Steal the Day (Thieves #2)(100)

I did. One was considered blessed and the other contained all the monsters Faery could offer. Dev would be considered one of the shining ones, the Seelie. “She wanted you to understand the Unseelie?”

Dev turned, his eyes practically glacial. “She wanted us to be tortured by the Unseelie, to see if we were strong enough to rule. Or rather she wanted Declan to be tested, and I was fool enough to go with him. He was my brother. I couldn’t let him go alone.”

I tried to take his hand again, but he pushed me away. I wanted to rail against a mother who would send her sons to be tortured for some ritual, but I held my tongue on that topic. “Dev, we don’t have to do this. We can go back. I’ll find another way.”

“You think me so shallow I would leave your friend here to spare myself this pain? What am I to you, Zoey? Am I your plaything? Do I mean anything to you outside the bedroom? You seem to think I am soft, but you are about to learn the truth of me.” Without waiting for me to speak, he turned and continued to his destination.

I had no choice but to follow as the amulet in my hand was insistent he took the right path. I wished I could have left him behind, spared him this pain. I’d taken my own trip to the Hell plane earlier in the year. I knew how it could break your spirit to see all the terrible things inside your own soul. Hell isn’t so simple as a place of fire and brimstone. The real torture in Hell always resides within.

A guttural sound broke through the gauzy quiet of the day. We walked through a copse of trees that seemed to reach up, climbing into the sky. There was another shout, though I couldn’t tell what the person was saying from this distance. More yelling followed and I picked up the pace, coming out of the trees and onto a grassy field.

From my vantage point, I saw a group of creatures circling like a pack of wolves, though these were no canines. They were goblins, squat but built on muscular lines. I also counted a couple of large, dirty looking trolls and what looked to be a gnome, though his eyes were red even in the sunlight. They circled their prey, keeping them close as they taunted. I glimpsed two human-looking men in the circle.

I realized with a shock they were both a younger version of Dev with long dark hair. This was Dev and his twin, Declan, a carbon copy of his younger self. They were being roughly handled by the goblins. It looked as though they’d been dragged a decent way to get to this place. Both young men sported cuts and bruises and long tears in their clothing.

I started to move toward them, wanting more than anything to stop what was about to happen. I had an idea now, given what Stewart had said, and I couldn’t stand the thought of it.

Dev stopped me, his hand on my elbow. “There’s nothing you can do. It isn’t real, Zoey. It’s a memory, and it will play out as it will.”

He stared out at the scene in front of him, his eyes focused.

“I like Seelie flesh,” the largest goblin announced. “The only thing better is Seelie sex.”

There was much laughter and a general consensus that pretty Seelies were the best lovers, even when they were unwilling.

“Aye, we’ll have to thank Miria for sending us these sweet meats,” another said. This one ran a hand down the front of one of the boys, rudely cupping his genitals. The boy looked ready to throw up, and I didn’t blame him. “They look delicious.”

“They’re so pretty,” a smallish troll said, his eyes lit with anticipation.

Both boys tried to get away, one pulling at the other’s shirt as though he wouldn’t let them be separated.

“How old are you?” I kept my voice calm, so he wouldn’t know how emotional I was already getting. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this couldn’t end well for Dev and his brother.

“I am seventeen.” He seemed outwardly unmoved, but I knew there was a war going on inside him. He was now in this moment, as he was then, helpless to do anything but survive.

“Which one should we start with?” one of the goblins asked, his large hands twitching like he couldn’t wait to get his fingers on that flesh.

One of the boys flinched, and I could see he was ready to run at the first given opportunity. He shrank from every creature, panic in his green eyes.

The other boy stood his ground and an arrogant laugh rang through the meadow. “You start with me, you idiot.” It was obvious he’d decided on a path. His shoulders straightened as he began stripping off his clothes. He pulled away from his captors but only to show them his amazing body. It was thinner than it was now, the body of a young man who had not quite fulfilled his full potential, but it was beautiful all the same. His hair was long and shone in the sunlight, a midnight black waterfall down his back. He was proud and every inch the young fertility god. It was no surprise every lustful eye was on him. “You start with me and you finish with me. You’ll just break him, and then you’ll get in trouble.”

“You sound like you want it, little sidhe,” the large goblin challenged him through his tusked fangs.

I knew that reckless grin and my heart practically stopped as I realized what he was doing. “I do, you big bastard,” young Dev replied with a sneer. “Do you know what I am? I’m a sex god. I always want it. You look like a cock who can give me a run for my money. I bet you give out before I do.”

I turned as the goblin laughed and proceeded to take my lover up on his bet.

“Can you guess which one is me?” Dev asked, daring me to say it.