Steal the Sun (Thieves #4)(12)

“Doesn’t ring a bell,” Dev said with a shake of his head. “Sorry.”

“Well, maybe you know his wife or his girlfriend or his daughter,” I pointed out with a humorless smile.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Dev asked.

“This isn’t about me,” I said flatly. “You and Declan were prime targets but they chose me. If they wanted to take out a member of the royal family, they would have gone for the two of you. So this is about hurting someone. They don’t know Daniel so this has to be about Dev.”

Dev and Declan passed a long look between the two of them. It was one of those moments when they might as well be telepathic. Declan sighed and nodded his head after a long moment. Dev looked angry but turned to me.

“It’s going to be all right, sweetheart.” He took my hands in his.

“Yes, it is,” Daniel agreed, his face taking on that stoic look I knew way too well. “I’m going to make sure it’s fine. We’ll be home before you know it. I can fly us to the door in less than half the time it took to walk.”

“I’m not going anywhere, Danny,” I said, knowing his plan before he said it.

“We can’t leave, Dan.” Dev shook his head. “We have too many things we have to accomplish before we leave.”

Daniel crossed his arms stubbornly. “Maybe you can’t leave but Z sure as hell can. Someone tried to kill her, Dev.”

“I have a job to do,” I stated implacably. “You can haul me out of here, Daniel Donovan, but I’ll be back the minute you fall asleep.”

“Not if I lock you up, you won’t.” He leaned over in a useless attempt to intimidate me.

I went up on my toes so our noses were close. “You promised me you would stop doing this.” We’d had a big fight about trust and I thought we had gotten past this “trying to protect me” crap.

Danny shook his head. “Not even close, baby. I promised I wouldn’t leave you again. I’m not trying to leave. It’s the opposite. I’m going with you. I never promised not to tie you up. As a matter a fact, I tied you up last night and you were damn happy about it.”

“That was for fun.” It had been a hell of a night. The boys had tied me up, blindfolded me, and made me guess who was doing what to me. I actually got hot thinking about it now, but it was a cunning distraction and I couldn’t fall for it. “You’re talking about actual, not sexy, bondage. Not happening, Danny. Besides, Dev already knows who did it so we’ll be fine once he proves his ex-honey Gilliana is behind everything.”

Gilliana was Dev’s wife at one point in time before the queen annulled their marriage. I’d been told she was a bit perturbed at the thought of a new Mrs. Quinn.

“How did she know that is what we were thinking?” Declan asked, his jaw dropping slightly.

Dev smiled. “Because she’s clever. Yes, my wife, I think it was Gilliana or at the least her family. We’ll know more once we get this one awake and talking.” He motioned to the unconscious faery.

“I knew it was someone you slept with or someone related to someone you slept with,” I muttered under my breath.

Declan rolled his aristocratic eyes. “Well, Zoey, if we went by that then our list of suspects would be…everyone in the sithein. It is much easier to count the women Devinshea forgot to sleep with than the ones he actually did.”

“That is rude,” Dev shot back.

“And true,” Declan responded, unwilling to back down. “We could do a hand count. Anyone who has slept with Prince Dev or had a relative sleep with him could raise their hands.”

“Don’t you dare, brother,” Dev hissed. His fists were clenched as he spoke to his brother, but he finally relaxed and chose to turn back to Danny and me. “You knew I had a past. Anyway, it doesn’t matter because it’s Gilliana. No one else hates me enough to do it. I was actually quite kind to my partners.”

Danny nodded. “Padric mentioned I should watch out for her.”

“Excellent.” Declan took control, snapping his fingers at his guard. “Then we can go to the palace and sort this all out. The guard will surround us and we will move quickly. We shall travel as true trooping faeries. I will send servants for the luggage. We shall be at the palace within moments.”

“I have a problem. Does anyone have an extra pair of pants?” Neil turned around and his whole left cheek peeked through the cotton.

Dev bent over, laughing at the sight. Daniel put his hand over his mouth to try to hide his smile. Sarah just pointed out the problem to Felix.

“Oh, sweetie.” She tried not to giggle. “You spray tanned before we left.” I remembered the day. I’d gotten a facial while Neil got a nice glow he was sure he would need in Faery.

“Yes,” he said impatiently. “I need a tan or I look ghastly.”

Zack couldn’t seem to stop giggling. “Dude, I pulled out a hunk of flesh when I took that arrow out of your ass.”

“OMG, I don’t match.” Neil announced what the rest of us had already figured out. “Nice, Z. I save your life and what do I get for it? Mismatched butt cheeks.”

I hugged him and smiled brightly. “We’ll find someplace quiet and sunbathe nude. I promise you’ll match soon enough.”