Steal the Sun (Thieves #4)(130)

Zack smiled. “Yes, sir. I was just trying to prove a point.”

Whatever Daniel would have said to that was lost as he realized Dev was with us. “Dev?” He forced himself to sit up. “Jesus, Z, what the hell is wrong with Dev?”

“I don’t know.” I panicked a little. I couldn’t save one husband just to lose the other. I felt Dev’s neck, trying to find a pulse. My hands shook.

“Zoey,” Daniel said, taking my hand in his. “He’s alive. I hear his heart beating. Why is he unconscious? He came for us?”

I nodded. “Lee led him here to save us. The red caps are gone, thanks to Bris.”

“Really?” Daniel asked, not quite believing me.

“You’re alive because of Bris, vampire,” Arawn said, his voice almost accusatory. “He sacrificed everything for you.”

Dev’s eyes came open slowly. “Zoey, is Daniel…”

“I’m here,” Daniel said.

Dev smiled weakly. “Thank the goddess, it worked.”

“What exactly worked, Dev?” I asked.

Dev took a long breath, his chest rising and falling in a beautiful life-giving pattern. “Daniel had been drained by death magic. It put him into a comatose state, but it hadn’t killed him. He couldn’t move, couldn’t feel, couldn’t feed. Bris thought he could jump-start his system.”

“With what?” I was afraid I knew the answer.

“With his essence,” Dev said sadly. “I don’t feel him anymore.”

“He’s gone?” I’d always felt odd around Bris, and now I wept his loss. Tears blurred my vision as I thought about the consequences of what Bris had done for me. For us. He was part of our family. He’d done this for us.

“Yes, Your Grace,” Arawn said bitterly. “All that power, all that magic is gone because he couldn’t stand to see you cry. He might never be able to reintegrate with the priest.”

Dev shook his head. “I don’t know. He’s strong and Zoey moves him. I believe he’ll try again. He certainly intends to. He hopes that with the magnification the temple can provide that we’ll be able to bond again, though it will be a while before he is back at his full power.”

I suddenly felt a warm breeze flutter around me and I knew it was him. “He’s still here. I feel him. He’s surrounding me.”

And it was about more than me. Bris knew how Dev felt about Daniel, too. There was a connection between them. I would have called it a brotherhood at one point, but I couldn’t anymore. There was more to it. There was love between them. Bris understood that. Bris had sacrificed himself for that love.

Arawn huffed a little. “Yes, he’s here. He is immortal but he is without a body. He’s weakened and it will take a lot of magic to allow his taking of another host.”

“Shut up, Arawn,” Nim said suddenly. “You don’t know him. You’re judging him by your standards. He loves them. He will be determined to get back to them. Just because you’re a coward doesn’t mean he is.”

“Nim!” Arawn looked at his lover, shocked at her outburst.

She stood up and looked strangely determined. “It’s not that I don’t love you. I do. I love you so much it hurts, and I have since the day I saw you so many years ago it would shock the people in this room. The fertility god was right. We have forgotten why we live in the first place. I used to have a job. I used to be important. Now I follow after you hoping that one day you’ll let me try to have a baby.”

“You know why I think that is a bad idea,” Arawn argued.

“Yes, the child would more than likely be mortal.” This seemed like an argument Nim probably had made many times. “I’m not afraid of loss. I’m afraid of never having anything. I didn’t regret the child I adopted before. I had to watch him die and I loved him. I was richer for being his mother. He knew how to love, Arawn, even when it cost him.”

“He committed treason against his king,” Arawn muttered.

“For love.” Nim took a deep breath and looked at me. “I know I have no right to ask anything of you, Zoey, but if you wouldn’t mind, I would like to go back to the Earth plane with you. I think I know someone who can help your vampire with his heart trouble.”

Arawn’s face flushed. “Not him. He is out of our lives, Nim.”

“He was never truly out of our lives. He can’t be,” Nim returned with a little fire. “He’s the only one who can help, and I’m the only one who knows where I stashed him.”

“Stashed him?” I asked, eyes wide. I couldn’t help but stare at Dev and wonder if Bris would ever reintegrate. He’d given us everything. I wanted him back. I wanted him close. He’d proven himself to me. I could love and trust Bris, and now he’d possibly given us a chance to heal Daniel’s heart.

Nim’s button nose wrinkled. “He was an old mentor of mine. He was a handsy old goat. I kind of cursed him. He should be willing to help if I let him out. He’s had twelve hundred years or so to think about bad touching and why he shouldn’t do it.”

“Okay. If you think he can help then you’re welcome to come with us.” I prayed Bris would come as well.

She bowed her head, a solemn gesture. “Thank you.”