You're most welcome, Tall, Dark, and Swoonworthy.
“She said; you're welcome.” I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing.
There was a pause and then Sin released my wrists and transferred his grip back to my hand.
“I guess you won,” he said affably. “I'll stop trying to impress you now.”
“Aw, but it was so adorable.”
“I'm going kiss you if you don't shut up, Vervain.”
I went silent.
Sin laughed his ass off. “I don't know whether to be intrigued or insulted.”
We could use a man like him. I sense great strength in him that has been left to atrophy. Sin needs a cause as much as we need an ally; a man who knows this place and these people. A soldier who can follow and lead. Bring him into the fold, Vervain. Offer him the glory he's been denied for so long. You'll need a general after all.
“Don't be either,” I said to Sin. “Be my ally.”
“What?” He went visible.
I followed Sin's lead so he could see that I was serious. “My star and I are going to rule the world. This time, the Dragon is going to win. I know we've just met, but I like you. Star likes you. She says that you're strong but that strength is going to waste. You prowl the night looking for something to fill the void of this useless existence. I can give you what you need. I can make you great again. What do you say, Sin? Wanna be my general?”
Sin gaped at me, glanced around us at the clear sky, and then got a goofy look on his face. “Do I have to kneel?”
“Never. Not to me or anyone else. But you do need to be loyal.”
“I can be that and much more,” he whispered as he leaned closer. “Can we seal the arrangement with a kiss?”
“No.” I smiled despite myself. “But I applaud your perseverance.”
“I swear to be just as persistent with your enemies.”
“Good, because they are bound to be numerous.” I looked over at the palace again, this time more pensively. “Star, can we do something about this?”
How would you like it to look? I could hear the smile in her voice. It can be anything you wish it to be.
I closed my eyes and made a wish. Made several in fact. Multiple detailed wishes. When I opened my eyes, the palace and the land surrounding it had been transformed.
A central keep, shaped like a spire, twisted up into a dome-capped minaret with swirls of carved stone wrapping around it like a skirt cascading around a spinning woman. Balconies perched within oval cutouts on those layers, giving glimpses into glittering rooms within. Around the keep, several minarets shot up like tulips, topped with domes just like the central one. They attached to the main keep with arching bridges and their golden domes gleamed in the sunlight.
Water poured from an opening near the top of the central keep, hitting a series of ledges on its way down the side, creating a glorious, tiered waterfall. The falls emptied into a lake at the front of the keep that then flowed into a moat to surround the castle. An enormous water wheel churned the moat, pumping freshwater from the lake into the castle. Inside the walls, pipes delivered that water to every floor before it reached the top and came streaming back down again.
The walls that surrounded the castle grounds had been fortified and now towered over a hundred feet around us, complete with attached barracks. Wide towers squatted at each corner and soldiers in sleek uniforms stepped out of them as I watched, looking a little startled at first and then falling into line to man the walls.
“Ya khabar abyad,” Sin murmured in amazement.
What did you do to the soldiers? Are they real or did we create them? I asked Star in my mind.
They're humans. They used to work here when this palace belonged to the King of Bahrain. Now, they work for you; the Goddess of Bahrain and soon, the Goddess of the entire world.
“The Goddess of the World,” I whispered. “Yes, I like that.”
And your castle? How do you like it?
“Those minarets are a little more phallic than I'd envisioned but, on the whole, it's lovely.”
We had to give a nod to the region, Star huffed. I didn't think one of your faerie castles would be appropriate.
An image of Castle Aithinne suddenly filled my mind and with it came a picture of Arach and our boys. My chest constricted, and I gasped as I clutched at it.
“Arach,” I whispered. “Oh, fuck. What am I doing?”
“Vervain?” Sin wrapped a supportive arm around my waist. “Are you all right? Did this drain you?”
Hey! Don't go soft on me now! Star yelled in my head.
Magic surged through my body, numbing my pain as it awakened my desire for other things. Things like power and wealth and adoration. I would save the world from itself and this time, it would thank me. This time, I wouldn't hide in the shadows while I helped humans. They would see me. They would know me. They would worship me.
There's my darling girl! Star crowed. Now, how would you like to see your new home?
I would love to, I said to her before I answered Sin. “No, not drained, just having a moment of self-doubt.”
“Self-doubt?” Sin gaped at me. “You just transformed a palace within seconds.”
“And took control of the humans inside it,” I added.
Sin laughed long and hard as he stared from me to the castle and back again.
“What's so funny?” I asked as I smiled warily at him.
“I'm just shocked that I've finally chosen the right horse to back. I'm going to be on the winning side for once.”
“I'm not a horse, and weren't you on the winning side with the war against Tiamat?”
“That didn't feel like winning,” he went sober. “And you are a horse, Vervain. A sleek, magical, powerful, dark horse that's gonna win this race.”
A dark star, Star corrected.
I grinned and repeated her
