Steal the Sun (Thieves #4)(41)

“What I cannot understand is why I am being punished.” Declan stared down at me. “I had nothing to do with the plot. I helped Dev leave when I was certain it was what he needed. If I had known what Mother intended, I would have warned him. Why is he so distant to me?”

“He’s a different person, Declan,” I tried to explain.

“But I am not different. I am the same brother he loved before. I am the same brother he used to play with and drink with and whore with. It was a good life.”

Declan maneuvered us around the edges of the dance floor and before I knew it, I found myself hauled into a small room off the ballroom. It was lit only with moonlight and had the same view of the field and stream as the east wall.

“Zoey.” Declan pulled me in with him. I noted the room’s door was a simple curtain that Declan let drop. It was furnished with a large couch that could certainly double as a bed. He pulled me close. “Let me in.”

“Dec, what the hell is this?” I asked, trying to get away from him.

“It’s a room for privacy,” he explained. “You said you wanted to talk.”

“No, I wanted to keep you from starting a fight.” I could guess that most people who wanted privacy weren’t interested in talking.

“Then give me something better to do,” he insisted.

Now I planted my feet, a bit of fear creeping in. I was in a terrible situation. I didn’t want to scream, but I knew I might have to. “Declan, don’t do this.”

He drew me to the couch. “What am I doing?”

“If you try to force me, I swear…”

Even in the moonlight, I could see how his face went pale. He dropped my hands and put some distance between us. “You think I was going to rape you?”

“Well, you dragged me into a convenient little room,” I replied. “What am I supposed to think?”

Declan put his head in his hands, unwillingly sobering up. “I have no idea what happened to me that my pregnant sister-in-law thinks I would drag her into the night and force myself on her. I was going to do something much worse, Zoey. I was going to beg.”

“Beg for what?” I settled down, fairly certain I wasn’t about to be assaulted.

He shrugged, and his wry smile reminded me so much of his brother. “Well, I was going to beg for sex, but I wasn’t going to force you. I would be very gentle given your condition. If you let me in your bed, Devinshea would be all right with it. It would bring us closer. You’ll see it would be the best thing for our whole family. It is what we always planned, Zoey. We planned to find a woman we both liked and settle down.”

“That’s ridiculous, Declan,” I said, disgusted at the thought. “Dev wouldn’t be all right with it and Daniel would kill you.”

“Well,” he admitted, “my plan does require getting rid of the vampire. You have to think clearly now, Zoey. I am sure the vampire has been exciting and he is probably a pleasure in bed, but you are a wife now and you carry a faery child. Your ties to Faery are much more meaningful than anything the vampire can give you. You owe us.”

I stood up, ready to plead exhaustion and be done with all of this for the evening. If Declan wanted to start a fight, then maybe I should let him. “I don’t owe you anything. I married Daniel and I’m happy with him. Dev is happy with him.”

I was almost out the door when I heard his sad response. “Devinshea replaced me.”

I saw Neil open the curtain, but I shook my head to let him know I was fine for the moment. He let the curtain fall back but I knew he would listen in. He would stand beside the entrance and wait for anything strange.

Declan had lain back on the couch, and I could see the pain in his eyes.

“He didn’t replace you.” I said the words, but I wondered if I was lying. Dev and Daniel had become close. Sometimes they worked together so flawlessly, I wondered if they weren’t halves of a whole. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Dev was happier sharing me with Daniel than he would have been having me to himself. I doubted, however, that if Daniel were suddenly gone, he would immediately ask his brother to be our third. Whatever the brothers had shared before, Dev had moved on.

“Yes, he did,” Declan stated surely. “I should have gone with him. When he left, I should have followed him. He would have followed me. I have lost him.”

I sat down beside him, and when he moved to put his head in my lap, I let him. He was that pathetic. He didn’t even try anything sexual. He just rested against me. “You could try talking to him. You could try listening to him. I know he loves you.”

“But he doesn’t like me much,” Declan whispered.

I wasn’t sure what to say to that so I let him rest. I placed my hand on his head and wondered what he was going to do when he realized we meant to live on the Earth plane. I got the sneaking suspicion that my pregnancy was going to complicate our living arrangements. So far the boys had been talking like we would go home and raise the baby there, but I had a feeling Miria and Declan thought something different.

The music stopped and suddenly there were lovely female voices. At first I thought it was just one and she seemed far away, but after a moment, I could hear at least three and the sound was stronger. It was haunting and beautiful, filling the space like a wind rushing in and getting caught. It seemed to whirl around me. I felt a great sadness well up inside me as I listened and then Declan sat up suddenly.