I washed my hands, then left the bathroom to find Kirill and Odin waiting outside the door. They parted for me as I headed back to the bed. I crawled up beside Azrael again, said a prayer to the Elements and the Great Nine Magics, and then bent over my enchanted lover. As I kissed his cold lips, I pulled on the element inside me. The Fey part of me. Not to warm him. I just needed its support. Because this long shot was inspired by fairy tales. It sounds crazy, but fairy tales are all based on facts. Fey facts.
So, I kissed my Prince Charming and hoped that true love would break the spell that kept him asleep.
Everyone went silent. They knew what I was doing. Instead of scoffing, they hoped right along with me. I could feel their hope pressing in on me as I lifted my head and focused on Azrael's eyes. A minute passed. Another. I cursed. A love goddess-faerie-witch thwarted by a broken Death spell. That was a fairy tale gone wrong.
“It was worth a shot, Vervain,” Horus, of all people, said.
I screamed. I screamed like a wild thing and slapped Azrael's skeletal cheek. I pounded on his chest. I shook him. Tears poured down my face. I kept screaming. Madness loomed. I could feel the dark rising. I didn't fucking care. Anything would be better than this cold fear.
“Holy fuck,” someone said.
“For fuck's sake, you assholes!” a woman screeched. “Help her! Go to your wife!”
Suddenly I was surrounded by men, strong hands easing me back. They didn't need to use more force than that. As soon as they touched me, I went limp. True love—told you it had power. Crumpling backward, I fell into their arms and wept more softly.
“I don't know what to do,” I whispered over and over. “I don't know what to do.”
“It's going to be all right, Vervain,” Odin said firmly. “Azrael is strong. Whatever this is, he will get through it. We just need to figure it out.”
“It's the trickster.” I sat up and swiped at my eyes. “He had something to do with this!”
“I don't think so, Vervain,” Odin said. “Kirill and Azrael were playing with a powerful magic that they hadn't tested as a unit. This is not a part of the trickster's game. This is their mistake.”
“I think you're wrong.” I pushed away from my husbands and climbed out of bed.
I went past the table of gods to the coffee pot and poured myself some coffee, feeling stronger with someone to blame. Messed up, but true. It gave a focus to my fear, and that mellowed it.
“It's him.” I turned to face everyone. “A magical backlash would have hurt Azrael, but this? This isn't normal. The trickster did something to Az when he lost consciousness.”
“If that were true, there would be some kind of trace of his magic on Azrael,” Odin said.
“No, there wouldn't. The trickster's magic would be hidden along with every other trace of him.”
Odin scowled from me to Kirill.
Kirill shrugged. “It's possible. I didn't feel anyone else zere, but zat doesn't mean he vasn't.”
“Starlight, you were so insistent that the trickster has good intentions,” Viper said. “How could this be good?”
“I don't know. Everything he did before seemed bad at the time,” I said.
“So, we're just supposed to trust the process?” Brahma asked.
“No,” I said. “We're going to hold the course. That beaver got the better of us earlier, but he won't do it again.” I looked at Torrent.
Torrent grinned. “And we know where he lives.”
Chapter Twenty
You'd think by now I would have learned my lesson. How many times did I have to get my ass handed to me to remember not to engage a god in their territory? No matter how strong a god is, when they enter another god's territory, they're at a disadvantage. Because the god connected to the land has power over it.
We had barely traced into the beaver's territory when the swamp attacked us. Sucked under by rancid sludge, I was worse off than I'd been when I tumbled down the river.
“Vervain!” Re shouted as sunlight burst around me, instantly hardening the mud.
Fire! Of course! I burst from the clay, then helped Re free the others. But by the time we had turned the swamp into dry land, the beaver was already changing the landscape. It became a lake, with his cabin in the center of it. And guess who was coming to drown us?
I finally realized the mistake we'd made. “Retreat!” I shouted.
