“And what about Toby, Minn Elska?” Trevor asked softly. “You just forget about him and replace him with Viper? Is your heart so fickle?”
“No, of course not. You know me better than that.” I let out a shaky breath. I wouldn't cry. I wouldn't cry. Toby had made his choice. This wasn't the first time one of my men had walked out on me nor was it the first time I had to watch Toby walk away. “He's not dead, just angry. And as long as he's alive, there's a chance for us. But I won't break under an ultimatum. People who love you don't try to break you.”
“Toby was just shocked.” Odin glanced away from me uncomfortably. “We've all had our moments of doubt.”
“You vere being controlled by a new body,” Kirill said gently to Odin. “You didn't doubt her, Odin. You vaited five hundred years for her. You have no doubts.”
Odin smiled at Kirill and then looked at Viper. “You hear that? This is what makes it work for us. We're like brothers. We don't hurt each other. We don't get jealous of each other. We don't compete with each other. Can you do that? Can you put aside your pride and just love her?”
“Odin, you know the lion magic will—” I started to say that all Viper needed was one night spent with all of us together and he'd be fine, even if he did feel some jealousy. The lion magic is what makes them feel at ease with each other. But Odin cut me off.
“I need to know that Viper can handle it, Vervain,” Odin said sternly. “Magic is helpful, but it isn't everything. We are a family because we've grown together. Because we love each other, and we have each other's backs. It will take time to establish that with Viper. We were just getting there with Toby and now, he's gone. It's a lot to take in.”
“I've already told you; he's my uncle.” Brevyn lifted his chin in imitation of Viper's pose. “It's been decided.”
“And I already told you; I won't let her go,” Viper added. “You ask if I can share her. Well, I've shared her from day one. She was never mine completely. I held Vervain in my arms, but she held all of you in her heart. She never let go of you. Even when evil forced her hand, it never touched her love for all of you. So, know that when I say I can handle this, I don't do so lightly. I've already proven myself. I could have returned to the Void. I could have slipped free of her grip and gone back into that peace. Been reborn into a different life. But I held on.” Viper took my hand and squeezed it. “I will never let go.”
“Velcome to our family.” Kirill held a hand out to Viper as our daughter squealed with joy and kissed her daddy's cheek in approval.
“Thank you,” Viper said with quiet sincerity as he shook Kirill's hand. “And thank you, all of you”—he looked at my children—“for believing in me.”
“Welcome to the family, Uncle Viper,” Lesya said.
“I guess that settles that,” Trevor muttered and then stepped forward to shake Viper's hand.
Azrael followed and then, finally, Odin approached.
“Vervain has been my wife twice,” Odin said to Viper. “I have loved her for centuries. I've accepted that to love her means to let her love others, but those others must be exceptional. That is my condition. To love my wife, you had damn well better be special.” He narrowed his flashing, peacock eyes at Viper. “Vervain took you from the Void, as she did me, and she gave you a new body, as she did me. But that doesn't matter. What matters is that you held onto her when we couldn't. You accepted her evil, you even allowed her to poison you with it, rather than letting her go. Now, do I think that was the best thing to do for Vervain? No. My choice, obviously, would have been to fight for her even when she fought against me. But there is something to be said about a man who will follow his lover into the darkness rather than stay in the light. There is greatness in that. Exceptional greatness.”
Odin held out his hand, and Viper solemnly shook it.
“One last thing, Carus.” Azrael held up my wedding ring.
“Oh!” I went still as I stared at it, remembering what I'd said to him the day I sent him away with it. “Thank you for holding onto it for me, Az.”
“Putting it back where it belongs is all the thanks I need,” Azrael announced.
I started to hold my hand out to him but then caught a glint of red. I'd completely forgotten about the ring I'd been given that day in the souq. All of this time, it had been sitting there on my hand, waiting for me, and I'd never once been tempted to shatter the stone and summon the help that had been promised.
“Vervain?” Azrael asked warily.
“I... I forgot about this.” I slid the ring off my finger.
“That had better not be a wedding ring,” Trevor growled as he looked from it to Viper.
“I've never even noticed that thing,” Viper said in surprise.
“How could you not notice it?” Odin asked as he peered at the ring. “It's bright red.”
“I have no idea,” Viper murmured in bafflement.
Odin reached out to take the ring and a crackle of crimson magic glinted across it in warning. He flinched away, eyes widening in shock. “Where did you get that thing, Vervain?”
“It was given to me by a child of Tiamat.” I held the ring up to get a better look at it.
It was one thing for Viper to not notice it on me but quite another for it to go unnoticed by me. Why give me a way to summon them and then make it practically invisible to me? It made no sense.
“Who is Tiamat?” Trevor asked.
“An ancient goddess. She
