I was also sure he'd be in for a vicious battle with his father.
Chapter Fifty
“Where are we going?” I asked Arach as he led me through the castle.
It had been two weeks since I'd returned to Faerie and I was due to visit the God Realm but Arach insisted on showing me something first. My temper had become shorter, more volatile, and I'd had to increase my intake of suppressive seaweed jam to keep from burping flames every fifteen minutes but generally, my pregnancy wasn't so bad. My belly had grown considerably in the last couple of weeks and I'd begun rubbing a faerie salve into it to ease both the tightness and the chances of scarring. Not that I was too worried about the scars, when you have super healing and an ability to use fire to mend all injuries for you, scars become rare.
“The solar,” Arach's lips twitched a little and I narrowed my eyes on them as I pulled him to a stop.
“What's up with you, dragon?” I pointed a finger at his face.
“Vervain,” he sighed, “can't I simply give you a surprise without you ruining it with your suspicious nature?”
“Sorry,” I huffed and let him lead me on.
“You'll like this, I promise,” he smiled at me, glancing down at my belly proudly, as he did often. As if knocking me up was such a great accomplishment. Wow, you had a lot of sex, you're so amazing. Please. I was the one lugging the baby around inside my body.
“Go on then,” I grumbled.
He opened the door to the solar and a collected shout of “Surprise!” filled the air.
I gaped at the pastel streamers, the periwinkle plastic covered table, the pile of gaily wrapped presents, the crystal bowl full of punch, and the three-tiered cake topped with a stork holding a blanket wrapped baby with its beak. The room was filled with my faerie friends, including Caitir from the nearby village of Misty Meadows, Nora, Anna, Isleen, several pixie women, Fionnaghal with a few other Hidden Ones, and Lorna; the mother of Guirmean's son. My friends from the God Realm were there too; Samantha, Persephone, Hekate, Karni-Mata, Mrs E, Artemis, and Sarasvati. It was wonderful to see them all gathered there but what made me immediately burst into tears was the human woman who stood bravely among them all.
“Mom?” I rushed forward and hugged my mother tight. To see her in Faerie was so surreal. I'd never even thought to bring her there... but Arach had and that was a gift I would never forget.
“Surprise!” Mom said brightly as I pulled away. “My god, you're getting big. I didn't think you were so far along.”
“Dragon baby, remember?” I shrugged. “I'm more than halfway there.”
“Lucky you,” she chuckled.
“Yeah and the magic they use during childbirth is a plus too,” I laughed with her. “No pain, all gain.”
“Congratulations, Vervain,” Samantha came forward and hugged me, breaking the respectful distance people had been giving me and my mother. Everyone else closed in and I had to spend a few minutes greeting them all.
“Are you alright?” I whispered to my mother when I saw how her gaze kept drifting over to the Hidden Ones.
The Hidden Ones were Faerie's first creations. Wild magic had formed them with elemental essences and they'd emerged as conglomerations of creatures with humanoid faces. Hard carapaces combined with hooves or scales. Teeth were sharp and sometimes poisonous. Horns and claws abounded in all sorts of places. Basically, they had nightmarish appearances and after the more beautiful fey were born, they had slunk into the darkness in shame and become the Hidden Ones.
I had faced my fear over their visages long ago and discovered the true beauty that
lay beneath. So I often forgot that they could be terrifying, even to other faeries. For humans, the sight of a Hidden One could cause insanity. So the fact that my mother stood amongst them with barely a shiver of anxiety, was damn impressive.
“I'm fine,” she nodded decidedly. “Just taking it all in. Arach warned me about them when he came to get me.”
“Good, I'm glad he did. Speaking of which, I need to thank my husband. I'll be right back,” I left her to go over to where Arach waited near the door and saw Guirmean standing a little ways behind him in the hall. He was cradling the sleeping Prince Morgan. Presumably so his mother could enjoy the party. “Hey, King Guirmean,” I called but he waved his hand in a negating manner, drawing back into the hallway.
“Get out of here, Guirmean!” Nora shouted immediately. “I told you this is a human tradition for women only. You too, King Arach. Shoo!”
“Hold on now, wild thing,” I waved Nora down. “Let me thank Arach before we send him packing.”
“Of course, my... I mean, Queen Vervain,” Nora grinned. She was still getting used to me not being her queen.
“Now, you,” I turned to Arach and he grinned delightedly. “This is fantastic. Thank you for doing all of this and for bringing my mother here.”
“I thought it was about time she became a part of your fey life,” he cast a quick glance at her. “If any human deserves to see Faerie, it's the woman who birthed my wife. Without her, our lives would be much colder.”
“You are getting wild pregnant woman sex tonight,” I vowed in a whisper.
“I was hoping so,” he smirked and gave me a quick kiss. “Until then, enjoy your female party as I will enjoy a male version down the hall.”
“What?” I lifted my brows.
“Well, since you were going to be reveling in good wishes and congratulations, I thought it only fair that I gather my friends to heap the same blessings upon me,” he shrugged.
“I get the blessings because I'm the one pushing a baby out of a tiny orifice,” I growled.
“I put the baby in that tiny orifice,” he beamed.