Steal the Sun (Thieves #4)(122)

“We should try,” Neil insisted.

I shook my head. “No, we shouldn’t. I should go down there and while they’re occupied with lopping my head off, the rest of you should run because he can’t let you live.” Con would need to hide his betrayal, and there was no way to do that except to kill everyone who could possibly talk. I turned and looked at Chima. “Are you ready?”

Chima nodded her head, and there was a terrible guilt in her blue eyes. She didn’t like what she had to do, either, but she would do it for her son. She had no choice and I expected nothing less from her.

“I’m going with you.” Neil stood beside me.

“No,” I ordered. “You have to get to Danny. You have to get him up and moving. You know he can hear you. Tell him what’s happening. If there’s any way for him to move, he will. He’s the only shot I have.”

“All right.” Neil pulled me into a tight hug. “I love you, Z. Don’t you f*cking die out there. I’m going to get Daniel up. We’re going to come for you. Stay alive.”

“I’ll try,” I promised. Neil turned to go. “Watch your back.”

He smiled, a sad little thing and I hoped beyond hope it wasn’t the last smile I saw from him. Neil slipped down the hallway, letting his senses lead him away from danger to his quarry.

“Let’s go, Your Grace,” Chima said, her voice filled with resolve. “You first and I will follow.”

“I’m not going to run, Princess.”

She moved close behind me. “I can’t take that chance.”

I walked into the hall and toward the stairs, praying all the while that Daniel would wake up despite what Chima had said. Daniel had done some impossible things when I needed him to. Chima followed and Nim walked in her wake, guilt making her cute pixie face look pale and sad. There was a lost look in her eyes, as though she’d finally figured out there was nothing she could do to stop what she felt she’d set into motion. I could have told her that if they hadn’t used her it would have been someone else, but I just marched down the stairs. Every bit of will I had I used to keep my feet moving when what I wanted to do was run to Daniel and beg him to save me. I wanted to live. I wanted to go home with Danny and Dev and have those babies I’d been promised.

If I ended up on the Heaven plane, Oliver Day was going to get such an earful. He thought losing his bet would be bad? It was going to be my job to make that angel miserable.

We reached the bottom floor and I saw clearly why we’d had no aid from the ascended gods’ contingent. Herne the Hunter and Arawn were each on their knees on the floor with their hands at the backs of their heads, fingers interwoven in the universal sign of “I got caught.” The Hunter looked grim and after his eyes slid off of us, he went back to staring straight forward. Arawn turned to watch us as we moved. Each was guarded by three red caps.

“Are you all right, Nim?” Arawn asked academically, watching his girlfriend with hooded eyes.

“Besides horrific gut-gnawing guilt, I’m fine,” Nim replied from behind me.

“If you get the chance to run, sweetheart, please do it,” Arawn said. “If they kill Roarke, I’ll find another host and look for you. It shouldn’t take long. Go to the Earth plane and I’ll meet you there.”

Nim continued shuffling along. “I know the drill, Arawn.”

“You’re a bastard,” I sneered as I passed the death god, who looked like he couldn’t care less that a whole bunch of people were about to die a horrible death. Would he get off on all that death? Maybe it would make him strong enough to break free and save his host and his girl. “Nothing matters as long as you and yours are all right, does it?”

Arawn pondered that briefly. “No, I suppose not. It’s not so different from your vampire. You can worry about the rest of the world, Your Grace. I’ve lived long enough to know that the rest of the world won’t care that you made a sacrifice. They won’t care that you’re dead. They’ll forget you quickly and another na?ve idiot will take your place. There’s an endless stream of women such as you who refuse to see the world for what it is.” His eyes were cold as they turned from me and found his lover once more. “Do as I told you, Nim.”

“Keep moving,” one of the red caps ordered. His cap was dripping blood onto the formerly lovely carpet.

The door to the front lawn was open. It was nice to see the red caps weren’t making it hard for me to walk to my execution. There wasn’t exactly a red carpet, but it was pretty damn close. I looked across the lawn. There were so many men out there waiting on two small women, as Nim stayed in the doorway. It was just me and Chima and an army of males. I swallowed audibly and hoped that the whole beheading thing was as painless as the experts said. Not like the experts knew.

I was about to find out.

Chima came up against my back, her hand hauling my arm into a painful position.

“I told you,” I said, mad that she was making this harder. “I’m not going to fight.”

That was a lie. I was going to fight like hell, but not until she had her son back.

I felt something small and cold press into my hand. “And I told you, I can’t take that chance.”

I closed my palm around the small knife Chima had been holding. If I held it tightly against my side, I might get away with it. It wasn’t much but it was a shot.