Amy Sumida - Eye of Re (The Godhunter Book 17) Read online

  Eye of Re

  Amy Sumida

  Copyright © 2015 Amy Sumida

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN-10: 1519785534

  ISBN-13: 978-1519785534

  More Books by Amy Sumida

  The Godhunter Series(in order)

  Godhunter

  Of Gods and Wolves

  Oathbreaker

  Marked by Death

  Green Tea and Black Death

  A Taste for Blood

  The Tainted Web

  Series Split:

  These books can be read together or separately

  Harvest of the Gods & A Fey Harvest

  Into the Void & Out of the Darkness

  Perchance to Die

  Tracing Thunder

  Light as a Feather

  Rain or Monkeyshine

  Blood Bound

  (Eye of Re)

  Beyond the Godhunter:

  A Darker Element

  The Twilight Court Series:

  Fairy-Struck

  Pixie-Led

  Other Books

  The Magic of Fabric

  Feeding the Lwas: A Vodou Cookbook

  There's a Goddess Too

  The Vampire-Werewolf Complex

  Enchantress

  Pronunciation Guide

  Aillidh: Ah-lee

  Aodh: Ee

  Aoife: Ee-fa

  Arach: Air-roc

  A Thaisce: uh-Hash-kuh (“my treasure” in Gaelic)

  Bearach: BEH-ruck

  Carus: Care-us (“beloved” in Latin)

  Cian: Key-an

  Craigor: Kraeg-or

  Daoir: Daheer

  Drachleen-sidhe: Druch-leen Shee

  Eilidh: Ael-ee

  Ellingran: El-ING-rawn

  Estsanatlehi(Mrs E): Es-tan-AHT-lu-hee

  Farinne-sidhe: Fare-nya Shee

  Fionnuala: Finn-noo-lah

  Fionnaghal: Fyoon-ghal-a

  Froekn: Fro-kin

  Gruach: Groo-ah

  Huitzilopochtli: Weet-seal-oh-POACHED-lee

  Intare: In-tar-ay (“lions” in Rwandan)

  Kanaloa: Kah-nah-low-ah

  Kirill: Key-reel

  Khorosho: ho-roh-sho (“good” in Russian)

  Leannan-sidhe: Lah-nan Shee

  Lesya: L-SHY-aa

  Meilyr: May-ler

  Minn Elska: min L-skah (“my love” in Old Norse)

  Nephthys: Nep-th-es

  Nyavirezi: Nee-yah-veer-ez-ee

  Peig: Paeg

  Qaus: Kowse, like house with a K

  Raiseala: Rash-uh-lah

  Rian: Ree-An

  Scotaidh: SCO-tee

  Shehaquim: Shah-ha-keem

  Tairhail: Tah-vel

  Tima: Tee-mah (“heart” in Rwandan)

  Tlaloc: T-la-lock

  Tsohanoai(Mr. T): So-ha-noe-ayee

  Zariel: Zare-ree-al

  Dedication

  Michelle Hoffman, thank you for your support, your encouragement, your hours of editing, and your boundless friendship; this book is for you.

  Chapter One

  Ah, the joys of pregnancy. Well, the joys of supernatural pregnancy. I smiled as I rubbed a hand over my massive belly and my son, Rian, shifted against my touch. We had become psychically connected and I could sense his every emotion. For the moment, he was only a mass of feelings, a burgeoning life forming around a god soul and a faerie essence. He didn't have thoughts the way that we do but if he had, I was pretty sure that I'd be able to hear them. It made me wonder if we would continue our mental connection after he was born. For now, I knew my child to be generally peaceful but when I got upset, it could cause him to react violently. So I had to be very careful to keep my cool these days. And for a dragon, that statement becomes literal.

  “Leave her be!” Trevor's growl echoed out to me from the hallway.

  Trevor, my beautiful werewolf Prince and alpha lover. He could be a little overprotective. More so, now that I was pregnant. I don't know how many times I'd caught him snarling at someone because they weren't looking at me or talking to me in the right way. The right way being soft and gentle because a pregnant dragon-sidhe needs to be coddled -insert hysterical laughter here-.

  “She deserves to know,” Odin argued.

  Now Odin and I had history. I had been his wife in a past life and I was about to become so again. Actually, I was going to marry all four of my non-fey lovers. I was already married to my faerie husband or he would have been included. Don't judge me, it's a lioness magic thing. I need a lot of lovers or my lioness goes into heat and I accost any male within range. I'm serious. Stop laughing.

  Odin was also one of the more level-headed lovers I had, so I was instantly curious about what he thought I should know. I grimaced and pushed myself laboriously up in the lounge chair I'd been relaxing in, out on our bedroom's balcony. The sun had been gently warming my bare legs and there was a light breeze scented with sweet grass swirling through my hair. It had been perfect and Rian and I had been enjoying the peace immensely.

  “I von't allow her to involve herself in zis,” Kirill added his voice to the argument.

  Kirill was a Russian Intare, a black werelion with a sexy as hell accent and an even sexier body. He was also mine, all mine bwahahaha. Except that meant that I was also his and he, though he wasn't my alpha lover, was still an alpha male and took my welfare seriously. He, like Trevor, had become even more serious about it since I'd got pregnant. Even though the child was Arach's (the aforementioned fairy husband) and would actually be living in Faerie as the long-awaited Prince of the Fire Kingdom.

  “What in the name of all the gazillion gods is this about?” I snarled and wobbled to my feet. Graceful is not an option when you're at the beach ball stage of pregnancy.

  “I'm telling her,” Fallon's voice now.

  Fallon was not one of my lovers, he was however, one of my good friends and a higher ranking Intare. Oh, by the way, the Intare are my werelions. I say mine because I hold the magic that sustains them. I'm the Lion Goddess and it's that same magic that turns me into a polyamorous pregnant woman. Soon to be a polygamous un-pregnant woman (we're waiting for the baby to be born before we get married). We all live in Pride Palace, a huge castle in my African-esque territory within the God Realm. There's a little under eighty male werelions but I'm the only female. It's a sort of reversed pride.

  Actually, no, that's not so true anymore. Fallon married my good friend Samantha. Samantha is a Froekn (werewolf) just like Trevor. Together they had Zariel, the first naturally born Intare... and the second lioness in the Pride. There may or may not be problems with her one day because of that. But I'm hoping that her part of the twisted future I'd seen recently, wouldn't pan out. She was my niece in a way and I loved her very much. I didn't want to have to kick her out of the Pride.

  Back to the matter at hand. My bedroom was on the top floor of Pride Palace. It's a I'm-in-charge-so-I-get-the-best-room thing and a tactical thing. You could only get into my rooms through a narrow hallway after going past five Intare-filled floors. The bedroom door was shut against that very hallway so I couldn't see the men but as I made my way into the bedroom, I could hear a shuffling sound coming through it.

  “Let him go, Kirill,” Odin snapped.

  “Nyet,” Kirill snapped back. “I'm Ganza, I decide vhat ve tell our Tima.”

  “Just because you're the highest ranking Intare, doesn't mean you can withhold pertinent information from our goddess,” Fallon said reasonably. Fair point there.

  “Da, it does,” Kirill wasn't feeling reasonable evidently.

  “Does it now?” I yanked open our bedroom door and scowled at t
he scene in the hallway.

  Odin and Trevor stood near Kirill and Fallon. Kirill had Fallon's neck in a vise. My Ganza looked up at me and abruptly shoved Fallon away from him, like a playground bully caught in the act.

  “You do not get to decide what I hear or don't hear,” my lioness, wolf, and dragon teamed up against Kirill in an alien growl. “Whether you're my Ganza or my husband! Which, may I remind you, you aren't yet.”

  Fallon shot Kirill a smug look and Kirill punched Fallon in the face with a casual, sideways maneuver that was so fast, I barely tracked it. Fallon went down like a boxer with a glass jaw and I gaped at the mass of his crumpled body. Fallon was a big guy and I had a feeling that he'd be lying there until he woke up. I sure as hell wasn't going to carry him down to his wife.

  “Kirill!” I screeched.

  “Vhat?” Kirill shrugged. “Zere vas bug on his face.”

  “A bug?” I lifted a brow as I simultaneously glared at him.

  “On his face,” Kirill nodded. “I killed it.”

  “You gonna punch me in the mug too?” Odin grimaced. “Cause I'm still going to tell her. I learned long ago never to keep things from my wife.”

  “Not mug; bug,” Kirill insisted.

  “Mug is another word for a face,” Trevor explained as he gave Kirill's shoulder a pat.

  “Someone had better freakin' start talking right now!” I shouted and my lovers went as still as a band of meerkats sensing a predator.

  “Anubis has invited all of us to a party,” Odin said softly.

  “A party?” I blinked.

  “Yes,” Trevor nodded.

  “You're all upset because of a party?” I clarified.

  “Party in Duat,” Kirill growled, his lion coming out clearly in his voice.

  “So?” I frowned. “It'll give the Intare a chance to visit their dead brothers. It's very nice of Anubis to invite us.”

  “If it's even his idea,” Trevor's jaw clenched.

  “Whose idea would it be if not...” I trailed off as I finally understood why they were so tense. “Re. You think Re has persuaded Anubis to host a party in Duat so that he can what; abduct me? Woo me? Hypnotize me with his beauty?” I waved my hands around my face mockingly. “You guys do know that I'm pregnant, right?” My hands went down to my huge stomach. “I don't think the Egyptian Sun God is going to be too interested in shagging a woman who's obviously carrying another man's child.”

  “Why not?” Odin cocked his head at me. “We are. I think you're beautiful pregnant.”

  “Yeah but you guys love me,” I huffed. “Re doesn't. All Re has are some hazy dreams about a future that will never happen. He's not masterminding an abduction with the help of another man who once did actually think he loved me.”

  “Another man who abducted you,” Trevor pointed out. “You can't trust Egyptian gods. Just look at those damn jackals. It's not right.”

  “Da,” Kirill gave a mock shiver. “Creepy.”

  “Just because Anubis' jackals have main forms which are animal instead of human, it doesn't make them creepy,” I protested. “Just a little dumb.”

  “And vicious,” Trevor added. “They'd have no problem abducting you if Anubis told them to.”

  “Anubis has moved on,” I protested. “Ever since his dip in the fountain, he's become much calmer. And saner. Less inclined toward stealing unwilling women.”

  “Zen he may not mind helping Re,” Kirill circled back to his main argument.

  “You've all lost your damn minds over this Re thing,” I gaped at them. “This is silly. I haven't even heard from Re since that day.”

  “You mean the day he vowed to have you despite the fact that you're already taken?” Trevor narrowed his eyes on me. “You never got around to speaking to him like you said you would.”

  “He did not vow to have me,” I huffed. “And I haven't spoken to him because when I finally had the opportunity to do so, too much time had gone by without any contact from him. If I approached him now, I'd look stupid. Re's my friend. He probably just needed some time to cool down and think things over. To realize that dreams don't make a relationship and that a relationship between us wouldn't work anyway.”

  “I agree,” Odin nodded.

  “You do?” I looked at him in surprise.

  “Even if he were to try something,” Odin shrugged, “we can handle one little sun god.”

  I frowned at that. Smack talk always preceded trouble.

  “You do know that Re is the head of the Egyptian Pantheon, don't you?” Trevor narrowed his eyes on Odin.

  “He is?” I looked back to Trevor.

  “Yeah, I know that,” Odin huffed. “So what? He doesn't actually pull the sun across the sky.”

  “Re uses boat,” Kirill corrected. “Apollo is sun god vith chariot.”

  “I know,” Odin rolled his eyes. “It still amounts to carting a burning star across the heavens, whether you pull it or carry it in a boat.”

  “I don't zink it's actually in boat,” Kirill mused.

  “Oh, who cares?” Odin snapped.

  “The point is; Re's stronger than Anubis and that damn jackal-headed asshole didn't have any problems capturing Vervain,” Trevor growled. “In fact, he made her go to him.”

  “I was a lot weaker then,” I interjected. “And he had stabbed me with that soul sucking dagger of his.”

  “But you're pregnant now,” Kirill added. “Baby makes you unstable.”

  “Not so unstable that I can't kick someone's ass,” I looked at Kirill pointedly. “In fact, I'm more likely to do so now.”

  “You may kiss my ass, Tima,” Kirill shook his massive shoulders out and flicked his long, black braid back. “As long as you don't go to Duat.”

  “I said kick not kiss,” I chuckled despite myself.

  “Vhatever you vant,” Kirill gave me a sexy grin.

  “It's just a party,” I whined, unsure if I was whining because I wanted to go to the party or wanted to take Kirill up on his ass kissing... er, I mean, ass kicking offer.

  “If we go, it will be with all of the Intare and I'm not letting you out of my sight,” Trevor glared at me.

  “Fine,” I shrugged. “I don't think Anubis will mind all the lions coming. He probably expects it.”

  “At the first sign of fishiness, you will be escorted away by one or all of us. Agreed?” Trevor went on.

  “Alright,” I sighed. “If there's even a single anchovy on the buffet table, we're outta there.”

  “I still don't like it,” Kirill mumbled.

  “You can have the first shot at him if he tries anything,” Trevor offered and Kirill began to smile. His sapphire eyes sparkled as if Re was strung up before him and someone had handed him a bat and told him it was pinata time. It was kind of terrifying... and really damn sexy.

  I know, I have issues.

  Chapter Two

  So I may have mentioned that I was getting married to four men at once. My mother was thrilled. Not because of the four men thing but because she'd known about my unique situation and thought that she'd never get to see me walk down the aisle. She had been the only mother whose opinion I'd considered when I'd said yes to the unusual marriage proposal. I'd never thought about my lovers' mothers, mainly because Azrael was the only one who still had one living.

  Azrael was lover number four; the Angel of Death, who had once carried my soul to the Hvergelmir, Viking Well of Souls, because Odin had begged him to. Odin wanted to be able to bring my soul back and he couldn't have done so without knowing where it was. So Az had put me in the Well and when he did, he touched me. Touched my soul. He knew me more intimately than any other living person. And the really amazing bit was that he loved me anyway.

  What was even more amazing was that his parents; Lucifer and Holly Morningstar, otherwise known as Satan and the Holy Spirit, were both thrilled that we were getting married. Holly wanted to be a part of the process and Azrael wanted his mother to be happy. So even though I was immensely pr
eggers and I could use my magic to transform anything within my territory into whatever I wanted (including a wedding gown), I had to go dress shopping with my mom and my soon to be mother-in-law.

  It was Hell. Figuratively speaking. In fact, a couple of the Hells I've been to would have been preferable to dress shopping in my condition with Azrael's mother. Not that she was a bad person. On the contrary, I loved Azrael's mom and normally, I would have loved the way she shopped. But under present circumstances, it was just exhausting.

  First of all, we were in New York City, a place I've never wanted to go to but where Holly insisted we must if I wanted to find the absolute perfect dress. I told her all I really had to do was find a picture of a gown I liked and I could transform a twig into it but she said a bride needed to have the full experience and should never make her own wedding dress, no matter how easy it was for her.

  So we had traced to California to pick up my mother and then traced her over to New York City with us. My mom wasn't used to tracing yet and the experience of traveling through the Aether as a thought-form was still a little unsettling for her but I think she found it vastly preferable to sitting on a plane for hours. I know I did.

  We stepped out of the Aether into an alley a few shops down from the bridal boutique Holly had insisted on. The boutique took up a six-story slice of a length of buildings. I say length because I truly couldn't determine where one building ended and the next began, they were all connected in one long line. The simple white lettering on the black, shiny storefront said: Pronovias and I'm sure it was the best of the best but I'd never heard of the place. The entire front of the store, from first floor all the way up to the top, was glass windows, showcasing beautiful wedding dresses in the simple way that only really expensive stores could manage.

  Holly looked immaculate in her red linen suit (she'd taken to wearing red more often now that she was married to Luke) but my mom and I weren't quite up to her level of pristine polish. Oh, we were dressed nice, I love my fashion, but no one could compare to the Holy Spirit in her full, shining glory. So when we walked in the door, it was Holly who instantly commanded attention. The fact that she'd been their client when she married Luke, helped too.