“Me.”
Chapter Thirty-One
“What do you mean?” Ty shrieked as he drew me further away from the machine.
“She said God chose me.” I motioned to a shaken Agwusi, who sat silent. “Ihavefelt an influence in my life. Faerie and Al didn't trust it, and now I know why. This being influencing Agwusi may indeed be a true god, but he's lazy. He doesn't like the way things are going, but he doesn't want to monitor us. So, he ordered Agwusi to make this machine, and he guided me here to monitor it for him. I'm to take his place as the ultimate judge.”
“No,” Agwusi whispered. “He would have told me. He . . .” She looked from the machine to me. “No, that's not fair. If anyone should monitor the machine, it's me.”
“Trust me, you don't want the job,” I muttered. “I got a glimpse of what my life would be like. I'd be bound to this thing. Never able to leave the territory. I'd be a prisoner. Life would become judgment. I would lose my family because I wouldn't be able to be with them. It would be me and the machine.” I looked at the thing. “No one between us.”
“God chose me too!” Agwusi rattled the chains, lifting her hand a fraction of an inch. “He would have told me about this. It's not true. It can't be.”
“Chosen doesn't mean you get to know the whole plan.” I shook my head and glared at the machine. “I can't bind myself to this thing. It would mean sacrificing myself and everyone I love. Frankly, I'd let the world burn before I did that.”
“That may yet happen, Godhunter.” Agwusi lifted her chin, already back to her calm self. “The machine has integrated with reality. You saw what attempting to remove a single item did. The longer it runs in such an unstable state, the worse the world will become. If you remove a relic now, it may cause permanent damage.”
I shrugged. “When the Wild Magic took over the world, I saw how resilient humans and the Earth are. They will survive.”
“So, we're going to destroy it?” Ty asked.
“Not yet.” I picked up the falcon cloak from the floor where it had fallen. “We stabilize it, and then we talk to the others. We'll figure out its fate together.”
I tossed the cloak onto the machine. The machine shook and then morphed. Metal shifted. Grew. Glass formed around the cloak. Wires slithered over the feathers and then sank into the cloak. With a final rumble, the machine settled and went quiet.
“Sorry, Freya.” I turned and headed for the door. “Hopefully, it's only temporary.”
“What about God?” Agwusi shrieked. “He's chosen you for this purpose. You can't turn your back on God!”
“God can kiss my ass.” I walked out and didn't look back.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Ty and I traced to Pride Palace. When we stepped out of the tracing chamber, I expected to find my husbands and the God Squad discussing ways to get me back. That’s exactly what I found, but there were others in attendance as well. Including people I didn't know well enough to trust in my territory. And they were arguing loud enough for us to hear them from the tracing room.
“Damn it,” I muttered. “The guys had better have led the trace, or I'm going to have to change the tracing chant again.”
“I think that's the least of our worries,” Ty said as we entered the dining hall.
The room was rectangular and massive—large enough to fit the entire pride and several guests at the absurdly long table that stretched down the length of the room. Tall windows in the outer wall overlooked the training yard. The opposite wall held a fireplace halfway down with a sitting area in front of it. A few paintings hung on the walls, and enormous chandeliers hung from the ceiling over the length of the table. Normally, when we ate there, most of the room was empty. Not this time.
It was standing room only, with gods, goddesses, and demigods taking every seat at the dining table with more people crowded behind them. All the gods with stolen relics had seatsat the table. Even Amaterasu was there despite her mirror being destroyed.
I pushed through the Froekn gathered around Fenrir. As soon as they saw Ty, a cheer rose, and the Froekn surrounded him. The argument stopped, and my husbands barreled through the crowd to wrap me in love and relief. I hugged each of them. Trevor hugged me first and then went to hug his brother. The Froekn started howling; they were so damn happy to have their prince back, and the Intare applauded.
I peered through the crowd to see Ty smiling, looking a lot like his old self, and I let out a sigh. I'd been so worried that he was going to hate me for what I did, or that I'd made the wrong choice. But it looked as if it had been a rare instance when it was better to take love away than give it.
Trevor picked Ty up and spun him in a circle, making me grin. Even UnnúlfR grinned and hugged Ty after Trevor put him down. UnnúlfR and his wife, Vejasmate, were there with their werewolves, the Vilkacis. Veja was Ty's mother, so her presence was expected. She hugged and kissed her son, glancing at Fenrir as she stepped back.
Veja left Fenrir after she had Ty because of something UnnúlfR said to her. UnnúlfR had been in love with her. When they met again, years later, and Ty reunited with his mother, UnnúlfR declared his love for Veja. She didn't accept him immediately, but UnnúlfR was persistent and won her in the end. They were married now, but there was still an awkwardness when they were around Fenrir, especially for Vejasmate. I understood. She'd gone from father to son while I'd done the opposite. In the God World, it wasn't all that shocking, but it had taken me a while to get over my awkwardness around Thor.
“Welcome back, Sister.” Jesus enveloped me in a hug.
“Thanks. What are you doing here?”
Jesus fell silent and looked at the gods around the table. The silence spread until even the wolves fell quiet.
“What is it?” I asked. “What's happened?”
