“We think the snake-shifters are ruled by one snake god,” I answered Viper's question. “He tried to blackmail me earlier tonight—today—just earlier. He wanted me to back off of his snakes and in exchange, he wouldn't hurt you.”
“I never saw a black snake,” Viper spoke around a bite of bacon. “Only green ones.”
“Those snake-shifters weren't Egyptian, were they, Re?” I asked my husband hesitantly.
“No, they weren't from my pantheon,” Re denied. “But I think they might be from that area of the world.”
Viper poured himself a cup of coffee from the carafe sitting in the center of the table. “Those tunnels went on forever. I think we were right about them crawling up from Mexico.”
“But why would they have to dig their way to Texas?” I scowled. “They didn't trace away tonight either, they ran. Or slithered, rather. But why not simply trace to safety?”
“Maybe they're cursed,” Austin suggested.
The gods at the table stopped and looked at each other pensively.
“Well, slap butter on my butt and call me a biscuit!” Austin declared.
“Butter on your butt?!” Zariel shrieked with laughter.
“Eew.” Lesya made a disgusted face. “Butter butt.”
Vero just looked at his father for verification of the potential butter slapping. Trevor shook his head, and Vero relaxed.
“Is that possible? Could they be cursed?” Austin went on.
“Just like Snow White.” Lesya nodded sagely. “But she deserved it.”
“Snow White deserved to be cursed?” Austin asked in horror.
“Snow White wasn't cursed, baby,” I corrected Lesya. “She was executed for being evil, remember?”
“She was what?!” Austin's horror multiplied.
“Snow White is a true story. A real fairy tale,” I explained. “As in, the Fey.”
“My mommy's a faerie,” Lesya declared.
“Wait. I thought you were a lion goddess?” Austin held his hands up as if he could hold back the tide of information.
“I told you, I'm many things,” I reminded him. “I'm a goddess of Lions, Love, and the Moon. I can shapeshift into a lioness because I'm the Goddess of the Intare, a wolf because of my connection to Trevor, and a dragon because I'm a Dragon-Sidhe.”
“A dragon she?” Austin asked. “Is that a female dragon?”
The children giggled again.
“Okay, no fair laughin' at the ignorant human,” Austin chided them.
They laughed more.
“It's Sidhe—spelled S I D H E—as in a race of faeries,” I explained. “You sure you're ready to hear all this?”
“No, but tell me anyway.” He took a fortifying sip of coffee and nodded.
“Faeries are real, but they live in another realm. That realm is connected to Earth but not laid over it like the God Realm. My parents were Dragon-Sidhe—Fire Faeries—but my mother fell in love with a human. So, we lived with him on Earth and we were here when humans began to hunt dragons.”
“Those dragons stories are true? And they were about your people?”
“Yes. The Dragon-Sidhe were nearly wiped out. Only my husband survived.”
