Steal the Night (38 page)

“Neil won’t do it.”

“Yes, I will,” Neil said quietly.

I whirled on him. “You don’t have to obey Daniel, and you don’t have to obey Lee.”

“And I sure as hell don’t have to obey you,” Neil shot back. “I have to do what’s right for my best friend in the world and her husbands. If it goes south here, we’re cutting and running. This is the end game, Z. Daniel wins or he dies. Do you think he can even fight if there’s no possibility of you getting out alive? I love you, Z, but damn, sometimes you can be his worst enemy.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” My question came out as a shocked gasp. Neil had never turned on me, but that’s what it felt like now.

Icy blue eyes regarded me. “It means that no one else around here will give you the swift kick in the pants you need. Lee is too loyal. Dev and Danny are too much in love, and Zack is too submissive. Maybe if Sarah was around she could have this conversation with you and then you wouldn’t be so pissed with me, but she had to go get knocked up, so that leaves me.”

I gave him the floor with a bitter frown. “Well, don’t hold back, Neil. If I need a kick in the ass you should give it to me.”

Neil’s hands clenched at his sides. “He’s over there waiting patiently to find out what horrific way they’re going to use to pull a bomb off his heart, Zoey. He knows there’s a giant possibility that he’s going to die and you’re going to be at the mercy of everything he’s been fighting against, but are you over there working with him? No. You’re standing here plotting against him just like you always do. You’re so stubborn.”

“I’m not working against him,” I denied vehemently. “I’m trying to keep us together.”

“But he needs to know if the worst happens, that you’ll be all right,” Neil insisted. “God, Dev understands, at least. When we were out there with the Order, do you think Dev wanted to leave Daniel? He didn’t but he knew what Daniel really needed was to know that the people he loved were safe so he sucked it up. You think what you’re doing is noble but, Z, it fucking kills him. How can he concentrate on anything if he’s always worried about what you’re doing? It will get him killed in the end and you aren’t going to be able to live with that.”

“I won’t hide in a corner somewhere when I could help him,” I said firmly, but some of what Neil was saying was finding little cracks in my armor. I didn’t like the feeling one bit.

“I’m not telling you not to fight for him.” Neil sighed, his anger spent. “I’m just asking you to be reasonable. Let him go into this surgery, or whatever the hell this is, believing you’ll do what he needs you to do, even if you have to lie to him. Let him concentrate on surviving instead of seeing what will happen when he dies and you do something insane to try to avenge him. He would rather you were happy with Dev somewhere. It’s all he wants. It’s why he does everything he’s done. It was all so you could be safe and happy. Give him this.”

I was crying by the time Neil finished and feeling no small bit of shame. I never meant to fight Daniel. I meant to fight for him, for us. Neil stared at me intently, as if waiting for me to explode, but I wasn’t mad at Neil. I was mad as hell at me. I’d always thought Daniel didn’t trust me to be strong enough to sacrifice for him and he was right. I wasn’t even willing to sacrifice this for him. He had all the responsibilities of a king, all the trouble and pain that went along with the weight of the world on his shoulders, but his own wife wouldn’t sacrifice an inch of her pride for his peace of mind.

I leaned over and kissed Neil on the cheek before making my way to where Daniel sat patiently. He looked up and I saw the fear on his face before it gave way to a tired acceptance of what he thought was about to happen. He thought I was coming over to give him hell about what Lee had just told me. His jaw firmed and he got ready to play the bad guy because that was the position I put him in over and over again.

I sank down onto his lap and rested my head into the curve of his neck. He’d taken off both his jackets and his ruined T-shirt to let Myrddin take a look at his chest, and he was sitting around in jeans and his boots. I let my hands find his cool skin and my cheek press against the swell of his shoulder muscles.

“Z?” Daniel’s hands curled around my waist, pulling me in close.

“I’m scared, Danny.” If he was comforting me, helping me face my fear, he didn’t have to dwell on his.

“Baby,” he sighed into my ear. His hand cupped my cheek and he kissed me sweetly. “It’s going to be all right.”

“We don’t know that.” For the first time in a long time, I just let my fear hang out. Too often I shoved the fear down and let anger be my primary emotion but Neil was right. There wasn’t a place for anger here.

“We have to believe it, Z,” Daniel said firmly and I could sense a shift in him. He already seemed stronger, more confident. He always rose to the occasion when I needed him to. He’d never once let me down.

“Lee told me what you want us to do,” I said quietly.

His whole body tensed beneath me. “Zoey…”

“I’m not fighting you, Danny,” I said. “I just want you to be sure when you give the order. I’ll go and I won’t fight Lee or Neil. I promise. You just promise me that you won’t give that order unless you’re damn sure.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes, Danny.” I couldn’t blame him for being suspicious. I’d pulled some crazy stunts in my time. “I promise you, if things go to hell, I’ll run as fast as Lee’s legs will take us and I’ll hide in the
sithein
. I’ll understand that if there is any way for you to survive that you’ll come for us. If you don’t come for us…”

“Then I didn’t survive and you can’t come back, Z,” Daniel finished for me.

“My dad…” I started because I couldn’t stand the thought of my dad not knowing what happened to me. He would go looking and he would get in trouble.

“What do you think we talked about that night we called Stewart?” Daniel asked. “We talked about what we would do. He knows if I don’t contact him that things have gone bad. Dev drew out a map to the
sithein
. He’ll be welcome and so will Sarah and Felix, if they choose to come. I think they will because if I don’t win and they have a girl…”

“Given Felix’s DNA, she’ll almost surely be a companion.” A deep fear lodged in the pit of my stomach. Sarah was known in the vampire world. Someone would be watching. I couldn’t stand the thought of her losing her baby girl to a vampire. I was glad that, according to Oliver Day, Felix’s brother and my guardian angel, I was supposed to have twin boys. I didn’t want to worry about my daughter being sold at auction. It struck me then that if Daniel didn’t win, I really wouldn’t be able to come home. I would live in a
sithein
and raise my family there. I would live and grow old and die there.

“Z,” Daniel said and I could feel his heart ache. “I wish I’d never started this. I should have done what Marini wanted me to do. I should have taken you as my companion and been his
Nex Apparatus
. I could have hidden you from him. As long as I did what he wanted me to do, he would have left you alone.”

“Danny, you can’t think like that,” I replied, trying to banish the pain I felt at never going home again. “He was never going to let you be. He would always have found a way to get a look at me, and once he did, his path would have been set. Don’t look back. We just move forward.”

“And we’re having this morbid conversation because?” Dev asked, looking down at us. He carried a sack filled to the brim with all sorts of greenery.

“You know why, Dev,” Daniel replied, hugging me tightly.

Dev’s expression tightened. “You cannot go into this thinking you’re going to die. You promised me you would be positive. Walking into this with a negative outlook is like asking for it to fail.”

“I’m not negative,” Daniel replied somewhat defensively. “I’m just realistic. There’s a little bomb on my heart. It’s not going to be easy.”

Dev let the bag drop. “Have you considered that up until now, fate has given you everything you need to win this fight and for the most part all you’ve been required to do is accept it?”

“What are you talking about?” Daniel asked, his brows in a confused
V
.

Dev was ready with an explanation. “You needed a companion. Essentially Zoey turned you. She was your first real blood and she imprinted on you in a way that Marini couldn’t overcome. You needed a patron, someone on the Council who could teach you how to blend in and behave so you didn’t get caught immediately, and there was Marcus just waiting for you. You needed to be able to daywalk and suddenly I show up with the perfect magic to give you the strength. You needed an army and the Order of Galahad knelt down before you and pledged their loyalty. Now you need someone who can magically fix your heart and freaking Merlin wakes up at your command.”

I was smiling when Dev finished his somewhat righteous speech. “He has a point, Danny.”

“But what do you do?” Dev threw his hands up in the air in disgust. “You brood. You wait for the worst to happen. Just this once I want you to expect that the universe is going to take care of us as it always has.”

“Because you never have doubts, Dev,” Daniel challenged.

“Not in this, I don’t,” my faery prince shot back. “I believe with all of my being that Daniel Donovan will win the day. I believe you will be king and you will right the wrongs the Council has visited on the world. I know it deep down, and you can’t convince me otherwise. I will promise you that if it comes to it, I’ll take our wife and keep her safe, but it’s an easy thing to swear because I know I won’t have to.”

Myrddin stood above, looking down on the three of us with great curiosity. His dark eyes were filled with anticipation. “Listen to your advisor, Your Highness. He’s giving you sound advice. Perhaps he’s not what I first thought. He’ll make an excellent balance. It’s obvious he cares deeply for you.”

“And what is this balance you seek, wizard?” Bris’s voice startled me, for the change was almost instantaneous.

Myrddin was surprised as well. His eyes narrowed as he studied my faery prince. “No one told me the Fae was an ascended god.”

“Perhaps you did not need to know,” Bris replied. “Now, tell me what you wish from my host and I will tell you if I’ll permit it. He cares very deeply for Daniel and would do anything to see him and our goddess safe and happy. I won’t allow you to use him to your own ends.”

Myrddin leaned negligently against the wall, his lips curving into a secret little smile. “These are not my ends. I serve the king as I always have. There’s only one way I know to fix the king’s heart trouble. If you have another idea, I would be more than willing to listen. Are you a god of healing, Fae?”

Bris frowned. “I’m a fertility god.”

Myrddin nodded, and I felt a sense of deep satisfaction from him. “Then, Fae, when I need someone to impregnate the queen, I assure you, I will think of you. Perhaps not first. She’s very attractive and it’s not as though the king can handle the task himself, but your name will be on the list.”

Bris was suddenly in the wizard’s space. I could see the barely controlled rage in his eyes. “She’s mine. Wizard or no, if you so much as think of touching her it will be your heart in trouble. I will pluck it from your body and think nothing of the loss. She’s my goddess and no other shall have her.”

“Interesting,” Myrddin murmured. He sent Daniel a pointed look. “I find it interesting that he uses the word mine instead of ours. The host would have said she is ours. She’s your goddess? I assumed she was Daniel’s companion first. I obviously have the timeline confused. If her loyalties are in question then perhaps the king should reconsider her place.”

“You overstep your bounds, demon,” Bris hissed, stepping forward.

I scrambled off Daniel’s lap. Myrddin seemed entirely entertained by the fertility god’s show of anger. He was grinning and there was a certain mad glee in his dark eyes. He would enjoy the chaos of a fight. He’d been waiting for it. I got between Bris and the wizard. I wasn’t happy to see Stewart approach and take a place at the wizard’s side.

He watched the dark man with a worshipful gaze. “I love to watch a master at his work.”

“Please calm down.” I tried to ignore the demon and focused my attention on Bris. The fertility god’s power might seem soft, but I’d watched him take out an army of red caps without breaking a sweat. I didn’t want to think about what he could do to the wizard if he lost control of his temper.

“You cannot trust this demonspawn, my goddess,” Bris insisted, his face stubborn. He pointed at his rival as he accused him. “He’s infamous. Daniel shouldn’t be allowed to come under his influence. I won’t allow him to use you.”

Myrddin watched the fertility god and then turned to Daniel. “Is the fertility deity in charge, Your Highness?”

Stewart shook his head. “It would seem he thinks so.”

Myrddin pursed his lips thoughtfully. “He seems to believe he owns your companion. Does he have authority over the queen? Is he the one I should look to in regards to her?”

He made the question sound so innocent, but I could see Daniel’s face harden and his lips moved slightly. If you didn’t know what to look for you would miss it, but I knew his fangs had popped out, a sure sign of his temper rising, and I didn’t think he was getting pissed off at the wizard.

“She’s my wife,” Daniel all but snarled. He was emotional to start with. The last thing he needed was someone to challenge his rights to his companion. It was an instinct for a vampire, like waving a red flag at a bull. Daniel would charge. Myrddin knew exactly which buttons to push and seemed more than happy to push them.

“It seems to me this fertility god claims much which should be yours,” Myrddin said quietly, as though merely concerned. “He takes over your advisor’s body when the whim takes him. He claims rights to your companion. Perhaps you’re a different kind of vampire. I thought you would be possessive of those whose bed and blood you shared. I commend you on your forward thinking, Your Highness. I will need to rethink things, though. I had not expected a submissive king. It gives me different challenges.”