“Who are you talking to?” Odin hugged me from behind and kissed my cheek.
“Al.” I nuzzled against him, his morning stubble grating lightly across my skin. “He's watching Marduk for us.”
“Does he have any thoughts on your star?”
“He says the only way to heal it is to steal the Tablet and use it myself.”
“Ah,” Odin murmured.
“Ah?”
“I thought as much. I was hoping there might be an easier way; a way that didn't involve us coming into contact with that thing.”
“Me too.”
“Go to Faerie.” He took the spatula from me. “I'll finish cooking while you're gone.”
“I was going to wait until the others got up.”
“Better to be gone and back already,” Odin argued. “I'm awake, and I know where you're going. Go on, sweetheart. I want to hear what Faerie has to say about this.”
Faerie, just like Alaric, is a consciousness; a sort of sentient, spiritual energy. She's the Consciousness of Tír na nÓg; the elemental realm of the Fey. Faerie's just as old as Al, but she's confined to her realm; bound to the Source of Fey magic. She's also the first one who explained my star to me. Despite what Al said, she might know a way to heal it.
“Okay.” I kissed Odin's cheek and shifted out of his embrace. “I'll see you in a minute.”
“In a minute,” Odin repeated with a grin.
I asked my ring to take me back to Faerie. In particular, to a minute after I'd last left. My body faded into pure energy and zipped through space and time to reform in my bedroom in Castle Aithinne. My Dragon-Sidhe husband was sprawled across our enormous bed, just as I'd left him. The wrought-iron posts curved up and over him, holding midnight-blue curtains that formed the perfect frame for his exotic beauty. Arach's crimson hair flowed over the pillow beneath his pale cheek like freshly spilled blood. Matching scales lay scattered at his temples, drawing my eye down the sharp line of his cheekbones to his predator grin glinting with fangs. His dragon stare glowed briefly as it ran down my body. I couldn't help doing the same to him; letting my stare wander over that sleek, powerful chest to the bulge in his lap, poorly-hidden by the thin sheet.
“Come here,” Arach growled, low and sensuous.
I started for him in a daze, forgetting the very reason I'd gone to Faerie. All I could think about was getting my hands on my husband as fast as possible. Arach was too gorgeous to exist; he might disappear if I didn't hurry.
Hey, snap out of it, you two pervs! Faerie shouted in both of our minds. We've got problems!
Arach was out of bed and ready for battle in two seconds flat; naked but ready. “What happened?”
That's what I'd like to know, Faerie snapped. Your wife's star is broken. Again!You'd think after the last time, she'd take better care of it.
“Vervain?” Arach grabbed me by my upper arms and searched my face. “Who did this to you?”
“Marduk,” I said softly. “The Mesopotamians are planning to go to war with us. We were spying on them and one of them was helping us; this goddess, Ninkasi. Marduk abducted her, and we went to save her. I was fighting with him when the Tablet of Destinies blasted me with its magic. It broke my star. I was hoping that Faerie might have an idea of how to fix it.”
Get that tablet, Vervain, Faerie growled.
“That's what Al said, but I was already weakened when we went after Ninkasi. Now, I'm weak and broken. Isn't there another way?”
To unite a star that formed naturally? Faerie scoffed. Your magic made that star. If it's too weak to pull itself back together, then you need to use whatever did the deed to heal it.
“The Tablet.” I sighed. “But you told me that my fate can't be changed. You said that the paths to it can be altered but not my fate itself. That too many lives depend on it; people who are meant to live.”
Yes, well, that was before I knew about a destiny tablet, she grumbled. But thank you for bringing up all of those other destinies dependent on yours. It should help you focus; this concerns far more than you and your family. If you don't fix your star, and therefore your destiny, the realms will suffer, Vervain. All of them.
“So, no pressure,” I muttered.
“Can't the Nine Great Magics help her?” Arach asked. “They're connected to her star.”
You're missing the major point, Faerie huffed. Her star's connection to the Nine Great Magics was weakened. Now, it's gone completely. The Nine can't help Vervain if they can't reach Vervain.
“Perhaps if you go to Alfheim,” Arach suggested. “That's how you healed before.”
“My mother healed me that time,” I reminded him. “And that piece of her is still inside me. It calmed my beasts during the break, but that's all its been able to do.”
“Very well.” Arach's expression hardened. “Then we get that tablet.”
“Arach I—”
“Now, A Thaisce!” he cut me off. “And I'm going with you. I'll use my ring.”
I sighed. Part of me had hoped for a moment of peace in Faerie to catch my breath. But it looked as if I wasn't going to get that. Maybe not for a long time.
“Fine. Let me say hi to the boys and then we can go.” I started toward the bedroom door, but he grabbed my arm again.
“No, I don't want them worried.”
“I won't tell them about the star.”
“Brevyn will know.”
“Maybe he'll be able to help,” I countered.
“Do you remember how scared they were the last time, Vervain?” Arach lowered his face to mine. “That vision terrified both of them. Then they had to save you. Our boys went into the Dream Realm to save you. Children shouldn't have to rescue their parents.”
I blinked away my tears. “I know.”
Arach sighed. “I'm sorry I said that.”
“No, you're right. I just wanted to see them. I haven't seen them in over two weeks, Arach.”
Arach
