Steal the Sun (Thieves #4)(109)

Nim chewed her lower lip. “Put like that it does sound bad. I didn’t mean to start a war. I was just a little horny.”

I laughed long and hard because I was pretty comfortable with the fact that these two probably wouldn’t kill us. I still didn’t like the way that old death god looked at Danny, but I thought I could handle the other two. “It’s not your fault, Nim. I totally blame Gilliana.”

Now there were three dogs barking. Someone had unleashed the hounds. At first it sounded like a fight but after a minute the barking and growls changed.

“I should have known something was wrong,” Nim complained, standing up. Roarke held out a robe and she slid it on. “I should have been charged way more for smuggling someone off the Earth plane. Isn’t Gilliana the Duke of Ain’s daughter?”

I could feel my face getting hard at the thought of that bitch. “She is. She’s also the one responsible for our brief foray into servitude. She gave us to whoever sold us to you. Her father is behind everything, including my miscarriage.”

“I suppose no one on the Seelie side believes this?” Nim asked.

Daniel took that one. “The duke has been careful. He’s covered his tracks and used the Seelies’ prejudice against them. They’re more than willing to believe that the Unseelie killed our baby out of jealousy.”

“Jealousy of what?” Nim shook her head, obviously confused. “If Devinshea has ascended and is proving his fertility powers, how can that be bad? The child might have been a fertility god in his or her own right. Why would we be jealous of that?”

Daniel sighed. “Because it is a Seelie power. Some think to keep Dev’s power strictly to the Seelie side.”

“The priest would never do that,” Roarke said firmly.

“Is that what everyone believes here?” I wondered if the mistrust went both ways.

Nim and Roarke exchanged a glance before Roarke explained. “Everyone who knows Dev understands that he takes his duties seriously. He wouldn’t deny the Unseelie fertility.”

“But…” I started because there was a big old but coming.

“The problem is with his brother.” Nim’s frown told me she didn’t like the prince. “He came over and told us all about how Dev would ignore the temple on the Unseelie side if we didn’t pledge fealty and submit to Seelie demands.”

“Yeah,” Danny said. “That sounds like Declan. Uhmm, now that we’ve ascertained Z and I aren’t slaves, could I get out of the uncomfortable, burning my flesh, silver chains?”

Nim nodded and started toward him. “Of course, sugar. I’ll have you out in no time. I’ll sadly find something for Zoey to wear. I didn’t buy anything for you because I planned to keep you naked.”

“Good to know.” I clung to my sheet.

Arawn made a sudden appearance. He stayed Nim’s hand. “Vampires are dangerous creatures, my love. You have offended him greatly.”

“I can forgive her,” Daniel said, his voice slightly surly. “She rubbed my wife’s boobs and got me hot as hell. At the end of the day, she would have taken no for an answer. I have no intentions of harming Nim. You’re an entirely different story.”

Arawn stared at Daniel and then gave him an arrogant smile. “Go on then, Nim. He’s telling the truth. He means you no harm. As for me, we shall see.”

“Danny,” I started. “We need them. They’re the only ones who can help us.”

Roarke drifted back. “Help you how?”

“We need to stop this war,” I said. “We need to get back to Miria and Dev and tell them everything.”

“That’s easier said than done, Your Grace.” Nim began to carefully unwind Daniel’s chains. I got up, wrapping the sheet around me to help.

“We have to do it.” I ran my hands through Daniel’s sandy, slightly overgrown hair. When the chains were off, I sat down in his lap and held him. Daniel’s previous thoughts of beating the shit out of Arawn took a back seat to hugging me tightly as the dogs’ barking reached a crescendo. Daniel put his ear right over my heart and sighed.

“What a mess.” Roarke ran a frustrated hand through his long, dark hair. He walked over to the window and sighed heavily. “What is the use of having hell hounds if they make friends with every stray to come through?” He turned on Nim. “This is your fault. I tried to train them but no, Nim knew better. Nim just had to give them treats and toys to play with. Now we can’t even scare off a single big white dog.”

I looked up from Daniel’s lap. “Did you say white dog?”

Daniel and I were at the window, shoving Roarke out of the way. We looked down because apparently we were on the second floor.

“Neil!” I yelled at that gorgeous ball of white fur.

Neil stopped his frolicking with the enormous black hell hounds and when he looked up, he changed.

“Hey, Z,” he yelled up. “How’s the whole slavery thing working out?”

“So far, so good. Herne’s on his way. Why don’t you come in and we can wait for him.” If anyone could get us out of the Unseelie sithein, it was Herne. I didn’t trust anyone on the Seelie side outside of our own household. Who knew how many were willing to follow the Duke of Ain’s lead?