Steal the Sun (Thieves #4)(101)

“What does it do?” Neil asked.

We were all damn certain it did something. It was a powerful object. I could tell that just by touching it.

I shook my head as Daniel watched it, mesmerized by the glow. “I’m not sure but I think I know who to ask. Marcus gave it to the queen. I think he was smuggling it out the best way he knew how.”

“Marcus has some explaining to do,” Daniel commented, his attention still on the Blood Stone.

“Daniel, we’re going to have to give that stone to Marini.” It was the plain truth of our situation.

He pocketed the stone. “Like hell we do, Z.”

“Daniel, he could kill you.”

“We don’t have any proof of that,” my husband replied, a stubborn look on his face.

I put my hands on my hips. “Oh, and that X-ray of something shoved surgically into your heart proves nothing, huh?”

He shrugged a little. “It proves Marini can bluff, baby. Just because he has some box he carries around doesn’t mean it works, and I’m not turning that stone over to him because it doesn’t belong to him.”

“No, it belongs to me.” This was my job. I’d done all the background for it. I would be damned if I let Danny decide to change our entire plan because he liked the stone. “I’m the one who found it.”

“Yeah, you could have run this job by yourself…”

“Shut up!” Lee shouted from his place on the floor. “How do you two get anything done? You’re either fighting or f*cking. God, I never thought I’d want the faery back.”

Daniel and I stopped and looked at each other. It was true. Daniel and I both had big personalities that often rubbed each other the wrong way. When Danny had been human, he’d had much better control of his temper. His vampire DNA had taken over, and we fought a lot since his turn. I was just now considering how Dev balanced us. If Dev were here, he would have steered us away from the fight. He would have suggested other options or said something ridiculously outrageous and turned our minds from our stubborn positions.

Danny pulled me back into the warmth of his body. “We’ll figure it out, Z. Let’s get back to the palace and find a way to stop this war so we can get Dev and go home.”

I nodded.

Daniel looked back down at my broken bodyguard—who probably wouldn’t have gotten all broken if Danny had followed my advice in the first place. “I’m going to take Zoey back to the tent. She’ll be warmer there while we wait for your bones to heal.”

“It won’t take more than an hour or two.” There was an unnecessary apology in Lee’s eyes.

Daniel leaned down for me to hop on his back. I jumped up and wrapped myself around him. He looked back at me. “It’s just until we get past the winds and then we’ll fly the rest of the way. Neil, stay here with Lee. I’ll be back for the two of you in an hour if you aren’t down the mountain by then.”

Neil nodded and Daniel leapt out of the cave. He made his way down much faster than we had come up. I was thankful when Daniel stopped and let me down briefly before cradling me to his chest and taking off for the final part of our journey.

“We’ll be back at the palace tomorrow, Z,” Daniel promised as we floated toward the ground. “I’ll fly us as far as I can before dawn tonight and then we’ll be there after the sun goes down. We’re not going to let him kill himself.”

“Thank you, Danny.” I was so grateful to have him with me. I grinned up at him. “I’m cold. I can’t feel whole portions of my body. How am I ever going to get the feeling back?”

His smile was all male promise. “I think I can help you with that particular problem, baby. You just show me where you’re having sensitivity issues and I’ll make sure all those parts are functioning.” He leaned down and kissed me, his tongue making a brief, sweet appearance across my lips. “I’ll warm you right up. We have an hour. I can’t think of any way I’d rather kill some time than making sure you’re hot.”

We hit the ground softly and his hands were already delving into my shirt, his mouth back on mine in a possessive kiss. I went up on my toes to deepen the kiss and started backing us toward the tent and our somewhat comfy makeshift bed when Daniel’s head came up.

“Zoey, run,” he yelled as the arrow slammed into his torso. He flew back and was impaled on the trunk of a tree, his body stuck and unable to move.

I turned as fast as I could and saw a group of sidhe warriors advancing on us. They were led by a single female who had the nastiest grin on her unfortunately familiar face.

“I would not run if I were you.” Gilliana was wrapped in a fur-lined cloak and looked comfy. “I will order my men to kill that nightcrawler you are so attached to. They missed his heart. Barely. I could make sure they do not this time.”

I moved backward, standing beside Daniel and not letting that bitch out of my sight.

“Don’t, Zoey.” The tight tone of Daniel’s voice gave away the amount of pain he was in. “It’s silver tipped. I can’t move, baby. Just go.”

“She is not going anywhere,” Gilliana said. “Well, not anywhere she would want to go. I will take whatever weapons you have on you, please. Or I will order my men to fire. We can take you out with arrows, too. You should understand we’re prepared. After we heard you were looking for the leprechauns, I set my trap. Everyone in this part of the kingdom knows where the leprechauns hide their treasure. We’ve lost more than one citizen to that monster who guards it. I rather hoped he would eat you, but I do have a backup plan.”