Steal the Sun (56 page)

Daniel didn’t stop his gentle assault. “Tell me you don’t want to go again.”

Dev set the Blood Stone aside and got up on all fours. I could see plainly he wanted to go again. His cock was standing at full attention.

“Hey,” I said, pushing away just a little because I still hadn’t recovered. “Nobody asked if I was ready to go again.”

Spreading my knees and laying a little kiss on my stomach, Dev settled himself between my legs. “I’m not concerned with that, sweet wife. We can get you ready.”

Daniel chuckled in my ear as he held a breast, offering it to Dev’s mouth. He made sure my nipple was a ripe berry for Dev to suck on. “We can definitely get you ready.”

A feminine voice interrupted us. “Hey, naked people, you have incoming,” Sarah yelled from behind the door to the bedroom.

“Tell ’em to go away,” Daniel growled.

Sarah opened the door slightly. “I already tried that. It’s the king, Chima, and Nim. They’re insistent about coming in. Just to warn you, the brat is with them.”

Dev groaned and got on his knees. Declan had been hanging around the Unseelie
sithein
, getting to know his son and trying to talk to his brother. Apparently Miria had ordered Declan to make up with his brother and Declan wasn’t going to let it go. Dev had ignored him so far.

“We’re getting dressed,” Dev yelled back. He sighed and we all got up to make ourselves ready.

Ten minutes later, we met with the king and the others in the parlor of the temple. Albert had set out a tempting little buffet and, after the morning’s play, I was feeling hungry. Daniel held out a mini cookie for me and I playfully ate it from his fingers. Albert smiled at me as he poured my tea. Of all of us, Albert was probably the happiest with our new faery home. The cooks here came to him for advice and he reveled in the teaching opportunities.

“Well, we know you’ve been busy, brother,” Declan said. “What you lost in power you have more than made up for in sheer volume.”

Dev communicated with his brother in the only way he spoke to him anymore—with his happy middle finger.

The king shook his head. “Well, we’ll be sorry to see you go. We look forward to your next visit. Nim tells us she is going to be journeying with you.”

Chima frowned. She wasn’t happy about losing her friend.

Dev inclined his head. “She’s welcome to.”

Nim smiled and clapped her hands. “I’m so excited. When Arawn used to take me back to the Earth plane, we spent a lot of time in nursing homes and retirement communities. He just felt more comfortable around the nearly dead. Sarah and Neil said they would take me clubbing.”

“They would be the ones to do it.” I was sure Nim would be a popular fixture at Ether.

Nim took a deep breath. “So, I wanted to talk to the three of you about something. I made a big decision. It happened when I saw Daniel on the battlefield.”

I felt Daniel tense beside me.

“I think it was fate that brought you to me, Zoey,” Nim said. “I think it was fate’s way of reminding me that I have a job to do. You see, a long, long time ago I was tasked with protecting a special weapon. I was supposed to hold it until the right person came along and when he was done with it, I would hold it again until it was time for the next king to rise.” Nim’s eyes were cloudy with memory. “The last time kind of sucked because I had to wait around in this lake for four hundred years before the little bugger showed up.”

Daniel sat up beside me, giving Nim his complete attention. “Nim, what’s your full name?”

Nim smiled slyly. “I have been called by many names, Daniel. Nim is short for Nimue, but you might have heard me called Vivienne.”

“You’re the Lady of the Lake?” Daniel breathed the question with a reverence I hadn’t known he was capable of.

Nim stood and walked behind the couch. She reached down where she’d placed something. “Yeah, like I said, hanging around in a cold-ass British lake kind of sucked, but it was where I met Arawn and a boy named Arthur.”

Daniel stood up. He was slightly breathless. “Is that what I think it is?”

Everyone stared as Nim pulled a magnificent sword from its sheath. The sword caught every eye in the room. It was polished and gleamed brightly in the midday light.

“Excalibur.” Nim turned the weapon, offering the hilt to Daniel. “I think it’s yours for now, Daniel. Wield it well and always point it justly.”

Daniel took the sword from Nim’s small hands. He tested the weight and after a moment bowed to her. “I’m honored you believe me worthy of this sword. I promise I’ll use it wisely.”

I looked at Nim. “So this old boyfriend of yours?” I knew the stories.

She grimaced. “Yeah, Merlin. We might have trouble with him but he can fix Daniel’s problem.”

Dev sighed. “So we’re going to journey to unleash the wizard Merlin from his prison with the Lady of the Lake and Daniel gets to play around with Excalibur. The first person to call me Lancelot gets beaten soundly.”

“I hadn’t even thought it,” I lied with a bright smile.

“I had,” Daniel admitted.

“He was a good boy. He just fell for a girl. It had nothing whatsoever to do with his odd upbringing.” Nim shrugged. “I taught him to be a free spirit.”

I recalled that Vivienne had adopted the mighty knight. It was hard to think of Nim as a mother.

“Well, now that everyone is happy, I would like a word with my sister-in-law,” Declan announced.

“Not a chance.” It was the first time since the battle that Dev had spoken directly to his brother.

“You are leaving tomorrow,” Declan argued. “You will not speak to me so I am forced to speak to her.”

I stood up. “It’s fine,” I said to Dev. I was interested to see what he wanted. He had been watching me for days with contemplative eyes. “I won’t be more than a minute.”

I followed Declan out to the front of the temple, thinking about the fact that we had Excalibur. How could we use it to take out Marini, beyond the obvious fact that he would look good skewered on it?

The breeze was warm and made me wonder how much time had passed on the Earth plane. What season would it be when we got home?

“I know your vampire is planning a war, Zoey,” Declan said abruptly.

“It’s none of your business.” I had zero intentions of allowing him to piss me off.

Declan looked out over the courtyard, but the set of his jaw was angry. “I will make this succinct. I know my brother and I are estranged, but he is still my brother. I expect you and Daniel to keep him safe. If he is killed, I shall hold you responsible and we shall have a problem.”

With that said, Declan turned and walked away, having nothing further to say to me.

* * * *

I sighed as I took in the door that would land us back in Texas. It had already been an exhausting journey. We had to travel from the Unseelie
sithein
through the Seelie
sithein
. The only bright spot had been seeing Miria and Bibi one last time. Miria had put on a brave face and tried to pretend nothing was wrong. Dev had managed a strained good-bye kiss for his mother.

“Tell me there’s a limo waiting on the other side of that door,” Neil begged.

Dev laughed. “We’re in the middle of nowhere, Neil. A limo would have trouble with the terrain. I have a couple of jeeps coming for us. I promise, though, once we get to Austin, it will be nothing but first class all the way.”

The door to the
sithein
shimmered and suddenly I could see rolling hills and cactus plants. Lee practically ran through the door and Zack was right behind him. Daniel looked so happy to be going home. Dev did, too, but I knew the trip had not gone as he’d hoped. I looked back and saw Felix helping his wife up. I thought about the secret she had told me last night, the one she had shared only with Felix and Neil.

Sarah was pregnant.

She’d cried and hoped it didn’t upset me. I assured her it didn’t, but I lied. It didn’t hurt me because I was jealous. It hurt because I would miss her. I’d talked to Felix and he agreed with me that it would be best for them to distance themselves for a while. I didn’t want anything to happen to Sarah or her baby and I couldn’t promise she would be safe as long as she was close to me. Louis Marini had already proven he would use anyone I cared about as a pawn in our game.

Dev stood at the door. I hesitated for a moment. We had stopped a war on this plane, but I was walking through the door to home with the full intention of starting one this time.

Daniel took
m
y left hand and I gave Dev my right, and as we walked through together, I had but one thought.

I prayed this was a war we could win.

Zoey, Daniel, and Dev will return in June 2014 with Steal the Night.

Author’s Note

I’m often asked by generous readers how they can help get the word out about a book they enjoyed. There are so many ways to help an author you like. Leave a review. If your e-reader allows you to lend a book to a friend, please share it. Go to Goodreads and connect with others. Recommend the books you love because stories are meant to be shared. Thank you so much for reading this book and for supporting all the authors you love!

Steal the Night

Thieves, Book 5

By Lexi Blake

Coming June 3, 2014!

Click
here
to purchase.

She was born to be a thief. To save the world, she will have to become a queen…

Zoey Donovan-Quinn is growing restless. After months of searching, her crew hasn’t been able to locate the resting place of the one man who could save Daniel. While they frantically continue their quest, Zoey is still struggling to recover from the devastating losses she suffered in Faery. In the midst of her grief and worry, Louis Marini appears and demands the Blood Stone he forced Zoey to steal. Zoey has no other choice than to hand it over.

When the giant ruby’s true nature is revealed, Zoey discovers she has given their greatest enemy a weapon of unimaginable power. Equipped with the Blood Stone, Marini intends to dominate the supernatural world and, on a more personal note, claim Zoey as his companion.

Desperate and on the run, Zoey, Dev, and Daniel forge an unlikely alliance with an old adversary who claims he can lead them to the wizard who can free Daniel from Marini’s clutches and help him claim his throne. As they race to solve a thousand-year-old mystery and gather their forces for the ultimate battle, Zoey prepares to do what she does best.

If Daniel and Dev are to have any hope of victory, she will have to do the unthinkable... surrender to Louis Marini and steal back the Blood Stone.

* * * *

After a long while, he went still and turned to us and a slow, satisfied smile crossed his face. “It’s here, Your Highness.”

Nimue went to stand next to the demon and gestured for Daniel to stand beside her. “We need the sword now.” She took it in her hand and frowned, looking the slightest bit nervous. “Now we find out if I did my job properly.”

“What do you mean?” Danny asked.

She tugged at her bottom lip with her teeth. “Well, there’s always a test with things like this.”

“Like the sword in the stone?” I remembered my Arthurian lore, or at least the Disney movie.

Nim nodded. “Yes, that was the test for the boy. I set up the test for this king a very long time ago. I didn’t know exactly why I chose this method because at the time it seemed odd, but something told me this was the proper challenge.”

“Why a test?” Neil asked. “You’re the Lady of the Lake. Don’t you just know who to give the sword to?”

“Think of it as a fail-safe,” the nymph replied. “If I’m incorrect, Excalibur in the hands of the wrong person could prove very bad for us all.”

“But Daniel already has the sword,” Dev pointed out.

Stewart chirped up to answer that question. “Oh, he won’t for long if he doesn’t pass this test. If he fails, we all die. Well, all of you die. I just go back to the Hell plane and resume my former life. But I would mourn you all terribly.”

“What’s the test, Nim?” Daniel asked.

Nim smiled a secret little smile. “It’s simple, Daniel. I thought at the time it was too simple, but now it’s very fitting. I’m sure it will all work out. The world needed Arthur’s strength so his test was one that proved it. The world needs something different from you.”

Daniel sighed. It always came back to that. “Where am I supposed to bleed this time?”

“Take the sword, please,” Nim instructed. “Give it to me and stand right here where the veil is the thinnest and the door can open.”

Daniel did as instructed and the minute he was in place, Nim’s hand came back and she sent Excalibur straight into Daniel’s gut with a horrible twist.

All hell broke loose. Zack leapt forward, his semi pointed straight at the nymph’s head. Lee pulled me back even as I tried to run toward Daniel. Dev made it to our vampire first. Daniel had fallen to his knees, his blood spilling all over the green grass, but before Dev could reach down to haul him up, he put an arm out to stop him.

“I’m fine,” I heard Daniel growl, clutching his middle.

“She gutted you,” Dev yelled as he turned his face accusingly to Nim. His gun was on full display. “Give me one good reason I don’t put a bullet in your skull, Nimue or Vivienne or whatever the hell your name is.”

“If you’re going to shoot me, you should step back to do it, Devinshea,” Nim announced even as I felt a wave of energy flicker across my skin. Lee cursed softly and I knew he felt it, too.

“The veil is opening,” Stewart said. “Someone should get the king back unless he wants to be ripped in two.”

Dev put his arm under Daniel’s shoulder on one side and Zack took the other. They started to hurry him away from the site.

“Didn’t I just get ripped in two? Sure as hell felt like it,” Daniel muttered as they made their way to me.

Lee let me go and I went down on my knees even as Daniel hit the ground.

I knelt beside him feeling for the already healing wound. I expected it to be deep and still bleeding, but it was already closing. In moments there wouldn’t even be a scar. “Do you need blood?”