Steal the Night (Thieves #5)(90)

“Didn’t I just get ripped in two? Sure as hell felt like it,” Daniel muttered as they made their way to me.

Lee let me go and I went down on my knees even as Daniel hit the ground.

I knelt beside him, feeling for the already healing wound. I expected it to be deep and still bleeding, but it was already closing. In moments there wouldn’t even be a scar. “Do you need blood?”

He nodded. “Not you, baby. I already took my share from you.”

Dev didn’t hesitate. His sleeve was already rolled up, as though he anticipated the need, and he came in behind Daniel, offering his wrist. He didn’t hiss at the pain as fangs pierced his skin. There was only a slight tightening around his eyes to show he felt anything at all as Daniel began to draw from him. I didn’t even yell at Danny for not pulling Dev in. That was a private thing and they wouldn’t do it in front of anyone but me.

“We have to hurry.” Nim used her sweater to wipe the blood from the sword. She tossed it away when she was done and held Excalibur out for Daniel to retrieve. “The test has been passed. The king’s blood has opened the veil and Merlin waits. I’m sorry for the violent nature of the test, Daniel, but it was necessary. There’s no question now. You are the King of the Sword. Are you ready to meet your mentor?”

Daniel released Dev’s wrist, licking the wound clean, and it quickly closed. He was on his feet and he helped Dev to his. Daniel patted his ruined T-shirt and sighed. He zipped up his leather jacket, covering the blood. He nodded to Dev and they each took an arm to escort me. It was how we had entered all state functions when we were in Faery. Daniel was signaling he wanted to continue the practice on this plane. “We’re ready.”

The demon held out his hand to stop us. “Please allow me to educate you in this. Your Highness, you should go first. It’s tradition. This is a very important moment. It will be commented on and talked about. We must get it just right. The king enters and then the queen and then the rest of your retinue. You’re at the center of this kingdom and we follow you.”

Daniel actually threw back his head and laughed. “Stewart, you know nothing of my kingdom if you think I’m the center. I haven’t been the center of my world for at least twenty years and I don’t ever intend to be. As for tradition, well, it’s time I made my own.”

In between the two men I loved more than anything in the world, I made my way into the prison of Myrddin Emrys.





Chapter Twenty-Two





Though we had walked into the pocket world at dusk, the sun was full and high in the sky in the prison. It made the crystal castle in the distance sparkle and shine like a jewel in the middle of a fertile field. The world here was so still and calm it felt quite unreal as Daniel and Dev lead me through the tear in the fabric of space and time and into the small world Nim had created to house the wizard.

I glanced behind me and saw Neil entering just after Lee. It was odd to see another entire world peeking through the small doorway the veil made. The veil shimmered and closed as though it had never been there at all.

“It looks like it goes on forever.” Neil put a hand over his eyes to block the sun as he gazed at the mountains to the north of the castle.

“That’s an illusion,” Nim explained. “It’s actually quite small. It took an enormous amount of energy for me to form this world. I’m still not sure I’ve recovered from it entirely. I should have been able to easily handle the Order, but they got the jump on me.”

“You were concentrating at the time,” Stewart allowed. “That spell wasn’t a simple one.”

“Still,” she said, frowning. “I remember how Arawn had to take me to the otherworld for several hundred years to recover even a part of my strength.” The otherworld was the Welsh place of the gods and the dead. It was Arawn’s kingdom.

“How is the wizard going to handle you showing up after all these years?” I asked as we walked toward the castle.

Nim sighed. “I probably should have told him what I needed to do, but he can be very unreasonable. The rest of us were selected for our duties. We knew the risks and the rewards and we chose to be here. Myrddin didn’t have a choice. He was and always will be a wild card, so to speak. He straddles two worlds. He’s both demon and human.”

“His demonic nature will always be the dominant of the two,” Stewart said, his voice all snooty and superior.

“I’m not so sure about that,” Nim replied. “He was excellent with Arthur.”

Stewart rolled his borrowed eyes. “Arthur failed in the end.”

“He didn’t,” Nim argued. “He set up an entire system that stood for years. He kept this part of the world strong. It wasn’t the wizard’s fault that he let the personal stuff get to him.”

Stewart turned back and his smile was slightly malicious. “But darling girl, the personal stuff, as you put it, is exactly where a demon would strike.”

Dev’s hand squeezed mine and I knew it was his way of telling me he wouldn’t let Stewart hit us there ever again. Stewart was right. Something fundamental had changed in Dev since we lay in that tiny bed together and made a choice to move forward with our lives. A sense of calm had come over him. He was content with us and, for the first time, with himself.

“We just need the wizard to fix my heart,” Daniel said. “I can take it from there.”