Steal the Night (Thieves #5)(20)

Dad seemed restless as he drummed his fingers on the desktop. “How was Faery, then?”

“All right, I guess.” I had to be careful because we’d agreed not to bring my father into our war. “Dev’s family was a little weird, but I ended up liking his mom. I was glad to get back to actual technology.”

“Did Danny get the alliance he needs to take over the bloody Council?” The words were soft, but there was such accusation in them I was sure the blood drained from my face.

“What?” I asked because as far as Dad knew, Daniel was an ordinary vampire. We worked very hard to keep him in the dark about our political games.

My father sat back in his chair and studied me with hazel eyes that reflected my own. “Did you think I would never ask questions? You were gone awhile. I was worried out of my head, but I figured that was just an old man being anxious. And then I did a job for a friend in New York. I ran into a vampire there. Do you want to know what he called you? Only when we were in private, of course, and only after he found out I was your father, but then he called you his queen, Zoey. His bloody queen. What the hell kind of games are the three of you playing?”

I swallowed and really wished Danny was here being interrogated instead of me. I stalled a little. “Henri Jacobs?” He was the only vampire I knew who lived in New York and was loyal to Daniel.

“I met him and his wife through a mutual acquaintance,” Dad acknowledged. “They were eager to be nice to the queen’s father. I had to smile and pretend I knew what the hell they were talking about. Tell me I heard wrong. Tell me Danny isn’t a king and god, girl, tell me he ain’t the f*cking Nex Apparatus. Do you know what that is?”

“Death Machine.” It was the traditional name for the vampire who scared the shit out of the other vampires. “It isn’t his fault, Dad. He can’t help his DNA.”

Dad’s fists came down on the table and everything jumped. “No, that ain’t his fault, but the rest of it is. He should have told me. I knew something was wrong when they kept him at the Council for so long. He assured me he was fine when he came back. Do you think I would have sat back and let them turn Danny into an assassin? I’m not helpless, girl. I got some serious contacts.”

“No amount of money would have worked, Dad,” I explained. “I promise you there was nothing any of us could have done. Danny did what he had to do to survive. They knew he was a king. He couldn’t hide it. You couldn’t have done anything to help him.”

“Why did they let him live?” Dad asked, shaking his head and sitting back.

“The head of the Council thought he could have his cake and eat it, too. He kept Daniel at his side for three years, training him to be a good little death machine. When Danny was obedient enough, he was allowed to come home. He’s been working for them ever since. Just before Daniel’s turn, there was a lot of talk of a revolution. There was a faction of the vampire world that believed the Council had become corrupt. Daniel was a control measure. Once the Council appointed a Nex Apparatus, the underground disappeared.”

“And what makes the Council believe they can control Danny?”

I explained about Marini’s various control measures from threatening me to the device on Daniel’s heart. I watched the blood drain from my father’s face.

“What’s Devinshea’s part in all of this?” Dad asked the question like he didn’t want to know the answer. He’d never liked Dev. He didn’t understand our relationship and would have preferred Dev had never come on the scene.

“Dev is the one who kept Danny from getting himself killed and me sold to the highest bidder.” Some good might come from this. I just might be able to get my father to understand just how important Dev was to both myself and to Danny. “Before Dev started advising Danny, he wasn’t playing things smart. Now I realize how close we came to everything blowing up in our faces. Dev took over the political aspects of Danny’s bid. He got us the wolves and he negotiated the alliance with King Angus of the Unseelie.”

“He really is Miria’s son, then?”

“For all the good it did him,” I said bitterly.

My father was quiet for a while, and I let him contemplate everything I’d said. He ran a hand through his thinning hair and seemed older than usual as he leaned forward. His voice was low as he asked, “What happened? Dev is a Seelie. Why is the alliance with the Unseelie? Don’t blow sunshine up my ass, girl. I want to know what happened. You and Danny…you’re the best things I ever did. Don’t lie and don’t block me out because you think I’m an old man.”

I shook my head. “It isn’t like that, Dad. I never kept it from you because I didn’t trust you or I didn’t think you could handle it. Danny didn’t want you to know because he was afraid of what you would think. It was hard for him to even tell me. Your opinion is so important to him.”

“I could never think badly of Danny,” he said. “He’s like my son.”

“Yes he is and he wants you to be proud of him. Some of the things he’s done, he isn’t proud of.”

“He did it to survive,” he said, shaking his head like the thought of anything else was insane. “Now what happened to you on the Faery plane?”

I decided I owed my father the full truth and so I told him. I told him about the troubles between the two tribes and how the traitors on each side had worked together to cause a war. I gave him the entire story with the singular exception of my brief foray into sexual servitude. I hesitated to tell him about one part, but decided to go ahead. He was my father. He should know.