by Amy Sumida
The world leaders started arguing. No, not arguing, bickering—slinging accusations like a bunch of monkeys throwing poop. Faces got red, fingers pointed, and voices raised to uncomfortable levels. I began to wonder how NATO normally handled their meetings.
“Enough!” Azrael roared in his Faerie God voice.
The room went quiet.
“This nonsense will get you nowhere and I will not stand for it!” Az glared at every world leader. “If you wish to argue like children, you will do so outside of my gates.”
They shifted uncomfortably and cleared their throats.
“Are you Elves?” the Prime Minister of Iceland broke the silence.
“No, we're Sidhe,” I said to her.
She looked disappointed.
“But there is a race of faeries who sometimes go by that name,” I continued, and she perked up. “I believe your ancestors interacted with them the most and over the years, all faeries became Elves to you. Your people respected ours and the Fey respected you in kind. Your country is a perfect example of how humans and faeries can coexist peacefully.”
“Thank you.” The Icelandic Prime Minister straightened in her seat and smiled as if her people and their beliefs had finally been vindicated.
She looked around the table with an I-told-you-so stare and the other leaders grimaced in irritation. I felt a little smug on her behalf. People around the world have called Icelanders silly or even crazy for believing in Elves, but those beliefs had just been proven true. They deserved a moment to gloat.
“You haven't told us what your demands are,” the British Prime Minister said. “Please, just tell us what you want.”
They all went quiet again and stared at us.
“This is not a hijacking,” Azrael said sternly. “I'm not holding the Earth hostage. I offered to show you how to protect the planet because, with fey magic inside it, it's now capable of defending itself. It's not what I want but what the Earth wants that you should concern yourself with. And the Earth wants you to respect it.”
The humans exchanged uneasy glances.
“That being said,” Azrael went on, “Attack me or my people again and I will reciprocate tenfold.”
“And your people are faerie gods?” The Chancellor of Germany asked.
“My wife and I are the only faerie gods,” Azrael declared. “The others are simply faeries.”
“Faeries,” the British Prime Minister said as if he couldn't believe the word was a part of an intelligent conversation.
“This is the way the world is now,” Azrael said. “I advise you to accept it and move forward.”
“Can't you... I don't know, take back some of the magic?” the President of Russia demanded.
“You said that you got the magic down to five locations,” the American President reminded us. “That means you were able to remove the magic. Can't you try that again?”
“I also said that the tool I was using was destroyed by the magic,” I countered. “I don't know...” I trailed off as I realized that there was a possibility—the one that High King Cian had mentioned. But I couldn't discuss it with these people. I wasn't even sure if I could discuss it with Azrael.
“Yes?” President Lopez asked.
“You may have to find a way to live with the magic,” I finished.
The humans sat back in their seats heavily.
“You came here to negotiate a ceasefire,” Azrael said, getting everyone's attention again. “What you failed to comprehend is that I am not attacking you. Your actions caused the magic to expand and now, I must take a more active role in guiding you through this. You may continue to lead your countries but I will lead all of you. If I give you an order, you will follow it. Is that understood?”
“This can't be happening,” someone whispered. “This is insane.”
“Insanity is not accepting the truth,” President Lopez said firmly. “We've been handed a new reality and it's proven its existence beyond a doubt. We must accept it. He calls himself a god but is that so inaccurate? Bullets don't hurt him. He built a castle in seconds. He has fucking antlers made of gold!”
“And what is your solution? We start worshiping him?” the President of China asked.
I glanced at Azrael; he smiled reassuringly at me. I had started to buy his excuse that the attack caused the magic to react—that he'd had no control over it—but then he'd used it as an excuse to take control of the world. Since that had always been his goal, it made his innocence suspect.
“No, I want us to work with him.” Lopez gave the Chinese President a heavy look.
Things passed unsaid between the men. Dangerous things. I could imagine what they were. So could Azrael.
“Your nuclear weapons are gone,” Azrael announced.
The members of NATO gaped at him.
“I say that in case you were wondering if any survived and you might team up and use them to destroy me,” Azrael said to their looks. “Go ahead and confirm it with each other, you don't have to hide it from me.”
The world leaders looked around the table at each other—hopefully at first and then, bleakly.
“There are no more nuclear weapons?” I asked Az in pleased surprise. Who wouldn't be happy about that? I mean, besides the world leaders who wanted to nuke us.
“They have been transformed as well,” Azrael grinned at me. “Reabsorbed back into the earth harmlessly. The fey magic didn't like them. I suppose splitting atoms is too unnatural.”
A man cursed.
“They would have been ineffectual against us anyway,” Azrael said smugly. “You would have only hurt yourselves and the Earth, which would have responded even more aggressively than before.”
A pall of despair settled over the room.
“I didn't want this either,” I said as gently as I could. “As much as I love the Faerie Realm, I don't want two of them. The Earth has its own beauty. And cats.” I stopped to glare at Azrael. “I want cats that don't turn into people.”
“They are still here, my love,” Azrael assured me and lifted my hand to kiss it again. When he set it down, he placed it in his lap and held it there firmly. “Cats are some of the most resilient creatures on this planet. That's why they say they have nine lives. I promise you, they survived.”
“Unaltered?”
“Unaltered,” he confirmed.
“Is she seriously talking about cats right now?” One of the humans muttered to another.
“As I said”—I cleared my throat—“this isn't what I wanted either. But there are benefits that you haven't considered. Magic makes many things possible. Just think of it—a world that will never know hunger. Wars that end before they have begun. Energy that doesn't harm the planet. Wondrous creatures living without fear. The magic seems aggressive now but what if you worked with it instead of against it? What if you found a way to blend magic with science? Humans are great inventors, I have faith in you. This could be a step forward for the human race.”
“You've destroyed most of what makes us human,” the German Chancellor said forlornly.
“Perhaps,” Azrael mused. “But not everything that was destroyed was good. You have the chance to come together now as one people. To discard your hatred, racism, and separatism. The greedy, grasping, need to own everything. The utter disregard for your planet and the creatures that share it with you. So much of what makes you human also makes you cruel.”
“Cruel?” The President of China leaned forward to glare at Azrael. “We are not the ones setting ourselves up as gods.”
“There is nothing cruel in calling yourself a god if that is what you are,” Azrael said calmly. “History is full of men who declared themselves gods and yet were not—many of them in China. I speak the truth, and I take control now not to subjugate but to help. If you cannot see that, you are welcome to leave. I will not hurt you for your opinion as your human dictators have done to those who oppose them.”
“What if we could find a way to call back the magic?” I aske
d the humans. “What if we could contain it here? Would you be willing to change the world without magic compelling you to do so?”
“I can't call it back, Carus,” Azrael said gently.
“I might know a way,” I admitted.
Azrael scowled. The humans perked up.
“By 'change the world,' what do you mean?” someone called down the table to me.
“Clean up your act,” I said simply. “Stop pumping poisons into the earth and water. Don't set up stronger restrictions, just stop. Period. Stop cutting down all of the trees and covering the world in cow pastures. Start using renewable energy. You know how to heal this planet, you don't need me to tell you. Do it. Stop arguing with each other and just do it.”
“If it means that we get our world back, then I think we could,” President Lopez said as he looked at the others.
They nodded in agreement.
“Enough!” Azrael growled and everyone went silent. “My wife has spoken of a possibility that is uncertain and unlikely. If I were able to withdraw the magic—and that is impossible at the moment—I wouldn't do so until I knew with absolute certainty that you were capable of doing all of those things. I would need to see proof of your efforts. And even then, the magic and I would remain here as guardians. Should you ever stop protecting the planet, you would forfeit it.”
The men and women around the table, myself included, stared at Azrael in horror.
“As it stands, I am your new god and you will not be working with me, you will obey me. Your governments are now my governments. You will run them at my discretion and retain what power you have on my sufferance,” Azrael's voice filled with magic and so did the room—it swirled around the humans, lifting their hair and bringing expressions of terror to their faces. “Now, I ask you again, is that understood?”
The men and women around the table were not used to being spoken to like that and not a single person there liked the word obey any more than I did, but they were also politicians and they knew when to admit defeat. Or at least retreat to debate another day. Plus, I think they wanted to go on living. They nodded.
“Good,” Azrael's voice toned down. “Your first order is to establish order. Make it known that fey fruit and vegetables are safe to eat. Once you remove the threat of starvation, the level of desperation should lower.”
“They can't just eat fruit and vegetables,” the Chancellor of Germany argued.
“I don't see why not. But if you need meat, you still have your cows,” Azrael pointed out. Then he amended, “Most of them. And you have the sea. Fish.”
“The seas aren't safe,” the Prime Minister of Japan argued. “Our fishermen have been attacked by monstrous creatures.”
“The oceans are safe if you respect them,” Azrael shot back. “You must return to true sailing, without the use of engines, and never discard waste into the water. If your fishermen cross the water calmly and don't pour filth into it, they won't call forth the beasts of the sea.”
The men and women shared uneasy looks.
“You can take my word as absolute truth and law,” Azrael said. “Follow my instructions and you will flourish. Fail to, and you will die. Simple.”
“Azrael,” I whispered in part reprimand and part plea.
“Do not test me further, Carus,” he hissed.
I went as silent as the humans.
“Take stock of what you have and distribute it fairly,” Azrael went on. “And I mean fairly. Do not let me discover that you are hoarding food or selling it to the rich. Food should be available to everyone. If you do this, I will handle the Wild Fey.”
“Handle?” President Lopez asked.
“Handle,” Azrael growled. “They are my people now.”
“Very well,” the British Prime Minister said crisply. “I have no problem with a fair distribution of food.”
“Excellent,” Azrael said as he looked around the table and received nods of capitulation from all of the members of NATO. “Feed your people, get them under control, and then I will give you further orders.”
“Er, how?” the American President asked. “How will you be contacting us? Do we need a charm or a—”
“The cellphone towers are still intact, correct?” Azrael asked with a smirk.
“Yes.”
Azrael waved his hand and a book appeared on the table before President Lopez with a golden pen beside it. “Write down your phone numbers. I will call you.”
The world leaders—or perhaps ex-world leaders—wrote their cellphone numbers in the Faerie God's book with the air of people who had just survived a bombing. I felt similarly stunned but instead of being intimidated as they were, I was working up to another explosion.
Chapter Forty-Six
We saw our guests out.
As soon as the drawbridge lifted, Azrael turned to me and demanded, “How can we rein in the magic?”
“Oh, hell no!” I snarled. “You don't get to ask me that after treating me like a fucking Stepford wife in there. First, you look me in the eye and tell me that you couldn't have stopped the magic from overtaking the entire fucking world!”
“You seem to be suffering under the delusion that I answer to you, wife,” Azrael snarled as his wings flared out and he lowered his face to mine aggressively. “Let me cure you of this; I rule here.”
“Oh, I see. The honeymoon period is over, eh?” I snarled back. “All your pretty words and your offer to compromise were nothing but a bunch of burol-shit.”
Azrael pulled back and let out a long breath. “I have never and will never lie to you.” His stare simmered into a soft glow as it trailed over my face. “I love you, Carus. I do this for you. I want you to rule beside me but for us to succeed, we must be united. You can't make offers like that to the humans without consulting me first. When you challenge me like that, it weakens us and makes me very angry.”
“As angry as when you slaughtered them?” I whispered.
“I will not allow attacks to go unpunished,” he said firmly. “I cannot. To do so would be to show weakness at the worst time. The beginning is important, Vervain. It is now that we establish the tone of our entire rule.”
“And your tone tells me that what I want means nothing.”
Azrael's jaw clenched and his eyes flashed but he took a deep breath and calmed himself. “The magic surged forth over the world on its own. I swear it.”
“But you could have called it back.”
“No, I could not!” he roared furiously. “Do you think I would be asking you how to do it if I could?”
I flinched back.
Azrael's wings drooped as he panted, “I'm sorry, my beloved.” He reached out a hand to me. “I don't want you to see me as powerless.”
“Powerless?” I whispered. “Is that what this is about? You're pounding your chest like a gorilla to show off for me?”
Azrael grimaced. “I'm hardly a gorilla.”
“You're acting like one.”
“You are my mate; I must show you that I can protect and provide for you,” he argued.
“No, Az.” I took his hand. “You've already got me. The time for such posturing is long past and it never would have impressed me anyway. I fell in love with your heart, not your power.”
“Carus,” Azrael whispered and pulled me into an embrace. His wings curled down around us. “I'm so sorry.”
“You truly had no control over the magic?”
He flinched but answered, “No. I told you before; I only direct the magic.”
“You do more than direct it,” I insisted.
“Yes, I control the portion that flows through me; that much I am responsible for,” he leaned back to answer. “But I can't hold all of the magic, Vervain. As a Dragon-Sidhe, you control fire but you don't control the entire element. You can call it to you and direct it with your will but you are not its master. You could never contain or control the entire element. The very idea is ridiculous. And yet, for some reason, you think that I can do that very th
ing for not one but all of the elements. Blaming me for what the magic has done is like blaming you for a forest fire in Africa.”
“Perhaps,” I conceded. “But I could put out a forest fire in Africa.”
“You are deliberately being difficult now,” he grumbled. “This is not the scale of a forest fire. This is the entire world on fire. Could you put that out?”
I grimaced. “I suppose not.”
“The magic responded to the attack in its own way and refused to listen when I tried to summon it back. It was as if their violence caused an explosive reaction in the magic that, once triggered, couldn't be stopped.”
