by Unknown
“A bunch of people,” he shrugged like he didn't care but I could see that he was thrilled to have sparked my interest. “Isis is sometimes there, depending on who tells it. But that's besides the point. Re makes his journey and is reborn to rise in the morning.”
“So the only person Khepera resurrects is Re?” I asked.
“Ah, you're quick,” he nodded. “Now you see why I say he only thinks he's important. Khepera's a god of resurrection who doesn't actually resurrect anyone and he calls himself the Soul of the Universe but he's not in charge of any souls. We don't have access to a well of souls here or anything like that. Khepera just sits in his palace and waits for Re to notice him. He won't even come over and play Cribbage with me,” Sokar huffed.
“What about this Apep?” I offered. “Re mentioned that he's a snake shifter.”
“Oh, yes,” Sokar sighed. “He lives right across the lake from me. But he's rather solitary as well. Once in awhile he'll come over for a night of revelry but that doesn't happen very often.”
“A night of revelry, huh?” I smiled, wondering what this god thought of as revelry.
“He likes to throw people into the lake with me,” he said and I sobered.
“Oh, how nice,” I smiled brightly. And now back to our scheduled programming of; Sokar's Crazy Tea Party. “You guys should get out more often.”
“Out of Aaru?” He mused. “Maybe we should.”
I could have smacked myself for that one. I'd just told the crazies to leave their asylum and go take a walk-about around the Human Realm. Splendid, Vervain.
“Like maybe you should go and visit Anubis,” I tried to recover. “He had a party tonight. Why didn't you attend?”
“Oh, I don't like the pressure of a big party,” he sighed. “I feel awkward.”
“You should cook something to bring with you,” I suggested. “It might make you feel more comfortable if you have something to offer beyond conversation.”
“You know, you're right,” he perked up. “I think that would make me more comfortable. Oh, it's been so lovely talking to you, Vervain. I hate to have to end this.”
“Me too,” I said politely. “It's a shame that I have to get going.”
“About that,” Sokar looked guilty and when he glanced behind me, I knew I'd made a huge mistake.
I turned just as a fist came smashing into my face, sending me straight out of my seat and down to the floor.
“Be careful, she's pregnant!” I heard Bastet's worried voice but when I looked up, it was to see a man's face looming above me.
It was a familiar face, though a lot had happened since I'd seen it last and it took me a second to remember. Ptah, Sekhmet's husband... and Sokar's brother. I almost groaned. How stupid could I be? The guy probably notified Ptah while he was plating swan puffs.
I jumped to my feet and faced off with the angry deity. He was even taller than I remembered, wiry but elegant. Malachite eyes narrowed on me, set in a stern face with a hard line for a mouth. He had dark skin and shoulder-length hair but it was pulled back in a severe ponytail and I realized that he was still dressed for the Ball. So Re had been telling the truth, not much time had passed since my push into Aaru.
“Ptah-da!” I exclaimed.
“Is she bonkers?” Ptah paused to glance at his wife.
“All the best people are,” I smirked.
“I'm not sure,” Sekhmet frowned. “I suppose she could have lost her mind here. Or perhaps you hit her hard enough to do damage.”
“Hey, you!” I pointed to Sekhmet. “I want my ring back.”
“I gave it to my father,” she growled. “If you hadn't left him heartbroken, crying all over the place like some silly teenage boy, he would have given it back to you!”
“I didn't mean to hurt Re,” I huffed. “All of his memories are from a future which will never happen. It's not like I did this to him on purpose. And; ow, by the way,” I said to Ptah. “Did you really need to punch me?”
“He did and he's going to do a lot more than that,” claws popped out of Sekhmet's fingers as she spoke.
“What; I broke your father's heart so now you're gonna break mine?” I grimaced.
“Something like that,” Ptah agreed. “Though I intend to behead you as well.”
“You said we weren't going to kill her!” Bastet cried. “She's carrying a child.”
“What do I care for this bitch's brat?” Ptah sneered.
“This child is the only hope for the the dragon-sidhe race,” I snarled. “He's a prince and his father is King of the Fire Kingdom of Faerie.”
“Still not impressed,” Sekhmet shrugged. “My father created an entire pantheon.”
“You mean he tricked humans into giving him enough power to live forever. Then a faerie showed him how to create this,” I waved a hand to indicate Aaru. “Or have you all forgotten that none of you knew how to make your own realm until the fey taught you?”
“She's right, Ptah,” Bastet laid a hand on his shoulder. “Leave her alone. Dad will get over this.”
“Not happening,” Ptah said resolutely.
“We do owe the fey,” Bastet tried again. “And we don't want them seeking retribution for the death of their pregnant Queen.”
Sekhmet paused and looked back at her sister. It was the first time I'd seen her worried and I admit that it gave me the warm fuzzies.
“They'll never reach us here,” Ptah scoffed.
“You have no idea what the fey are capable of,” I bluffed. He was right but the wrath of a dragon king could be a difficult thing to avoid.
“Enough talking,” Ptah growled and stepped forward.
“Brother, I must protest,” Sokar laid a hand on Ptah's arm. “I don't think Re would want her harmed and I don't condone violence against an unborn child who is completely innocent of his mother's crimes.”
“Re gave us a home,” Ptah ground out. “He helped make us gods and then he gave me his blessing to marry his daughter. He is both brother and father to me and I will not see his pain unavenged.”
“Wow, you need to get a massage or take a vicodin or something,” I shook my head.
“You're dead,” he said simply and came at me.
I jumped back out of his way and began to shift. He wanted to play? Fine. Maybe I didn't have my ring and I couldn't flee to another time, but I was still a dragon-sidhe among several other things. I had lots of ways of defending myself but the dragon bit was the most flashy and I was pretty sure this guy would respond well to flashy.
Bastet, Sekhmet, and Sokar all drew back as my perspective shifted and lifted. The shreds of my gown fluttered down around me and I spared just the tiniest moment to lament the loss of my Versace heels. But soon I loomed above the Egyptian gods, my throat filling with an itching burn. My beasts surged into my star-covered heart and the cry that erupted from my throat was a combined roar of dragon, lion, and wolf emphasized with a spray of flames. I stomped one paw down and the glass table rattled, several things rolling off it to smash on the stone floor.
“You're a loyal man and for that, I'll excuse the punch,” I growled. “But threatening my child is an unforgivable act. Now I will be the one seeking vengeance.”
I brought the fire forth again, this time aiming it directly at Ptah, but as I did, Ptah pulled a thick scepter from an inner pocket of his jacket and pointed the looped end at me. Bars ran through its length horizontally, down from the ankh adorning its top, leaving just enough space for Ptah to hold it. It looked unwieldy and impractical but it worked. Boy did it work.
Before the fire hit him, the scepter emitted a pulse like a sound wave and covered Ptah in a protective shield. My flames raged over an invisible dome but couldn't break through to him. I stopped to take another breath and reassess. Maybe I could just step on him.
“I would put that down, if I were you,” Trevor's voice was like silk on my soul; it made me sigh in relief.
I looked to my left and saw him coming around the corner of the mountain with Kirill,
Azrael, Odin, Anubis, the God Squad, and all of my Intare. Play the bugles because the cavalry was there.
“Hey, Honey-Eyes,” I said with a dragon smile.
“Hey, yourself,” he smiled back. “Sorry it took us so long. We had to track you to the Gates of Aaru and then Odin insisted on going home for reinforcements.”
“It's better to be prepared,” Odin grumbled, making me smile. It was so good to be back in this timeline where he was still himself and still mine.
“How did you guys even get here?” I chuckled.
“We followed your trail down the river,” Trevor held up his hand with his gold ring on it.
“Doggy paddled,” Kirill smirked at Trevor and then looked to his right. “Sorry 'bout ze snakes.”
That's when I saw Re.
He was standing among the lions, looking rather embarrassed. He nodded to Kirill and then looked up to give me a sad smile. Re held up my ring like it was a peace offering. I was just about to say something to him when Ptah lost his damn mind.
“Vengeance cannot be denied!” Ptah cried and pointed his weird scepter at me.
I roared and started to charge him when a blast of light beamed out of the rod and struck me in the chest. Chaos went off around me, with several cries of No! echoing in my ears. I saw my men running for me and among them was Re, his face filled with horror.
Pain blossomed within my chest as the light went straight into my star. Turning, shifting, writhing, the nine spokes of my star spun. They spun in ways they shouldn't have, ways that pulled them away from each other. Light trailed between the trinities like pulled taffy, trying its best to keep them bonded. But it was useless; I screamed as all the pieces that made up my triple being were ripped apart. Not just the three trinities but every spoke.
I was dying, I knew it, and the only thing I could think was; please let my son survive this. Let them cut him from my dead body if they have to. I don't care, just let him live. Sparks went off inside my head and pain blinded me to reason. I fell to the ground as my souls splintered, faltering under the vicious assault. As separate entities, they may have survived within me but this was no gentle parting. It was closer to tearing conjoined twins apart; you could do it but you'd probably kill them. My soul twins were being severed and I knew they wouldn't survive the hemorrhaging that would surely follow.
But then something stirred within my belly and magic blossomed; a magic that was not my own. My magics were too busy dying along with my souls, withering and screeching inside me. This new power pulled the invading energy away from my heart and took it into itself. I screamed again but this time in denial. My body shifted back to human as I clutched at my belly.
“Rian!” I cried as the attack pierced my child's heart. “My baby,” I moaned as pain shot through my body and my limbs began to tremble with a shockwave of sound, a backlash of energy rippling out from unborn child.
Scream after scream rushed from my throat as a tearing sensation filled my stomach. But it wasn't my body being torn, it was his; my son's tiny body. I wrapped myself around him as others wrapped around me and held me. Beyond that, I didn't know what was happening outside of myself and I didn't care. All I could see was the body within me, the little form of my son being severed. Not just his body but his soul. Ptah's scepter was splitting him in half, from soul to cells, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
I was crying hysterically by the time I felt Rian recover and begin to heal. My sobs slowed into stunned disbelief as I sensed that my child was still alive. Somehow, he had survived. Not only that but he'd saved us both. I whimpered in relief and held him as best I could, through the barrier of my own flesh. My son had become a hero even before his birth and although I was proud of him, I was also horrified that I'd been complicit in forcing him into that role. It was my fault that my baby had to man up and save us.
Then crippling pain rippled through my womb and water gushed between my legs.
“She's going into labor,” I heard someone say.
“My ring,” I gasped and held out my hand. “I need the Ring of Remembrance.”
“Tima,” Kirill's tear-streaked face was above me, his eyes wide and panicked.
“I'm okay and Rian's okay. We just need to get to Faerie.” I whispered, even though I knew it wasn't true. Something felt wrong inside me, something beyond the pain of childbirth. But I didn't want to worry them, I just needed to get to Faerie as fast as possible.
“We'll follow you,” Trevor declared. “Don't worry about coming home for me, we'll go straight to Faerie from here.”
“It's been almost two months since I've been back there,” I touched his face gently.
He knew what that meant; that I'd have to wait that same amount of time for him to appear in Faerie. Which meant it would be two months before I saw the rest of my men. If I made it through this birth that is.
“Then you'll have two months with your son and his father,” Trevor whispered and leaned down to kiss me. “Hopefully that will be enough time for you to adjust to the idea of returning with us.”
And leaving Rian behind.
I knew what motherhood would mean for me. That even though my children would never feel the lack of my presence, I would be without them for weeks or possibly even months at a time. I had thought that it might be a good thing, a break from the stress of a crying baby and all that, but now, faced with his birth, I didn't like the idea of leaving my son.
“It vill be alright,” Kirill leaned in to kiss me as another pain rocked through my naked body. I groaned into his mouth and he pulled back in concern.
“I'm okay,” I reassured them again. “And I love you. I love you both so much.”
“Tima?” Kirill's face went even more panicked.
“I need my ring,” I insisted. “Right now. Who has it?”
“Lala,” Re knelt down beside me, covering me with his jacket as Trevor eased back a little. Then Re took my hand and slid my ring back onto my finger. “I've behaved like a lunatic.”
“Lunatic,” I mused. “Do you know that the word means moon-sick?”
“Then perhaps I shall be a lunatic forever,” he kissed my cheek. “Please forgive me. I acted out of love.”
“You're already forgiven, Sun God, Re,” I smiled as I faded into the past, back to the last time I'd left Faerie.
Chapter Thirty-Six
“There you are,” Arach smiled as I reformed in our bedroom but then he saw me and rushed forward. “Vervain? Where's the rest of your clothes?”
“I'm having the baby,” I whispered past the pain as Re's jacket slipped from my fingers. “And he's a month early.”
“Right,” Arach looked scared but he acted with confident calm; helping me to the bed and adjusting a pillow behind me so that I was angled properly. Then he covered me with a sheet before he ran to the door and called for Isleen.
When she appeared, Arach sent her to fetch Laise, a leanan-sidhe midwife. Laise appeared just as the cramping was getting worse and she came forward quickly to lay her hands on my spasming belly. A warm yellow glow emanated from her fingers and seeped into my stomach, easing the pain immediately. I sighed in relief, though the wrongness still filled my chest. At least I didn't hurt anymore.
“Thank you,” I touched one of the hands she still had on my belly.
“It's my honor to assist you in our prince's birth,” Laise smiled wide. She was nearly as excited to see my son as I was. Laise was the woman who'd designed the nursery for us... and who I'd once mistakenly thought was having an affair with my husband.
“Rian just saved my life,” I said to Arach and then swallowed hard past the lump of guilt in my throat. “Again.”
“That future never happened and won't ever happen,” Arach took my hand as Laise folded back the sheet at the foot of the bed so she could check on my dilation.
“But he did save me in this time,” I insisted. “I was just attacked and he took the magic into himself. I thought he was going to die,” a tear slid d
own my cheek and Arach clutched me to his chest, murmuring gently as he stroked my hair.
“But he's alright?” Arach finally asked.
“He's fine,” I confirmed. “But Arach, I-”
“And he wants to come out,” Laise interrupted. “When you feel your body tensing, you must push, my Queen.”
And so I did. I pushed and although I shouldn't have felt any pain, and I didn't down below, my chest seemed to explode. I screamed as my vision went spotty and shifted inward to find my shattered star. Ptah's scepter had already done its damage when Rian had come to my rescue. By refocusing Ptah's attack, Rian had saved my star from being completely destroyed, which would have destroyed my souls, my beasts, and my magics. But he hadn't stopped it from separating. Now those broken spokes were bursting apart from each other with my straining movements, each one trying to find its own place inside me.
What has happened?! Faerie screamed inside my head.
I couldn't even form a thought, all I could do was scream again as my body was attacked by nine arrows of starlight while it simultaneously tried to give birth. I could vaguely feel Arach's hand clenching over mine and hear his strangled cries in my ears. Someone else, Laise I think, was full out bawling and Arach stopped whimpering to shout at her but I couldn't focus on the words.
Who has done this? Faerie went on. How? Vervain? Vervain you have to focus. Your souls have been severed from each other, they are in the most torment and the most jeopardy. See to them first.
“What does that mean?” I bit out past the pain.
Calm them, find a place for each of them, she guided me. They must be in your center, give them each a spot around your heart but be specific; feel the place where each one should go and command them to go there! Do it now!
I did as she bade, mentally seeking a spot around my heart and then feeling it, sensing which soul needed to live there. Instinctively, I felt that they'd originally each had a spot inside my chest. The star had connected them but not actually made them into one. That was its purpose after all, to keep everything inside me together, balanced and united but still separate. Now the scales had been thrown off-kilter and I needed to rebalance them.
