Steal the Night (Thieves #5)(88)

“Do we have everything we need?” Daniel asked Nim as we rejoined our friends.

The nymph nodded, her brown hair bobbing. “We’re as ready as we’re going to be.”

Zack and Lee checked their weapons, and Zack handed Daniel a gun after he inspected it. We were going in fully armed. My new Ruger was settled into the holster at the small of my back. The Order had been very happy to replace some of the weapons we lost to Scotland Yard. I found I had one small question before we left.

“So I’m glad this whole Order of Galahad thing worked out for us, but one has to wonder. I know I didn’t call them up and request they meet us on the tarmac. Who put in that little heads up?”

Stewart blinked as seven pairs of eyes suddenly turned on him. “Well, you couldn’t expect me to just drop everything without a little call to home.”

Yep. That was what I’d thought. When everything goes to hell, look to the demon.

“Yes, I could, *,” Daniel said.

“I merely told a friend.” Stewart pouted prettily. “He probably told a friend or two and so on and so on. We’re demons, you know. We have a little trouble with gossip, but like you said, it all worked out in the end so I should think you would actually thank me.”

“Don’t count on it,” Daniel ground out. He turned. “Lead the way, Nimue.”

Nim began walking across the vast green carpet that makes up so much of Wales. We marched along, Daniel at the front and Lee and Zack protecting our six. Dev walked just behind Daniel, his gun in hand. Neil was beside me and then, just like a dog you probably shouldn’t have ever fed in the first place, Stewart was on my heels.

“The Fae creature seems different,” Stewart said conversationally. “Whatever you did while you, the king, and he were ‘napping’ seems to have done the trick.”

I couldn’t help it. It just came out. “How so?”

Stewart’s blue eyes lit up because I’d fallen into the horrible trap of actually responding to him. “Well, he seems much less troubled. In fact, he seems downright content today. Something happened to make him feel worthy. He’s just bursting with self-esteem. Normally, there’s a well of sorrow just below his surface no matter how happy he seems. He’s always waiting for the worst to befall him. That’s what happens when your entire world gets ripped out from under you at a very young age.”

“Is he talking about the fact that the nobles turned on him when they discovered he was mortal?” Neil wasn’t able to resist either. It was part of why Stewart was so dangerous. He sucked you in.

“Yes,” Stewart said. “That one incident has colored his world ever since. Much like the time your father attempted to get you to bed a female and you couldn’t do it and he…oh, you poor puppy.”

“Get out of my head, Stewart,” Neil growled, his icy blue eyes flashing.

Stewart gave Neil a shy smile, not at all perturbed by his show of temper. “You’re very good at that, you know. Of all the people I’ve met, you can toss me out of your mind faster than any of them. Your emotional control is incredible. It’s one of the things I find most attractive about you. I find it interesting that you and the Fae creature had very similar upbringings, but your reactions are different. You were both tossed out by your families, considered perverse and freakish by your people, yet he walks about an aching ball of pain, naked to my eye, and you’re completely closed down.”

“Just to you, Stewart,” Neil said, getting himself under control. “I’m not closed off to the people I love. I think it just bothers you that Dev and I can go through some terrible shit and still be perfectly capable of loving those around us and allowing ourselves to be loved.”

Stewart considered that. “I suppose it confuses me. I understand the Fae creature. His mother still loved him. His brother still loved him. He was considered lesser, but the core of the bond was still functional. It sent him off on a quest to find a family who truly needed him. Your family always knew there was something wrong with you. They despised you for it.”

“I probably gave it away when I wanted Madonna to sing at my tenth birthday party,” Neil admitted.

“Silly little puppy. They never gave you a party,” Stewart said solemnly. “They knew you were wrong the minute you were born. Your father would have tossed you out, but your mother wouldn’t have it. She died far too young, if you ask me.”

“If I just tell you what you want to know, will you be silent for the rest of the walk?” Neil asked, slightly exasperated.

“Neil, you don’t have to tell him anything,” I swore. “I can have Lee gag him.”

“Oh, please don’t,” Stewart said, his voice sounding charming. “I really am interested, Neil. I know you don’t believe me, but I do greatly admire you. You have such strength where I worry I would not.”

Neil still didn’t look completely convinced, but he plunged on ahead anyway. “It was Daniel who brought me back. I made my oath to him and through his blood, I was able to feel his connection to Z.”

“The obsession a vampire feels for a companion must be very strong,” Stewart commented.

“It wasn’t obsession.” Neil didn’t seem to care if Stewart believed him, but it was the truth so he was going to put it out there. “It was love and it was the first time I’d really felt it. I liked it. I liked loving someone but then I realized somewhere along the line that Z loved me and I liked that, too. Being on that crew with Z and Danny and Sarah was the first real family I could ever remember, and I was safe for the first time.”