by Amy Sumida
“What duty?” Odin asked.
“We don't know exactly what they were meant to do,” Atropos grimaced. “The thread, like we said, is gone. All we know is that these new threads, besides being weakened by the divide, are just a touch wrong and they have the potential to become a tangle of epic proportions.”
“Three paths,” I nodded. “I remember you telling me that before. But how can I have a single future with three threads of fate?”
“How is a very good question,” Clotho grimaced. “Your star united them but now they're separated again, leaving you floundering back and forth between the paths, ready to break.”
“Huh?” I gaped at her.
“One thread is weak,” Lachesis sighed. “But twist it with two more and you have a cord. A cord is much stronger than a single thread... and less likely to tangle. With three separate threads stretching out before you, your fate gets confused and jumbled. You need to weave them back together so they are one path again.”
“But how can my future be a cord?” I grimaced. My head was starting to hurt.
“Never mind that,” Atropos snapped. “It's irrelevant at the moment since you have three threads now.”
“But I can get my cord back?” I lifted a brow. “You're saying there's a way to weave the three threads back together?”
“That's what we're hoping,” Clotho smiled gently at me. “Perhaps if we can help you fix these threads individually, it'll be easier for you to weave them together and fix your star.”
“And you think the wrongness in my threads has to do with the Three Horsemen of the Apocalypse?” I asked.
“I'm sorry, isn't it the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?” Re asked. “I'm not the most knowledgeable about the Jehovah religions but I thought I'd heard that there were four?”
“Yes there are but Az was marrying me at the time, so only three of them were working,” I explained.
“Isn't their job to bring the boom to the Apocalypse?” Re cocked his head. “Which technically will never happen, so I guess they don't really have a job.”
“Did you just say; bring the boom?” Trevor leaned forward to give Re a hopeful look.
“That's right, I can get down with the modern lingo,” Re smirked.
“Well I'll be a bitch's uncle,” Trevor swore. “The guy can actually loosen up.”
“Trevor!” I growled. “Language. I'm not getting pregnant again until you guys can show me you can speak like fathers.”
“Bitch isn't a cuss word when you're referring to a female dog,” Trevor huffed.
“Yeah but I believe the implication was that you referred to a female froekn, which would in fact make it a cuss word since I it then becomes offensive,” Re crossed his arms.
“And he's back,” Trevor shook his head and shared a grim look with Kirill.
“The Horsemen have always done right by mankind,” Lachesis said with admiration in her voice, ignoring my men. “They are good gods placed into villainous roles by humans. Yet they harbor no anger over it. They help humanity anyway.”
“They ride around on their trusty steeds fighting evil,” Clotho sighed. “Like god knights.”
“God knights?” Kirill mouthed to Trevor.
“I wish Az had come,” Trevor lamented. “The only thing that would have made this better would be having a god-knight here to tease about being a god-knight.”
“Ve vill remember for later,” Kirill assured him.
“The Horsemen generally stop other gods from using their magic in horrible ways against humans,” Atropos gave Trevor a nasty look but Trevor had been the recipient of nasty looks from his father for centuries and no one could out-nasty Fenrir... that may have come out wrong.
“Kind of like you,” Re grinned at me. “Stopping gods from abusing humans.
“And us,” Atropos almost sounded whiny.
“We don't battle gods,” Clotho chuckled.
“But we help humans,” Atropos huffed. “Shouldn't we get props for that?” She put her hands on her hips and glared at Clotho.
“Definitely,” Odin said and stopped the fight before it started. “I greatly admire what you ladies do. And it also fascinates me. How exactly can you use these abilities to help Vervain heal her star?”
Oh Odin, you wily god, you. I sent him a grateful grin and he winked at me.
“Ah yes,” Lachesis stepped forward. “I shall begin, if I may, Godhunter?”
“Please,” I waved her forward.
She brushed her hand in the air before me, fluttering her fingers around like she was searching for something. Then I felt a pull in my belly, at my navel to be exact. I inhaled sharply, more in surprise than discomfort, and my men looked at me in concern. I waved them back and focused on Lachesis' fingers. They appeared to be identifying and separating things in the empty air. Except the air wasn't empty anymore. I could see three golden shafts of light streaming out from my belly in straight, endless lines.
Lachesis took her scissors from her belt.
“Now hold on,” I held out my hand but one look from Lachesis shut me up.
I saw her separate little pieces of the light, threads from my threads, and with her sin-black scissors, she cut them away. I gasped as a vibration ran up the lines and thrummed through my body. I felt strangely lighter.
“I've done all I can for you,” Lachesis hung her scissors back on her belt. “The obstacles that could be removed, have been.”
“Thank you,” I said sincerely.
Then Clotho started to spin. She played with the lines of gold energy before me and lured them down to the tip of the spindle on top of her wheel, the very place Beauty had pricked her finger. Light started to spark from that spindle and the sparks flew up to be absorbed by the golden energy of my threads. A tickling sensation ran along my arms and I took a deep breath, suddenly feeling more steady.
The wheel stopped turning and Clotho set grave eyes on me, “I have done all I can for you. You will have the strength and the courage you need, when you need them most.”
“Thank you.”
Atropos stepped forward and ran her hands over the light of my threads. She seemed to be counting, tapping sections as if to measure their length, but with each tap, I felt different, more confident. Tap, tap, tap; I smiled wider with each fall of a finger. Finally, she stepped back.
“I have done all I can for you,” Atropos said without even the hint of annoyance. “Where the truth would have been hidden, I have taken its measure and laid it bare for you to find... if you look for it.”
“Thank you,” I nodded to her and then looked back to the others. “I'm deeply grateful to you all.”
“We don't just do this for you, Godhunter,” Lachesis said grimly.
“We do it for us all,” Clotho and Atropos chimed in so that the three Fates spoke as one.
Chapter Six
“Do you feel any different?” Trevor asked me as we walked out of the tracing chamber.
“Yeah,” I thought about it. “I feel... good; happier, more at ease.”
“How about coming home with me a night early in thanks for me taking you over to the Fates?” Re asked and got nasty looks from my husbands. “Alright, alright, I was just asking. I'll see you tomorrow, Lala,” he kissed me on the cheek and headed back into the tracing room.
“Why did we approve that guy?” Odin asked.
“Because Vervain's lioness threatened to tear her apart if we didn't,” Trevor answered just as dryly.
“Oh. That's right,” Odin grimaced. “Let's get upstairs before something or someone else happens.”
“Da,” Kirill said simply and followed Odin to the elevator.
“Vervain,” Thor's voice came from the tracing room.
All of us groaned.
“What?” Thor blinked in shocked hurt.
“Just bad timing,” I shook my head. “I'm sorry, Thor. Come on in.”
My husbands groaned more.
“I've brought my brothers too,” Thor stepped out of the door
way so that Vidar and Vali could come out.
“My boys!” I held open my arms, delighted to see my sons.
I'd had Vidar back when I was Sabine and married to Odin the first time. Vali was Odin's son by another woman but I'd raised him and I considered him mine. I hadn't seen either of them since my wedding and I was as thrilled as any mother would be to have her grown sons come for a visit.
“Mother,” Vidar got to me first and enveloped me in a hug. His long, dark hair swung forward as he bent over me. He pulled back, his intense cerulean eyes set on me serenely. “You look well.”
Vidar was known as the Silent One and he lived up to the name, rarely saying more than needed to be said.
“Thank you,” I kissed his cheek and turned to hug Vali. “Lili,” I murmured into his auburn hair.
“Mom,” Vali was smiling when he pulled back, his eyes shifting from blue to purple in a way similar to his father's. “We came to see our brothers.”
“Your brothers are in Faerie,” I blinked. Hadn't I told them I wasn't bringing the boys to the God Realm?
“Yes, we know,” he shared a smile with Vidar, who was hugging Odin. “We were hoping you'd take us there.”
“And I was hoping I could tag along,” Kaitlin stepped out from behind Vali.
Kaitlin had been Ull's girlfriend, the only girlfriend I'd ever known Ull to love. Still, when he got killed and I had offered him a way back, Ull had chosen to make a fresh start as my son instead of returning to himself in a new body. So I had put Ull's soul into my son's fetus. At the time, Ull's soul was meant to combine with the fey essence already within my child (Rian) and make him into a different sort of immortal; a double-souled god-fey. But then I'd been attacked by a magic which tried to split my three souls apart. To protect us, Rian took the brunt of the assault and allowed it to split his double souls instead of my three. His unfinished body had been split as well, each half taking a soul with it. I have no idea if it was my magic or the power of being in the womb, but that halved boy was able to rapidly heal himself into two new forms. Voila, I had twins; Rian and Brevyn. Yes, my boys were heroes before they were even born.
And here stood one of their ex-girlfriends.
But was she really an ex? Thor had given Kaitlin an Apple of Immortality so she could live for a hundred more years without aging, despite not being a goddess. All so that Ull, in the new form of Brevyn, could grow up and hopefully remember her. Now that I'd held Brevyn, I would be surprised if he didn't remember Kaitlin. Brevyn had already showed signs of knowing Odin, who used to be his grandfather. So why wouldn't he remember the woman he loved? And, since they never broke up, was she still his girlfriend? That was a kinda gross thought actually.
“Kaitlin, how are you?” I went forward to hug her. She might be my daughter-in-law someday, best to get on her good side as soon as possible.
“I'm good,” she cast a worried look at Thor.
“Why don't we sit down?” Thor suggested.
“I'll make coffee,” Kirill headed to the dining hall, stopping to give Vidar's shoulder a friendly squeeze along the way. They'd been close since the day they'd met.
We all followed Kirill, going to the far end of the table to sit. It was the end closest to the kitchen, so Kirill wouldn't have to carry the coffee far. Kirill went through the kitchen's swinging door and Vidar followed as the rest of us sat down.
“So you want to see Brevyn?” I asked Kaitlin immediately.
“Yes,” she was sitting between Thor and Vali, nervously picking at her nails.
“You do know that he's not fully Ull any more,” I said gently. “And he'll need time to remember you. He's just a baby, Kaitlin.”
“I know but I miss him,” she sighed. “I thought that if I could literally hold him, connect with him, it would help me to figuratively hold on to him.”
“He seemed to know me,” Odin gave me a careful look.
We had talked about Kaitlin eventually coming into Brevyn's life and how I might want to introduce her but we'd never discussed the possibility of her seeing him this soon. So none of my men knew what I was thinking. Still, Odin was good at reading me and all I had to do was meet his eyes to reassure him.
“Did he?” Thor perked up. “Vervain, I know this is an odd situation but-”
“Of course you can see him, Thor,” I reached across the table and took his hand. “I thought I'd made it clear that he'd be available to you.”
“People change their minds,” Thor said softly and swallowed hard. “Thank you, Vervain.”
“I would never keep you from your son. I know I'd kill anyone who tried to keep me away from mine,” I started to smile at Vali but my stomach clenched suddenly and a growl threatened to rumble up my throat. I held a hand to my mouth, trying to hold back the growl like an inappropriate burp.
“What is it?” Trevor leaned forward to peer into my face.
“I think it's my dragon,” I whispered. A sharp thump came from inside my chest; like a head batting into my rib cage. “Yep, she wants to go back to Faerie.”
“You think it's the children?” Trevor looked from me to Odin anxiously.
“She's a part of me,” I shook my head. “I feel like if she knew something, I would too.”
“Your broken star could have affected your connection in more ways than the obvious,” Odin suggested. “I don't know what this is but I think it's best if you went, Vervain. If she's trying to tell you something, you should listen. Take the boys and Kaitlin over to see Brevyn, we'll wait for you here.”
“Right now?” Kaitlin asked in surprise.
“Unless you wanted to wait?” I asked her.
“No, I'm ready,” Kaitlin smiled.
“Me too,” Vali smiled wide. “It's about time our brothers met the rest of their family.”
“After coffee,” Kirill said as he walked in carrying a tray.
Vidar, coming in behind him with the cups, nodded in agreement.
“After coffee,” I relented and accepted a mug. It had been a long day and even though the Fates had given me an energy boost, I could use a moment to catch my breath.
Chapter Seven
It was a good thing that I had just been to Faerie, so I didn't have a lot of time to catch up on before Thor, my sons, and Kaitlin arrived. As it was, I'd have just over a day to spend romping in bed with my dragon king and playing with our sons (obviously not at the same time) before I had to introduce Brevyn to his half-brothers, his previous father, and previous/possibly-future girlfriend. Wow that was a weird sentence. Anyway, when I used my Ring of Remembrance to step back in time to the moment I'd left Faerie, I was supremely glad I couldn't bring people along with me. Because my dragon king had been waiting for me; naked in our bed.
Actually, he did that quite a lot. I think he liked reminding me of what I'd left behind, the instant I returned. He didn't need to, I missed him and our sons every second that I was away from them. But the same went for my other husbands... and now, Re. It was a delicate balance of missing people but placing that emotion aside so I could make the most out of the time I had with my other loved ones.
So when I was in Faerie, I tried my best to concentrate on Arach and the twins fully. My wedding band with its diamond (made from my other husbands' hair) got removed and placed safely in a jewelry box while the wedding ring set that Arach had given me; a delicate gold band and a thicker one set with a crimson stone, got put on.
I held up my hand to admire the blood-red stone as I snuggled into Arach's side, lethargic from the furious burst of love we had made with each other. After my long day in the God Realm, I was ready for sleep but there in Faerie, it was just mid-day and Arach had other plans for me.
“I think it's time Rian learned to fly,” he said.
“What?” I sat up, adrenaline pushing all of my lethargy away. “He's two months old!”
“Almost three,” Arach nodded. “I was a month old when my father cast me out of the Flight Tower.”
“The Flight
Tower?” I nearly screeched. “Cast you out?!What in all the bloody faerie hells are you talking about?”
“There is no faerie hell,” Arach gave me a contented pat on the belly, right on that little bulge most of us women have and hate. Those of us who aren't fitness junkies, liposuction enthusiasts, or anorexics that is... not that I'm bitter.
“I told you not to pat my belly fat,” I pushed his hand away angrily.
“I like it,” he pulled me back down. Then he snuggled into my side and replaced his hand, giving the mound of annoying flesh a good squeeze. “It shows you're healthy; women are supposed to have a nice soft spot right above their womanhood, where a man can rest his head after he's pleasured her.”
“Where did you learn to speak like that?” I gaped at him.
“Do you want me to move my hand?” He smiled wickedly at me.
“No,” I sighed. “Go ahead and squeeze your head rest.”
“Thank you,” he said smugly, sliding down further as he went back to fondling my wobbly bits.
“But I'm not throwing Rian out of a window.”
“Of course you're not, that's the father's duty. It's not just any window either, it's the Flight Tower's window,” Arach mumbled into my stomach. “And it's tradition. Don't worry,” he thankfully sat up to have a proper conversation with me. “There's a reason we use the Flight Tower. It's the highest point in the castle and it gives a young dragon plenty of time to find the air currents. He'll be fine.”
“No,” I said and settled onto my side, fully intending on taking a nap.
“It must be done,” Arach insisted. “How else is he to learn?”
“By falling from a much shorter distance,” I said. “Like his scratching post.”
“The post is only eight feet high, not nearly tall enough for him to catch the air,” Arach huffed. “And there isn't enough room for him to properly fly in the nursery.”
“No.”
“Baby birds fly two weeks after they're hatched,” Arach said reasonably.
“No.”
“He already has the fundamentals down. It's pure instinct; you know that from your first flight.”
