That voice. When last she had heard it, there was so much anger, so much pain and betrayal, but now it was as light as the morning of the party. The long and lithe form of King Wil of the Winter Court came sauntering out of the snow-covered pines. A shift of glittering frost blew around him though his silver gown and silver hair lay still, and his icy, blue eyes twinkled with delight.
“This one isn’t yours, Tarwethen.”
Amma’s eyes felt like they might fall out of her head, though they weren’t really eyes anymore, nor was it really a head her vision was located within. Unable to blink, she gazed from one fae form to the other. “What did you call him?”
“Tarwethen. But he’s not meant to usher you off. It looks like you were one of…”—she checked her book—“Oh, Sestoth’s? Interesting.”
“Hi, hello, yes, I’m here, but I’m not sure why.”
Amma jumped, the warm voice so close to her not-real-back. She turned, and there stood Rea, the soil-skinned, pink-haired fae who had been very friendly at Wil’s gathering and given her a short-lived gift. Taller than Amma, her eyes, just as pink as her hair, fell on her, and she smiled. Warmth flooded Amma, quelling her fear, but only for a moment.
“This is…this is a trick,” said Amma, though the words were strangled and the sentiment weak. She wanted it to be a trick, the kind of thing fae were known for, but in her heart, the truth began to burrow its way inside, like a slowly embedded thorn. But itwasan absolutely mad truth, to be sure. “I’ve been here, I’ve seen your home, and…and I taught you how to havea snowball fight. You can’t genuinely be telling me that you’regods?”
“I know, it can be very confusing when you meet us and you’re still alive, but we can’t let you in on it then,” said Wil, orTarwethenshe guessed, though that felt ludicrous. “Have you formally introduced yourself, D?”
“Oh, no, I forgot that part!” The woman flipped her massive book closed, and it disappeared. She cleared her throat and threw back her shoulders, black cloak swept behind her to reveal a bone-white dress beneath. “I am Thea, goddess of death.”
If Amma had had a stomach, it would have fallen right out of her. “Aren’t you…aren’t you a dark god? Supposedly locked away in the Abyss with the others?”
“Hmm? Oh, no, we just made that part up. You humans doloveyour lore.”
There was a sparkling in the air then, and perhaps it had always been there, but Amma could see it very clearly, little specks of silver and gold. They fell like snowflakes in the wintery air about Tarwethen, they glided to the ground on the falling leaves in the autumn forest behind the door, they shimmered on every green leaf in the summery forest under full sun, and when she glanced at Rea again, who could really only be Sestoth, the goddess of trees and oaths, they glittered in her hair and eyelashes. Magic, pure and refined, dangerous, beautiful, and absolutely bullshit.
“I don’t have time for this!” Amma threw what constituted her hands into the air. “Fine, you’re gods, I accept how utterly weird and ridiculous that is. Now, send me back.”
Sestoth’s eyes went huge, but she grinned. Tarwethen, on the other hand, crossed over to the springy place they stood and grimaced. “Excuse me? What makes you think we can do that?”
“Because you’regods?” Amma screwed up her face. “And if you can’t, get somegod who can, like Isldrah or Denonfy orOsurehm himself. I don’t care, just make it happen.”
A cacophony of voices burst into the island space as three beings appeared, two she recognized and a third whose name she didn’t know but by the feathered wings on her back, she could only assume was Isldrah. Tertius, who had been behind giving the luxerna to Amma with Rae, who was actually Sestoth, was not looking at all surprised, but the Emperor of the Summer Court himself definitely was.
“Oh, this guy,” Amma muttered, rolling her eyes at the bare-chested being she had known before as Norm, Wil’s hated rival. Of course he was Osurehm, he could be no one else.
“We’ve been summoned?” Isldrah clasped her hands and her wings folded behind her.
“Yes, this one wants togo back,” said Tarwethen, no attempt to hide his mocking tone.
“Oh, she can’t do that,” said Osurehm, and like that, he was gone.
Denonfy and Sestoth looked at one another sharply, and Amma grunted. “What a complete—”
“Here’s the thing,” Thea cut in, stepping away from her glittery threshold and coming nearer to Amma. “We aren’t supposed to do anything on your plane. It was an agreement we came to ever since thebigthing.”
“You all call itThe Expulsion,which is a very fancy name. We approve.” Tarwethen and the others nodded.
“You guys interfere with the realm all the time.” Amma slapped her not-hands onto her not-hips. “You grant magic to your followers and you answer prayers and…and you gave Fryn snake hair!”
“No, no, no,” said Isldrah. “You all just pick up on the things we left behind the last time we were there.”
“You let me summon imps in your temple!” Increasingly fearless, Amma pointed at the winged goddess and scowled.
“No, you just did that, and Ihatedit,” she spat back.
“But your priestesses were being enthralled.”
“Yeah, toloveme.” The goddess scoffed. “That little move of yours lost me seven thousand five hundred and twenty-nine points!”
Amma’s next breath was excruciating as she wanted it to be a scream, but she knew she needed to negotiate. “Well, you’re about to have a second expulsion because E’nloc is up on our plane, so maybe it’s time to modify your agreement and do a little intervening.”
