“No, I'm not sad. I have you with me. Sadness is impossible when I have my babies beside me.”
Lesya grinned, completely accepting my answer, but Brevyn slid his arm around my calf and leaned against me supportively as he stoked Nick.
“Hey, you three.” I leaned down to look at the older children. “Shouldn't you be in that pool while you still have the chance?”
“I can swim anytime I want,” Lesya said in confusion.
“But not with your brothers,” I reminded her. “And they don't have a pool at their house. Not one made of water at least. The closest thing to a pool is the Tine, and it's too far away to go every day.”
“Oh.” Lesya looked at the twins, and they looked at Arach.
“Go on,” Arach said indulgently. “You can swim in your underwear. No one here will care that they're not proper swimming attire.”
The boys whooped and rushed off, Lesya chasing after them.
“Wait! I'm a girl; I need my swimsuit!” Lesya shouted and then raced back inside the palace.
“Grab their swimming trunks while you're up there, Lesya,” I called after my daughter. Then I looked at my men. “I have to tell you something.”
“By the flame, what now, Vervain?” Arach huffed.
“I think I damaged my star when I set everything back to rights,” I whispered. “I wasn't being dramatic when I said it sacrificed a lot. It's holding together my magic but that's all. I won't be able to rely on it anymore.”
“Do you think it will heal itself?” Azrael asked.
“I don't know.”
“It's connected to the Void and the Nine Great Magics,” Odin said. “It will heal.”
“That's the thing.” I grimaced. “It isn't connected to them. Not anymore.”
They all gaped at me.
“Is this similar to how things were when the Star was broken?” Arach asked urgently.
“No, it's not broken, just weakened,” I explained.
“Okay.” Odin nodded and looked around at the other men. “We can deal with that.”
“It's not as if you were all-powerful or anything.” Azrael winked at me.
“The important thing is that you're you, A Thaisce.” Arach took my hand and kissed it. “And that you're back home with us. Magic doesn't matter as much as you do.”
“I love you too, Dragon.”
“More than the Snake?” Arach lifted a blood-red brow at me.
“He's a viper. Snake went back to the Void.” I smirked at him. “Just admit it; you like him.”
“He's a reptile.” Arach shrugged as if that said it all. “At least now maybe your other husbands will stop calling me the Lizard King.”
“I'm sorry to break this to you, Arach, but that's never going to stop.” Odin slapped Arach's shoulder supportively while we all laughed at the Dragon King's doleful expression.
Chapter Fifty-One
That night, Viper slept beside me in my massive bed with my husbands stretched out to either side of us. At first, he laid there tense, his breathing low and wary, but when it became clear that we were only sleeping, that he wouldn't have to watch or be watched, he began to relax.
“Just go to sleep.” I kissed Viper's forehead and then snuggled down between him and Trevor. “Things will be better in the morning.”
“I'm lying here beside you and you're whole again,” Viper murmured. “Things are pretty fantastic as they are.”
“Is he going to keep talking?” Re grumbled.
“Stop pouting,” Azrael chided Re. “You know you're just disappointed that Vervain didn't want to welcome him into the fold with an orgy.”
“I keep telling you, Angel; it's not an orgy unless there's more than one woman,” Re grumbled.
“Well, I'm not referring to sex with my wife as a gang bang,” Az shot back.
“Vhat do you vant to call it? An eightsome?” Kirill propped himself up on his elbow to talk across Trevor and me.
“This is not happening,” Arach muttered and pounded his pillow as if it were a face.
Then Odin grunted, and I looked over at him to see a huge, gray tabby cat climb across his belly, then Kirill's, and Trevor's before finally reaching me.
“Well, hello, Nicholas,” I said as I drew the tabby cat down on my chest. He started kneading and purring, and I sighed contentedly. “This is my eldest boy, Nicky,” I introduced Viper to him. “Nick, this is Viper. Don't bite him; he might bite back.”
The Cat eyed the Viper and a tense staring contest ensued until Viper blinked slowly, and Nicky laid his head down on my chest in acceptance.
“I think you've passed the test,” I informed Viper.
“A Thaisce, can you please stop referring to that cat as your first son?” Arach whined. “That honor goes to Brevyn.”
“Hey, there was a time that it was just Nick and me,” I chided. “I bottle-fed him when he was a baby; he is my child. Just like Dexter is.”
“Who's Dexter?” Viper asked.
“He's a nurial I found as a baby in Faerie,” I said. “Kind of like a fox and a wolf and a lion all in one. I raised him too.”
“Nick and Dex are both animals, Vervain,” Arach protested. “You're being unfair to your actual children.”
“Shh!” I covered Nick's ears. “He might hear you.”
“Vervain!” Arach growled.
“You love Dexter so stuff it, Dragon.” I resumed petting my cat-baby.
“Please tell me that we won't be sleeping like this every night,” Viper begged me.
“We won't,” I assured him. “I promise; this is only to settle you into the lioness magic.”
“You can take Toby's room tomorrow,” Re offered. “We'll clean it out for you.”
I went still.
“Ow!” Re shouted. “You could have broken a rib, Azrael! Keep your death angel ways out of the marital bed.”
“I'll break your jaw if you keep flapping it,” my angel shot back.
I looked over and saw the men sharing a heavy look.
“Too soon?” Re asked innocently.
“I'll make Viper his own room,” I announced. “No one touches Toby's stuff. I'm going to his territory tomorrow, and I'm bringing him back.”
Everyone looked at me, their stares softening with pity.
“Stop looking at me like that. I'm fine. It's not as if I haven't lost him before.”
“Not like this,”
