Steal the Night (Thieves #5)(4)

My face fell and I laid down the little packets because I wouldn’t need them. Dev had fallen asleep with his cheek pressed against Daniel’s chest. Before long, Dev would be curled around him because Dev just pressed himself up against whatever was in bed with him. I shook my head. They were awfully cute lying there cuddled up. I pulled Dev’s shoes off and tossed them in the closet before covering the boys with a blanket and letting myself out on the balcony.

The spring air was cool on my skin. I could probably use a sweater over my tank top, but I didn’t want to bother with it. The lights of Dallas twinkled all around me. It felt so good to be home, but I couldn’t ever forget what I’d left behind in Faery. I needed a minute to compose myself before I rejoined the others. Dev had done the one thing guaranteed to get me emotional. He mentioned babies.

I thought about the child I lost all the time. If I hadn’t lost the baby, I would have been just about to start my second trimester. How would my body have changed? Would I be getting a curve to my belly? Daniel would be able to hear his heartbeat much more clearly. Dev would have his hand on my belly almost constantly, I was certain of that.

When you combine my miscarriage with the revelation that Daniel and I had a child somewhere on a Faery plane, the subject of children was just a touchy one for the time being. My best girlfriend, Sarah Day, was pregnant with her first baby. She’d recently moved to Seattle with her husband, Felix, who was going to college there. I missed her, but I was self-aware enough to know that watching her glow with happiness might hurt my heart a little.

I didn’t begrudge her the joy, but it just seemed so far away for me. I expected resolution to be at hand when we returned from the Faery plane. Daniel was supposed to get that thing off his heart. With the help of the wolves and the Unseelie, we would take down the Council and then the three of us could get around to some serious baby making. It didn’t work out that way.

Daniel seemed perfectly happy with the delay. I was beginning to think he didn’t really want to go on this little quest. He didn’t think there was anything that anyone, even a sorcerer like Merlin, could do. He didn’t want to hear that he was screwed. He didn’t want to even contemplate that possible reality, so he was hiding away. I knew Daniel well enough to know that he was genuinely happy for the first time in a long time, and he was also waiting for something terrible to happen to destroy his satisfaction.

Dev was still getting over the fact that his people had rejected him again. He was still coming to terms with giving up his post as the Seelie High Priest. He’d been welcomed by the Unseelie, but I knew all those shattered dreams of being able to go home haunted him.

We were all hiding, and I worried the time was rapidly coming when that would no longer be an option.

“Oh no, sister,” Neil said as he opened the door to the balcony. He managed the door despite carrying two glasses of wine. “There will be no self-contemplation for you. Thinking never made anybody happy.”

He always knew how to pull me out of a mood. I took the glass and enjoyed the fruity taste of the wine. Dev really did buy the best. “I was just getting a breath of fresh air.”

“No you weren’t, sweetie, but that’s okay.” Neil put an arm around me and brought our heads together. “I’m sure it seems like it won’t happen, but I know it will. You and Dev are going to make the prettiest babies, who are going to turn into the wildest ass kids. Can you imagine Dev’s sons as teens? Are you just going to start putting aside a bail fund now?”

I laughed and punched him in the arm gently. “They won’t be that bad, Neil. Maybe they’ll rebel against their parents and be perfect, law abiding citizens.”

Neil shook his head. “I would start that fund if I were you. Daniel won’t be any help. He can barely muster up the strength to discipline those vampires of his. Can you imagine how the kids are going to walk all over him?”

I shivered a little and Neil started maneuvering me back into the bedroom. I laughed again when I saw that the boys had been strategically maneuvered around. Daniel had his arms around Dev and Dev was cuddled close to his vampire.

“Neil, they’re going to kill you.” I chuckled, feeling better than I had all night.

“Not if they don’t want the pictures to hit the Internet,” Neil replied with a bright smile on his handsome face. “I could start a whole website about their unrequited man love.”

I switched off the light, promising myself I would fix them before I went to sleep, and Neil and I returned to the living room.

“Hey, Zoey,” Nim said from her comfortable perch on the couch. “I was hoping we could catch up on that model show.”

Nim had really taken to reality television. It was her second favorite thing about the Earth plane. The first had been barbecue. Girlfriend was tiny, but she could put away some ribs.

“I’m really hoping that the tall, skinny one will start a fight with the even taller, even skinnier one,” Nim explained. The legendary Lady of the Lake liked to watch catfights.

The phone on the table started to ring. “Fine, we can watch some TV, but I get to pick the second show.” I was surprised to see it was the phone that rang directly from Ether. I picked it up. “Hello.”

“Good evening, Mrs. Quinn,” Roman, one of Dev’s employees, greeted me. He’d been running Ether while we were on the Faery plane. Dev trusted him implicitly. “Could I please speak to Mr. Quinn?”