“Well, damn. That was hot.”
Arach grinned as his hands slid down to grip my ass. “I was soooo wrong.”
I chuckled, then went serious to say“I love you, Dragon. I wish you hadn't gone through that.”
“The hope was worth it too.” He made a soft sound. “Before this, those years were spent in a furious waste. I bedded woman after woman, trying to fill the ache of knowing that I'd never even have a chance at a family, not the one I truly wanted. I saw other faeries fall in love and marry. I saw those marriages endure. And all I had was lust. But tonight, Vervain, you changed all that. You went back and gave me the hope I needed to get through those years without them turning me bitter. You gave me a glimpse of happiness that may have been far off, but it was coming. I worked toward it every day. All the Fire Fey did. You made us stronger.”
Sifting through my new memories, I saw that he was right, and that gave me comfort. My people hadn't suffered from my time-jump. Amazingly, I hadn't screwed up. I had improved things for them.
“So when we finally met, you couldn't stick to the script?” I smirked at him.
“How could I?” Arach shook his head. “You were right there. Mywife. The woman who would give me a family. My treasure who I'd already held in my arms and heart. I couldn't be careless with you. I didn't want to hunt you.”
“But I ran anyway.” I chuckled.
“And I hunted you anyway.” He sighed. “I did it because you told me to, and I didn't want to risk losing you.”
“Thank goodness you did. Odin had to come for me. He had to summon his Wild Hunt to break into Faerie and take me home. And you had to be compelled to steal me back to Faerie.”
“I wasn't prepared for your men.” He grimaced. “I guess it was better that way.”
I grimaced, a memory rising of Arach's fury upon discovering my other lovers. “I couldn't bring myself to tell you, especially knowing you'd have to think about it for thousands of years. I was trying my best to not destroy our past.”
“I think we did all right.” Arach nuzzled our foreheads together.
I pulled back. “Did we? We won't know for certain until I return to the God Realm.”
“I don't see why things would change there when nothing has here.”
“Are we sure about that?”
Arach frowned as he turned toward the window. “I'll mirror the other monarchs tomorrow. But I find no major alterations in my memories. Do you?”
I thought hard, going over everything I knew about the other kingdoms—especially Water, Earth, and Darkness. Everything had happened as it had before. Dubheasa had attacked me and been swept off by the ring (only to return later and be killed), Guirmean had taken the throne and eventually married Nora, Nora had been altered by Faerie, and Morgan had been born. On and on it went, everything that was integral to the Faerie Realm becoming what it was.
Faerie! I could ask her.
“Faerie! Hey, are you here?” I called out as I stepped away from Arach.
Yeah, I'm here. No need to shout,the Consciousness of the Faerie Realm said in my mind. In Arach's too, judging by the look on his face.
“Did you see all that?” I set my hands on my hips.
I saw it.I could hear the grimace in her tone.Careless of you. And of you, Fire King.She tsked.You should know better than to interfere with magic once it's been set in motion.
“Yes, it was unwise of me to grab the ring,” Arach conceded. “But has it resulted in anything we should know about?”
Not here,she said.
Nor in the other realms, as far as I can sense, said a new voice, this one belonging to Alaric, the Consciousness of the Void.
“Al!” I exclaimed, upsetting the sleeping nurials. “She let you in.”
Faerie agreed this was a situation that required our combined attention,Alaric said.You could have altered many things, Vervain. You could have caused great harm. And you did alter a lot, but it was for the better. You're lucky. We all are.
“Yeah, I know,” I whispered. Then I frowned. “Whatever happened to Nori?”
“Who's Nori?” Arach asked.
