Page 82 of The Rebel Seer

The king sneered and moved in, dagger still in his hand. “Maybe I don’t care about the temple.”

Sasha would give it to the wizard. He was a cool customer.

“All right, but I’m not sure why you need a goddess if you won’t have a temple,” Myrddin said.

“The temple will open to me when I have a proper goddess.” He held the dagger under Devinshea’s chin. “Tell me something. Do you have a temple in your timeline? I suspect you do.”

“I have two,” Dev replied. “In my time, I am the bridge between our tribes. Seelie and Unseelie claim me. My goddess can power any number of temples but only if the temple finds the god worthy.”

“The Unseelie are impure. They are the assassins of our world. Did you know my brother used Unseelie infestations to kill my beloved? And all because I would not take a bride. Do you have any idea what they did to her?” The king sneered, showing his distaste.

“Probably a lot of what they tried to do to me. Did Mother send Declan to the Unseelie sithein? Did you follow?” Dev asked.

“Of course not. We have no relations with the dark court,” the king replied. “None except planning our wars.”

“Well, she did send my brother, and I went with him. It’s odd how time refines and shapes memory. For so long all I thought about was how they forced me. We were caught by a rogue group. My brother got away. I did not. I remember how awful it was, and that was all I thought about at the time. But now I remember how a group of trolls found me, lying there. Spent and aching, and they took care of me,” Dev said. “The Unseelie has its monsters. And its kindness and beauty and love. The same way we do. The temple rejects you because you are the Seelie monster. Just because someone calls you light, doesn’t mean you are good. Because someone calls themselves clean does not mean they are worthy. It simply means they understand neither word.”

The king chuckles, a wholly unhumorous sound. “You are weak. When you’re dead and that god has fled in terror, I will show your goddess what we can truly be.”

Dev’s head shook. “You will be left with a dead sithein. It’s already in the process, isn’t it? Your kingdom is dying because there’s no such thing as an evil Green Man. Your magic was a gift and it’s gone now. You were unworthy.”

The knife moved to Devinshea’s throat, and a fine trickle of blood began. “You are the unworthy one. You allowed the wizard to take your kingdom. You were foolish enough to fall into our trap again. You don’t deserve her.”

“I defied my brother and Mother for her,” Dev declared. “I didn’t treat her like a dirty secret. When she had our babies, I was there. She didn’t labor alone and suffer without my aid. I held them in my hands. Two. I was gifted two children, and then another beautiful girl. Your son hates you. You are the king of a dead sithein, barely holding on to a populace that hates you, too. They loathe you, Devinshea. They see down to your cowardly soul. The only reason they haven’t risen up is you found borrowed magic, and when Myrddin gets what he wants from you, that will be gone and your head will be on a rebel pike. You killed it all. All of this death and horror because you were a coward.”

“Is he trying to get murdered?” Bibi asked with a shudder.

“He knows exactly what the man is afraid of, who he is because deep down Devinshea is honest with himself. Even when he’s wrong,” Neil said with a sniffle. “Goddess, how will I tell Zoey if he dies?”

“He won’t.” Sasha saw Myrddin’s hand come up, his fingers twisting slightly. “You see that? He’s having to be subtle about it, but I would bet he’s working some kind of calming spell. You said the wards weren’t up here, right?”

Bibi nodded. “The king likes to use magic against his enemies, and it’s hard with the wards because he’s never been good with it. He thinks he’s some kind of magic wielder now that the wizard has taught him some things, but he is still a bit inept. The guards had to take down the wards because the king’s own magic couldn’t overcome them even after they were trained to. That’s not what they told him, of course, but they had to do something. Myrddin himself has had to come in to strengthen the spells holding us from time to time.”

Sure enough the king took a step back, sneering at the version of himself currently in chains. “I will have my temple back. When I take the god, the temple won’t be able to keep me out. And I will take my bride in our sacred space, and all will be right with the world again.”

He turned and stormed out.

One of the guards started sneering Ostara’s way, an unholy light in his eyes. “I don’t think he cares about you, pretty girl. Didn’t look at you even once. I don’t think he’ll care what I do to you.”

Dev found the strength to kick out and send the fucker stumbling and falling forward.

So all the guards were on him again.

Sasha breathed a sigh of relief. He owed Devinshea.

Myrddin tsked as the guards punched and kicked Dev. “Prince, you never learn. She’s of absolutely no value. She’s weak. Her goddess was trapped for too long without form, and it will take years and years for her to recover. I brought her over because I needed to show the king how to separate a god from a host. Well, I need to make sure I do it properly. Practice does make perfect and all. Poor thing really thought she was saving her plane. Women are easily led. Promise them a few baubles, a tiny bit of power. Saving their people from hunger and they just go right along with it. Gentlemen, give me a moment.”

The guards stepped back, retreating to a part of the dungeon where Sasha’s gaze couldn’t track them.

“Yes, I’m sure my wife is going along with all of this because that asshole version of me offered her a new shoe collection.” Dev spat some blood from his mouth, barely missing the wizard.

Myrddin frowned at Dev. “She’s being perfectly obnoxious. I would have given him anything else, but he would take no other prize. I know it’s a mistake, but if I don’t sit down here and talk with you, I’ll have to deal with…well, the other you, and strangely I like you more. Or perhaps not strangely. You’re a likable chap, Devinshea. I found you quite a nice lad to talk to when you weren’t fighting me.”

“I didn’t fight you because you put a thrall stone in my head,” Dev bit off. “But please continue. I would love to know why we’re in this specific position.”

“Like Lucifer, I often attempt divination. I use a demon or witch as a focus so I can calculate which paths to take. Imagine my surprise when that idiot Olivia had so much power, she could show me not only different outcomes on our plane but how the timelines would fracture in any given scenario. By the way, you not returning at all actually went quite poorly for me. At some point your human security team would have went looking for you when their contracts were up, and that shockingly led to my untimely death at a rather large blond man’s hands. Working with Olivia’s power taught me how to jump into a different timeline. Such an odd place. People were happy and thriving and working together to heal the world. It was unnerving. I didn’t like it so I tried again. Eventually, I found this place that has, shall we say, some unique properties. I don’t know if your mother’s sithein would work the same way since it’s technically on the Earth plane. These Fae lands form one of a thousand different Fae planes. I suppose this timeline broke off when your grandfather chose to leave the Earth plane entirely and found a home. Either way, I doubt your mother would have given me what I need.”

“And what is that?” Dev asked

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