Steal the Moon

by Lexi Blake

  “Hello, Prince Devinshea.” Padric was wearing that wicked-looking knife I’d gotten acquainted with weeks before. He didn’t have it at Dev’s throat yet, but the threat was there. He was calm, as though awaiting the outcome before acting. A leather tie held his long white hair back, and his light eyes studied the scene before him.

  I sat up, pushing Declan’s hands away from my body. I scrambled out of the way of the gun and sat back where I could see both Dev and his brother. Declan looked up at Dev, confusion plain on his face. Dev kept the SIG Sauer aimed at his brother’s head. I hadn’t realized he’d started sleeping with it. He’d likely picked up the habit after Marini’s little visit.

  “If you think you can take me out, Padric,” Dev began, his voice cold, “I would point out that I can probably take off his head before you can slit my throat.” He didn’t actually look at the royal guard. Dev never took his eyes off the target when he had a gun in his hand. Daniel had trained him well.

  “I am hoping to avoid that scenario.” Padric sounded rather amused as he watched the brothers. “Your mother would have my balls if I allowed the two of you to die.”

  Dev brought the gun to his side. Clicking the safety back on, he sat down on the bed. He finally turned to Padric as he replaced the gun in a small cabinet by the bed. “Well, you’re right about him anyway. I’m sure mother would kill me herself if anything happened to her heir.” Dev slid his gaze back to Declan. “What the hell are you doing in my bed, Dec? I don’t remember extending an invitation.”

  Declan sat up, rubbing his eyes. “I arrived late last night, brother. I was tired. I recognized the layout of this shelter immediately. It is the same as the one mother uses, so I knew where the nicest bed would be. Your servant tried to show me to a smaller room.” Declan huffed as if anyone would try to give him a small room. “I do not understand your upset. This bed is huge. It is certainly made for at least three people, probably more. The vampire was not here so there was an opening. It is not as though we have never shared a bed before. We shared a bed for most of our lives, if you care to recall our childhood.”

  “It is not the bed I am upset about and you know it,” Dev pointed out.

  “That was not my fault.” Declan managed a royal-looking pout. “She is very warm and soft. It is cold here at night, much colder than our sithein. Can I be blamed for cuddling up to her?”

  “Yes,” Dev and I managed to say in complete harmony.

  “She cuddled back.” Declan made no attempt to hide his nudity, but then again neither did Dev. I was thankful I’d slept in the T-shirt. It seemed like a bad idea to sleep naked in a strange place. The Quinn twins had no such fears.

  “I thought you were Daniel,” I shot back. I didn’t need Dev getting all bent out of shape again. I’d learned my lesson and didn’t even glance at Declan’s hair this time. Or his penis. Which I kind of wished he would put away somewhere.

  “I know you did, my lover,” Dev said, his face softening. “He took advantage of you. Shall I thrash him?”

  Declan rolled his eyes and lay back down, his body hitting the mattress with an audible thud. “The day my brother, the priest, can beat me in a fight is the day I cede the crown to him.”

  “I don’t know, Your Highness.” Padric took in Dev’s form with a satisfied nod. “The little priest seems to have changed. His body does not look like a priest’s anymore. He appears to be a warrior, and I think he might have used that weapon on you had you pushed him further.”

  Dev sat back against the headboard. “I probably would not have killed him. I would certainly have maimed him, though. I still might. I shall think on it for a while.”

  “What is the problem, brother?” Declan really didn’t seem to see a problem with molesting his brother’s steady. “It is not as though we never shared a woman before. She is a sexy, sweet little thing but nothing to fight your own brother over.”

  Dev’s face flushed, and he stood up suddenly. He walked around to his brother’s side of the bed, pulled him up by the hair, and smacked him brutally right across the face. I felt the force of it and I was several feet away. I was startled but Declan was shocked. Padric cursed in a foreign language.

  Dev released the hold on his brother and walked calmly over to the dresser. He pulled on boxers and a pair of sweatpants and shoved a T-shirt over his head as Declan sat up and held his jaw.

  Padric shook his head at the future king, his stance angry. He spoke to him as he would a wayward child. “I told you to take him more seriously. He has survived on his own for many years now. It has made him harder. I believe I also advised you that Prince Devinshea was serious about this one. He would not make the request for the Goddess Chain lightly. How do I explain this to Miria?”

  “You can’t be serious, Dev?” Declan asked, ignoring Padric. It was the first time I had heard him slip into informal speech. He sat on the bed looking at his brother and obviously wondering where the hell he’d gone wrong.

  “Your choice of weapons, of course.” Dev crossed his hands over his chest. He spoke casually as though they were planning a dinner meeting. “We can do it this evening. I believe I have time around five o’clock, though I will have to check my schedule.”

  “Weapons?” I didn’t like where this was going.

  Declan turned to look at me like I’d done something wrong. “Yes, weapons, Zoey. My own brother means to try to kill me in a duel because I touched your breasts. You’re the one who pulled my hand up there. It would have been rude to not play with them. I hope you’re happy.”

  I was so done with Declan. “So if I slap the shit out of him, do I get to fight him, too?”

  “I am not fighting my brother and I am not fighting a girl,” Declan shouted. He shook his head. “Fine. Just fine. I am sorry, brother. I apologize for cuddling with your goddess. Next time, I will just remain cold. I will freeze to death rather than touching your precious goddess. Zoey, I apologize for finding your body so luscious. Can we not fight now?”

  “I will think on it,” Dev replied magnanimously. I got the feeling that Declan Quinn didn’t often offer apologies.

  Albert appeared at the door. He looked over the chamber with a frown and a sad shake of his horns. “Breakfast is ready. If you’re done shouting, you may all partake in the dining room. I shall, of course, set a few more places. Will you be eating this morning, mistress, or are you continuing to shun sustenance?”

  “I’ll eat.”

  “Very good,” he said gravely, and I knew I better eat a lot. He would be monitoring my intake. God, I hoped there wasn’t any tofu.

  I watched as Albert exited with a formal nod. “You know, for a slave he is really bossy, Dev.”

  Declan got up and Padric handed him a robe from a satchel. “I will see that he is settled in the guest room.”

  Declan huffed and stormed out.

  Padric picked up the luggage and gave Dev a slight smile. “It is good to see you, Prince Devinshea. Your brother has missed you greatly. Please take into account that it has only been a year and a half in our time. He still sees you as you were. It is difficult for him to think you have grown up because in many ways, he has not. He is still only twenty-two while you are now the older brother. It will be a hard change for him.”

  “I thank you for your guidance,” Dev said formally, bowing his head.

  Padric started out the door but stopped. “And Devinshea, your mother does indeed miss you. She is stubborn as well, but she deeply regrets what she did in fear. We will speak more at breakfast. Miria asked me to accompany Declan fully this time. I am to be here physically to act as her envoy. I fear he is going to push you away when he should bring you closer.” The white-haired man turned and left.

  Dev shoved a frustrated hand through his hair and sat back down on the bed. I crawled over to him and wrapped my arms around him. “Who exactly is this Padric person? I thought he was a guard, but he seemed like something more just now. I wouldn’t have expected him to speak to Declan the way h
e did.”

  “He is a royal guard,” Dev replied. “He’s also my mother’s lover and has been for a hundred years. Even when she was married to my father, it was Padric who held her heart. When I was younger, he was the man who forced my father away. Even when I left the sithein, I hated him. Now, looking back with older eyes, I can see that he tried to be a father. It was difficult for him to understand me. He’s a warrior as Declan is a warrior. I was something different. Still, when some of the royal house suggested I be left to die for my impurities, it was Padric who threatened to kill any who touched me. I was unfair to him.”

  “You were a child in a difficult situation,” I said, hugging him close. “Treat him fairly now. Show him the man you have become and give him credit for some of it. That will be enough for him.”

  Dev brought my hand to his lips. “Are you terribly angry at the way my brother treated you?”

  I laughed a little. “Not really, baby. He didn’t mean any harm. I doubt he’ll try it again since he doesn’t fight girls. I was just disappointed it wasn’t Daniel. I thought he had come back. Is he in that coffin?”

  “Yes,” Dev replied solemnly. “I believe he intends to use it the entire trip. As you can see this is not a light-tight shelter.”

  “It’s more than that and you know it. If he’d been sleeping with us and feeding off your magic, he could handle this light with no problem. Do you know what he’s planning?”

  “I believe I’ve figured out some of it,” Dev confirmed.

  “Is he going to leave us?”

  Dev moved to face me and took my hands in his. “Would it be so bad if it was just the two of us?”

  “I love you, Dev. If it were just the two of us, I would be content. Is that what you and Daniel have decided to do?” I measured my words carefully. It wouldn’t be the first time the boys had made life-changing decisions without bothering to consult me. They always had their reasons. Usually it was about protecting me. I also tried not to let them get away with it.

  “Keep me out of this fight,” Dev said, shaking his head with a weary sigh. “I do not agree with him but when Daniel decides something, I’m certainly not the one who can dissuade him.”

  I felt his pain. He was in a relationship where he felt like the one who was expendable. It was an old wound but quite capable of reopening at the slightest provocation. If Danny walked out, Dev would worry that I would follow him. Dev would also worry that I would blame him for losing Danny. It was a difficult position for Dev to be in, always walking a fine line. The things Felix had said were all coming back now. It was far past time we all made some serious decisions that didn’t involve what side of the bed the boys liked.

  I cradled Dev’s cheeks in my hands and stared into the face of my lover before kissing him sweetly. “What do you want, Devinshea?”

  It was a question no one thought to ask him most of the time.

  His face went still, but he didn’t pull away. “I want you.”

  “Is that all?”

  It took him the longest time to answer, as though he was deciding just how much to tell me. “I want us. I want the three of us. I want you and me and Daniel. Maybe Daniel doesn’t feel the same way. He didn’t grow up as I did. He didn’t have a brother. I’m happier with one, though the one I have is a bit of an ass. I want you for love and Daniel for companionship. They’re both intimate relationships. I’ve never been as happy as I am when we’re truly together. Daniel doesn’t feel the same way, and I cannot force him to care for me, Zoey.”

  We lay back on the bed together, Dev pressing his head to my chest. I let my fingers play in his hair. “I think he cares about you more than he lets on. He’s not great about expressing himself. I don’t know what he’s planning and if you do then keep it to yourself. Confidences between the two of you are just that. I’m not going to ask you to betray him. But I want to fight for him, Dev. I want to let him know he can’t just walk away from us.”

  He nodded. “I think you should let him know that. He needs to hear it from you. He loves you, Zoey. No matter what he says, no matter what he has planned, he loves you. He’s being an idiot because he can’t stand the thought of losing you.”

  “Dev, we need to fight for him together,” I corrected him. “I want to go to Daniel together and let him know what we need. He owes both of us. We both owe him. I think the first thing we need from him is a promise to talk to us rather than arbitrarily deciding what’s best.”

  “I don’t know, Zoey. I might just confuse the issue.”

  I wasn’t getting through to him. “Dev, how much do you and Daniel talk about that you never mention to me? How much do the two of you know about each other that I don’t? I’m your lover and Daniel knows more about your background than I do. Does Daniel know how you feel about Padric?”

  He hesitated before admitting, “It might have come up in conversation before. I’m not trying to hide things from you.”

  I stopped him. “I don’t begrudge you your friendship with Daniel, and I don’t require that I know everything he does. That’s not my point, Dev. I want the two of you to talk. You need each other. That’s why we go to him together. Begin as we mean to end—together.”

  “And if he still leaves?”

  “Then we mourn his loss and move on with our lives,” I said, hoping beyond hope it didn’t come to that. I couldn’t imagine not having Daniel with us. He was important. He completed us.

  “You won’t leave me?” Dev asked quietly, and I knew it was his greatest fear that I would leave and Danny would leave and he would be alone again. He’d had many lovers before me, but I knew that until Daniel and I had come into his life, he’d been lonely.

  I forced him to look at me, to feel my will. “I will never leave you, Devinshea. I love you. I’m here for the long haul, baby. Just try to get rid of me and see what happens.” I took a deep breath and decided to be honest with him. “Just so you know, though, I’m still going to make you crazy.”

  “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said, smiling and pulling me firmly under his body.

  I frowned as I looked up at him, hoping he was going to take this little tidbit of information well. “I found Neil.”

  “Good,” he replied. “It is past time for him to come home.”

  I let out a deep breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. “I thought you would be mad.”

  “I can be angry with him and still want him home and safe. I always knew you would find him, sweetheart. I think you will find Daniel’s anger has lessened as well. We both want to have it out with Neil, but we want him safe. It’s difficult to kick someone’s ass when they’re dead.” Dev was grinning down at me. “I love you, Zoey. Those you love will always be welcome in our home.”

  I wrapped my arms around his neck, loving the feel of his weight pressing me into the mattress. “So I get to keep Neil and Lee?”

  “I would never be so cruel as to force you to give up your pets. And we’ll fight together to keep Daniel.” Dev lowered his head and kissed me, softly at first but with the promise of more to come.

  Albert was going to be so upset with me, I thought as I gave myself over, but breakfast was just going to have to wait.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  It was almost eleven by the time breakfast was done. Declan had been quiet throughout, though his manners were back for the most part. He switched his stare from me to his brother often, as though contemplating his next move. I’d begun to suspect that Declan’s pursuit of me had more to do with his brother than any mad desire for my body. If Dev had been willing to share me, it would prove I was just like the hundreds who had come before me.

  Padric and Dev had spoken throughout the meal, discussing what had been happening in the sithein since Dev left. I noted that Dev didn’t ask questions about a woman named Gilliana who might or might not be his wife. I wanted to ask about her and any possible child she might have but decided to leave it for a more private time.

  After breakfast, I mov
ed into the front room which was now crammed with crap Declan had brought. He really didn’t travel light. There were a bunch of trunks, crates, and boxes. What the hell he needed with everything I had no idea.

  “They are gifts to the wolves,” Declan said quietly behind me, reading my mind. “And bribes.”

  “For Dev?” I asked, reading his just a little.

  “I miss him,” Declan said with a regal nod of his head. “I do apologize if I offended you this morning. I did not wish to recognize that my brother might be ready to take an important step in his life when up until a few weeks ago, I had no idea you existed.”

  “I know it seems sudden to you, but we’ve been together for almost two years.” An ornate gold cage was among the gifts. I stared down into it. There was a small ball of fur sleeping peacefully, burrowed down in a nest.

  “I was the leader. From the time we were small children, I was the leader and Devinshea followed me. His powers were small and soft. I was strong. I was ruthless. I could protect him. I was the favorite of our people, and the truth is Devinshea was only accepted by the royals because he was my brother.”

  “And the non-royals?”

  Declan smiled slyly. “Yes, well, they did not really care he was mortal. He was the Green Man. He made their crops grow. Did you know that when Devinshea walks through the fields of our sithein, everywhere he touches turns green and fruitful? He could not hide when we played games because I just followed the footprints in the grass or plants that grew in his wake.” He paused for a moment, his lips turning down. “We need him to come home, Zoey. No one realized how important he was. His pleasant nature made him beloved by the commons and even the bloody Unseelie. They requested him as my mother’s ambassador during recent negotiations. It did not go well when I went instead.”

  “What did you do, brother?” Dev asked with a sigh as he entered the room followed by Padric.

  “Well, they are not threatening war,” Declan offered.