Steal the Sun (Thieves #4)(19)

Danny had gone the same route I had. Modern. Contemporary. He was in a Hugo Boss suit that had been custom fit at Neiman Marcus. His sandy blond hair was slicked back. He looked hot and dangerous. He glanced at Dev and gave him a reassuring smile. “It’s going to be all right. What’s the worst she could do?”

Dev blanched at the thought but took my arm anyway. Danny took my left side and we began to walk toward the formal dining room where the nobles awaited our arrival. Our friends had gone in earlier and Lee and Zack had chosen to skip the formalities in exchange for taking guard duties.

“I don’t even want to think about that.” Dev shook his head as if to clear it from his dark thoughts. “Are you feeling better?”

It was said to Daniel, who as a vampire should only feel crappy when he was low on blood.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, startled at the thought of him being ill.

“It was nothing.” Danny shook it off. “Just earlier today, I felt weird. I got weak. Maybe I’m coming down with the flu.”

“You can’t get the flu, baby.” I touched his forehead with my hand, seeking any sign of illness. Not surprisingly it was cool. Vampires don’t do sick.

“He was in that hot coffin for two hours,” Dev pointed out.

That shouldn’t make a difference. It might have made Daniel uncomfortable, but from what I understood, it shouldn’t have made him ill.

As we approached the uniformed guard who would announce us to the party, Danny shrugged away his earlier discomfort. “I’m sure that’s what it was. I feel great now. It was actually kind of cool. It made me feel almost human. If it comes up again I’ll be sure to tell Z because she likes to baby sick people.”

“Well, I had to,” I admitted. “When you were alive you turned into the biggest baby the minute you got a stuffy nose.”

Dev nodded that we were ready to be announced and then we walked down a magnificent marble staircase. Twenty steps led us into a huge ballroom that had been set for the royal banquet.

I held on firmly to both their arms because the last thing I needed was to tumble down the stairs and break a limb. I looked out over the crowd and realized Dev had been right. Everyone was hoping for a big scene. They were whispering behind their hands and gawking. They moved their attention between the three of us and the woman at the end of the hall.

I glanced around the room and got my first glimpse of my mother-in-law.

Miria, Queen of Faery, sat upon her throne before me. There was a raised platform with three chairs. Miria sat on the largest of the three in between two slightly smaller thrones. All three were carved from oak and elaborate in their design. Declan sat in one to her right, a look of aloof superiority on his face. I’d been told the seat to her left was the one Dev used. There were several people standing around the queen, and I suspected they were counselors and high nobles. Padric stood closest to the queen. It was fitting as he was both the head of security for the royal family and the queen’s lover.

Miria, Queen of Faery, was gloriously lovely. I was surprised to find she had long strawberry-blonde hair. I guessed the twins got their dark good looks from their father. Miria was fair but by no means bland. Her face was delicately sculpted, with high cheek bones and a lush mouth. Her eyes marked her as the twins’ relative. They were emerald green and sparkled with the same intelligence Dev had.

“Dude,” Daniel said as we approached the throne. “That’s your mom?”

She didn’t look old enough to be his mom, but that was the way it was with the Fae. They reached their prime and just stopped aging. Miria looked to be about twenty-five. Dev was twenty-seven now and would look older than his mother or brother had he not been taking Daniel’s blood regularly. Daniel’s blood stopped the aging process in humans when taken on a regular basis. I’d begun noticing that for Dev, it seemed to actually reverse aging a little. The fine lines around his eyes he got when he laughed had disappeared.

Miria tried to maintain her cool composure but the closer we got the more her eyes ate up the sight of her son. I saw her eyes get glossy with unshed tears, and she reached out to Declan. He patted his mother’s hand and for a moment looked less like a brat prince.

“Good evening, Mother,” Dev said formally as we reached the throne. He bowed deeply.

I could see her son’s formal tone was not what the queen had been hoping for. “Devinshea, it is good to see you.”

Dev didn’t give her anything. He nodded but chose to introduce us rather than reply. “Mother, this is my goddess, Zoey. And this is my partner, Daniel Donovan. I assume Declan brought you up to speed on my living arrangements.”

That last was said coolly and with just a hint of challenge. He was just begging for his mother to say something disparaging about his lifestyle.

Miria had none of that. She smiled broadly and stood, causing Declan to quickly get his butt up as well. She wore a lovely white gown and a crown that sparkled in the candlelight. “Yes, of course. Declan and Padric both spoke highly of your wife and partner.”

Declan snorted at that. He didn’t like Danny. It probably had something to do with the fact that Daniel had kicked his ass the first time they met. “I certainly did not. I spoke poorly of him.”

Miria ignored her elder son. She stepped off the platform and walked to us. “It is so good to meet you, daughter,” she said with what seemed like complete sincerity. The queen kissed my cheek and gave me a long look before turning to Dev and laughing brightly. “Well, Devinshea, you certainly brought a beauty home. You are lovely, dear.”