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I admit it. I wanted to lie again. Just tell my husbands that I had stood up to Anu and made him release us. I had done that. It was the truth. But it wasn't the whole truth, so help me God. No, the truth involved God being an asshole, no help from him at all. A bigger asshole than I'd made him out to be. And they needed to know about that.

So, after we enjoyed a communal lunch with our mixed team, I took Killian into a bedroom and we scried Raza and Tiernan with our phones. I told the three of them together. Their irritation matched their relief. No one was pleased with Anu. Or me, for that matter. But they understood. Even more importantly, they forgave me. Anu, not so much. He wasn't their god, after all. They had no reason to forgive him.

After I finished my talk with them, I scried Daxon and Sever. Dax was on a plane. He had gone from L.A. to San Francisco where he had used the rath at Gentry Tech to go to Twilight. From there, he took a rath to Unseelie, which let him out near the old Unseelie Castle. There, he took a rath to Xian, China. At last, he got on a plane for Thailand. It sounds like a lot but it saved him about fifteen hours of flight time.

The question was—why was Dax on his way to Bangkok? But first, I told them about Star. And me. And Anu.

“Thank you for ending this, Seren,” Daxon said. “Frankly, it was getting old.”

“It's indeed a relief,” Sever said. “And I'm not at all surprised to discover that Anu was manipulating you. I don't hold you responsible, Seren. This is him. It's always him.”

Killian snorted. “Dude, you need to deal with your daddy issues.”

Sever rolled his eyes.

“You're not worried about what Anu said?” I asked them.

“About destiny?” Dax shrugged. “What will be, will be. But you've done all you can to make this right with us, and that's what counts. You stood up to a god for us.” He stroked a finger over the crystal. “I love you.”

“I love you too. You know I'd face Death himself for you.”

“I believe I have faced death for you.” He winked.

“Who hasn't?” Killian drawled. “Oh, that would be Sever.”

“Would you like to face death again?” Sever asked in the same drawl.

“Good come back, dude.”

Daxon snorted. “Now, I suppose you want to know what I'm doing on a plane.”

“Yup.”

“Prince Sakda has failed in his duties. I won't go into the details, but a lot has come forth via witnesses, evidence, and Sakda's own testimony. He may be corrupt. I'm not sure yet. I need to assign a new prince and investigate Sakda further. He's being held in custody in his old residence.”

“In who's custody?” Kill asked. “How did you get him to give himself up?”

“I didn't contact Sakda immediately.” Daxon grinned. “I know better than to give the accused a chance to gather his forces and get his story straight.”

“I didn't realize he was accused of anything,” I said.

“The sale of stolen Fey body parts is a huge deal, Seren. It's an obvious sign of failed rulership. I had to investigate things before I spoke to the Prince. So, I scried those just beneath him. And each of them had suspicions of Sakda's corruption.”

“Why hadn't any of them reported their suspicions to you?” I asked.

Daxon shrugged. “You have to understand how bad things were before I took over the Undergrounds. They were especially horrible in Thailand. So, the positive changes, although not complete, were such a relief that no one wanted to rock the boat. They were afraid of things returning to what they once were.”

“It's been years since you took over. Are you saying this man has been taking advantage of his people for all this time?”

“I don't know, sweetheart. But I'm going to find out. And if he has, he will pay for it. This is on me. I crowned him. I have to take care of this. Make it right.”

“There's a lot of that going around,” Kill said with a smirk at me.

“The responsibilities of ruling,” I murmured. Then I looked at Kill. “And caring.”

“So, what about the sorceress?” Daxon asked. “Any updates?”

“Yeah. I found her last workplace,” Kill said. “We're just waiting for twilight to go.”

Daxon nodded. “Let me know if you need any help. I have a team with me.”

“Who's with Caelum?” I asked.

“He's here with us,” Sever said. “The kids are with their grandparents right now. They're in the back garden at Eibhleann's tree.”

“Good.”

“Your father's not happy about you being there without your guards,” Sever said. “Your guards aren't too happy either, for that matter.”

“We've got a big enough group here already,” I grumbled. “I can't bring them. It's too much. And besides, I'm stronger than all of them combined.”

“That's not the point, Seren. It's their duty to stand between you and danger. It doesn't matter if you're stronger than they are. You can still be hurt. But they can't do their jobs if you leave them behind.”

“I've got extinguishers, vexes, hunters, and Demons here, Sever. I'm fine.”

“I'm just explaining to you why your father is upset. You don't have to convince me. I'm all right with you going on missions alone.”

“Okay, noted. And thank you.” I turned from one scry phone to the other. “Dax, how much longer is your flight?”

“I'll be there within the hour. It was only a four-hour flight from China.”

“Scry me when you land.”

“I think you'd better scry me, love. You might be in the middle of capturing a sorceress by the time I land.” He glanced out the window. “Should be dusk soon.”

“All right. Maybe we can have a celebratory dinner later tonight.”

He grinned lopsidedly. “I'd love that. See you later.”

“Bye, baby.” I ended the scry and tucked my phone in my jeans. Then I took Kill's phone. “Bye, Angel baby.”

Sever chuckled. “Scry me later as well. I'd like to know what happens with the sorceress.”

“You got it.” I blew him a kiss and ended the scry.

Handing Killian back his phone, I asked, “You ready to go hunting?”

“Oh, yeah,” Killian said.