Harvest of the Gods (33 page)

This is of their own doing and the answer lies within them. I've done all I can for them by bringing you here. You are the catalyst. If they want things to change, then they must first change themselves.

“Ah, there's the riddle,” I smiled but it faded when I realized what she said. “
Brought
me here?
You
brought me here? I thought it was an accident. I asked the Aether to take me home and it took me here instead.”

How do you think you got past the High King's magic?
She was laughing at me, I couldn't hear it but I could feel it.
Of course I brought you. I've been waiting years for you to enter the Aether alone and without a chant to direct you. When you finally did, I pulled you here immediately.

“
What is she saying?” Arach was staring intensely at my slack expression.

“
She says she brought me here, that she opened the tear in King Cian's wards to allow me through.”

“
I suspected as much,” he nodded and leaned down to kiss me again. I ran my hands over the hard angles of his chest, then slid them under the sheet
.
Nope, no bad humor there.

Is he a good lover? I hope he doesn't disappoint you after all I've done to bring you together.

“Oh, you're still here,” I jerked back from Arach and he
gave a long suffering sigh before he leaned back so I could finish my conversation with Faerie.

I am ever here.

“But if you're still speaking to me it must be for a reason,” I cast a glance at my waiting dragon and wasn't surprised to see smoke drifting out of one of his nostrils.

I feel strange of late. There are fey I can't find.

“King Cian has opened the way to the Human Realm now,” I reassured her. “They're probably there.”

Yes, perhaps.
And then she was blessedly gone.

“
I always feel like I've missed something and I won't figure it out until later, whenever I talk to her,” I shook my head.

“
Hmph,” he nodded, “riddles. She loves riddles.”

“
Not exactly a riddle,” I thought over her words. “She's told me a few times that she wants me here to bring change to the fey. Now she's told me that it's the reason she brought me here in the first place, and she implied that the change will bring back the fertility.”

“
She did? So what's this change you're supposed to bring about?”

“
That's just it, I haven't the foggiest.”

“
Well great,” he huffed, “I'm glad that's all settled.

About the Author

Amy Sumida lives on an island in the Pacific Ocean where gods go to play. She sleeps in a fairy bed, high in the air, with two gravity-defying felines and upon waking, enjoys stabbing people with little needles, over and over, under the guise of making pretty pictures on their skin. She, like Vervain, has no filter but has been fortunate enough to find friends who appreciate this... or at least tell her they do. She bellydances and paints pictures on her walls but is happiest with her nose stuck in a book, her mind in a different world than this one, filled with fantastical men who unfortunately don't exist in our mundane reality. Thank the gods for fantasy.

She is the author of several books including the Godhunter series, The Magic of Fabric, Enchantress, Feeding the Lwas: A Vodou Cookbook, and The Vampire-Werewolf Complex. She's a Tattoo artist and a fine artist and you can find her artwork on Etsy.