“You phoned a goddess?” Connor asked.
“No, I—” I snorted a laugh when I saw him grin. “Oh, you've got jokes too, eh?”
Connor shrugged. “Laugh or cry, right?”
I went serious. “Right.”
“What did Danu say?” Medea, who'd been leaning against a wall, came forward to demand.
Connor slid her a long look, then focused back on me.
“I asked her about the fox pearls,” I said to Medea. “She said that the story you shared is just a myth. Fox pearls are not actual pearls, not divine or otherwise. They're pure magic. As such, they give Kumihos an easy way to sustain themselves.”
“Easy?” Medea huffed. “They have to kill people.”
“That's the thing,” I said gently. “They don't.”
“What?”
“The way they live now is how Danu intended for them to live. Just because you can use your claws to kill, it doesn't mean you have to.”
Medea's face went slack. Then she cursed. “Are you saying that all these years, they've believed that they had to kill to survive when they didn't?”
“Or did they?”
“What?” Medea growled.
“Danu said that the war made fairies use their gifts as weapons. That implies that they didn't before.”
“So, you think the Kumihos knew they didn't have to kill?”
“Medea, I know their history,” I said gently. “I know they were attacked. Even the Korean human myths show an abruptchange in Kumihos. They go from being benevolent to vicious killers. That can only mean that they weren't killing people at first. I think they started to kill humans out of self-defense, then vengeance, and maybe, eventually, it became a tradition.”
“Tradition? Are you fucking kidding me?!”
I held up my hands. “What do I know? Maybe there's another reason. But they certainly shifted easily into feeding on just a sip of life force instead of taking it all.”
“You fucking take that back!” Medea shouted.
“Take what back?” Killian asked. “She's only telling you what she learned from the Goddess herself and what the human myths say. She didn't insult your girlfriend, Medea.”
“Kill.” I shook my head at him.
“Kumihos are gentle people!” Medea pointed her finger in my face.
Sever slid between us, his wings opening with a crack of sound to block me. “Step back, Gorgon,” he snarled. “You're addressing your queen and my wife.”
“Yeah? Well, they're both wrong!”
“That is the prerogative of royalty. Your job is to obey. Or, at the very least, hold your fucking tongue!”
I stepped around Sever to see Medea trembling with rage. She was seconds away from attacking my husband. Which meant she was seconds away from death.
So, I hugged her.
Medea's body went stiff for a long, tense moment before she crumpled around me.
“We don't know the truth,” I said as I squeezed tightly. “That's between Danu and the Kumihos. But no matter what they've done in the past, I believe it was what they thought was necessary. I'm their queen but also their ambassador and their friend.” I stepped back to meet her stare. “I am on their side and yours, Medea. Always.”
