Steal the Sun (Thieves #4)(105)

That made sense. The Unseelie accepted pretty much everyone. The sidhe here would be halflings or simply sidhe who felt more comfortable with the Unseelie. “What are you? Are you human like me?”

“I’m a lot of things,” she explained. “I started out as a nymph. That was a long time ago. I got into black magic for a while and became a powerful sorceress. I kind of stumbled into immortality, wandered the Earth plane for a while, fell in love, fell out, and now I’m here.”

“Nim,” a deep voice said from the doorway. “What is the meaning of this?”

Nim turned with a brilliant smile on her heart-shaped face. “Hey, lover, I’ve got a surprise for you. I found our third. You promised if I found a girl we both liked that I could have my threesome. Isn’t she pretty?”

I looked up at the man, who had to be six two. He had a startlingly handsome face, though it bore some of the scars of battle. He wore brown leather trousers and an open-necked linen shirt. There was a sword on his belt. He had dark eyes that looked me over with the assessment of a connoisseur. His annoyance faded and those eyes heated up. “She’s an excellent counterpoint to you, dearest. Is her hair red? That’s very exotic. She’s quite lovely. I worried when you said you wanted a third that I would end up f*cking some cold Seelie bitch. She’s obviously not Seelie and she doesn’t look cold at all.”

“She’s not.” Nim clapped her hands in happiness. “She’s warm. We can sleep with her between us.”

The man smiled affectionately at his girlfriend. “Well, my lover, if this is what you need, who am I to deny you? We can keep the girl.”

“Lay one hand on her and I swear to god I will kill you,” Daniel promised.

Daniel suddenly had the new guy’s attention. The man’s eyes turned from me to the vampire wrapped in the corner. Daniel struggled against his chains and his flesh was smoking again.

Nim frowned and faced Daniel as well. “Now, see, he was perfectly reasonable when I was playing with her. He was cheering me on. Please don’t hurt yourself. He won’t cause her pain. I promise. We’re not like that. We just want to have a little fun. We’ll let you watch if you like.”

The new guy’s eyes rolled but it was not from sarcasm. They rolled back and he became a different person entirely. When he spoke, his voice was deeper and smoother. It was a voice that could pull you in if you weren’t careful. These eyes were way more interested in Daniel than me. “Nim, my dear, don’t you know vampires tend to not share? He’s been trying to trick you.”

Nim glanced at Daniel. “Trick me?”

The man chuckled indulgently. “Yes. He was trying to trick you into releasing him, though I doubt he would have hurt you. He’s an odd sort. He has very firm ideas of morality, and you triggered his kinder impulses. This one is his companion. Am I correct?”

For a moment there was silence as we waited. All I could hear was that dog barking again. The dark man narrowed his eyes as he looked at my vampire.

Daniel’s voice was hesitant, as though he were responding not entirely of his own free will. “She is my companion. No. I do not share her. I was willing to go along with Nim in the hopes that she would free me and I could run with my wife.”

Coal black eyes considered me carefully. “I thought so. Tell me something. Were you going to hurt Nim?”

Daniel immediately answered, his voice a rough monotone. “No. She’s no threat. She’s quite nice. I would have spared her life, but I would have taken my wife from here. I can talk all I like, but I don’t want anyone but myself or my partner touching her. I suffered it because I thought she might take me out of the chains.”

Well, that explained a lot. “Daniel, it’s going to be okay.”

Daniel didn’t seem to hear me. All of his attention was on the new guy. “How did you know she’s my companion?”

“She glows,” he replied. “Of course, all living creatures glow for me, but her shine is quite different. She’s luminous. She’s rare. I’m sure her blood is exquisite for you. Don’t be upset. Calm yourself, vampire. I have no intention of trying it for myself. I was merely making an observation. How many vampires did you kill to keep this one?”

“I’ve never fought a duel for her.” Daniel had stopped fighting and was still, but in a way that made me wary. His entire body seemed to have gone limp. “No one would dare. If you choose to be the first, I’ll be more than happy to fight you once you take these chains off.”

There was a dark, seductive laugh. “I assure you, I don’t need those chains to keep myself safe from you. Right now, consider them your protection.” He turned back to his girlfriend. “So you bought me a vampire to play with.”

She smiled and sat up on the bed, her eyes a playful invitation. “I thought you would like him. I lucked into it. I got the girl for me and Roarke and the vampire for you, sweetie. I know they’ve become rare on the Earth plane.”

“I would enjoy the female as well, Nim. Roarke isn’t the only one who enjoys sex. I simply think we should think about using this one.” He looked back to Daniel. “Vampires are rare indeed. I remember when there was an army of undead warriors. It couldn’t last, of course, but it was something to see. You, my lover, have brought me something even better than a mere vampire.”