“Youcan hear her?” He shot back. “Faerie is our Goddess; the Consciousness of—”
“Consciousness,” I interrupted. “Holy hamburgers, did you say Faerie?”
Yes, I am she,Faerie huffed.You're dense in every timeline, aren't you, Vervain?
“Timeline,” I whispered the word. “That's what's been changed.”
“Someone changed time?” Kirill asked. “And, Tima, who are you speaking to?”
“I think someone—a couple of gods, actually—have changed our past,” I said to both of the men. “And our old lives are trying to return.”
“You think that I'm involved in this nonsense?” The Fire King asked and then laughed. “Faerie has been closed for thousands of years; there's no way that—”
Oh, just tell her your damn name already!
The faerie before me frowned and cocked his head at me as his stare grew more focused. “Who are you?” He demanded.
That's not what I said!Faerie snapped.
“I'm Vervain Odinson,” I held my hand out to him.
“Vervain,” he repeated my name as he took my hand. “I'm Arach, King of—”
Arach's mouth fell open as his hand clenched on mine.
“Arach?” I asked with concern.
As soon as I said his name, images of him and I together filled my mind. I saw him kneeling before me; vowing to love me forever. I saw him rising above me; in the very act of that love. I saw him flying beside me as a dragon, and I saw him holding our son... no; oursons.
“We have twins?” I whispered.
“Oh, sacred fire,” Arach whispered back as he pulled me into his arms. “A Thaisce; what's happened to us?”
“I don't know,” I floundered for a second, but my body seemed to know exactly how to react to him.
I melted against Arach; my cheek laid over his strong, dragon heart. A surge of something passed between us, and I knew that it was a spell taking hold—or possibly culminating. We both shuddered with the onslaught of both painful and wondrous emotions. Arach and I had been through hell together; in the past, present, and future. We had burned, been broken, and I had given birth to his children. He was my...
“Husband,” I whispered. “And I'm a—”
“Dragon-sidhe,” Arach finished for me. “You are a dragon, A Thaisce, but you're also much more than that. I remember everything now.”
“We cast a spell to bring us back together,” I said.
“That explains why I was drawn to the Great Tree today.” Arach shook his head in wonder.
“And how Kirill and I ended up here,” I said as I turned to Kirill. “And you and I are married too. We made an oath to each other with blood.” I looked back at Arach. “It must have had a similar effect to our spell.”
“Da, I remember now,” Kirill said.
“Our sons, Vervain,” Arach sobbed brokenly. “We must find a way to get them back.”
There you are.Faerie sighed.Final-fucking-ly. I thought I'd have to go over it all for you.
“Well,youhaven't changed.” I grimaced as I eased away from Arach.
Kirill was looking a little confused. So, I took his hand as well as Arach's and stood between the men.
“We're talking to the Goddess of the Faeries,” I explained to Kirill. “We're going to figure this out and put everything back the way it should be.”
