Half Bad: A Reverse Harem Goddess Romance (Godhunter Book 31)

by Amy Sumida

  Chapter Sixteen

  After a shower, Arach and I got dressed, then went next door to wake up our twin sons.

  “I guess we don't have to wake them up,” I said as Arach and I stepped into their room.

  Not only were our boys awake, but they also had Hunter, Prince of the Fire Cat-Sidhe; Dexter, my nurial (a fey animal with a lion body, a fox face, and six legs); and Deirdre, Dexter's daughter with them. Hunter was a couple of years older than the twins but they all looked to be around the size of human 10-year-old boys. Brevyn and Rian had aged faster for a few years while Hunter had matured more like a human. Somehow, they managed to even out with each other.

  Hunter looked a lot like his daddy, King Roarke, with the fiery eyes of his race and raven black hair cut in rakish swags. But his hair had developed a red streak at his left temple, just like his mother, Queen Anna had. I'd seen Hunter in the future (the broken one that I fixed) in, of all places, Pride Palace. His father had been bringing him for visits to hang with the Intare, and Hunter had become friends with Lesya. I frowned as a thought occurred to me: Roarke hadn't been bringing Hunter by. Maybe I should start encouraging him to.

  Or maybe not. You never know what's best where fate is concerned. I'd have to go with my instincts.

  Rian was looking more and more like his father too. The only differences were the vibrant green color of his eyes and dragon scales and something around his mouth—his lips were more like mine, fuller than Arach's. In all other ways, including his attitude, Rian was a miniature version of Arach. Brevyn, on the other hand, was me. Ull and me.

  Brevyn's blond hair had darkened to my color—a deep brown. It had been lighter just a few months ago and his face had been fuller. But the baby fat was finally leaving his cheeks and revealing the bone structure beneath—a structure that was all me. Staring into my face done smaller and masculine was a miracle that I never expected to receive. It made me feel more like a goddess than any magic I owned. I love all of my children and as they grow, I'm able to see pieces of myself in them but, so far, Brevyn resembled me the most.

  I've learned long ago not to get hung up on appearances—knowing gods has really cured me of that—but there is something visceral about seeing proof that your blood runs through the veins of another person. It's instinctual, like the smell that binds us to our babies. I didn't love Brevyn more than the others, but I appreciated having one child that was more me than my husbands. Well, except for those deep blue eyes—those were all Ull.

  I'd been wrestling with the fact that I'd placed the soul of my friend into Brevyn's body—trying to come to terms with the fact that this boy wasn't all mine and Arach's. But I finally realized that a child's soul never originates from its parents. A soul has nothing to do with genetics or blood. A body can affect a soul but only in the way of learning—of experience. It didn't matter that Ull wasn't my child in his last life. None of my other children had souls or essences that had been taken from mine. Of course, they didn't; I only gave them magic to go with their souls.

  Ull had been in my life—he had been like a brother to me. In a way, he had more right to be born as my son than any of the other souls who had randomly entered my children. Once I realized that, I also realized that giving birth to him and raising him is what made him my son in this life. He wasn't Ull anymore, though Ull was there, even some of his memories were emerging. But despite who he was and what he remembered, he was Brevyn now and each day revealed more about the new man he would become.

  And today was a perfect example of that.

  Arach and I had walked in on a fight. We didn't have a lot of fights between the children of the castle but when the kids did get into a brawl, it could get dangerous. Rian and Hunter both had their claws out—hands lifted in the primal pose of I'm-going-to-claw-your-face-off. Brevyn stood between the boys, his body covered in scales—scales given to him by the Dragon-Sidhe magic he'd borrowed from his father.

  Brevyn technically has two god magics: Love—which I'd given him—and Borrowing. The Love had yet to emerge, but Borrowing came out often and actually has two parts to it: the first is the ability to borrow or copy another god's or faerie's magic for any length of time (he's had Arach's for awhile now), and the second is precognition, which helps Brevyn decide which magic to borrow. At first, he could only shift into a full dragon form, but he'd recently discovered his weredragon form—a humanoid body covered in scales, topped by horns and claws, and accented with a pair of lovely, leathery wings. He was using that form to his advantage now—guarding himself against kitty and dragon claws while trying to break up the fight. Dexter and Deidre sat to the side, watching with heads cocked and fiery eyes confused.

  Upon hearing my voice, the boys flinched and then turned toward the door in the manner of red-handed criminals and naughty children everywhere: shoulders hunching and faces cringing. And by boys, I mean Rian and Hunter. Brevyn merely shifted back to his normal self. His trousers suffered a few tears and his shredded tunic hung loosely around his chest—casualties of his shift. But Brevyn smiled at me as if nothing were wrong and ran over to get his morning kiss. Dexter and Deidre came with him.

  “Good morning, Mommy.”

  “Good morning, Brevyn.” I gave the nurials a stroke each then scooped up my son to hug him and kiss his cheek. “Playing the part of mediator, eh?”

  Brevyn shrugged. “Hunter brought his new bow to show us and Rian broke it.”

  “I didn't break it,” Rian protested. “I accidentally cut the string with my claw.”

  “My dad just gave it to me,” Hunter growled. “You should have been more careful.”

  “Let me see the bow,” Arach demanded, his hand extended.

  I set Brevyn down as Hunter brought the remains of the bow forward. A quiver of arrows was strapped to his back, bright feathers trimmed at the notched end of each. The wood of the bow had straightened without the tension of its string but there was nothing wrong with it.

  “It just needs to be restrung,” Arach pronounced. “I'll have it fixed for you, Hunter.”

  “Thank you, King Arach,” Hunter said solemnly.

  “See? You didn't have to get so mad,” Rian huffed.

  “Did you offer to fix the bow for him?” Arach asked Rian, a crimson eyebrow lifting.

  Rian's expression shifted into one his father wore when he didn't want to answer a question... because he knew he was in the wrong.

  “That's a no,” Arach concluded, recognizing the look as easily as I.

  “I didn't know it could be fixed,” Rian defended himself.

  “Accidents happen,” I said to the boys. “Things break. But you are faerie princes and you have many things and long lives ahead of you. Even if you can't fix the things you break, you have forever to forget about them. And you will forget because no inanimate object is so important that you'll remember it forever and no friendship is so unimportant that you should jeopardize it over something you will one day forget about entirely. You need to have better priorities, children. Do you understand?”

  Hunter and Rian nodded solemnly.

  “Now, that doesn't mean you should go around breaking things or not valuing them. It means that when an accident happens, you need to remember what's important. It's okay to feel bad and get angry but before you direct that anger at someone else, try to imagine what they are feeling. Rian, what would you have wanted Hunter to do if he had broken one of your toys?”

  Rian frowned. “I don't know. Say sorry and get me a new one?”

  “I think that would be fair,” I agreed. “If you break something that isn't yours, you should apologize and replace it if possible. So, the next time you break your friend's belonging, what should you do?”

  “Offer to replace it,” Rian concluded. He looked at Hunter and said, “I'm sorry I broke your bow, Hunter, and I'm sorry I didn't offer to fix it.”

  Hunter grinned, instantly over it. “It's okay, Rian, it was an accident.”

  “And Hunter, how would you h
ave felt if you had broken Rian's bow?” I countered. “What would you have wanted him to do?”

  Hunter blinked. He hadn't realized that he wasn't merely the victim in this. “Um... I guess I would have felt embarrassed and guilty and I'd want him to forgive me.”

  “It's hard to forgive someone without them asking for forgiveness, isn't it?” I asked him.

  Hunter nodded.

  “Sometimes when people get embarrassed and feel guilty, it's difficult for them to apologize.” I leaned in to whisper, “Especially dragon people.”

  Hunter giggled.

  “But if you can show them some understanding, it may help them to get past that embarrassment and apologize as they should. Not everyone knows this secret—that imagining what someone else is feeling can give you the power to influence their actions.”

  All of the boys stared at me in wonder. Start talking about power to a faerie and they listen.

  “You boys may have to lead your people someday, and a leader must set an example. You don't want your people bickering over mistakes but they will, and you might be the one who has to sort them out. You need to be sympathetic to understand people, and you need to understand people to truly help them and be a good king.”

  “Okay, Aunty V. I'll try,” Hunter said.

  Yes, he calls me Aunty and Arach King. Take from that what you will.

  “Good boy.” I ran a hand over his hair affectionately.

  “I'm sorry I wasn't more understanding about your mistake, Ri,” Hunter added.

  “It's okay,” Rian said brightly. “You're right, I should have been more careful. I was just excited.”

  “Now that's settled, let's go downstairs and have breakfast.” Arach gave Brevyn a nudge toward the door.

  Brevyn had changed his clothes while I'd given my little mommy lecture to the other boys, then had gone to wait beside his father. All of the males in the room made grunts of assent to Arach's suggestion, even Dexter, then headed out the door and toward the central stairs at a fast pace. I rolled my eyes and followed more sedately but my stomach ruined the effect by rumbling. Arach lifted an eyebrow at me over his shoulder while the boys giggled.

  The boys ran off, the nurials with them, before I could chide them—taking the stairs too fast for my comfort, even after I yelled at them to slow down. Their pace was completely unnecessary since the stairs had a folding magic that shortened the journey. You didn't notice while you were on them but you always reached the floor you were headed to faster than you should have. Arach and I stepped into the first-floor corridor mere moments after our boys had reached it, despite their run. That being said, as soon as they were in the corridor, their running became more effective and took them far ahead of us.

  The children and nurials were already at the high table with King Roarke and Queen Anna when Arach and I stepped into the dining hall. The other tables, set in lines along the sides of the room, were full of Fire Faeries. Goblins talked while they ate, spraying food out of their full mouths, while their bigger, Red Cap cousins focused intently on chewing. In contrast, Leanan-Sidhe dined with exquisite manners, every movement graceful. Tiny Pixies lounged against pitchers of water and vases of flowers as they picnicked on the tops of the tables, and Phookas in their canine forms stole hunks of meat to tear apart on the floor. The Fire Cats were having a good time, as always, and the Imps had joined them, their heads barely clearing the tables. There were even a few Hidden-Ones picking at their breakfast with pincers or shoveling it into their mouths with flippers.

  Ah, my wondrous people; I loved them so damn much.

  Many bowed or nodded to us as we passed but several didn't notice and that was just fine. We weren't royals who needed to be fawned over at every opportunity. Half the time, Arach got annoyed by it. He did, however, make use of his status to shuck off the repair of Hunter's bow. He stopped at one of the tables to ask a Fire Sidhe—who had finished his breakfast—to handle it. The man accepted the task immediately and left the hall to restring the weapon.

  Weapon. Sheesh. On Earth, parents give their children fake weapons to play with—things that shoot foam pellets or water. In Faerie, we give our kids the real stuff and send them off with a pat on the head to maim each other. I suppose the fact that our children are immortal has something to do with that. Although, there probably are a few human parents who have given their children real bows and arrows to play with. I'm guessing that happens more in heavily wooded areas than suburban streets.

  “Hey, Queen V. How's it hangin', King Arach?” Roarke greeted us as Arach and I took our seats.

  “Good morning, King Arach and Queen Vervain,” Anna added more politely.

  “Good morning,” I said to them both.

  Arach nodded and sort of grunted at our friends as he reached for the coffee. Yeah, that was my fault—getting the Dragon King hooked on caffeine. But it did improve his mood in the morning. Arach sipped, sighed, then set about filling his plate with food. I wasn't as hungry, part of me was still thinking about Viper no matter how hard I tried to distract myself. So, I only nibbled at the food. Dexter sat beside me and laid his head in my lap as if he knew I needed the comfort. Deidre slipped under the table to lie across my feet. The boys were further down the table by Anna, where she was generously keeping an eye on them. I have to admit that's one of the reasons I love having Roarke and Anna eat with us at the high table—that and the company, of course.

  “You ever think about taking Hunter to visit us at Pride Palace?” I asked Roarke.

  Roarke cocked his head at me. “Sure, that would be fun. I haven't seen the lions in awhile. How are they doing?”

  “Well, Kirill is currently accepting them as his followers.” I thought about that, then amended, “Not exactly currently, but you know what I mean.”

  “He's doing what?” Arach looked up from his food.

  “Kirill's a god now,” I reminded my husband. “A god of death. His connection to the Intare combined with his magic, has allowed him to provide an afterlife for his brothers. He even got Anubis to release the Intare souls he already had in Duat. We brought them home today.”

  “That's awesome, V!” Roarke exclaimed. “You must be so excited to have them back.”

  “Yeah, absolutely,” I said with less enthusiasm than the statement required.

  Roarke cocked his head again.

  “I am excited,” I said to his look. “I'm thrilled to have them back and to know that the Intare can return to Pride Palace if they die. Kirill will be a second source for their magic too, taking some of the burden off me.”

  “Then why don't you seem happy?” Arach asked

  “Viper and I had a fight,” I admitted. “He ran off—went to chase after some snake-shifters we've been hunting—and now he's not responding to my calls.”

  “Your phone calls or internal calls?” Arach asked.

  Arach was the only one of my men who I couldn't exchange a Blood to Heart vow with. I could give it to him, but since he wasn't a god, he couldn't make the vow to me. Because he couldn't reciprocate, he had refused to take my vow.

  “The internal calls. He took off in snake form so he didn't take his cellphone with him.” I grimaced.

  “Why are you hunting snake-shifters?” Arach asked suspiciously.

  “We're not at war. Don't give me that look.” I'd promised to notify Arach any time we went into a big battle so he could join us. “Austin asked me to help investigate a series of snake attacks in Lexington. We discovered that there have been attacks in several cities leading up from Mexico. The snakes dug a network of tunnels below Lexington and possibly other towns. Viper went into the tunnels after them.”

  “He went in after arguing with you?” Arach asked with a condemning tone.

  “Yes.”

  “That was rather foolhardy and brash.”

  “Yes.”

  “And rude.”

  “Yes.”

  “How long has he been gone?”

  “A day.”

&
nbsp; Dexter whined sympathetically, and I absently pet him.

  Arach sighed. “That's a long time to keep your mate in the dark. I don't like the sound of that, Vervain.”

  “Me either.”

  “Have you gone after him yet?”

  “I might send Odin after I get back. I can't shift into anything small enough—or narrow enough, rather—to crawl through those tunnels.”

  “Can't you track his smell from above ground?”

  “To a certain depth, but I think these tunnels go deeper than I can smell.”

  “Well, if you need me to go to the Human Realm and help you find him, let me know.”

  “Thank you, honey. That means a lot.”

  “Of course, A Thaisce. Viper is family now. He may be acting in a manner I don't approve of, but he's still family. We'll find him.” He grimaced. “Then we'll break his nose.”