I turned my attention inside myself. I had never used my element like this before. Fire isn't a divination tool. It burns. It consumes. It renews. It warms. And it also revives the soil. All the elements are connected. Could Fire give me insight? Could it help me see into another's faerie's heart?
Nope. I got nothing. The sense I was getting in my bones, or my gut, whatever you want to call instinct, had nothing to do with magic or the elements. It was just a collection of what I knew, including my knowledge of the faeries who ruled the Earth Kingdom. And that collective was telling me that the Earth Royals weren't behind the tricks.
Very good, Faerie said.Now, that, I trust more than bones.
You could have just said that.
And how would that amuse me?
I snorted.
Arach looked over at me with a half-grin.
“Sorry,” I whispered. “Faerie.”
“Ah,” he said. “Well, stop talking to her. Here he comes.”
“Hey, honey,” I said to Azrael as he stopped before us.
He had greeted the High Royals first, then came directly to me. Bending his antlered head, the Faerie God smiled, and I saw a hint of the old him in it. Enough to send a zing down my back. But unlike the other royals of Faerie, I didn't fear the Faerie God. He had gotten the better of me once, but he wouldn't do it again. Not with Az and me keeping him in check.
“Hello, Carus,” Az said, confirming who was in charge with his pet name for me. “Arach.”
“Azrael,” Arach said. “Good to see you.”
Damn, it was hard to not pull Az aside and tell him what would happen in two days. I bit my lower lip.
The Faerie God's green gaze focused on my mouth. “What's wrong?”
“Huh? Nothing. Uh, why don't you introduce our guests to the Royals?”
Az frowned but nodded. Of course, it wasn't a one-on-one introduction. More of a,here you are and here they arething. The royals got named, but he just waved at the world leaders as if they were one. Then came the trek around the main tree. The orientation classrooms weren't in the central tree but behind it, in one of the outer trees. So we circumvented the enormous trunk of the central tree, giving our guests a good look at a few of the elemental gardens. Azrael explained what they were as we went by, and I was surprised to hear similar explanations given further down the line by some of the citadel guards.
“You prepped the guards on conducting a tour?” I whispered to Az.
“We can't bring a bunch of humans here and not explain what things are,” he whispered back. “It will only scare them.”
“Oh, I'm not complaining. It's a great idea. I just didn't know you had planned for that.”
“You have a lot to deal with, Carus. I did most of the planning with the citadel team.”
“Az, I'm sorry. I should have helped more.”
“Don't apologize. That wasn't bitterness. You have all the kids to look after. Samara is still so young. And you have the Intare to take care of too.”
“Kirill helps with that now. More than helps. And all of you help with the kids. I don't handle anything alone.”
“Neither do I, Carus. Truly. It's fine.”
“All right.” I chewed at my lip again because it wasn't fine, and I couldn't tell Az about it.
“Samara had her first flight a couple of days ago,” Arach said proudly and with perfect timing.
“Did she?” Azrael, father to our winged twin boys, knew all about that sort of pride and grinned broadly at Arach. “Congratulations!”
“Thank you.”
I looked back at our huge parade and was shocked at how quiet it was. There were a few soft murmurs of awe and the sound of all those footsteps, but that was it. Even President Jacob Lopez of the United States, elected for another term, didn't say much. He was at the front of the group with the British Prime Minister and, of all people, the new Pope. Vatican City was technically a state, and the Pope was a co-ruler with the President of the Governorate of the Vatican City State. So, there were actually, two rulers visiting from Vatican City. It wasn't the only place that had co-rulers from the clergy but it was the only place that was allowed to bring their co-ruler along. Mainly because it was the Pope and there had been an incident betweenus and the Pope. We wanted to smooth things over, and from the smiles he was giving me, so did he.
