Steal the Sun (31 page)

“Fuck you, Zack,” Lee growled.

“I thought we all agreed to lie to Zack if we got caught.”

We’d made the decision as we walked through the woods. In order to spare Lee the humiliation, we would all say we’d run into him as he came back from his mission to track down the boy from the dungeons. That mission hadn’t gone well. He found the boy’s cooling corpse several miles outside of the village. He mentioned that he smelled the same candle wax on the boy as he had on the assassin.

“We might have agreed to lie, but some of us aren’t good at it,” Lee said with a pointed look at Neil.

Neil flushed. “It’s my only flaw.”

He was, in fact, a horrible liar. I was sure Zack had zeroed in on that.

“Man, I just had to take one look at Neil to know there was a whole other story,” Zack announced. “I love it. I never thought big brother would fall for a nightcrawler.”

Lee rolled his eyes. “I was under a spell, asshole. I wasn’t in love.”

Zack sat back and grinned. “I don’t think that’s how I’ll remember the tale. I think I’ll always remember your true love, the faery vamp, and how that mean old Zoey chased her away. It’s Romeo and Juliet with fangs and claws.”

“I’m so sorry,” Neil said, looking at Lee.

“Forget about that.” I had a surefire way to get Zack off his new favorite subject. “With the boys away, I guess I’m in charge. Maybe we should go over the plan for the day.”

“You are so not in charge,” Zack said, losing his grin.

“I’m your boss.” I started in on a kind of singsong. “I am Zack’s boss. Zachary Owens has to do what I say.”

“Screw that,” Zack said. “My master told me to keep you alive. He said nothing about sacrificing my sanity to do it.”

“What’s the plan, Zoey?” Lee asked because other than situations he felt compromised my safety, he let me lead him.

I gave Zack a self-satisfied smile before turning to Lee. It was going to be fun to order his ass around. “I need to talk to Miria and then we’ll head out to the village if that’s where the trail leads us. Apparently we’ll be taking Declan with us.”

“Not if we give him the slip,” Neil pointed out.

It was a nice thought, but I wasn’t so sure it would work. “He would just set the royal guard on our asses. He can make my life difficult without Dev here to countermand his orders.”

Lee didn’t look happy at the prospect. “None of this would be a problem if you’d taken my advice a couple of weeks ago and let me kill him.”

Neil had liked the idea then and saw nothing wrong with it now. “If we killed him, then Dev would be the next king and your baby would be a prince. Power. I like it. He’ll need his guncle to advise him.”

Zack and I laughed, but Lee looked a bit lost.

“Gay uncle,” Zack provided. “It’s what we’ll call Neil and Chad when we talk about the kiddo. They’ll be the boy’s guncles.” He shrugged at Neil and me, silently apologizing for his brother’s lack of current vocabulary.

Lee shook his head. “Two dads and a couple of gay uncles. This kid is going to need me to have a normal life. Zoey, eat up. Let’s get this show on the road. I never thought I would find a place weirder than Ether, but this tops it. The sooner we find this thing Marini wants, the faster we can get home.”

I picked up the pace on the breakfast because Lee was right. I wanted to go home.

* * * *

It was late in the day before we made it to the village. The sun was still a firm presence, but before too long it would be sinking into the horizon. I wondered how Dev and Daniel had fared. They’d taken camping equipment with them because some of the locations were isolated. I wondered if the boys would be sitting around a fire, drinking their Scotch and telling stories.

Miria had been unavailable for most of the morning. So had Padric. We’d been told they were recovering from the events of the night before. Once she’d been ready to take visitors, she happily provided me with the name of the woman she’d given the Blood Stone to and her direction. Luckily her last known address was for the village outside of the palace. We were looking for a woman named Hildie, and after Declan had asked a few questions, we discovered that she was a barmaid at Ross’s tavern, employed there for many years.

Declan was obnoxious but also a great help in getting people to talk. Apparently being the future king meant people were more than willing to answer any question he could come up with. I wasn’t sure they would have been so readily open if a human surrounded by werewolves asked the questions.

Declan’s hand was on my back as we entered Ross’s tavern. Though I’d been in the pub once before, I’d been too concerned about the assassination attempt to get a good look around. I corrected that mistake now. The great room was huge, the first floor covered in small tables, some shoved together for larger parties. One side of the tavern was dominated by a huge bar. Next to that was a set of stairs leading to the second floor, where I was sure the owner’s private rooms were.

“Your Grace,” I heard a voice call from behind the bar. The satyr was coming from the back room, carrying two plates of steaming hot food. He quickly set them in front of two customers and made his way to our party, his hooves clacking against the wooden floors. He bowed his head respectfully toward Declan. “Your Highness, it is my honor to have you in my establishment.”

“Yes, of course it is,” Declan said dismissively. “We require a private table, four ales, and some food.”

“You just ate.” We’d stopped halfway into town and enjoyed the lovely lunch Albert had prepared.

“No, Zoey, the wolves ate,” Declan proclaimed irritably. “I barely snacked. All of the sandwiches were gone before I finished my first one.”

“You snooze, you lose,” Lee said, his eyes searching the tavern. He inhaled deeply, but seemed unfazed by it. “That stew smells good. We’ll take some of that.”

Declan shook his head. “You should make more, Ross. They will eat everything. They are worse than locust. Bring Her Grace some water. She has walked a long way and needs to rest.”

“I’m fine,” I insisted as Ross began to lead us to a quiet table in the back. The tavern was quite full even at this time of day. It seemed many people ate here rather than their own homes. I found the hum of conversations around us comforting after the relative quiet of the palace.

“You should put up your feet and rest,” Declan declared. “Why my brother decided to allow you to roam around the countryside in your condition I have no idea.”

“I’m pregnant, Declan.” I planted myself in the chair he held out for me. “I’m not an invalid. I’m not the first woman to find herself in this condition. Trust me, if all pregnant women spent nine months in bed doing absolutely nothing, the world would grind to a halt.”

“She-wolves work until they can’t stand the labor pains anymore,” Zack supplied helpfully. “I was told my mother was a strong bitch. She gave birth to me in between shifts at the casino. She was a blackjack dealer.”

Lee smiled, nodding. “No drugs for our mom. She bit the bullet. Literally, she bit down on a bullet so she wouldn’t be heard. She was paranoid about the medical establishment. She thought they would find out what we were and experiment on us.”

I stared at him in horror. “Well, I’m not going that far.”

“Zoey is not some peasant,” Declan pointed out.

Neil had an answer for that. “Sure she is. Just because she married nobility doesn’t make her a blue blood. Face it, man. Dev married a commoner.”

“Hell, Dev married a criminal.” Lee smiled broadly, enjoying Declan’s discomfort. “Has Dev told you about the time he and Zoey got hauled in by the cops? He has a record, you know.”

Declan’s eyes were wide as he looked at me.

“They’re teasing you, Dec,” I promised him. We worked hard to make sure none of us had records.

“Well, I should hope so,” Declan said. “My brother is a royal. He is not some common criminal. I would hate to think the authorities on the Earth plane would have a mistaken impression of him.”

“Oh, there’s no mistake,” Neil said implicitly. “Dev is definitely a criminal. He has some sticky fingers, that one. He’s just not a common criminal. He was in on that awesome hijacking that made like every newspaper in the country. I wish I’d been around for that one. I bet he would run a great long con, too. He’s an excellent liar.”

“Unlike some,” Lee grumbled.

“And he totally doesn’t have a criminal record,” I assured my brother-in-law. “The Council cleaned that up for us. The only record of our crimes is with the Vampire Council, though I’ve been told it’s pretty long and detailed.”

Declan stared at me. “When you told me you were a thief, I assumed you stole from various shops to enhance your wardrobe. Even some noblewomen here get a thrill from it.”

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t shoplift. I steal certain arcane objects for a select clientele.”

“Select?” Neil snorted.

“I turn people down from time to time. The point is I’m a pro, not some amateur trying to jack lip gloss. Why is everyone looking at me?” I had noticed that all the people in the room were whispering, and they kept stealing glances before turning their attentions back to their soup bowls and mugs of ale.

It was weird to be the center of attention. On our plane, I tried so hard to blend into the background.

Declan seemed surprised by the turn of the conversation and he looked around. It only took him a moment to get his bearings. He smiled slyly at me.

“Word of Dev’s magic has made it to the village, then. I thought it might have. The magic itself might have made it this far. Do you want to know what they’re whispering about? They’re wondering what you’re doing to my brother that six lovely Fae women couldn’t do.” Declan leaned in, his voice all soft seduction, and I knew he was making a conscious effort to sound like Dev. “I’m wondering, too.”

His seduction was interrupted by Lee smacking him upside the head. God, I loved Lee.

“What was that for?” Declan practically shouted the question, rounding on my guard.

“Don’t hit on the boss,” Lee growled as Ross returned with several steaming bowls of stew. He set them down in front of the men, but I was full and couldn’t see me fitting anything else in, so I waved him away. “If you want to be part of the crew, then you have to follow certain rules, and one of the rules is don’t hit on Zoey.”

“Well, I do not want to be a member of anything called a crew,” Declan claimed. “And apparently you do not follow your own rules closely because I know my brother was on the crew before he married Zoey. I doubt they stayed pure until their wedding night.”

I shot both of them dirty looks, and they were smart enough to shut up. I looked up at Ross, who placed a tall glass of water in front of me. “Thank you, Ross. Do you happen to have a woman named Hildie working for you?”

The satyr nodded. “Why, yes, Your Grace. She’s in the kitchens right now.”

“Bring her out, then,” Declan ordered, pulling his bowl of stew closer to his body as Lee made quick work of his second lunch. Declan huddled over his stew as though he expected one of the wolves to steal it. “Her Grace has a few questions for the wench.”

“Wench?” I had never thought of her that way.

“’Tis a common term for a person who works the kitchens.” Declan shrugged off my evil eye.

“I’ll let her know you wish to speak with her,” Ross acknowledged and headed back to the kitchens.

“Do you have to be so rude?” It seemed to be my brother-in-law’s stock-in-trade.

“I didn’t think I was rude,” Declan said, looking surprised. “She is a kitchen wench.”

“Have you ever heard of tact?”

He smiled. “Tact is just another way of lying.”

“Hello, Prince Declan. I knew you would come looking for me,” a sultry voice said from behind me.

“Oh, goddess, no,” Declan said, proving he really didn’t believe in tact.

I watched a look of complete horror cross the prince’s face, and it took everything I had not to laugh because I was sure now I knew at least one of the names of Declan’s sexual partners from last night. I looked Hildie over. She was pretty but not exactly Declan’s type. She was slightly tough looking and her speech was rough. I could see from my place that her hands were callused from work and she didn’t care about her clothes. They were stained and torn in several places.

All in all, I approved mightily of her being Declan’s future queen.

“Do ya want to go upstairs then?” she asked. “I can spare ten minutes or so for a rough tumble.”

Declan looked at me, his eyes pleading.

“Sorry, Hildie, I’m afraid I’m the one who wanted to see you,” I said, taking pity on my brother-in-law.

“Really? What for?”

“A couple of years ago, the queen gave you a jewel for your service to her,” I started.

Hildie smiled, showing only two missing teeth. “Ya, her carriage had broke down on the road and she was beset by a couple of bandits. I fought ’em off with a club.”

“Very impressive,” I said, and noted the wolves were impressed as well. Only Declan was thinking about how the large woman could take a club to his head.

Hildie shrugged her broad shoulders. “Anyone would do it for her. She’s a good queen, she is. And she’s got some pretty sons.”

I gave Hildie a broad smile. “Don’t I know it, sister. High-five!” I held my hand out and she gamely did the same but didn’t know to slap hands, so we just ended up waving at each other. “Anyway, I need that stone so if you could just get it for me, Dec here will pay you handsomely.”

“Zoey,” Declan protested. “I did not bring money with me.”

“Then I guess she can take it in trade,” I teased, loving the way his face went stark white.

“Damn, I knew I should have kept it.” Hildie was cursing.

I reached out to grab my water but noticed that someone had placed a nice cup of tea where the water had been. I hadn’t noticed when Ross had changed that but the tea smelled delicious. I breathed in that scent and couldn’t help myself. It smelled light and delicious, like something that would settle my sometimes crazy stomach. I brought the delicate cup to my lips and savored the semi-sweetness of it.

“You don’t have it anymore?” Neil asked the question I would have if I hadn’t had a mouthful of fragrant tea.