A Fey New World (The Godhunter #32) - Amy Sumida Page 0,3

upon closer inspection, I realized that the flowers were too large and too vividly colored. They had an exotic, tropical look to them and stood out sharply against the soft backdrop of neutral browns and greens.

“Fuck,” I whispered.

“There are more.” Jake handed me another photograph.

It was a close-up of one of the flowers. At that proximity there was no doubt that Hamish had been right—it didn't belong in England. Hell, those flowers didn't belong on Earth. Or in Hell, for that matter. They were fey flowers and I instantly knew why they were blooming in England: we had failed.

Remember that meeting I mentioned—the one Arach had been in when I left? It had been to coordinate a search of all of the places in the Fire Kingdom where there used to be paths connecting Faerie to Earth. Lugh, the High Prince of Faerie, had been on vacation in Ireland with his mother a few months back. Just like Jake, Lugh had seen a flower that didn't belong to the local flora. Unlike Jake, he'd watched the flower grow and bloom in front of him—in a matter of seconds.

Lugh's father, the High King of Faerie, didn't seem all that worried about a fey flower blooming on Earth and neither did Faerie herself. She blamed it on the flourishing of the realm but she had seemed distracted and strange to me. I would have insisted that something be done but I didn't have to. Despite his cavalier attitude, King Cian knew that Faerie seeping into the Human Realm was not a good thing. He sent out his wayfarers—faeries who specialize in the opening and closing of paths to the Faerie Realm—to search the Forgetful Forest for any open paths and close them. In addition to that, he sent a wayfarer to each elemental kingdom to close any paths found in them. Arach and I had personally gone with our assigned wayfarer and watched as he sealed several paths in our kingdom. That was months ago and we'd been assured that the paths were closed forever. And yet, here was proof that they weren't. Or that we'd missed some.

“What are they, Tima?” Jake asked.

Tima means “heart” in Rwandan. I was the Heart of the Intare, their goddess and source of their magic. I gave them life, sanity, and sanctuary and in return, they gave me their loyalty and obedience. I didn't like commanding people but my lions needed leadership. Without it, they'd devolve into beasts. At that moment, they needed reassurance too, but I wasn't going to be able to give it to them.

“Those are fey flowers,” I said grimly. “A few months ago, one of them was spotted in Ireland and we determined that the magic of Faerie was seeping into the Human Realm.”

“What did you just say?” Aidan asked as he sauntered in, his dark hair in I-just-woke-up disarray.

“Just shut up and listen,” Elian hissed.

Aidan grimaced but slumped over to us silently and stood with his butt a few inches in front of the fireplace, rubbing it as he pouted.

“All of Faerie was searched for the old paths that used to connect the realms,” I went on. “Any open path was closed. They were supposed to be closed permanently.”

“It doesn't look as if they were,” Jake noted.

“No, it doesn't,” I murmured as I stepped closer to the table. I chose a few photographs that looked as if they were taken in different locations. “You saw these flowers in more than one place?”

“Yeah.” Jake looked over the photos I'd collected. “You've got a shot of each.”

“Good.” I passed them to him. “I need you to write down where you took these photos on the back of each one.”

“Yes, Tima.” Jake pulled a pen out of his pocket and started writing.

“I need someone to go to Earth and warn my mother and my human friends.” I looked around.

“I'll go,” Ben offered. “I've been to all of their homes before.”

“Thank you.”

“What do the rest of us do?” Elian asked.

“Nothing for now. I'm going to Faerie to speak with King Cian. I won't know anything concrete until then. But let the rest of the Pride know that Earth is off-limits for now.”

“We've got a few lions out,” Aidan said in a worried tone.

“Call them home,” I said urgently. “And tell everyone what's going on.”

“What about the God Squad?” Aidan asked.

I chewed on my lip. If I called the Squad, they'd want to help but there wasn't anything they could do. Still, I didn't want any