by Unknown
Then there was Thor. Thor stood out among Odin's sons like a beacon. His hair was golden red, his eyes ocean blue, and he was larger than the other two men. His long hair was tied back with a leather cord, making his face look more severe than it normally did. He was dressed in traditional Norse attire, like Vidar was, but his was a more imposing look, with a thick metal belt and a double-headed hammer hanging from it. It sounds odd but this was what Vikings wore for formal occasions.
“Father?” Thor spoke first. “Is that really you?”
“I'm not sure who I am,” Griffin answered. “I'm sorry, I don't remember you.”
“You don't remember us?” Vali looked hurt.
“Yet,” I added and patted Vali's shoulder. “He will remember, Lili.”
“Mom,” Vali shook his head. “Are you sure you did the right thing?”
“It's too late for doubts,” Vidar was still staring at Griffin. He closed the distance between them, placed a hand on Griffin's shoulder, and leaned down to look into the smaller man's eyes. Griffin froze, staring back at Vidar with nervous expectation. Vidar's face relaxed and he nodded, then removed his hand. “You're Odin alright, whether you know it or not. Welcome home, Father.”
“I...” Griffin looked at me, floundering.
“He won't be moving in quite yet,” I put my hand out to Griffin and he gripped it like it was a lifeline. “He needs to take some time to come to terms with things and hopefully gain his memory.”
“I understand,” Vidar nodded. “Don't worry, I've taken care of Asgard in your absence and I'll continue to do so until you're ready to resume your rightful place.”
“The Valkyries will sure be excited,” Vali grinned, finally accepting that Griffin was in fact Odin, now that Vidar had confirmed it.
“Valkyries?” Griffin looked to me.
“Hot warrior women who are totally loyal to you,” I smirked. “I'm sure you'll get along just fine.”
“Mom,” Vidar's eyes were fastened on my left hand. “Are you wearing a wedding band?”
“A wedding band?” Thor's eyes went straight to my ring.
“I... uh,” I looked guiltily at Griffin, who lifted my hand to stare at the gold band upon it. “I made rings for all of us, so we could find each other and know when one of us was in danger. I made on for you too,” I whispered the last to Griffin. “But I know you're not ready to wear it.”
“No, I'm not,” he dropped my hand.
“Dad,” Vali gaped at Griffin.
“I'm not your Dad,” Griffin growled. “And I'm not your husband,” he shot at me before turning and walking toward the tracing chamber.
“Griffin wait,” I chased after him. “I'll take you back.”
“No,” he continued on. “I know how to do it now. I'll trace myself back. Stay and visit with your sons.”
Chapter Eleven
Later that week, I was sitting on the library veranda with Kirill when a piercing scream filled my head and excitement surged through my body. I dropped the mug of coffee I'd been holding. It shattered on the stone floor, coffee splashing everywhere. Kirill leaped up and ran to my side, his hand going to my cheek and his eyes searching mine.
“Tima? Vhat is it?”
“Samantha,” I shot to my feet and grabbed his hand as I headed out of the library.
“How did you-”
“Come on, Kirill!” I pulled him into the elevator and pushed the button for the fifth floor. I had the elevator door open before the elevator finished moving and then we were running down the hall toward the suites that Fallon and Samantha shared. When I'd built the suites, I soundproofed them to spare the rest of us from screaming babies, but this also meant I couldn't hear Samantha screaming. There was absolutely no sound coming from their rooms.
I knocked on the door and within moments Fallon answered. He saw me and heaved a relieved sigh. Then he grabbed me and yanked me inside, leaving Kirill to follow. With the door open, I could finally hear the screams I'd only been hearing through my connection with the baby. Samantha was definitely in labor.
“Have you sent for Teharon?” I asked Fallon as he pulled me into the bedroom.
“Yeah, Aidan went to get him,” Fallon was focused on his wife. He let me go and ran over to her. “Sam? How's the pain?”
“Fucking awful, you god damn idiot!” She screamed and Fallon just stroked her forehead affectionately.
“I know, baby, I know.”
“You don't know anything,” she growled, her face roiling for a second with Froekn features.
“Oh fuck,” I breathed. “Sam?” I went to stand at her bedside, opposite Fallon. “Teharon's coming, he'll be able to take the pain away. You just need to hold on a little longer.”
“Fuck that,” she turned glowing eyes on me. “You need to do something now, Tima! This baby will listen to you. Tell her to come out already.”
“I don't think she has anything to do with the process, sweetie,” I took her hand and she nearly crushed mine.
“Gods damn it! Don't fucking call me sweetie!”
“Okay, okay,” I tried to disengage my hand but it was impossible. It was like being stuck in the Gordian knot.
“I'm here,” Teharon swept into the room and saved us all. “How is she?”
“Oh, thank you, you beautiful Mohawk god!” I kissed him on the cheek after Sam let go of me. “She needs some help with the pain.”
“No problem,” Teharon knelt beside the bed and took Sam's hand. Almost instantly, she relaxed with a shudder and sighed.
“Thank you,” she smiled up at him.
“Holy shit,” Fallon gaped. “Yes, thank you.”
“It's my pleasure,” Teharon nodded. “Okay, Samantha, it's time to meet your baby.”
“Okay,” she agreed.
From that point on there was no more cursing, just some light grunting as Sam delivered her daughter. It wasn't as fast as the fey births I'd witnessed in the Faerie Realm but it seemed to be as painless and there wasn't any complications with Teharon's healing magic to guide the process. Soon Teharon was lifting a little bloody body up as she screamed her lungs out and waved angry fists in the air.
Fallon shouted with joy and I shared a smile with Sam as Teharon took the baby over to a table laid with towels and a basin of water, to help Fallon give his daughter her first bath. When they had her nicely swaddled in a soft pink blanket, Fallon brought the baby over to her mother.
Sam cried when she first looked on the baby, which made me cry. Our tears had the surprising affect of stopping the infant's wails and the baby girl stared up at her mother silently, seriously. She lifted one tiny hand and placed it on her mother's nose. Then she lifted it again and smacked it down hard on Samantha.
“Ow,” Samantha laughed and grabbed the girl's hand. “That was rude. I just went through labor for you, little girl.”
The baby considered this, then reached up to Sam's nose and gave her another smack. I laughed my ass off.
“I guess she takes after her daddy,” I leaned over and looked the child over.
She was lovely of course, in that wrinkled, red-faced, newborn way. Her skin was coffee colored, heavy on the cream, she had a headful of loose black curls, and eyes that were too watery to denote a color yet. I knew they'd be hazel though, just like Fallon's, I'd seen it. She lifted those undefined eyes to me and I felt a jolt of recognition. There she was, the first Intare child and the first non-Tima female Intare.
She recognized me too, I could see it in that tiny face, and I wasn't surprised when she reached a hand out to me. She made a frustrated cry, waving the hand in the air until I lowered a finger for her to grip. I jerked, feeling the bond complete, the cord that was already between us solidified. I heard Kirill behind me, asking if I was okay but all I could focus on was the magic flowing between me and the baby.
She was a bright spot of energy in my vision, a glowing ball of white. Within that white was an anchor for the cord between us and I knew, if she ever died, I'd feel
her loss as deeply as I felt any Intare connected to me. And if I died, she would lose her connection to immortality. She'd most likely lose control of her beast as well and if that happened, she could die. That thought was sobering, enough so that it broke the spell between us and I was able to pull my hand free of her tight grip and look up into her mother's concerned eyes.
I'd worried over having my own child, leaving her motherless if I died, but I'd never considered the possibility that with my death I'd leave Samantha childless. If I died, Sam would lose both husband and child. My throat constricted with panic and it took me a few moments to get it under control.
“She hit you because of your comment to me,” I finally said to Sam. “The one about telling her to come out already.”
“She what?” Sam looked from me to the baby. “Did she actually say that to you?”
“No,” I shook my head and waved away Kirill's concerned look. “It's more of an impression I got. She has a temper, that one,” I grinned, “but I think she'll be quick to forgive as well.”
Sure enough, just as I said the words, the baby startled to make happy gurgling noises and gripped Sam's hand to pull it down to her mouth. She started chewing on Sam's fingers.
“I think maybe we should go,” I pushed Kirill toward the door. “She looks hungry.”
“Intare vill vant to know her name,” Kirill stopped me and looked over to Fallon.
“Her name is Zariel,” Sam said as she set the babe to breast. I looked away, trying to give her some privacy. “It means Lion Princess.”
“Lion Princess,” I laughed. “Perfect. You're gonna give her an inflated ego.”
“Especially vith all ze doting uncles she'll have,” Kirill nodded, keeping his gaze firmly away from Sam. “Congratulations,” he shook Fallon's hand and then hugged him for good measure.
“Thank you,” Fallon nodded and came over to give me a hug too. “And thank you, Tima.”
“My part was minor,” I shrugged. “Go get to know your daughter. I'll go tell the rest of our family about her.”
When Kirill and I exited the suites, we found a pride of lions filling the hallway, all wearing anxious expressions.
“Her name is Zariel,” I said simply and they all started to roar.
Chapter Twelve
Zariel's birth had me thinking of Arach and the possibility of becoming a mother myself. It had been awhile since I'd gone to visit my faerie husband. I'd been so obsessed over getting Odin back that I'd put my fey life on hold. Now that he was back and I was kind of in limbo until he remembered who he really was, I figured it was a good time to go and visit the Faerie Realm.
So I let Trevor know and asked my ring to take me back to the last time I'd left Faerie, which had been the day after our realms had aligned, New Years Day. I'd partied with the faeries and went back to party with the gods the very next day.
“What happened to the toga?” Arach was leaning on the wall next to our bedroom window.
It had been mere moments for him but it had been over a month for me and I suddenly felt the separation keenly. I'd had so much to focus on that Arach had faded into the back of my mind and I'd watered down his appeal in those buried thoughts. Maybe it was a coping mechanism but I seemed to have forgotten how much I loved him, or at least repressed it beneath other issues and feelings. Now it was coming back with a vengeance.
My eyes swept over his long legs, the muscles hinted at beneath his loose black pants. He was wearing a fitted white shirt with a heavy coat of black velvet over it, simple but elegant. His body seemed to strain at the material, even in his resting position, as if it was happiest when in motion. His hands were strong with long fingers that gripped the velvet of his coat, arms crossed over his wide but sleek chest. When I finally made it up to his face, his eyes were hot, narrowed on me with interest, as the red scales at his temples spread down the sides of his neck.
My own dragon scented his response and roared within me, wanting out desperately enough that I gave in to the rise of my own golden scales. I felt them form at my temples and tingle their way down my neck. Arach's chest started to rise faster but he didn't move, a predator watching another predator. No, you first, I insist. Damn but I'd missed him. I hadn't realized just how much until I saw the light of the fey sun shining on the blood red of his hair. His lips parted on a growl and I pushed back the desire threatening to overtake me. What had he said? Something about a toga.
“What toga?” I finally managed to speak.
“The one you had to make sure you were wearing when you went back to that party,” he visibly tensed at my verbal deflection. He almost seemed happier that I wasn't going to jump into his arms, probably a dragon thing. We do like the chase.
“Oh,” I blinked, remembering the toga party in Hell. “That's right. Wow, that seems like forever ago.”
“It was two seconds,” he got a lazy look to him, his shoulders edging down and his arms falling open to hang loosely at his sides. There's nothing in my hands, see? I didn't trust it for a second, he was only trying to lure his prey into a false sense of security.
“For you,” I grinned, edging toward the door. “For me it was slightly longer than that.”
A cry interrupted our conversation and I looked down to see Dexter, the baby nurial I'd adopted, come running up to me. His big ears were hanging down the sides of his face and his pointed snout kind of made him look like a sad fox but he was built more like a lion. So I guess he was kinda like a hefty, six-legged fox... with a poisoned stinger in his lion tail.
He'd grown a little since I'd first found him but his horns still hadn't made it past little nubs, so the only ruff he had to frame his face with was fur. White fur, he'd gone from a black fire nurial to a white steam nurial for winter.
“Dex!” I cried and picked him up. “Oh, I missed you, little boy!”
He started his weird, grating purr and rubbed his face to mine. The lioness in me loved this and reacted by purring back. I was so shocked that I pulled away and stared at Dexter like he'd made the noise. I'd never purred before, I couldn't even roll my Rs. How had I managed a purr? Dexter just peered up at me, his dangerous little fluff-tipped tail swaying behind him like a snake.
“Was that you?” Arach was a lot closer, his hand almost on my shoulder. I hadn't even seen him move. Very sneaky.
“It was,” I edged away from him with a little smile. I put Dexter down and reached behind me for the doorknob.
“I think I'd like to hear you purr again,” Arach mused, muscles tensing in preparation for the pounce.
“You'll have to work for it!” I swung open the door and ran down the hall.
His laughter followed me before he did, giving me enough time to make it to the stairs that led to the lavafall room. It was still winter in Faerie, so all of the windows were shuttered and paned. All but the one next to the lavafall. I grinned to myself as I dashed into the room and felt the heat from the lava slide over my face.
We couldn't pane or shutter the window that opened directly beside the lava which flowed down the mountain beside Castle Aithinne. The wood would catch fire, the glass crack and possibly melt. Plus, there was no point, the heat coming in made the castle warmer and that was the purpose of shuttering all the windows in the first place. I began to smile as I threw off my clothes. By the time Arach made it into the room, I was naked and climbing up onto the ledge of that open window.
“A Thaisce, what are you doing?” Arach gaped at me.
“I had to wait for you,” I sent him a saucy smile. “I think it's about time you did some waiting too.”
Then I launched myself out of the window and into open air. Very hot open air, which my dragon loved. She was even happier when I freed her completely and let her form overtake me. I fell fast towards the ground for a few seconds while I shifted and then my golden wings spread wide and I caught the hot currents blasting up at me from the magma moat below. I was lifted up, high above the Forgetful Forest, where I turned about and looked bac
k at Castle Aithinne.
I saw Arach outlined in the open window and then he disappeared. I chuckled to myself and did a few spiraling maneuvers before I heard the roar of a dragon male on the hunt. I turned back and saw him lifting up from his own dive, heading straight for me. I roared a challenge back to him and then set out across the forest, to give my husband the satisfaction of a good chase and me the satisfaction of being pursued. I'd let him chase me until I caught him.
I flew like the Wild Hunt was on my heels, not just its leader, veering straight up and then coming down on an angle toward the border of Faerie. Except the fey border was different now, further away than it was before. Because now, the four original kingdoms of Faerie were surrounded by a fifth, the Kingdom of Darkness.
When Faerie had become infected with the Darkness, I'd pulled it out of her and given it what it had wanted all along, form. I, with the help of Faerie and the Great Magic of Transmutation, turned the Darkness into a new type of fey. Faerie had added to that, giving the Darkness its own kingdom and creatures to fill it. This new kingdom encircled all of the old kingdoms, forming a ring around the Faerie Realm.
I was flying over the Kingdom of Darkness before I realized it.
I slowed and started to admire the work Faerie and I had accomplished(okay mostly Faerie). The Dark Kingdom wasn't dark at all, it was ethereally beautiful. The winter was just starting to creep into the freshly made landscape, snow dotting the grass and clinging to the tops of the trees, but mostly the land was untouched by the cold season. The forests were lush and fragrant with sap, pine, berries, earth, and flowers. The meadows were overrun with blooms in a myriad of colors, the valleys adorned with waterfalls, and the mountains were draped in mist. There were unusual creatures everywhere, peering out of trees, from under logs, running across the meadows, and even flying in the air beside me. They hadn't learned to fear me yet and I hoped they never would.
