“Then he can't kill Vervain,” Trevor declared in relief. “We all know how important she is to the future.”
“Sure,” Hades agreed. “But is she important to the cycle of time?”
“And there are other ways of hurting me, Honey-Eyes,” I whispered to Trevor as I looked at him pointedly.
Trevor sighed and nodded.
“So, we're dealing with a god who could rewrite history and a goddess who can unite the Greek Gods against us,” Thor summed it up.
“It looks as if we have two gods to kill,” Mr. T said.
We all stared at him in shock; Mr. T was even more calm and collected than his wife and son. I had never heard him suggest violence, much less outright declare that someone needed to die.
“We don't have the time to search for other solutions,” Mr. T explained. “Hades' initial suggestion was right; we must kill Nyx, but before we do that, we must kill this god who could change everything. Kill the Time God and we foil Nyx's plan.”
“Where can find Aion?” I asked Pan.
“Hell; I don't know,” Pan grumbled. “I figured out who it was, can't the rest of you find him?”
“I'll send my agents out,” Hades offered.
“I'll contact the Olympian Council,” Persephone added. “You're one of the Twelve now, Vervain, and Aion is a Greek. They'll help us find him.”
“Okay; let's meet back here when we have something,” Thor said.
Everyone agreed, and we started heading out of the room.
“Vervain,” Thor stopped me. “Maybe you should take Lesya to Faerie for now.”
“Faerie's time is aligned with ours, remember? Faerie can't protect her,” I said gently. “But thank you for worrying about my daughter.”
“It's not just her that I'm worried about.” Thor squeezed my hand. “You've come a long way, and we can't let anything jeopardize that.”
“I know,” I whispered as I watched Kirill walk over to us with Lesya.
Kirill had stayed out of the meeting so he could look after our daughter, but he must have stayed close enough to listen in. He had a grim look on his face and worry in his sapphire eyes.
“Uncle Torr,” Lesya said happily when she saw Thor.
Lesya reached out her arms, and Thor swept her up above his head.
“How's my little lioness?” Thor asked as Lesya squealed.
“Higher!” Lesya cried.
“Higher it is,” Thor said as he carried Lesya out of the room.
“Maybe Zor is right,” Kirill murmured; his Russian accent changing Thor's name into something even more exotic. Like father, like daughter. “Maybe you should take her to Faerie.”
“If someone changes our past, Kirill, it won't matter where she is,” I whispered. “The changes will affect her.”
“Zey may erase her completely,” Kirill growled.
“That has occurred to me.” I gave him a heavy look. “And so much more could be lost.”
“Ve must find zis god, and fast,” he declared.
I looked over at our giggling daughter and felt my stomach clench with fear.
Chapter Three
I didn't take Lesya to Faerie, but I decided to pop over for a quick visit myself. Since I used my Ring of Remembrance to travel back to the moment I last left Faerie, and would then travel back to the moment I left the God Realm, it didn't really matter how long I spent there. Not normally, at least. With the time threat hanging over my head, it was a different situation entirely. The only comfort was that Faerie was currently behind the other realms for me. In other words, the last time I'd left Faerie, I'd had to go forward in time to come back to the God Realm, and the realms hadn't caught up to each other yet. Which meant that I could travel there and have just over 24 hours of stress-free time to spend with Arach and my boys. After that, time will have evened out to this present, and I'd need to return to help the Squad find Aion.
I kissed my husbands, boyfriends, and daughter goodbye, even though I'd return in what would only be a few moments for them. Then I went up to my bedroom and used my ring to travel to Faerie. I preferred to travel from a relatively empty room so I could be sure that I wouldn't knock into anyone when I returned. And yes; it's happened before.
When I reformed in Faerie, Arach was standing right where I'd left him. Brevyn and Rian—both the size of a nine-year-old human child now—stood beside their father; Rian with his arm around Dexter's neck. Dexter was my six-legged nurial; something like a fox and a dog combined. The Fox and the Hound all in one; I'd never thought of that before, but it was pretty accurate. Anyway, they all looked happy to see me, but that lasted only ten seconds; long enough for Brevyn to have one of his visions.
“Mommy!” Brevyn cried as his blue eyes went wide. “Please don't forget me.”
“I would never forget you,” I bent over to stroke his face. “Why would you say that?”
“Because I'm going away,” he whispered.
“What are you talking about Brevyn?” Arach growled.
“Mommy knows,” Brevyn said as he kept his eyes on me. “It will be all right as long as you don't forget us.”
“I can't possibly forget you.” I kissed Brevyn's cheek and pressed my face to his as my heart raced.
“Vervain,” Arach growled. “What is he talking about?”
“I don't want to go anywhere,” Rian said furiously as he clenched his hands into fists and narrowed his green, dragon eyes.
“You won't care,” Brevyn said
