Steal the Sun (Thieves #4)(125)

Bris, however, was not through. He looked back at me. “Are there more, my goddess?”

I nodded silently before finding my voice. I was with Zack. I was impressed, too. “There were several in the house. Six, I think.”

Bris held his hand up and a dozen thick vines with wicked thorns appeared from the ground around him.

“Bring them,” he commanded, and I watched as they sank back into the dirt, their movement visible as the ground swelled above them. They raced toward the house to do their master’s bidding. It wasn’t long before the goblins in the house were pulled screaming into the yard to join their brethren in an earthy grave.

“Goddess,” Bris commanded me, and Lee allowed me to go to him. “Was the man named Con the one who tried to harm you?”

“Yes,” I replied, still coming to terms with what I had seen. “He thought if he killed me, he could make sure Dev wouldn’t back down.”

Bris arched an eyebrow as he walked out into the now perfectly kept yard. He moved methodically, as though he was looking for something. My attention was taken away from him as the Hunter and Arawn entered the yard at a run. They pulled to a stop as they saw our party.

“Zoey, what’s happening?” Arawn asked. “The goblins guarding us were taken away by vegetation.”

“Well, I didn’t get beheaded, *,” I said, looking at him with a frown.

Arawn wasn’t taking my shit. He took me by the shoulders and shook me. “Answer me, Your Grace.”

Lee and Zack growled and Bris looked up from what he was doing.

“I suggest you take your hands off my goddess, Death Lord, unless you wish to discover firsthand what I did with the red caps,” Bris warned.

Arawn immediately let me go and took a healthy step back. “I apologize, Bris. I didn’t realize you had joined us. It’s been a trying afternoon.” He looked back at me and I saw some emotion in those dark eyes. “Do you know where Nim is?”

“She took your advice,” I told him shortly. “She’s probably halfway to the Earth plane by now. I’m sure she will wait for you there.”

He nodded and seemed satisfied. Bris stopped over a spot and seemed to have found what he was looking for. He held his hand low to the ground and then pulled it up in a sudden motion.

Con was spat from the ground and came up coughing. Before he could clear his lungs of the dirt, he found himself suspended in midair by thick vines. Bris looked up at him.

“What did you intend to do to my goddess?” Bris asked, his voice terse.

Con glared down at the fertility god. He wasn’t one for begging or pleading. As the Hunter had explained to me the night before, the Unseelie were a direct lot. “I intended to have that bitch’s head on my pike when I marched into war.”

“Did you believe she was undefended? Did you think because my power is fertility and sex that I could not defend my own goddess?” Bris bit out the questions with barely contained rage. “Do you think a god like me is soft and will let what he loves go because he would rather not fight?”

“I don’t give a shit.” Con took a deep breath and seemed to ready himself. “Put me back in the ground. I’m immortal. I am Unseelie sidhe, and a few years in the dirt will do nothing but harden my resolve.”

“Then you leave me no choice,” Bris said evenly. “Though the truth is you sealed your fate the moment you laid hands on her.”

The fertility god’s hands twisted and a new vine popped up and wrapped itself around Con’s throat. The sidhe struggled but he was held tightly and after a horrifying moment, I realized that vine wasn’t attempting to strangle him. Bris was proving he didn’t need a piece of steel to accomplish what Con had failed at. That vine squeezed until blood began to flow.

Con’s head popped off with a sickening click and fell to the ground.

“Damn.” Lee breathed beside me, his brown eyes wide with awe. He actually took my hand and pulled me back.

Bris looked down as Con’s body disappeared into the ground once more, never to rise again.

“So much for your immortality,” he said to the man who would never answer. Bris turned toward me, and I saw his face fall as he noted my wolf’s protective stance.

“My violence has frightened you,” Bris said in a quiet voice that made me worry he was ashamed.

I wasn’t having that. My head was on my body and that was a win. Wins should be celebrated. I pulled free from Lee and launched myself bodily at my savior. Bris braced himself for impact and allowed me to wrap my legs around his waist as my arms found his neck and I kissed him with a laugh of great joy. I pressed my lips to his as I stroked his face.

His hands found my rear and cupped it. He returned the kiss, slipping me his tongue at the first opportunity. “Do I take it my violence has incited a need to mate, my goddess?”

I kissed him again. “The fact that my head is still on my body has made me joyful, Bris.”

“I’m glad,” he said sweetly. “My host is eager to greet you again, goddess. Know that I am happy to have rendered this service to you. I look forward to our next ritual.”

“I look forward to it too, My Lord.” He looked surprised but pleased as I used his traditional title for the first time. He had more than earned my respect.

Dev’s smile was wide as he returned to me. “Hey, my lover, you’re finally relaxing around Bris. This is a good thing.”