“I don't think it,” I assured him. “It was brought up and discarded.”
“Because she loves you,” Kirill added.
“Implying that it wouldn't have been discarded if she didn't?” Re got in Kirill's face.
“Da,” Kirill growled. “Vervain's love is only zing saving your fucked-up daughter.”
“My what?” Re's voice went deadly.
“Kirill, come on, Brother,” Trevor said gently. “We get it.”
“Nyet, you do not,” Kirill said to Trevor. “You don't—” Kirill stopped himself, but the damage was done.
“I don't what?” Trevor asked as he jerked back. “I don't have a child? Is that what you were going to say?”
Trevor's pain cut me nearly as much as Kirill's did. I started to shake; my eyes watering as I breathed deeply. Sometimes being in love with so many men was a miracle and sometimes it was hell. This was a less than miraculous moment.
“I thought that all of you were supportive of Vervain?” Toby's cold voice froze everyone. “But you're acting like selfish dickheads. You think that you've been wronged; that you've suffered?” Toby asked Kirill and then transferred his look to Trevor. “You haven't had a child yet; oh boohoo. You know it's coming, and that's more than most of us have. And you,” he looked back at Kirill. “I expected a hell of a lot more from you, Lion. She saved you, and then she gave you a daughter. You were tortured? Your will was beaten? Cry me a fucking river. How many times has she suffered for you? How many times has Vervain been tortured or chained or mentally destroyed because of all of you?” Toby's voice rose to a shout. “Because of me! What horrors have we put her through before asking more of her? How dare you? How dare any of us bring tears of sadness to her eyes?”
Toby waved a hand toward me, and I swiped at my face in embarrassment.
“Toby,” Re started.
“I'm not done yet!” Toby snapped at Re; his eyes flashing electric blue. “And you are not exempt from this, Re. You have her; you have her promise to wed you. And you can't give her some time? You're a fucking god; you have all of eternity! What's wrong with all of you? You're supposed to be a family. You're supposed to empower each other, not tear each other apart.”
“You're right,” Kirill said on a sigh.
“Not yet!” Toby snarled at Kirill. “You don't get to say 'I'm sorry' yet. You fuckers think this over, and you get yourselves straight in the head. You work through your angel shit.” He pointed at Azrael. “Your lion shit.” He pushed Kirill in the chest. “Your wolf shit.” He glared at Trevor. “Your sun shit.” Another glare at Re. “And your... no; you're good, Odin. But the rest of you get your shit together and clean it up! I'm taking Vervain away from all your filth for awhile, and your attitudes had better be spotless when we return.”
Toby grabbed my hand and escorted me to the tracing room. Fury vibrated off him.
“That's a lot of shit to clean up,” Artemis murmured as we passed her.
“I've never been happier that I'm not with Vervain,” Torrent replied.
“You mean that you've never been happier that you're with me,” Artemis corrected him.
“Isn't that what I said?” Torrent asked in bewilderment.
I was betting that most of the men on that veranda were just as lost as Torrent.
It was damn hilarious. I grinned brightly at Toby as he traced us away.
Chapter Seventeen
“That was impressive and sexy,” I said as we stepped out of a tracing room. “Thank you.”
“I can't bear to see you cry,” Toby said softly. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah,” I whispered. “I was only upset because they were.”
“I figured,” he said as he took my hand. “Let them stew for a bit. I wanted to show you my new house anyway.”
“Your house?” I peered down the corridor. “You got it built?”
A happy barking began and then a vanilla-colored Labrador Retriever came running down the hallway toward us; her claws clicking on the tiled floor. She was panting with excitement, and I opened my arms to her as I crouched down.
“Doba,” I said as I hugged the dog close. “How have you been, girl?”
She licked my face happily in response.
“Excellent,” I declared as I stood. “Go on then, show me your home.”
Doba turned and started proudly striding down the hallway while Toby and I followed.
“You know that dogs aren't like cats,” Toby said as he took my hand. “They don't think they own everything.”
“Right; the whole pleasing the alpha mentality. They believe their master owns everything,” I said. “Cats believe in the alpha thing too; they just think they are the alphas.”
“I see that,” he looked at me pointedly.
“Hey”—I elbowed him—“I'm the Tima.”
“Same difference,” Toby said as we stepped out onto a small terrace.
“Whoa,” I whispered and came to a stop.
As a lot of gods do, Toby had constructed a smaller building to hold his tracing room. That way, if any unwanted visitors got through his wards, he'd have time to prepare before he was attacked. Toby's tracing room connected to his main abode via a covered walkway on the left. Directly ahead of us— between the terrace and the house—there was a grassy courtyard with a stream curving through it. To the right, a dense forest of soaring pine trees defined its side of the courtyard. The stream came in through the forest, looped around merrily, and then went back into the woods. It reminded me of the river in Toby's underground cavern, and I said as much as I walked down the steps with him.
“I needed it to feel like home,” Toby said. “Water is important to me.”
Natural stepping
