Steal the Sun (11 page)

The healer stared at Sarah for a moment, considering what she’d said. He directed his questions to her in an obvious sign of respect. “She sleeps with both men?”

Sarah nodded. “They’re in a committed ménage a trois and have been for a while now. The prince is…well, you know what his specialty is.”

“Yes, a vampire and a Green Man. An interesting combination.” He finally turned back to Daniel. “Vampire, this is your companion? She is a true companion?”

Companion meant something different in vampire society than it did in the regular world. I wasn’t simply Daniel’s wife. My blood was different from other women’s. It made Daniel stronger and faster than a vampire without a companion. I had a little bit of angel DNA in my background. It hadn’t helped my morality, but it did boost my blood.

“Yes,” Daniel admitted. “She’s my companion. Her glow is strong.”

“I would bet your blood connection is strong as well,” the healer said, drumming his fingers on his bag. I noted he had closed the bag as though he would no longer need it. “You love the girl?”

“I’ve loved her for as long as I can remember,” Daniel said quietly. “I loved her before my turn.”

The healer turned to me now. “And you, Your Grace, how long has it been since you last had your woman’s time?”

Dev gasped a little. “Zoey?”

“I don’t remember.” I took a shot. I didn’t have to worry about getting pregnant. I knew my period was coming when I got PMS.

But I hadn’t had any PMS signs for weeks and weeks. I knew what was coming and I knew I should have been prepared for it, but I was panicking as my husbands stared at me, realization dawning on their faces.

“She’s five days late,” Daniel said quietly.

I took a deep breath and chose not to comment. It was one of those creepy vampire things that previously Daniel had hidden from me. So he knew my periods better than I did. Lots of women were late. It was just stress. I led a stressful life, what with the wars and vampires and numerous people out to kill me. I couldn’t be blamed if my periods were irregular.

Except, they weren’t and never had been. I’d always been on time. I was like clockwork.

All of a sudden everyone was looking at me like I was the patient. Dev and Daniel went utterly silent as though they were attempting to process the information. Sarah reached out and gently took my hand.

“Zoey, sweetie,” Sarah said with infinite patience. “Sometimes, when a vampire has a real, true connection with his companion, the vampire will be able to sense when his companion is weak. He can share his…energy, essence, I don’t know what the proper term is, but he can share it with you. It only works in chronic situations where the discomfort is constant. It’s called sympathetic transference. When you’re weak he can make you strong, but there’s a cost to him.”

Daniel looked up at me. There was a look of strange wonder in his eyes. After a moment, he turned to Sarah. “I’ve heard of it. Is it true, Sarah?”

Sarah’s face was so serious, and for a moment I thought I caught a sheen of tears in her eyes. “Yes, I believe so. You understand the implications?”

“I do,” he said, but there was a little grin on his face.

“What implications?” Anxiety began to pulse through my system. There are times when I just know things are about to change and I want another couple of minutes of blissful ignorance. The way Daniel and Sarah were looking at each other, this was one of those times and I doubted it had anything to do with whether or not I was pregnant. “I’ll eat. I don’t want to make Danny sick because I forgot.”

“It’s more than that, Zoey,” Dev said, exchanging a look with Daniel.

“This is serious.” Sarah looked at me. “It means Daniel isn’t immortal, Zoey. He’s connected to you on a base level, and it’s about more than just blood. He’s formed a biological and psychic connection. If he’s trying to bolster your strength now, think about what happens when your body fails. No matter how long you take his blood, your body will fail.”

“Danny’s body will try to keep mine alive?”

Sarah nodded, thankful I was finally getting it. “And he will fail but not before you drain him of everything. When you die, he’ll go with you.”

Daniel should have had eternity. My heart nearly seized at the thought of what I was going to cost him. “Can we stop it? Is there something we can do?”

“He can break the connection now,” the healer said academically. “If the vampire walks away now, it is possible that he could break his connection with you, but he is not going to do that, Your Grace. The fact that the connection was formed at all is proof that the vampire needs you.”

“I don’t want to do anything, Z,” Daniel said. “I’m fine with this. I’m kind of happy about it. But baby, you need to eat. I can’t take care of you if I’m fainting because you have morning sickness.”

“Is she really?” Dev asked, his voice breathless. He looked at me with a mixture of joy and abject horror in his eyes.

Daniel lay against me suddenly. He placed his ear right above my pelvis and everyone got very, very quiet. I watched Daniel’s eyes close as he focused everything he had on listening for that one sound. He sat up and looked at me. There was so much tenderness in his eyes, I knew what the answer was before he said anything.

“Z, you have two heartbeats.” He gathered me against his chest and kissed my forehead. “You’re pregnant, baby. I told you sleeping with that bastard would catch up with you.”

Dev was sitting rigidly, staring at us with his mouth hanging open. “But I used a condom.”

“Not on our wedding night,” I corrected him. “Not when we were on the altar.”

“That night’s a bit of a blur, sweetheart,” he admitted. “All that magic flying around kind of messed with me.”

“Yes, all that fertility magic,” Sarah pointed out.

“Oh, goddess, my wife is pregnant,” Dev said as though he had to say it out loud to believe it. “We’re going to have a baby.” He turned to Daniel and there was a wariness in his eyes. “I didn’t mean for this to happen, Daniel. I tried to protect her but I didn’t. It’s my fault.”

Daniel’s arms tightened around me. “You don’t want a baby? I thought you would be happy about this.”

“I want it more than anything,” Dev admitted. “But it’s not what we agreed upon. We were all supposed to decide when the time was right, if it would ever be right. I took that decision away from us.”

“It was a matter of time,” Daniel said. “I always knew it was going to happen. We were fooling ourselves if we thought we could control it. I’m fine with it, Dev. I am.”

Dev tried not to laugh but failed and finally came up behind me, letting his head rest against my back. I was glad the boys were working through their angst because I was still numb. I was having a baby. It didn’t seem real, but there was another heart beating inside my body and I was responsible for that tiny sound. It was mine. It was mine, I decided. It was mine and Dev’s and Danny’s. Our baby might end up being a fertility god, but he or she would be ours first.

“Well, it seems Her Grace is in good condition.” The healer stood, clutching his bag as he walked to the door. “You will need a midwife. Until I can find a good one, the witch can make do. It is fine for you to feed your vampire, Your Grace, so long as he is not greedy. If you take his blood, you should definitely continue to do that. It will strengthen you and the child. And intercourse is permitted though, please, one at a time.”

“We will take good care of our wife,” Dev promised the healer, his hands going around my waist.

Sarah got up to go as well. “I’ll leave you guys alone to let it all sink in. Daniel, as long as Zoey starts eating again, I think you’ll feel stronger. I’ll make sure Albert makes her some ginger tea in the morning. We’ll get a couple of good meals in her and it should help.”

Daniel’s head suddenly came up. “Sarah, am I going to go through labor with her?”

Sarah bit her lip, trying hard not to laugh. “If only I could make that happen. No, you aren’t going to feel her pain and you won’t ever be able to take pain for her. This connection works to give her strength over long periods of time. It helps her to survive when maybe she shouldn’t. But I could try to work out a spell…”

“Don’t you dare,” Daniel muttered.

Sarah slipped quietly out. I let myself fall back on the bed, and Danny and Dev took their places beside me. We let our hands find each other, and I knew I wouldn’t go through this alone. A thought struck me. “Danny, you only heard one extra heartbeat, right?”

“It sounded like one,” he assured me.

“Good.” I let out a relieved breath. “Knowing Dev, I could have been having a litter.”

“I shall try hard to never give you a litter.” Dev’s hand slid over my stomach and rested there. “But twins would be nice.”

I looked at Daniel. “We have to find a way to stop this whole transference thing. I don’t want to be the reason you die, Danny.”

Daniel cuddled up, his hand joining Dev’s on my stomach. “Baby, what did you expect I would do when you’re gone?”

I tried to come up with another answer but I knew. He wouldn’t want to go on. “What were you planning to do?” I asked because the sun wouldn’t kill him now. He couldn’t just walk into the light.

“I have orders to stake him,” Dev offered cheerfully.

“What?”

Dev shrugged. “I’ve been practicing. I think I can do it in one thrust. I hope he doesn’t explode. Anyway, that’s the plan. After Danny’s gone, I’ll drink myself to death and we’ll all be together again.”

I laughed because they looked so serious. “That’s a horrible plan.”

“Yes, it was,” Daniel admitted. “Dev will probably drink himself to death long before he has a chance to stake me and then I’d have to do it myself. It’s better this way. I’m not going anywhere, Z, at least not until you do. I love you. You’re my life, and now I get to go with you.”

Daniel tilted his head down and kissed me softly.

The door opened, and Declan stuck his head in. “The healer and witch will tell us nothing. Has my brother figured out that he impregnated his female yet?”

I sat up and tossed a pillow at the prince’s head.

He managed to duck. “Well, then I offer you congratulations. I look forward to being an uncle.”

As Declan closed the door, Dev sighed. “Forget what I said about twins. One of them always turns out to be an asshole.”

Chapter Seven

I woke to soft lips on mine, hands stroking me gently. I was lying on my side, cuddled down on the soft bedding. The night’s drama had exhausted me, and I’d fallen asleep shortly after the healer had left. Dev and Daniel had been talking about the implications of my pregnancy and I’d done what I always did when they started in on politics and crap. I drifted off.

But they also knew how to wake me up. I shivered as someone drew the covers off me. I wasn’t cold for long. The blanket was quickly replaced with the heat of a hard body cuddling up to mine.

“Good morning, Devinshea.” I let my head drift back to nestle against his chest as his arms came around me.

“Good morning, my gorgeous goddess.” He kissed the shell of my ear, a soft touch, but I already could feel his magic warming up my skin.

The curtains were drawn but light still filtered in, a soft glow that made our little world gauzy and dreamlike. It was easy to pretend this was a vacation and we were just a normal everyday threesome having some intimate time together.

I reached out for Daniel, running my hand along the slightly cool skin of his chest. His hand came up and covered mine, letting me know he was awake.

Dev gently turned my head toward his, his lips soft against mine, his tongue begging entry. I moaned a little and let his tongue slip into my mouth. Dev held my head still as he explored, letting our tongues play against each other with velvety languor.

“This is how every morning should begin,” he said with a slow smile as he flipped me onto my back. “Unfortunately, we have a problem.”

I didn’t see the problem. We could stay right there in bed for all I cared. Dev’s hands found my breasts, plucking at my nipples.

“Hey, don’t take forever, man,” Daniel warned.

Dev sighed, his mouth turning down. He rolled a nipple between his thumb and forefinger. “That would be our problem, lover. Our vampire is weak and surly this morning. It’s troublesome because he has some torturing to do and I fear if we don’t feed him properly, he’ll be unable to perform.”

“I need sex,” Daniel said with a self-deprecating grin as he leaned over to kiss me. He was heart-stoppingly beautiful in the soft light. His sandy blond hair needed a cut, but I wouldn’t say a damn thing because I loved the way it had started to curl over the tops of his ears.

“You need sex.” I pushed my fingers through that thick hair, brushing it back.

His dimples were on display, and I got the sexiest hint of fangs as he smiled. “We’ve been busy. I haven’t fed off the magic in a couple of days, and I’m feeling weak, baby. All that sunlight yesterday nearly did me in.”

One of the ways our threesome worked was the fact that Daniel, like most vampires, could feed off of sexual energy. It was why the feeding process was almost always followed by a good long session in bed. Dev, being the fertility god he was, had a sort of supercharged sexual energy that when Daniel fed off of it, allowed Daniel to handle sunlight. He still didn’t like direct sunlight and he’d been exposed to plenty of it yesterday. He was probably feeling weak.