Steal the Sun (Thieves #4)(70)

His eyes heated and I knew I’d made a mistake. He wanted to fight. He was practically begging for it. A long slow smile crossed his face, but it held no humor. “You know what they say, lover. If at first you don’t succeed…Besides, now I have Bris and I assure you, if I wish to fill them up, I can do it.”

It was time to tone down the rhetoric. I wasn’t about to engage him. The thought of him doing that could make me crazy, and that was exactly what he wanted. He didn’t mean a word of it. It was time to say things we did mean, and it looked like I got to go first this time. I walked into the water and straight up to him. “I love you, Dev. You recognized that I needed Daniel and I’ll always be grateful for that. If you need these women to make you feel complete then I’ll still love you.”

He gripped my arms, hauling me to his chest, warm water surrounding me. “Are you offering to be one of many, my wife?”

“Declan thinks I make a better mistress than wife anyway,” I said quietly, letting my insecurity show. There was no place for posturing here. “If being a proper and traditional priest is what’s best for you, then we can make it happen. I don’t fit in here. Doesn’t a mistress get her own place somewhere where she won’t insult polite society? I’m not a good wife, Dev. You should have talked to Daniel before you made that mistake.” I let my hands trace his chest. I loved his chest. I loved being pressed against it and feeling the strong beat of his heart. I couldn’t imagine a world without him.

“Fight me.” He shook me slightly, and I knew he was close to breaking.

I wrapped my arms around his waist. “I would much rather make love to you.”

“Damn you,” he cursed me. He looked at the women around him. “You are no longer needed. I meant what I said earlier. I expect you to take other lovers. I’ll no longer be available. I have one goddess, no matter how much I want to strangle her from time to time.”

As the confused women got back out of the spring, Dev pulled at my hair, forcing me to look up at him. “Declan is a f*cking idiot, wife, and the next time I see him I’m going to punch him in the face.”

My nipples immediately sprang to attention, my body softening. “I thought you were mad at me.”

“I am.” His hands slid down my sides to rest on my hips. He brought our bodies together, and I felt the long line of his erection pressed against me. “I’m so angry with you I can barely see. Do you understand what you did?”

Couldn’t we just get on to the makeup sex? “I did what I thought was best, Dev. I did what I needed to do to save you.”

“With no thought to what I need, which is to keep you safe.”

That was an easy thing to reply to. “No, I was selfish because I don’t want to live in a world without you in it and I’ll fight with everything I am to keep you here with me and Daniel. I’m scared out of my mind. I can’t just sit back and do nothing.”

His eyes grew heavy. “You don’t play fair, Zoey. I want to argue and scream and rage and all I can think about is getting inside you. Know this, my wife. I love you. I don’t want a mistress and I don’t want a proper wife. I want you. Even when you’re a raging bitch, I still want you.” He covered my mouth with his and his tongue demanded entrance. I softened under him and let him plunder. He cupped my ass and pulled me against him, grinding his erection against my pelvis. “I don’t want to die. I don’t want to leave you.”

Now I let the tears flow because we’d come to the heart of the matter. Dev always struggled with his real fears. He’d grown up in this court where any fear would be seen as a weakness, so his default state was to posture and fight. He had to realize he was safe with me. I let my hands find his face and looked deeply into those emerald eyes. “I can’t let you go.”

I didn’t care what the bean si said. He wasn’t going to die.

“I need you,” he groaned against my skin. “I need you and I need Daniel. I should never have brought us here.”

“I asked you to bring us here, Dev,” Daniel said. He’d been sitting out in the hallway just waiting for a chance to come in. It probably killed him to have to wait. Patience wasn’t Danny’s strong suit. He stood at the edge of the pool, staring down at us.

Dev pulled me close as he looked up at the man he considered his partner. “If you’re worried I blame you for the mess we find ourselves in, I assure you I don’t.”

Daniel’s face turned grave. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you did. I’ve been blaming myself for hours. I’m the reason we’re here. I need the ties to Faery if I’m going to take over the Council.”

“And I need you to stop blaming yourself. We’re a team. You didn’t order me. I came up with this plan.” Dev lifted me up and suddenly I was sitting on the edge of the tub, my legs dangling in the water. The marble was strangely warm against my naked skin. “I don’t want to think about this anymore tonight. Besides, I’ve decided I know what will kill me. It took me a while, but I figured out where the real danger lies.”

Daniel’s whole body tightened as though preparing to act against whatever threat Dev pointed out. “What is it, Dev?”

“Our wife is going to give me a heart attack,” Dev said with a wry smile.

Daniel rolled his eyes. “Asshole. This is serious.”