Steal the Sun (Thieves #4)(44)

I was thankful now for my “proper costume” because it included slippers. If I’d worn my normal formal stilettos, I would be going barefoot and I didn’t want to know if the black dogs had been playing in this field.

“Why three?” I asked to break our tense silence.

“They represent the three sides of the goddess.” Her strawberry-blonde hair looked lighter as we moved away from the palace. Her skin glowed as though the moonlight allowed her to shine. “They are the maid, the matron, and the crone. They rarely sing their songs together. When they do, it is usually an important death.”

On the Earth plane, it is said the banshee will only wail for the five most important families in Ireland. On the Faery planes, they wailed for the royals and the highest of nobles. I was hoping for a noble because the royal family was small and even Declan’s death would have horrible consequences for me. Declan’s death would place Dev closer to the throne, but more importantly, it would make the son growing in my belly a direct heir to the crown. I didn’t want that.

We stopped at a polite distance. Strangely their song seemed quieter here, as though proximity diluted the sound in an illogical fashion. I got my first real glimpse at the keeners. They looked to be the same woman but at different times of life. The young one was, perhaps, sixteen. She was lovely, with an unblemished face and a youthful body. The matron appeared to be in her early thirties, and she was ripe with child. The crone was wrinkled, but there was still an odd beauty to her countenance. Their eyes were the sliver of a full moon.

I heard my mother-in-law take a steadying breath beside me. I let go of her hand and stepped forward. Polite. Dev had told me to be polite, and I was determined to follow that particular edict.

“Hello,” I said with my most gracious voice. “First off, I would like to thank you very much for the evening’s entertainment. It wasn’t even pitchy.”

They all three stopped what they were doing and, in perfect synchronicity, turned toward me. Their heads cocked to the side, and I could tell they were surprised by our appearance.

“Good evening, Your Highness,” the matron said. Her voice was even and strong. It sounded nothing like her ethereal singing voice.

Miria gathered her courage and stepped forward with a regal bow of her head. “Good evening.”

The matron smiled, though there was no humor in her face. “I was not talking to you, Miria, Queen of the Seelie Fae, though you are certainly welcome. I was speaking to Zoey, Queen of all Vampire.”

Miria was startled and looked at me, her eyes wide with shock. “Daughter?”

“Well, I don’t exactly have a crown or anything.” I was deeply uncomfortable with the distinction. Daniel was the uncrowned King of Vampire. I was his wife and still unsure what my place was.

“You do not sit upon your throne, yet, Your Highness, and it is not certain that you ever will,” the crone intoned. Like the others, she wore a white dress, but it hung upon her frail frame. “It is up to you. You are a piece of the cloth that remains unknown.”

“You are a nexus point,” the maiden explained, her voice soft and lyrical. There was a garland of white flowers in her hair that marked her virginity.

Miria again seemed startled at the pronouncement, but I was just confused. “What’s a nexus point?”

“It means you are important.” Miria’s voice shook slightly. I could easily tell she was wondering what her son had gotten them all into. I was wondering the same thing.

“You are a person who holds her own fate,” the matron explained. “Because your fate is unwritten, the fate of all around you is dependent upon you.”

“Their fates flow through the decisions you make,” the crone continued. “The pathways you choose change the fate of those you love. I give you an example…”

“You changed the fate of Daniel Donovan by loving him,” the maiden said. “If you had not been in his life, he would have lived to be an old man and when he died, the Council would have aided him in walking into the light. Because he loved you, he found himself on the road at night. He turned early and all of Vampire was changed.”

Daniel died in a car accident while he was getting dinner for me. I’ve heard talk of latent vampires dying earlier because they were involved with women who were companions. I’ve heard it said that having a companion close makes the latent vampire more reckless.

“Devinshea Quinn should have died on the Earth plane when his business was robbed.” The matron moved toward me now, and it took everything I had to not back away. “Now he lives and Faery has a chance to thrive.”

On my first date with Dev, I’d uncovered a plot to rob his business. I’d made him aware that a group was coming to steal from him and he’d been ready. Had I really saved him that night? And I had been the one to cause Daniel’s death?

“All of this is interesting.” The thought gave me chills, filled me with fear. I didn’t want the responsibility, and I certainly didn’t want to think about how I had changed my husbands’ lives—killing one and saving the other. “I’m grateful to you for sharing these stories, but why are you here tonight? Why do you sing this evening?”

“We sing for him,” they said in chorus.

I was proud of myself because I didn’t roll my eyes. I hate the whole prophecy rigmarole. It would be one thing if said prophet ever did a girl a solid and just pointed and said that dude in the red shirt is going to die. They can’t do that. It goes against their union rules. They have to make their prophecies into a code you have to crack. I think it’s because an awful lot of prophecy comes after said prophet gets high. They often sounded like they had taken way too much peyote to me.