Chuckling, the rest of us headed out to the veranda. As we entered the foyer, Thor pulled me aside.
“May Brevyn stay the night with me?” he asked.
“Of course. I thought that was the plan?”
“I wasn't sure. We weren't clear about how long a visit it would be.”
“Well, he can stay for as long as both of you want him to. I won't need to send him back to Faerie until it's time for the battle.”
“He'd be safe here.”
“Oh, no, it's not that.” I brushed my hand through the air dismissively. “I promised Arach that I'd give him the chance to be a part of any battle here. So, I'll have to send Brevyn back with Arach's ring so Arach can use it.”
“Oh, I hadn't thought of the rings.” Thor shook his head. “I don't know how you keep track of time.”
I shrugged. “I used to write it all down on a calendar but now, I just return to each realm a minute after I left it last and figure it out when I get there. It's when I don't use my ring that I get confused.”
We stepped out onto the veranda. Some of the men were standing, leaning against the columns, but everyone else had found a seat, and they were all watching Salem fly across the clear blue sky, his front talons full of shrieking children.
“It looks like a scene from a horror movie,” I said as I stepped up beside Re and his column.
“It rather does.” He shifted straight, slid his arm around me, and drew me in against his side. “Who knew that a dragon would make such a good babysitter?”
I grinned when I spotted the twins and Brevyn, in his borrowed red dragon body, flying around Salem. “It makes perfect sense when the babies are gods and faeries.”
“Very true.”
I put my arm around Re's waist. On the muscular scale—starting at Benedict Cumberbatch and ending with Dwayne Johnson—most of my husbands were closer to the Rock's end, hovering around the Henry Cavill point. Azrael and Kirill were right at Henry; Az was theSupermanversion and Kirill,The Witcher.Odin and Viper were at Dwayne, with Viper dipping a little toward Jason Momoa, and Trevor was a very fit, young Brad Pitt à laTroy.
Only two of my husbands were on the slimmer side—Arach and Re. They may not be as bulky as the others, but they still had mouthwatering bodies, both at a Ryan point on the muscle scale. Arach had that graceful Sidhe physique, just a little more muscular because he was a Dragon-Sidhe, putting him around Ryan Reynolds, while Re was a solid Ryan Gosling. And sometimes, snuggling a Gosling was just what I needed. I nestled closer and sighed.
“Dagnabbit!” Austin exclaimed as he flew past us.
I chuckled, then shouted, “Just stop thinking happy thoughts.”
“Is that a Peter Pan reference?” Austin called back.
“Yup.”
“Then get your butt up here, Tinkerbell! I need you to take this fairy dust back.”
“Sorry, no takebacksies. But you'll be fine. Just fly it out with the kids and Salem.”
“Fly it out?Fly it out?!”
“Look, in the sky,” Aidan, one of my werelions, said as he pointed at Austin. “It's a bird.”
“It's a plane,” Lucius, another lion, called, right on cue.
Then Fallon came in for the finish, “No, it's Superlion!”
“Not funny!” Austin settled into a hover to glare at his fellow Intare. Then he looked down at himself. “I've stopped!”
“Good, now come back here,” I said.
“Oh, no. No more flying. I just want to get my feet back on the ground.” As he said the words, he began to descend. With a sigh, he landed and said, “Why'd it have to be flying? I'd have been happier breathing fire.”
Then his hands caught fire, and he started to scream like a little girl.
