“Why'd he call you Dark Star?” He asked anyway. “Does it have anything to do with that sparkle hair you got going on?” He waved at the lock of starlight at my left temple—the one I'd gotten when I'd healed my star the first time it had been damaged. “Don't think I didn't notice that your hair twinkles.”
My husbands went still. My jaw clenched.
“Whoa.” Austin leaned back. “I just stepped in a steaming cow patty, didn't I? You don't have to tell me about the hair if you don't wanna.”
“It's not the hair. Although the hair is connected to the magic he was referring to.” I sighed. “I created Viper when I was... compromised by evil.”
“Compromised by evil?” Austin drawled.
“An old friend of mine started siphoning god magic from other gods. The process filled him with—for lack of a better word—evil. Vervain was touched by that evil,” Odin explained. “We didn't know that she was infected until she was too far gone to save. During that time, my wife became a dark goddess who tried to—and nearly succeeded in—conquering the world.”
“Do wut?” Austin leaned forward. “I know humans are kinda blind to the things y'all do, but we'd notice someone taking over the world.”
“You did,” I said softly. “Humans sent armies after me. I destroyed them. The Gods revealed themselves to humans and stood with them against me. I destroyed them too.”
“Sweet Jesus,” Austin whispered.
“I have a connection to unlimited power inside me. It's called the Trinity Star.” I stroked my starlight hair. “Normally, it's restricted by fate—the good of all, sort of thing—but when I was tainted by evil, it was too. And it stopped holding me back. I created an army of dragon warriors and a group of Star Gods to lead them. Viper was one of those gods.”
Austin gaped at me. “You really did make him? Just conjured him up?”
“Yes, and he became nearly as evil as I was. But, in the end, I battled my darkness and won. Then I nearly drained myself of all of my magic to put things back to rights.”
“Back to rights?” Austin lifted a brow. “Are you saying what I think you're saying?”
“I unmade my dragons, released the souls of my star gods—all but Viper who chose to stay with me, brought the dead back to life, wiped the memory of my reign from the minds of humans, and fixed most of the damage I'd done. I wasn't able to wipe the memories of the Gods, but—” I stopped abruptly.
“What is it?” Trevor asked me.
“Do you think this has something to do with me?” I asked my husbands. “Do you think these snakes could be after me for revenge?”
“If they were, they wouldn't have responded negatively to you showing up,” Odin pointed out. “At the very least, they wouldn't have been surprised to see you.”
“Oh. Yeah. Right.” I shook my head. “It's not always about you, Vervain.”
“Can we get back to the part where you brought the dead back to life?” Austin asked with astonishment.
“It was a one-time deal to fix fate.” I waved him off. “I don't think I could do it again. The relevant part of that tale is that Viper was created to be a general in my army. We ended up becoming much more to each other, but our relationship began with me as his goddess. He called me Dark Star the other night to hurt me—to point out that I was acting as if I owned him. Like I had when I was evil.”
“So, it was a low blow?” Austin grimaced.
“The lowest,” Odin said dryly. “Still, Viper is family and he's a young god. He's making mistakes like all of us have. We'll get past it.”
“Do you know what tunnel he went down?” Austin asked.
“Yes, Lucas gave me directions,” Azrael said. “It's the one behind the house, diagonal to the right corner.”
“I know it.” Austin stood up. “I only filled it in enough to hide it from the Feds. It shouldn't take too long to dig it out.”
We followed Austin around the side of the house and to a shed where he pulled out a shovel.
“Are you a snake too?” Austin asked Odin. “Is the term weresnake?”
“Weresnake is fine but no, I'm not a snake-shifter,” Odin said. “I'm simply a shifter. I can take any form.”
“Convenient.” Austin snorted.
“Very,” Odin agreed.
