Page 18

The problem with jumping all over the world as we did was that you had to deal with time differences. Thailand was thirteen hours ahead of Twilight. At least, it was thirteen hours ahead of Castle Twilight. So Killian and I returned to bright daylight streaming in through my bedroom windows. I hissed like a vampire—the mythical sort, of course—and hurried over to pull the drapes. Kill helped by closing the curtains over the glass-paneled balcony doors.

Thankfully, Sever had his own room. When he moved in, all the tower suites were occupied, so he received a bedroom on the floor below the royal apartments. He didn't mind, and it was great for me when I needed to get some sleep and Miri was having a meltdown. It was also nice when I was exhausted after a mission.

I stripped on the way to bed, then climbed under the covers. Killian's bed used to be a place where he tossed his weapons and clothes. But now that he had to trade nights in bed with me with Sever, he kept it clear so he could actually sleep in it. This, however, was just rest for us, so Kill followed me under the blankets, pulled me in against his chest to spoon me, and fell asleep.

Sometimes you get so tired that you can't sleep. This is especially true for me when I've got heavy things weighing on my mind. But this time, the weight helped to knock me out. My mind simply couldn't deal with all the bullshit anymore.

The next thing I knew, several hours had passed, and there was a weird gurgling noise in my ear. My mommy instincts kicked in when I inhaled Mirielle's scent and I came instantly awake. I opened my eyes to find my daughter lying next to me, gurgling happily as she played with her toes. As if she could sense my attention, Miri looked at me, the silver striations in her purple eyes catching the light.

“Well, how did you get here?” I drawled as I tapped her nose.

Mirielle giggled and swayed her legs back and forth, using her hands.

“Good morning.” Sever drew my attention to him, seated on Miri's other side, where he served as a barrier between her and the edge of the bed.

“Hey.” I sat up and kissed him—just a peck since I needed to brush my teeth. “Hold that thought.” I climbed out of bed, noticing that Killian was gone, and went to the bathroom.

A few minutes later, I emerged, fresh-faced and fresh-mouthed to climb back in bed and lift my daughter into my arms. Her wings were coming in—little arches of bone and skin sprouted from her back with a downy layer of feathers covering them. She had another six months before they'd be fully formed, but her father was delighted just to know that she would have them. Both delighted and anxious. Because not only did our daughter have wings, but she also had wings like no other Angel. They were crystalline like my dragon form when I took it.

Yes, crystalline. As in “like crystal.” Mirielle's wings had transparent feathers, dusted with the colors of an opal. When I was in Heaven—my memories suppressed and altered by Archangels—I believed I was an Angel and summoned wings that looked very similar to Miri's. But those wings had been a creation of Light Magic. They weren't real Angel wings. Despite that, they had functioned like the real thing, creating a lavender leha that I exchanged with Severriel's to form a halo—an eternal love bond between Angels.

So, even though I had created wings like that, Mirielle's were the first of their kind. Still, in a way, she had inherited them from me. Either that, or she had inherited some of Anu's Light, and the Light had influenced her wings. The opalescent leha wasn't as shocking as the translucent feathers. Leha was unique to every Angel. But those feathers had only been seen once before in Heaven—on my fake Angel wings.

So why would this bother Sever? Because if Miri's wings were touched by Anu's Light, it would be seen as just one more sign that she was destined to rule Heaven. And Sever didn't want that for her. He wanted her free of Anu. I didn't think that was necessary. We compromised and decided it would be Miri's choice. We would raise her as the heir of Heaven, with Sever teaching her all she may need to know to rule. Sever would have to wing it (pun intended) because Heaven has never had an heir before. The Metatron is simply chosen by God when the time comes. So there was no procedure or curriculum for raising the heir.

But Anu had blessed Mirielle at birth, changing all of that. We would be honest with Miri and tell her everything when she was old enough to understand. But we'd also make it clear to her that she had options. My children—all of them—would be whoever they wanted to be. I would ensure it.

Although Miri was half Angel, she had inherited every other race from me. Yup, if she decided to become Queen of Heaven one day, then she'd be the first Metatron to be part Demon, Fey, and human in addition to Angel. She was our miracle child, embodying all races, just as I do. But where I had gathered my bonds to the races, Miri had been born with them.

Her wings tensed against my arm, so I shifted my hold lower, allowing her to stretch. According to Sever, stretching those growing wings was imperative to their health. This was when an Angel developed all their flying muscles. They had to awaken them now, or their muscles would have to be trained later—a long and painful process.

“Oh, good. You're up.” Killian came into the room with our daughter, Rowan.

“There's my other girl!” I held out an arm to Rowan.

“Hi, Mom!” Rowan ran over and climbed onto the bed on my open side. She hugged me, then stayed within my one-armed embrace to stare down at her sister. “Hi, Miri.”

Rowan held out a hand for Miri to grab, and the baby obligingly took it. Looking at the two of them, it was hard to feel manipulated by Gods. Or, if I did, I appreciated it. I knew then that if I let myself continue down the path I'd chosen, I wouldn't regret it. I would one day be holding Star's baby, staring down into a pair of green eyes with inner rings of gold. Yeah, all right, maybe our children wouldn't get his eyes, but you know what I mean. I could be happy with him.

But did the means justify the ends?

Ugh. Morality. Faith. Betrayal. It was all streaming back to me, hitting me with a triple punch. What should I do?

“Dad says you have to go back soon.” Rowan looked up at me, still playing with her sister.

“Yes, but I can stay for breakfast.”

“Mom!” Rowan laughed. “It's after three.”

“In the afternoon?”

She just laughed harder.

“Time difference,” I muttered. “Well, have you eaten lunch yet?”

“No, we were waiting for you to wake up,” Killian said.

Rowan gave her father a look.

“I may have had a bowl of ice cream,” Kill admitted. “Just to tide me over.”

“Ice cream sounds wonderful. Did you have any, Ro-Ro?”

“A little.” She giggled.

“Good for you!” I kissed her forehead. “Life is about having as much fun as possible.”

“In between work,” Kill added.

I stuck my tongue out at him, and Rowan giggled harder.

“I need ice cream!” I declared.

Mirielle giggled with Rowan this time. Then we all got out of bed and headed down the hall to the family dining room. I wasn't in the mood to go down to the dining hall on the first floor. Plus, that would mean dealing with my guards, and I wasn't in the mood for them either.

We ordered some lunch to be brought up, then Killian watched the kids as I took Sever into Kill's bedroom for a talk. I didn't want to go through my speech three times. So, after shutting the bedroom door, I took Sever into Killian's office, where we kept our crystal ball.

“What's going on, Seren?” Severriel pulled me to a stop just inside the office door.

“I need to tell Daxon and Tiernan something along with you. Just bear with me.” I pulled out my scry phone.

“But not Raza?”

“Raza already knows. He came to Earth.”

“Why did Raza go to Earth?”

“Because one of the Unseelie hunters there ratted me out to him.”

“About what?” Sever narrowed his eyes.

“Something she didn't know enough about to go tattling, and I'm reporting her for it. But that's another story.”

“What was the thing she didn't know the whole of?”

I sighed. “The Coven asked for the Wild Hunt to help with our mission, so the High Fairy Council sent a local team. When the Lady of the Wild Hunt in charge of that team learned there was a Demon behind the abductions we were investigating and she saw me working with the King of Hell, but not her king, she assumed I was keeping Raza in the dark.”

“There's a Demon behind the Witch abductions?”

“Focus!” I snapped in his face. “The Lady of the Wild Hunt betrayed her vow to remain impartial and tattled to her king about an ongoing mission. Raza came to Earth for nothing. She made him think I had betrayed my promise to involve you guys.”

“You did.”

“Uh, no, I didn't.” I put my fists on my hips. “You guys get called in if there are Fairies involved. You have nothing to do with Demons. Not even you. And I wouldn't call you in for Angels either. Not unless absolutely necessary.”

“Because I've stepped down?”

“Yes, of course.”

“But I'm still an Angel, Seren.”

“I don't care. You don't get to barge in on a mission unless there's a point to it. It's my job, Sever. If you can help in some way, then I have a reason to involve you. Otherwise, it's just bring-my-husband-to-work day.”

Sever scowled and leaned back against the wall. “I suppose you have a point.”

“Of course, I have a point. And I thought all of us had already made and decided upon it. Now, suddenly, there are clauses to the promise I made. Nope, not acceptable. This is my job, and I get to handle it as I see fit. If Unseelie Fey are involved, Raza will be notified. If it's Seelie Fey, then Tiernan. If the Fey of Earth are involved, then—”

“Now who's the one making clauses?” he interrupted me. “You said that Fairies meant you'd call us in. Period.”

“Oh, now there's a period?”

“Seren!”

“You're barely Fey, babe. The only reason I'd let you come along for a Fey mission is so you wouldn't feel left out.”

Sever's face fell.

“Shit,” I muttered. “I'm sorry. That was insensitive.”

He nodded. “It's also the truth. So I will accept it.”

“Sever, this isn't even what I need to talk to you about. Let me scry Dax and Tiernan.”

“Fine.” Sever crossed his arms.

I scried Dax on the phone, then Tiernan on the crystal ball. When I had them all connected, the phone propped on the ball and Sever sitting beside me, I told them about the Star situation.

I had intended to tell them the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me Anu. But what came out of my mouth was, “I asked Anu to stop nudging Star toward me, but he refused.”

Yep. I blamed God. In my defense, it's a very human thing to do. All jokes aside, I don't know why I didn't tell them the truth. No, that's a lie. I do know. I wanted Star. I wanted those promised children. Maybe I even wanted to rule Hell. There were still Demons underground who I wanted to bring to the surface. There were things I could do for Hell.

There were things I could do to Star.

Shit. I mentally shook myself as my husbands processed the bad news.

“Damn him!” Sever cursed, breaking the silence.

“Are we really surprised?” Daxon ran a hand through his short, indigo hair, simultaneously showing off the matching blue tattoos on his arms. His eyes were blue as well, their color hypnotizing, even when he wasn't using his magic. “And where's Raza, by the way? I assume Killian was there when this happened, but Raza wasn't. Or was he?” Daxon leaned forward.

“He wasn't.”

Dax started to lean back.

“Not at that time. But he showed up later. So, I've already told him.”

“What?” Dax growled.

Tiernan merely lifted a blond brow. It happened to be the one on the same side as his silver scar and, combined with his silver eyes, that simple maneuver became menacing.

“Some Lady tattled on Seren because she thought it was wrong that Seren was working with Star but not Raza,” Sever explained.

“What?” Daxon asked again, this time with only confusion.

“After I spoke to Anu, Star and Kill fought. Star left,” I said. “Then we discovered a Demon was involved in the abductions, and I called Star back. The Coven wanted as much help as possible on this mission and convinced the High Fairy Council to send in the local hunters. The Lady of the Wild Hunt in charge of that local team scried Raza and told him about the Demons. Raza showed up in a tizzy and I had to explain that Fairies weren't involved, so I didn't need to call any of you. I had not broken my promise.”

Daxon and Tiernan processed this.

“Oh,” Dax said.

“Oh?” Sever repeated. “You don't think we should have at least been notified?”

“Of what?” Tiernan asked. “I am the King of Seelie. I have enough shit to deal with without running to Earth every time a Demon makes trouble. That's for their king to handle. I am responsible for my people alone. And I don't need Seren to scry me with all the Earth gossip either.”

“I love you,” I said to Tiernan. “Thank you for being reasonable.”

“I love you too. Thank you for not running to us with every problem you have.”

“Never been that girl. Never will.”

“No shit,” Daxon said. “And thank the Gods for that.”

“Unbelievable,” Sever muttered.

“You're just bored, Severriel,” Tiernan said. “You need something more than Miri to spend time on.”

“Maybe.”

“Forget about Raza and the Witch-abducting Demon,” Daxon said. “I'm sure you'll handle it, Seren.”

“Thanks. It turns out that it's not a Demon who's behind it anyway. It's another Witch. Maybe.”

“Maybe?” Daxon scowled. Then he waved his hand. “Never mind. I have too much shit to deal with too. I don't want to know about the Witches. But I do want to know what we're doing about Astaroth.”

I grimaced.

The three men went silent.

“We'll just have to take things as they come,” I said. “There's nothing more we can do.”

“What did Astaroth say?” Tiernan asked.

I shrugged. “He's not thrilled.”

“Hold on. You have a strange look on your face.” Daxon asked.

I squirmed.

“There's more to this,” Tiernan concluded.

“Anu said there would be children. They wouldn't be born if I didn't marry Star.”

All three men gaped at me.

Once more, Sever was the first to react. And, once more, it was with a curse against Anu. “That fucking bastard!”

“I think you're the least entitled to curse about this,” Daxon said.

“Excuse me?” Sever stared at him in horror.

“You are only with Seren because of Anu's meddling. And you now have a child as well. Again, because of Anu. You're the last man who should curse God for doing the same thing with Astaroth.”

“I didn't want this,” Sever growled. “I fought it.”

“So has Astaroth.” Tiernan flicked an elegant hand. “I daresay, he's fought even harder than you did.” Before Sever could respond to that, Tiernan said to me, “Seren, we already have to divide your attention five ways. If you marry Astaroth, what will we do? When will I see you? How long will we each get with you?”

“The World-Strider must stride,” Daxon drawled.

“That's a title given to her by Anu,” Tiernan said. “We don't have to recognize it or abide by whatever it implies.”

I didn't argue because Tiernan had been so reasonable, and it wouldn't matter anyway. Plus, I was too busy dealing with the guilt of lying to them to worry about titles and their implications.

“Killian is with the girls,” I said. “We're about to have lunch. I just wanted to tell you three about what happened when I had the chance. Let it percolate a while and then we can talk about it more thoroughly later. All right?”

“All right. Be safe, Twilight Star.” Tiernan laid his hand on his crystal ball, his silver stare softening.

I laid my hand over his. “Thank you. I love you.”

“I love you too.” Tiernan drew his hand over the crystal and ended the scry.

“Let us know if you need anything,” Daxon said.

“I will. I love you, Dax.”

“I love you too. Be careful on your hunt.”

“I will.” I ended the scry with Daxon and headed back to the dining room with Sever.

A pouting Sever.

I told him he wasn't needed, two of my husbands discounted his concern, and then Tiernan suggested that Sever get a hobby. He was not having a good day.

“You know, my father has been without an heir for a long time,” I said.

“Yes. And?” Sever took my hand.

“And when I became the Twilight Princess, he thought he'd have someone to help him run Twilight. But I'm off doing ambassador work. Then Killian came along and again, instead of helping Dad, he became an ambassador too. He needs help, Sever. And you have experience ruling a world. An entire world. He just needs help with one kingdom.”

“Are you sure he'll welcome help from me?”

“Oh, yeah. But I'll talk to him first.”

Sever nodded. “All right.”

By the time we entered the family dining room where Kill and my daughters were already eating, Sever was smiling.