A Fey New World: A Reverse Harem Magical Romance (The Godhunter Series Book 32)

by Amy Sumida

“I am choosing you, Carus.” His hand slipped from mine to gently cup my face. “This is all for you. I didn't understand at first—my thoughts were jumbled—but now, I see. I know why I must save the world. Because it's what you would do. You have helped to make me into the man I am and now, I fight for this planet in honor of you. Stand beside me and take your place as its queen.”

  “I don't want to rule the world,” I said sadly. “And you're confused if you think I've made you into this. You have always been a kind man. You've always cared about humans and their world. All I did was get you involved. And this”—I waved my hand out at the wild landscape—“is not honoring me. It's hurting me. Please, understand that.”

  “My love, my eternal goddess,” Azrael whispered sadly as he stroked my hair back from my face, “you are the one hurting me by rebuking me after we have claimed the Earth together. I cannot release you from the bonds we have forged; it is done. There is no going back. Only forward.” He waved his muscular arm out at the world. “There lies our future. Our territory. It is our right and our duty to protect it.” When he looked back at me, his confidence had cracked and fear strained his expression. “Please, do not abandon me when our work has just begun.”

  “Azrael,” I whispered brokenly as I wrapped my arms around him. “Damn it, Az, you know I would never abandon you. You are my world. I'll stay with you and we'll face this together. But, baby”—I leaned back to look at him—“you need to compromise with me.”

  “What do you wish for, Carus?” Azrael asked with a soft smile of relief. “Whatever it is, I will get it for you.”

  “I'm asking for a compromise, Az, not a gift. Slow it down. This doesn't need to be done in a day, right? Give it some time and see how the world responds. You may not need to completely alter it.”

  Azrael considered this, then nodded. “Very well. You have your compromise. We will go slowly if you will agree to stay with me.”

  “Deal.”

  Azrael grinned brilliantly and his eyes began to glow. “It's time to speak to the humans. Will you attend me?”

  I let out a long breath and nodded.

  “Then you must do so dressed as a queen, not a warrior.”

  Darkness gathered around me and took solid form, settling into a sin-black gown that trailed into diaphanous layers and crept up to swirl around my neck in a wide, lacy collar that framed my face.

  “Beautiful,” Azrael whispered as more darkness crept over him, forming an elegant suit—black on black—that looked savage on him. He drew his long hair back, between his sparkling wings, and glanced upward. A crown appeared on his brow—a golden band with a diamond cut into a nine-pointed star set at center-front. “And now, for you, Carus.” Azrael lifted his hands and a matching crown appeared within them. He set it on my head. “I crown you, Queen of the Human Realm.”

  I shivered as my dragon scales slipped back into my body and the silken darkness settled over my skin. My husband had lost his damn mind, but I couldn't leave him. I had to stick it out and wait for the chance to shove some sanity into his thick, horned skull. For better or worse, right? It wasn't as if he'd never done the same for me.

  We went downstairs, crossed the courtyard, and then took a set of stairs up onto the battlements. We were spotted as we made our way to the center-front of the curtain wall, stopping right over the gate, where an arch sheltered us from the sun.

  “There they are!” a human shouted.

  A massive crowd had gathered in the meadow before the castle, homemade signs pumping into the air and voices crying in adoration. They shouted and rushed forward to line the edge of the moat, some even cried when they saw us. The mass of them stretched back into the forest and beyond my view. I could see vehicles parked in the open spaces that studded the fey wilderness and even some tents among the trees.

  People had made a pilgrimage to see us. All sorts of people had come. Some dressed in lace and chiffon with pointed ears glued over their own, some wore medieval clothing, some flounced about in prom gowns, and some were dressed normally. But they all called out to us, shouting, screaming, and even singing. Their signs read things like: Faerie God For President, We're With the Wild Things, Teach Us Your Fey Ways, and We Speak For the Trees!

  I cringed. I had fought on behalf of humans for years—saved, nearly destroyed, then saved them again—but I'd never had to face them as a hero. I realized suddenly that I didn't want to. I didn't need their thanks or adoration. Such things made me deeply uncomfortable. I felt fortunate for all I'd been given and the work I did was in payment for those blessings. Being worshiped like the gods used to be was not what I craved. It felt like a deception. A con.

  “Stand firm, Godhunter,” Azrael teased me.

  That title and the fact that he'd given it to me, made hope bloom in my chest. It had only been a day and already, my husband was shining through this fey veil. Azrael was strong; he could control the magic. All he needed was more time.

  “I'm with you, Az,” I whispered gently. “Always.”

  Azrael blinked, his amusement replaced suddenly with profound love, and leaned down to kiss me. The humans cheered as if it were a show and we were celebrities. But Azrael didn't let it bother him. He took his time, kissing me thoroughly—so thoroughly that I was left trembling. I guess all of that claiming magic hadn't quite worn off yet. Then Azrael slowly drew away from me and turned to look down at the humans. He held up a hand and the shouting subsided. Cellphones lifted, everyone eager to capture whatever the Faerie God said or did next.

  “Welcome!” Azrael shouted. “All are welcome in my forest so long as they respect the land they tread upon.” He waved his hand at the meadow and the humans stilled. “Walk carefully, for every blade of grass is a part of Faerie. Every flower holds wondrous magic and every tree breathes with life.”

  They stared up at him with awestruck expressions, signs drooping.

  “Take a moment to feel it,” Azrael went on. “Close your eyes and breathe in the magic around you. It will be kind to you if you embrace it.”

  Az closed his eyes, held out his arms—his wings stretching wide as well, and breathed in deeply. The humans followed his lead and closed their eyes to feel the magic around them. Azrael was like a guru and they were his eager followers. But he didn't lead them wrong. They felt it—how could they not?—and their expressions changed into rapturous joy. Some dropped to their knees and started to weep.

  “It's beautiful, isn't it?” Azrael asked as he opened his eyes and lowered his arms, one of them going around my shoulders. “Your world was alive before but without magic, only the most sensitive of you have felt it. I give you this gift now, so that you may know the wondrous place you inhabit and learn to truly love it. Help the Earth, humans! Your planet is dying. This is its last chance. Your last chance. Who will stand with me?”

  The shouting became a roar and it came from everywhere at once. I realized that the crowd extended further than I thought and stretched to either side. But they weren't all adoring fans, closing their eyes and communing with Nature. Among them were the citizens of Lexington—salt of the earth, god-fearing folk who didn't take with this business of faeries, especially if it meant such a drastic change to their land and livestock. I noticed that their signs were angry, saying things like: Give Us Back Our Land, Go Home Fairy Freaks, and Demons Begone!

  Demons—that one made me grimace. They were nearly right and yet completely wrong.

  There were also news reporters there, holding microphones above the crowd. Cameramen focused their lenses up at us, hoping for a good shot or perhaps for one of the angry Texans to take a shot at us. More reporters, or possibly soldiers, started to arrive by helicopter—likely alerted by those on the ground. And, finally, there were local police officers, trying to talk down their friends and neighbors while state troopers attempted to force everyone back. I didn't see Austin there and I hoped he stayed far away from this madness. Mixed crowds with opposing views are dangerous—powder kegs waiting for a spark.<
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  And it came.

  Using the din and chaos as cover, someone shot Azrael. The bullet hit Azrael's chest—a damn good shot, actually—but was absorbed by the darkness that formed his clothing. The sound was muffled but the reaction of those near the shooter—including shouts of “Gun!”—alerted the rest of the crowd, which drew back like the tide. Azrael frowned down at the man who had fired the gun—now standing in the center of an open space that was rapidly widening.

  It went from magical wonder to utter mayhem in seconds. Humans screamed and tried to flee, creating a deadly undulation in the mass. People fell and were trampled, some went tumbling into the moat, and others were simply carried along by the herd.

  I shouted and leaned over the railing, reaching out in futile horror. But it wasn't so futile. The waters in the moat rose at my will, depositing people back on the land before the vicious creatures in the moat could hurt them, while earth lifted people who had fallen, raising them on stoned pedestals. I gaped from my hands to the humans as a golden glow retreated into my fingers. Azrael was right—we were both connected to the fey magic now. He wasn't the only one who could control it.

  The people I saved stared up at me in wonder as stone sank back into the earth and the water receded into the moat. The fleeing crowd stuttered to a stop at the edges of the clearing, looking back at the trampled grass, studded with fallen signs but not fallen people. Then they realized that the man who had caused all of the fuss stood frozen, staring up at the Faerie God as if hypnotized.

  “You like to hunt, do you?” Azrael asked him. “Perhaps you need a new perspective.”

  Azrael's eyes started to glow. The man screamed suddenly and dropped his weapon. He fell onto all-fours and convulsed. The sound of tearing fabric came as his body bulged and lengthened. Fur sprouted over his skin and antlers sprung from his sleek head. Golden antlers and white fur. At last, the burol lifted its head, met Azrael's stare, and bounded off into the forest. The crowd of humans watched him go with slack, wide-eyed expressions.

  “Azrael,” I whispered in horror, “what have you done?”

  “Shown the hunter what it's like to be the hunted.”

  The helicopters, now within fifty feet of us, were not carrying reporters. They held military men and women who didn't like faerie gods changing their fellow humans into white stags, even if those humans might deserve it. They opened fire on us and the humans below fled for good this time, screaming in terror.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Neither Azrael nor I needed Darkness to protect us but it did. The shadows clothing us absorbed every bullet that hit them, feeding off the dark emotions that fueled the attacks and getting stronger with every second. The bullets that hit my bare skin pinged away harmlessly. Still, it was startling to be the focus of such an assault, and I gaped at the soldiers in shock. They gaped back, just as shocked at my continued survival.

  Then one ambitious young man aimed a missile launcher at us.

  Azrael's eyes narrowed at the man just as he fired. Shadows formed a wall in front of the castle, disintegrating the missile as it hit and then fading away. The soldiers shouted, hiding their fear with anger. They launched everything they had at us and as they did, a horrible rumbling came from below.

  Tanks moved over the land, crushing smaller trees to make a path for the vehicles behind them. Humvees carrying soldiers and trucks hauling heavy artillery rumbled forward. I gasped as the magic recoiled inside me as if in pain, and Azrael gripped the crenelations of the wall furiously, his claws scraping the stone. He dismissed the helicopters as insignificant and instead fastened his glowing stare on the ground troops closing in and the damage they were doing.

  “Azrael!” I grabbed his arm. “Don't hurt them, please! Just protect us. Don't hurt them!”

  “We offer to save them and this is their response?” Azrael snarled and jerked out of my grip. He shouted in a voice that reverberated through the air and carried over the chaos, “I offer you peace and you attack me? You fools! You savages! Now, you shall feel my wrath and all will see what happens to those who strike against me!”

  Azrael thrust out his hand and closed it into a fist so tight that he pierced his palm with his claws. Blood dripped into the moat and the water churned as the beasts fed on it—and grew even more beastly. But that was only an accident, barely noticed by Azrael as he focused his deadly stare on the helicopters. They crumpled into balls of burning metal and shot from the sky to slam into the tanks below. People started to scream in agony as flames erupted and vehicles exploded.

  But humans don't give up easily. From riffles held by soldiers on foot to heavy artillery, every weapon there was focused on Azrael and me. They fired at us as if their ammunition was endless, shrieking nearly as loud as the booms of their weapons. Then fighter jets screeched above us, dropping bombs onto the castle. I had never seen such firepower focused on one target. Or such a lack of success.

  Darkness absorbed it all, surging up to gobble their fear and hatred and rage along with their missiles, bullets, and shells. Devouring everything sent our way. How it loved the dark emotions, that fifth element. Give it fury and it will use it to destroy you. The only way to conquer Darkness is to offer it love. But the humans before us didn't understand that. And soon, all they felt was pain as my husband brought the might of the elements down upon them. Azrael turned their own world against them and looked justified as he did so—like an avenging angel come to smite the wicked.

  Shards of ice formed in the sky and speared the jets like cocktail cherries. Shadows caught them and set them down gently—not to protect the pilots but the trees. The ground bucked, tossing soldiers into the air and several into the moat—into the open jaws of creatures already driven into a feeding frenzy by Azrael's blood. Their screams were pitiful.

  Inside me, another battle raged. The fey magic demanded vengeance but my magic cried out for mercy. Tears flowed down my cheeks as people were slaughtered before me. I tried to call the Earth and Water to save them but the magic wouldn't listen to me; it was too angry. I reached for my magic but what could Love or Lust do there? I couldn't offer the humans Victory, and Lunacy would only make matters worse. I resorted to begging my star for help yet again, but even faced with such tragedy, it refused to help.

  It was over faster than it should have been. Smoke filled the air, billowing up from burning bodies and vehicles—carrying the stench of death with it. Screams subsided into whimpers and then nothing was heard but the creaks of overheated metal and the occasional explosion. When the smoke cleared, the ground was red with blood and black from fire, covered in corpses, twisted metal, and trampled signs whose messages now seemed like a mockery.

  The red earth opened up and swallowed the remains like a leviathan surfacing from the depths of the sea. The soil closed smoothly over it all and sprouted new grass as felled trees righted themselves and a strong breeze blew through the forest, clearing away the smoke.

  I fell to my knees as I gaped at the pristine meadow. The sky overhead was bright and clear, the sun shining gaily upon blooming fey flowers and the waters in the moat settled into gentle ripples. In the distance, the fey magic surged further and claimed the spoils of victory. Cities would fall that night.

  I covered my face and wept.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Azrael picked me up and carried me back into the castle. I clung to him ridiculously, taking comfort from the man who had caused my distress. He nuzzled my face as he took me down, into the depths of the castle. I absently noted the lack of grass beneath his feet. It was all empty stone corridors down there, illuminated softly by lights I couldn't see. I sniffled as a door opened before us and Az stepped into a moonlit room.

  I lifted my head as he strode into a maze of woven branches. The walls of the maze bloomed, coming alive as the Faerie God navigated it. Petals moved towards him as if he were the sun—the sun that shone somewhere high above the castle even as a magical moon shed its light there, beneath the earth.
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  “Where are we?” I whispered.

  “Within the Earth's embrace,” he said. “Here, where our magic is strongest, we can create worlds within the world.”

  “What lies at the heart of the labyrinth?” I blinked. Even as upset as I was, I couldn't resist a movie reference; it just popped out of my mouth. “Is it a castle full of Goblins?”

  Azrael chuckled softly. “You already know the answer.”

  “The rath,” I kept speaking in a hushed tone. It felt as if the maze were listening. As if the wrong word could alter it.

  “Yes. Our road to Faerie.” Azrael smiled at me. “It's guarded on the other side. The High King won't let anyone through, but he can't stop the magic from flowing. Soon, he won't be able to stop the faeries either. They will feel the call of wild magic and come to us.”

  “Azrael, please, stop this. Close the rath and come home with me.”

  “I can't close the rath, even if I wanted to; the magic runs through me and I direct it, but I am not its master. And we are home, Carus,” he said gently. “Can't you feel it?”