The Tainted Web (The Godhunter, Book 7) (29 page)

Chapter Forty-Two

The throne room was crowded, as it always seemed to be. I'm not sure why I wasn't expecting it. A central path opened for us, leading straight to the occupied thrones. King Guirmean stood at the base of the dais, to the right of the High King, looking excited. They were all smiling broadly by the time we made it to them.

“King Arach, Queen Vervain, Prince Trevor, and,” the High King smiled brightly, almost as bright as his golden hair and shining skin. “I presume this is the sea god you spoke of, Queen Vervain?”

“
Yes, High King,” I gestured to Kanaloa and he stepped forward, looking over the fey royalty with avid curiosity, almost as much as they showed for him. “This is Kanaloa, God of the Sea, Darkness, and Squid.”

“
Squid?” The High Queen peered at the tattoos partially hidden by the T-shirt Trevor had given him. A T-shirt advertising our club Moonshine, where it was all moon, all the time, according to the writing. I almost rolled my eyes at that.

“
Why do people always get hung up on the squid part?” Kanaloa grinned endearingly and the fey fell for it; hook, line, and sinker.

“
Charming,” High Queen Meara smiled, flashing a little fang that had Kanaloa blinking in surprise.

“
I am High King Cian,” the King announced before waving to his Queen, “this is my Queen, Meara, and here is King Guirmean of the House of Water. He will be hosting your visit to the Water Kingdom.”

“
A whole kingdom of water,” Kanaloa grinned. “Sounds fantastic.”

“
We water fey think so,” King Guirmean grinned and then turned to me. “It's good to see you once more, Queen Vervain. Faerie has missed you.”

“
So she said,” I joked before I realized what I'd said.

The room got quiet except for Arach's chuckle and Trevor's groan. King Cian's brilliant eyes honed in on me and pierced me in place. I glanced around the room, finding similar intense expressions on most of the fey.

“What did you mean by that, Queen Vervain?” King Cian finally asked.

“
Faerie has spoken to my Queen,” Arach stepped up beside me and laid a hand on my shoulder. I breathed a sigh of relief. “And today, when I held Vervain, Faerie spoke to me as well.”

“
Impossible,” the High Queen whispered.

“
Be assured,” Arach continued as if she hadn't spoken, “that we have no aspirations to your thrones. I'm certain the thought hasn't even occurred to Queen Vervain.”

“
Thrones?” I looked from Arach to Cian. “Whoa there!” I waved my hands in a negating gesture. “High King, I don't know why Faerie speaking to me might mean I'd want your throne but there's no way. I can barely handle the responsibilities I've got. You're much better suited to run Faerie, I wouldn't even know where to begin.”

“
Queen Vervain,” King Cian's face looked like it was confused, should it laugh or scream? “I understand and believe what you say but you obviously don't understand the magnitude of what you've just so flippantly thrown out before this court. Faerie hasn't spoken, not to anyone, in thousands of years. The last time she did so was to a High King. If what you say is true, that she spoke to you, some would view it as reason to overthrow me.”

“
Shit,” I swore and glanced at Arach. He smiled and shook his head. The bastard was enjoying this. “I don't think that was her intention.”

“
Now you presume to know the motivation of Faerie herself?” Queen Meara gasped.

“
I said
think,”
I grimaced. “Look, I don't know what she's got planned but I think if she wanted me to take your thrones she would have mentioned it.”

“
But the question remains,” King Cian leaned forward in his seat and looked me over. “Why you?”

“
Hey, I'm not so bad,” I glowered at the High King.

“
He didn't mean it like that,” Arach sighed. “High King, there will be no betrayal from the House of Fire, we're happy as we are. Fire has something that none of the other kingdoms could ever provide for us. The Wild Hunt.”

The fey around us withdrew a step and a light murmuring started. I realized with a start that Arach had been right, the Hunt was deeply feared, so much so, that one might argue that it held more sway over the denizens of Faerie than the High King himself. Arach was subtly pointing out the fact that we didn't need the High thrones, ours were just as impressive.

“There is that,” King Cian's mouth twisted as if it were trying not to smile. “Clear the throne room! Everyone but Queen Vervain and King Arach, get out.”

A moment of stunned silence followed the King's exclamation before a rapid shuffling commenced. Trevor looked at me in concern but King Guirmean came over to us and assured me that he'd look after both my wolf and the sea god, until my session with the High King was over.

When the room was empty except for the four of us, the High King stepped down from his throne and came to stand before me. He laid a hand on my shoulder and looked into my eyes as if he could discover what Faerie had seen in me if he just looked hard enough.

“
Tell me, please,” he said softly. “What did she say? What was it like? What did she sound like?”

“
She,” I shook my head, “she sounded beautiful, like a party heard from the opposite bank of a lake, you can feel the strength of it but the laughter is subdued, gentle and sweet.”

“
Yes,” Arach nodded, “a drifting sort of sound, its intensity wavers like a song but you never doubt that if it chose to, that tone could deepen and ring through you till you died of happiness.”

“
Yeah,” I smirked at Arach, “that's a good description too, I guess.”

“
And what did she say to you?” Queen Meara had joined us, her sparkling red hair distracting me for a second.

“
She said I was a new creature.”

“
She said you were a trinity,” Arach gently admonished.

“
A trinity?” The High King gasped. “How so?”

“
I am sidhe, human, and goddess,” I shrugged. “She helped me accept myself and see that I couldn't be just one thing, I had to be all three.”

“
She also helped her survive Dubheasa's attack,” Arach added.

“
What?” Cian's focus shifted to Arach.

“
She kept Dubheasa unaware of Vervain's goddess immortality and manipulated things so that the rulers of the realm would be here to offer aid to Vervain when she needed to hunt down the traitor Queen.”

“
Impossible,” Meara breathed again but this time she sounded less sure of the statement. “Faerie does not interfere, she only bears witness.”

“
She interfered this time,” I said confidently. “She saved my life and she did it because she thinks a being of three realms must not ever be locked out of any of them. She wants me to feel welcome here.”

“
You
are
welcome here,” the High King reassured me.

“
Thank you but I was having misgivings at the time,” I shrugged. “It was Arach who recommended that I reach for the magic of Faerie and when I did, she gave me a lot to think about. She helped me see that to be truly happy, I had to accept not only those I loved, for who they are,” I paused to glance at Arach and  he smiled gently at me, “but myself as well. Trevor then pointed out that I have two triple aspects. Along with being sidhe, human, and goddess, I'm also wolf, lion, and dragon. The beasts inside me, I made peace with long ago but for some reason it never occurred to me that I could also have three separate races inside me, complete and unified at the same time.”

“
You have two triple aspects?” Meara's eyes narrowed. “Are you sure it's not three?”

“
I can't think of any others,” I sighed. “I can see that you both feel threatened and I don't know how to reassure you beyond what I've just said.”

“
Show them,” Arach said softly. “Show them as you did me, by speaking to Faerie while you hold them.”

“
You heard Faerie through her?” The King frowned. “Not on your own?”

“
I think I could hear her again if I tried now,” Arach concentrated and then smiled. “Yes, she speaks to me now. High King, I believe we were looking at this all wrong. Maybe it's not Faerie who stopped speaking to us but we who stopped listening. It may just take someone raised in the world of men to show us how to listen again.”

I felt the rightness of what Arach was saying, deep in my core, and I automatically reached a hand out to King Cian. He took it slowly, fear etching lines in his face that I'd never seen before. I didn't try to comfort him, Faerie would have to ease his mind.

I called to her, connected with her, and she filled me with her sparkling energy. So bright, like drinking moonlight, effervescent and pure. Her touch was soothing while simultaneously being wild and exciting. She told me I'd done well to bring her the High King, who she felt had turned his back on her.

“
Never,” Cian whispered as he began to shake. “Never would I turn from you. You're everything to me, to all of us.”

I reached out a hand to Meara and she eagerly took it. Her face changed quickly, her expression smoothing into reverence. When I saw that she was connected with Faerie, I took the High King and Queen's hands and put them together, so that they were holding onto each other. It felt like reconnecting a circuit that had been left broken, to sizzle and snap on the ground. Now they were complete.

The High Queen lifted her face to her husband and he bowed his head to hers, so that they stood with hands joined and foreheads touching, in a type of holy communion with the land. It was beautiful and when they started to glow, I had to blink back tears.

Finally, they let go, pulling apart slowly to face Arach and I. Arach was beaming at them, knowing better than I what they were feeling. To have a sacred connection lost to your people for centuries and then suddenly have it back, must have been overwhelming.

“I don't know how to thank you,” King Cian said softly. “I regret my earlier words.”

“
No biggie,” I shrugged, “I regret a lot of what I say. I'm just glad you're not thinking about having me assassinated anymore.”

“
I admit the thought was not a pleasant one,” Cian chuckled.

“
Well, I'm sorry to reconnect you with Faerie and dash,” I grinned, “but now that Kanaloa's in good hands, we need to head back to the Human Realm. I've got another problem to fix.”

“
Of course,” Cian inclined his head, “We will look after the sea god.”

I started to turn away, when Queen Meara's voice stopped me.

“Queen Vervain?” She said gently, in a tone of voice I'd never heard from her.

“
Yes?”

“
You hold the High King and Queen of Faerie in your debt.”

Chapter Forty-Three

“What the hell does that mean?” I whispered to Arach as we hurried to the carriage with Trevor and Roarke in tow.

“
It means that should you need anything that they could provide,” Arach's smile was devious, “they'll happily help you to unburden themselves.”

“
Unburden?” Trevor looked from me to Arach. “Vervain, what have you done now?”

“
She rejoined the High Royals with Faerie,” Arach said solemnly and Roarke inhaled sharply.

“
Oh damn,” Roarke snapped his fingers, “they owe you big!”

“
Roarke, who taught you to do that?” I grimaced at his sassy pose.

“
Aidan said it was very cool,” Roarke's expression went dark. “Is it not dope?”

“
No, it's not
dope
,” I sighed. I'd have to have a talk with the Intare, they were having way too much fun influencing the cat-sidhe. “And please don't ever say dope again either. The snapping is kind of a feminine gesture.”

“
Men don't snap their fingers?” Roarke tilted his head.

“
Not straight men,” Trevor chuckled, “at least not like that.”

“
Straight as opposed to bent?” Arach gave me a disbelieving look.

“
Straight as opposed to gay,” I explained.

“
Gay?” Roarke puffed up. “I am the manliest of cats. My lovemaking is renowned. Women scream my name and fall at my feet in faints.”