Harvest of the Gods (32 page)

It was rare that Kirill asserted himself with me but when he did, it was like a part of me, my lioness probably, immediately recognized his word as law. Kirill said
enough
and I wanted to whimper and show him my belly. I know, it sounds crazy and maybe even a little submissive but our relationship wasn't about dominance or submission and it had nothing to do with that. It was about making each other happy and if Kirill was to the point where he called foul, it must be pretty bad. Which meant my men were unhappy. This in turn made me unhappy.

I walked over to Kirill and slid my arms around his flat stomach, feeling the muscles tighten against me. He hesitated a moment before wrapping his arms around me and laying his head over mine, his long hair swinging forward around us. I shifted my face and lifted my mouth to his.

He was instantly ravenous, consuming my mouth like a starving man. His hands rubbed over my back, pulling me against him, and he was hard and ready against my stomach. How much had I ignored in my sorrow? I couldn't even remember the last time I'd made love to him.

“
I'm sorry,” I said when I finally pulled away. “I've been so focused on the dead.”

“
Time to remember the living,” Trevor had come up behind me, encircling me with Kirill.

Clothes fell away quickly to hot hands and hotter mouths and soon I was laying beneath them in our big bed. They were a little wild by the time we were all flesh to flesh and there was a lot
of growling and biting involved. I remember being thrown around quite a bit but I didn't mind, would you? I landed in strong arms or on soft pillows, every inch of my skin kissed or caressed, filled below and above with flesh as we came together in rapturous release.

Hours later, when we were all sated, I slipped from the bed to shower before my trip. When I came back into the room they were both eying me sleepily.

“This better not have been a one time occurrence meant to placate us,” Trevor growled.

“
I promise we'll pick this all up again as soon as I get back,” I smiled at him.

“
Alright,” his eyes started to drift shut. “I'll see you in a few minutes. I love you.”

“
I love you too, Honey-Eyes,” I watched him fall asleep.

“
Tima,” Kirill got out of bed, strutting his beautifully naked self over to me for a goodbye kiss. “Be careful vith ze fey. Be safe, I love you too.”

“
I am ze fey, baby,” I smiled and grabbed my bag.

He nodded and got back into bed, flinging his long hair out behind him before falling asleep as well. I watched them for a few minutes, feeling my heart clench at how beautiful they were and how lucky I was. I had to be more careful of their feelings in the future. I didn't have the luxury of fucking up my relationships anymore, without these men I'd fall apart. Odin's death had proven that more than anything. I sighed and resolved to make things better between us all when I returned from Faerie. Then I looked down at my father's ring.

“Please take me back to the moment after I last left Faerie, to my bedroom in Castle Aithinne.”

And the bedroom disappeared around me.

[Fluffer Nutter]

Acknowledgments

On August 17, 2013 a fire was started and got out of control in Stanislaus National Forest near Yosemite. It is still burning as I write this but it's mostly under control thanks to the efforts of Park officials, firefighters, and the Forest Service. I included it within my story to pay homage to these people and all that was lost due to one man's stupidity. The dates are not accurate but I hope the sentiment comes across. I want to give a special thanks to the biologists working with the Forest Service who not only helped fight the fires but went in to help those animals that were in danger. In particular, the turtles. Yep, turtles. They found a group of stranded turtles whose marsh had been burned away. They were huddled together in what little water remained of their home and the biologists brought them more water and provided them with cover. They also protected the nests of several Bald Eagles but it was the story of the turtles that really got to me. To take the time to save reptiles most people would have thought insignificant, in the midst of a horrible fire, is heroic to me. It's real love magic at work. Thank you for saving the turtles.

Keep reading for a sneak peak in the companion book to Harvest of the Gods, and the next book in the Godhunter Series:

A Fey Harvest

Chapter One

The Faerie King was right where I'd left him.

I smiled at Arach and he smiled back indolently at me from where he slouched against the pillows on our massive bed. The black linens were stilled rumpled from the last time I'd been there, which was all of two minutes for him though it was more like two months for me. He was covered only by a sheet, the edge curling at his abdomen like it was beckoning me closer.

“
Miss me?” I joked as I walked across the expanse of thick carpet that stood between the bed and me.

I breathed in the ridiculously clean air of Faerie as it flowed into the room through the open window. Sunlight streamed in as well, shimmering over the crystal decanter and goblets set out on the table near the window. The light filtered through the faerie wine inside the decanter, sending a length of red across my path. I walked through it and felt a shiver course down my spine when I noticed how it made my legs look as if they were covered in blood.

“It was virtually unbearable,” Arach's grin grew and he crooked a finger at me. I shook off the strange feeling and crawled over the expanse of the bed toward my fey husband. He pulled me against him urgently, like he was the one who'd gone so long without me. “What took you so long?”

“
What, was I a minute late?” I lifted my face for a kiss and he didn't disappoint, clutching me tighter as his mouth covered mine with serious intent. When he finally pulled away, I was left shaken, my breath coming fast and my gaze fastened to his bright, yellow dragon eyes. There were flecks of gold and green in them that I'd never noticed before. His pupils were expanding over the colors, becoming more oval than slitted.

“
You were seconds late,” he growled and started pulling at my red dress. “Don't keep me waiting again.”

I let him remove the dress but I stopped his roving hands before he could get to my underwear. I slid in beneath the sheet and pressed up against him, sliding my arms around his waist and dropping my cheek the wide expanse of his muscled chest, so I could listen to his heart. I sighed, loving the feel of his skin against mine and the glassy slickness of the scales that appeared down the sides of his waist when I touched him. I trailed a finger over those ruby scales and they spread down his legs, so fascinating.

“Something's amiss,” he stated as if it were fact, which of course it was, completely disregarding his own arousal. I was both touched and a little annoyed by that.

“
I just found out that the Froekn are suffering because of a decision that was influenced by me.”

“
The werewolves?” He frowned. “What kind of decision was this?”

“
One to switch professions,” I sighed. “The wolves used to kill for a living, they were the assassins of the gods but that didn't really sit well with me, so Trevor opened a nightclub and hired a lot of Froekn in an effort to make me more comfortable with my new family.”

“
Why were you uncomfortable?”

“
How did I know you were going to ask that?” I shook my head and sat back up to look at him, the sheet sliding up around my hips and giving me a tantalizing view of scale-adorned skin. “Think about how I might view it, killing people for money.”

“
Ah,” his expression cleared, “indeed. Continue.”

“
The Froekn took to the idea with gusto,” I smiled at the memory of first opening Moonshine. “They love the club Trevor made and even Fenrir was supportive.”

“
And the problem is?”

“
The Froekn aren't technically gods,” I stretched my neck to try to ease some of the tension that had been steadily accumulating. “It's why they were so good as assassins. Gods have trouble killing each other, something to do with the magic but since Froekn aren't really gods, they don't have a problem with it. They are magic though and immortal, both of which is inherited through Fenrir. What Trevor and I hadn't known was that Fenrir's magic is what sustains the Froekn, and the magic requires energy to keep going.”

“
Energy previously received from the assassinations,” Arach nodded.

“
Yes, very good,” I huffed a laugh. Of course he would understand, he was more magical than any god could ever be. “So when they stopped killing...”

“
The magic lost potency,” he frowned. “Are the wolves dying?”

“
I...” my mouth dropped open. “Oh fuck, I hadn't thought of that. I wonder if they'll lose their immortality.”

“
Possibly,” Arach had a thoughtful look on his face, “but if they haven't started dying yet, it's unlikely. I believe a withdrawal that extreme would have immediate results. Magic wants to live, as all living things do, it would sooner conserve resources than cut off hosts in such a way.”

“
Conserve resources,” I grimaced, “as in preventing the birth of more Froekn who would create a greater draw on the power?”

“
Yes, precisely,” his brows came down over his slightly upward tilted eyes, making it look as if his face had lengthened and stretched down the center. “Is this what's happened?”

“
It looks very possible,” I worried at my lip with my teeth.
“My friend Samantha is married to Fallon, one of my lions.”

“
Yes, I've met them both.”

“
Right, I forgot,” I gave him a sad smile. “They've been trying to have a baby and she just found out she's sterile.”

“
Ah,” he nodded, “I grieve for her. I know the pain of empty arms, a home denied of your child's laughter.”

“
Arach,” my heart clenched.

He wanted a child badly, had in fact thought to never have one, since our race had been killed off by humans. My appearance had sparked hope for both him and his Kingdom. There was now the possibility of an heir to the Throne of Fire and a new line of dragon-sidhe. He'd only recently won me over as a lover, even though we were married(long story), so I wasn't sure I was ready for children yet.

The Ring of Remembrance, which I'd inherited from my father, allowed me to travel in time and made it possible for me to be with Arach practically continually without spending any time apart from my other lovers in the God Realm. So it also made children with Arach a possibility. I could actually have children in Faerie and my other men wouldn't ever even see me pregnant.

It was a bit of a shock for me, who'd thought to never have children. I'd been happy with Vidar and Vali, my sons from another life. I had memories of raising them which fulfilled any urge I might have had to have a child. I wasn't sure if I wanted any in this life but I felt like I was being incredibly selfish if I didn't give Arach the child he'd been desiring for so long. In fact, I didn't actually know what my real feelings were regarding the child, I was too conflicted over whether or not to have one.

“We have time,” he said as if in answer to my internal turmoil. “Don't fret about our possible children now. It's your
Froekn friend you're concerned with at the moment.”

“
Right,” I gave a relieved huff. The talk of dragon babies could wait for another day. “I was hoping there might be something in Faerie to help, some spell or fertility fey, or something like that?”

I could tell by his grim expression that the news would be bad.

“A Thaisce, I thought you knew about our own issues with fertility. Don't you think we would have healed ourselves if we had anything like that available to us?”

“
Oh, right,” I recalled suddenly a conversation I'd had with the High King, in which he'd told me how the fey had been reproducing less and less. It had been one of the reasons the way between Faerie and the Human Realm was opened once more. He'd thought that the fey might have better luck reproducing with humans.

“
Even if we possessed the magic to help you,” Arach touched my face with long, elegant fingers, and turned it toward his gently, “I would advise against the use of it in such a circumstance.”

“
But why?”

“
What do you think will happen if you force the magic to create another life it cannot sustain?”

“
It would have to...”

“
Yes,” his face was soft with sympathy. “It would have to take a life, possibly that of your Wolf Prince himself. Would you sacrifice Trevor's life for that of a hypothetical child?”

“
No, of course not,” I slumped back against him.

“
It's best to leave the magic alone,” his hand was stroking
over my long dark hair, I'd left it to hang loose down my back for him. I knew he liked to play with it. “Tampering with the natural order of things always has a price.”

“
We were going to try to find a fertility goddess to help her,” I thought of my determination to kill Demeter and take her power so I could help Sam. Demeter needed to die anyway so it seemed like a perfect solution.

“
Please don't do this,” his forehead came down to touch mine. “As royalty we have to make hard decisions. Sometimes the hardest is when you decide to do nothing. It's one of the prices we pay to rule. Leave this alone, let the magic work itself out.”

“
I can't give up on her so easily,” I pulled back to look at him, his deep red hair tousled, framing an angular face accented by red scales at the temples, and those bright dragon eyes staring at me in concern. “I'm going to keep looking for another way.”

“
Well,” he smiled, “if you do find a way to bring back fertility, Faerie would benefit too. The few births we've had have mostly been to lesser fey. The last sidhe birth was over two thousand years ago, it was actually that cat-sidhe you're friends with.”

“
What?” I pulled back even further, to stare at him in shock. “I thought you only started having problems since the way was closed, that's only been about five-hundred years.”

“
Five-hundred
human
years,” Arach chided me as if I, above all other humans, should have known the difference between time in Faerie and time in the Human Realm. He was right of course. “That's around fifteen-thousand fey years, give or take a few hundred,” he shrugged. “Time here is so flexible.”

“
So you've been waiting for a mate for-”

“
I've been waiting for
you
for over fifteen-thousand years,” he nodded. “Now do you see why I was such an asshole?”

“
Looks like your friends with the cat-sidhe too. You're picking up Roarke's affection for human colloquialisms,” I shook my head and smiled to hide my shock. I'd thought Odin had waited a long time for me. “You weren't so much of an asshole as a supreme egotistical bastard.”

“
Well, I feel so much better now,” he laughed and pulled me back against his side.

“
Why have there been so few sidhe births in so long?” I whispered, like I thought the land could hear me and I didn't want to offend her. Probably because Faerie really could hear me.

“
We don't know,” I felt him shrug beneath my cheek. “Now that you've given us back the power to speak to Faerie, we've all asked her but she doesn't respond. Or if she does, it's in riddles.”

“
Riddles?” I remembered the way she spoke to me and almost as if the memory called her, I felt her presence in my mind and her voice filled my head.

Welcome home, daughter of the gods, man, and fey.

“Thank you,” I said softly to her.

“
For what?” Arach looked down at me in surprise.

“
Oh, no,” I waved away his question, “I'm talking to Faerie.”

“
By all means,” he grimaced, pulling the sheet around us and snuggling in closer with me. “Maybe she'll give
you
a straight answer.”

The Dragon King is of bad humor today

“Not so bad,” I chuckled a bit and looked once more at the length of scales down his side that announced his arousal.

His bad humor is a result of your sadness. You come home with a heavy heart.

“I hoped to find an answer to a problem but have only found a greater problem here.”

Yes, the children aren't being born.

“Why won't you tell them how to bring back the children?”