“Sugar Puffs!” Odin snapped; going with the cereal theme. “Do it now, Vervain.” He took Lesya from me. “Come here, honey, Mama's got to change the chant.”
“Mommy!” Lesya cried as children do when they're confused and scared.
“It's okay.” I took her back. “I can change the chant holding her.”
I hurried down to the tracing room as I bounced my daughter on my hip, my husbands trailing after me. We squished into the elevator together, none of them wanting to be left behind. Good thing I'd recently upgraded it to lion-sized.
I scurried into the tracing room and quickly worked the spell to redo the wards with a new chant. It was going to be a huge pain in the ass and it wouldn't be nearly as cool as the original, not with me having to come up with it on the fly. I'd also have to make sure all the Intare learned it, plus the God Squad, the Froekn, and even Athena's damn owl. There were a lot of people who came through my territory. It got me thinking that perhaps it wasn't so safe even without Narcissus' threat. If an enemy got a hold of a froekn, they could torture them into giving up the chant. The same could be said for my lions I suppose, but they lived at the palace and they needed to be able to trace in.
“What is it?” Odin asked as I stepped out of the tracing room after completing the spell.
“It's okay, Lesya,” I cooed to her. “We're safe now. Here, go to Daddy.” I handed her to Kirill and gave him a heavy look.
“Let's see vhat Zariel's doing,” Kirill said cheerily to our daughter.
As soon as the elevator was out of earshot, I told Odin my concerns about the chant.
“You're right,” he agreed. “Perhaps we should take this as an opportunity to tighten our security and only give the chant to those who absolutely need it.”
“All the Intare need to have it,” I said.
“But not all the Froekn,” the Wolf said.
I looked at him in surprise; he was the last one I'd expected to point that out.
“I want you safe, Mate,” the Wolf declared. “I love my Pack, but I love you more. Only Fenrir and Ty need the chant. UnnúlfR hardly ever visits.”
“Okay,” I said. “The God Squad should also have it.”
“But that's it,” Re said.
“What about Athena?” I asked. “If she needs to send Alex, he should have the chant.”
“Athena can fucking text you like a normal person,” Re snapped. “She doesn't need to show off by sending her damn owl every time.”
“Fair enough,” I agreed with a chuckle. “All right; we'll give those select people the chant and the rest can be escorted in if necessary.”
“I'll text the Squad,” Re offered.
“And I'll take care of Father and Ty,” the Wolf said.
“I'll make an announcement to the Pride later,” I added.
“You'd better mass text them now, Vervain,” Odin said. “Some of them aren't home.”
“You're right,” I said with a shake of my head. I headed to the elevator; my phone was in our suite. “I should have thought of that.”
“You're a little panicked at the moment,” Odin said gently. “Take a breath.”
“Sure.” I stepped into the elevator. “Breathe. Yep; that's a good idea.”
My husbands piled into the elevator with me again, two of them texting rapidly. I realized that I was a man short. I'd have to text Toby too. He was probably going to want to come over now. Shit; if I had been thinking straight, I would have realized that one of the most important things the Mirror could have shared with Narcissus was the chant to my territory. I was off my game, and I needed to refocus.
“Perhaps we should take her to my place,” Re suggested. “Aaru is the most difficult territory to infiltrate.”
“We've got a new chant in place,” Trevor pointed out. “We should be good; better than an open territory human souls journey through.”
“But the mere fact that Narcissus got into this one unsettles me,” Re said.
