Killian moved aside, and my father took his place.
“I'm going to the Grove today.” Dad had his ombré purple-to-lavender hair pulled back in a braid, but he ran a hand nervously over his head anyway. “If I can't reach Danu there, I'll go to her temple. The Council needs to be notified.”
“Thanks, Dad. I didn't think of that.”
“That's only if we can't contact her in any other way. I'll scry you after I get back.”
“All right. And we'll scry when we know more about the blight.”
He nodded. “Be safe, Seren. It worries me that Fairy may not be a sanctuary for you at the moment.”
“It is. It's just wounded. We'll heal it, Dad.”
He smiled. “I know you will.”
As we ended the scry, my words sank in. There was another world I was supposed to heal. Was Fairy's injury cosmic retribution for my abandoning Hell?
Chapter Fifteen
The next morning, after another beautiful night's sleep, Tiernan and I made our goodbyes to our family in the courtyard. Not only did Falcas come out to see us off, but so had Sorcha, Latharna, Gabrielle, and their lover, Kofi—a very handsome Adze.
In Ghana, on Earth, the Adze were like vampires except that they only drank blood in their firefly form. Yup, they turned into bugs. If you caught one while they were in their insect body, they'd revert to their human form and show you their true selves. As tempting as that was, it generally wasn't done because after they revealed themselves, the Adze would attack their captor and eat their organs. So, I guess they were kinda vampire-cannibals. Even without that lore backing him up, Kofi was intimidating. He was nearly seven feet tall with more muscles than Raza.
Both Gabrielle and Kofi were from South Seelie, with the dark skin that region was known for. They had similar features too—full lips and broad noses. But while Kofi kept his dark hair closely cropped to his scalp, Gabrielle wore her crimson hair long, in glorious, shining waves. Both of the southern fairies had bright eyes—Gabrielle's green and Kofi's blue. Standing between the two vibrant fairies, Latharna looked like a fallen star, hersilver eyes and pale skin practically glowing. Or maybe that was the pregnancy.
Tiernan couldn't resist rubbing his sister's rounded belly. “Take care of our family, Sister.”
“I always do when you're away.” Latharna kissed Tiernan's cheek. “Be safe, Brother.”
“Wait!” Lady Mariya came running down the keep steps to our convoy.
She stopped before our group, her form going nearly invisible before she condensed and bowed. “Your Majesties, I found something—a note in the histories about Danu and Fairy.”
“What did it say?” Tiernan demanded.
“It was just a couple of sentences, Your Majesty. But I think they're important. I was reading one of our oldest records. It recounted the birth of the Gods. When the Gods were born, so was the planet of Fairy—the planet manifesting first to give the Gods a place to take physical form. Within the magical nexus this created, the Gods found their homes. Danu decided to stay here and claim Fairy, but Anu did not wish to share it with her. He left through the first rath to create a planet similar to Fairy. Due to its similar nature to Fairy, Earth formed ties with our world, mimicking Anu's bond with Danu.”
“Actually, he created three worlds,” I said. “But go on.”
“Yes, well, our historians didn't know about Heaven and Hell.” Mariya inclined her head. “I have already noted the discovery of Anu's other children and their planets in the archives.”
“But what ofthisplanet, Lady Mariya?” Tiernan urged. “Was there anything more mentioned about Fairy?”
“Yes, King Tiernan. The part I wanted to share with you concerns Fairy. It concerns both planets, actually, but the pertinent information is this—the Gods are bound to each other as their worlds are bound to each other, and astheyare bound to theirworlds.”
“The Gods are bound to their worlds,” I murmured. “So, if you hurt Fairy, you hurt Danu.” In my mind, I added,"If you hurt Hell, you hurt Anu.
Tiernan took my hand. “This just became a mission to save our Goddess.”
The regiment of soldiers Tiernan had chosen to accompany us shifted uneasily. There were two thousand Seelie soldiers stationed at Castle Seelie, but we were only taking forty with us. We only had cairs for that many. We couldn't use the raths because we might miss infected land, and traveling by land would take too long. So, we needed to use the cairs. But as I met Tiernan's worried gaze, I wondered if we'd made the right decision.
“Should we march instead and take more soldiers with us?” I asked Tiernan.
“No. We aren't fighting an opposing army. And I can always scry the castle to send us reinforcements if necessary.” Tiernan looked at Duchess Sorcha. “Keep watch, Mother. If you see any sign of the blight, scry us, and Seren can return to drive it back.”
“We will all keep watch.” Sorcha kissed Tiernan's cheek and then mine. “Save the Goddess.”
“She's saved me often enough,” I said. “I owe her.”
