Steal the Day (Thieves #2)(65)

I’d seen that file before. It was just about anything anyone ever wanted to know about Daniel Donovan. I was sure there were things in that file that Daniel had forgotten about himself. He flipped through the folder quickly. I saw the minute Daniel decided this was a serious discussion. His face lost the arrogance, and he settled down, staring at the folder. “And just who are you, Dev?”

“I am Devinshea Conlan Quinn, second son of Miria, Queen of Faery. I am second in line to the throne behind my brother, though I doubt I would last long if I took a crown. I come from a royal line that is so long, no one remembers where it began. I was raised in a royal court and acted as my mother’s envoy to almost every type of supernatural creature you can imagine. If you want to know what I can teach you, besides how to dress like a douchebag, I will tell you. I can teach you how to be a king.”

My heart nearly stopped in my chest. What the hell was happening? They couldn’t be in the same room for more than a few minutes without insulting each other. “Dev, why are you doing this?”

Dev leaned toward me. He slipped into the more formal speech pattern he took when he was serious. I guessed it was from his training when he was young. Court was probably a very formal place. When Dev stopped using contractions, I always knew he meant business. “I know one of the reasons you are content with me is the fact that I support your freedom in this relationship. I rarely question your decisions, and I tend to do anything you ask of me. This is not entirely contrary to my nature. I prefer to please you. I am finding it difficult to do that now. You will not be happy if we move to Miami. I doubt that you will ever be happy so far from your home and the people you love. You see my quandary? I can do what you ask of me, but it will not make you happy. I have the additional problem of being able to see that your husband is going to get himself executed by the Council. Has either of you thought about where that leaves Zoey?”

“She would be sold.” Daniel confirmed our worst fears. “You could try to defend her. You could try to hide her, but eventually they would kill you and take her into custody. Marcus would attempt to buy her, but I can’t promise that he would succeed. Companions are very rare, and she’s exquisite.”

“If Marcus is even alive at the end of it,” Dev murmured. “Tell me if I am wrong, but you had to have a powerful ally in the vampire world to be able to get as far as you have without detection. Vorenus seems the most likely as he’s your patron and on the Council. He could provide a certain amount of protection.”

Daniel’s jaw clenched, and I could see him thinking. He didn’t want to see the wisdom in Dev’s offer. He wanted to laugh and call him an idiot and walk out of the office with his full pride intact. He didn’t want to see Dev as someone who could help him. I watched Daniel very carefully. Stewart’s words played through my head. There was a part of me that wanted Daniel to get up and walk out of that room. It would prove that he didn’t care about power. It would prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Stewart was wrong.

“What am I doing wrong with the local wolves?” Daniel asked, and I knew his path was set.

Just like that my lover became my husband’s chief advisor.

“Oh, so many things,” Dev replied. “The first is the fact that you bothered with the local pack at all. Mitchell Roberts is an idiot. You’re never going to get anywhere with him. He owes fealty to the alpha in Colorado. Get that alpha on your side, and Mitchell will fall in line. If he doesn’t and he breaks rank, we can take him out with no repercussions.”

Daniel was nodding, and I suddenly felt invisible. I was no longer needed as the men in my life talked about negotiations and political ramifications and potentially advantageous assassinations. They talked forever as I sat there and wondered when the hell I had lost the upper hand.

I wasn’t mad at Dev per se. He was trying to please me. He believed I would be unhappy if Daniel and I were completely estranged. He knew I would be devastated if Daniel were killed, so he placed himself in a position to stop that from happening. I just didn’t see how having the two men I loved working together would be anything but a disaster.

After a long discussion, Dev turned to me. “Zoey, are you listening?”

I wasn’t, but it was easier to lie. “Of course.”

Dev looked suspicious. “This is about you, too.”

“I don’t want to be queen.” It hadn’t seemed real until now. Daniel’s war had seemed so far off, and I wasn’t really a queen anyway. But now it was right in front of my face. In that moment, I just wanted to go upstairs and go to sleep, and in the morning everything would be back to normal or something close to it. Dev might have been right about my eventual dissatisfaction with Florida, but in that moment I wished he’d just packed up and left with me.

“Zoey,” Dev said, but now he sounded more like my Dev. He was cajoling softly. “You’re his greatest asset, sweetheart. It won’t work without you. The other tribes or packs are going to be suspicious of a vampire. You soften him. Listen, we can all talk about this when we get to Vegas. I’ll take care of the plans.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Daniel frowned, looking anywhere but my way.

“If you leave her behind, she’ll just do it on her own. You can take her with you and let me help, or she and Christine are going to use me as a magical battery to call up old Stewart tonight. I assure you he’ll be happy to be of service.”