Steal the Sun (Thieves #4)(77)

“I’m so sorry,” Neil said, looking at Lee.

“Forget about that.” I had a surefire way to get Zack off his new favorite subject. “With the boys away, I guess I’m in charge. Maybe we should go over the plan for the day.”

“You are so not in charge,” Zack said, losing his grin.

“I’m your boss.” I started in on a kind of singsong. “I am Zack’s boss. Zachary Owens has to do what I say.”

“Screw that,” Zack said. “My master told me to keep you alive. He said nothing about sacrificing my sanity to do it.”

“What’s the plan, Zoey?” Lee asked because other than situations he felt compromised my safety, he let me lead him.

I gave Zack a self-satisfied smile before turning to Lee. It was going to be fun to order his ass around. “I need to talk to Miria and then we’ll head out to the village if that’s where the trail leads us. Apparently we’ll be taking Declan with us.”

“Not if we give him the slip,” Neil pointed out.

It was a nice thought, but I wasn’t so sure it would work. “He would just set the royal guard on our asses. He can make my life difficult without Dev here to countermand his orders.”

Lee didn’t look happy at the prospect. “None of this would be a problem if you’d taken my advice a couple of weeks ago and let me kill him.”

Neil had liked the idea then and saw nothing wrong with it now. “If we killed him, then Dev would be the next king and your baby would be a prince. Power. I like it. He’ll need his guncle to advise him.”

Zack and I laughed, but Lee looked a bit lost.

“Gay uncle,” Zack provided. “It’s what we’ll call Neil and Chad when we talk about the kiddo. They’ll be the boy’s guncles.” He shrugged at Neil and me, silently apologizing for his brother’s lack of current vocabulary.

Lee shook his head. “Two dads and a couple of gay uncles. This kid is going to need me to have a normal life. Zoey, eat up. Let’s get this show on the road. I never thought I would find a place weirder than Ether, but this tops it. The sooner we find this thing Marini wants, the faster we can get home.”

I picked up the pace on the breakfast because Lee was right. I wanted to go home.





It was late in the day before we made it to the village. The sun was still a firm presence, but before too long it would be sinking into the horizon. I wondered how Dev and Daniel had fared. They’d taken camping equipment with them because some of the locations were isolated. I wondered if the boys would be sitting around a fire, drinking their Scotch and telling stories.

Miria had been unavailable for most of the morning. So had Padric. We’d been told they were recovering from the events of the night before. Once she’d been ready to take visitors, she happily provided me with the name of the woman she’d given the Blood Stone to and her direction. Luckily her last known address was for the village outside of the palace. We were looking for a woman named Hildie, and after Declan had asked a few questions, we discovered that she was a barmaid at Ross’s tavern, employed there for many years.

Declan was obnoxious but also a great help in getting people to talk. Apparently being the future king meant people were more than willing to answer any question he could come up with. I wasn’t sure they would have been so readily open if a human surrounded by werewolves asked the questions.

Declan’s hand was on my back as we entered Ross’s tavern. Though I’d been in the pub once before, I’d been too concerned about the assassination attempt to get a good look around. I corrected that mistake now. The great room was huge, the first floor covered in small tables, some shoved together for larger parties. One side of the tavern was dominated by a huge bar. Next to that was a set of stairs leading to the second floor, where I was sure the owner’s private rooms were.

“Your Grace,” I heard a voice call from behind the bar. The satyr was coming from the back room, carrying two plates of steaming hot food. He quickly set them in front of two customers and made his way to our party, his hooves clacking against the wooden floors. He bowed his head respectfully toward Declan. “Your Highness, it is my honor to have you in my establishment.”

“Yes, of course it is,” Declan said dismissively. “We require a private table, four ales, and some food.”

“You just ate.” We’d stopped halfway into town and enjoyed the lovely lunch Albert had prepared.

“No, Zoey, the wolves ate,” Declan proclaimed irritably. “I barely snacked. All of the sandwiches were gone before I finished my first one.”

“You snooze, you lose,” Lee said, his eyes searching the tavern. He inhaled deeply, but seemed unfazed by it. “That stew smells good. We’ll take some of that.”

Declan shook his head. “You should make more, Ross. They will eat everything. They are worse than locust. Bring Her Grace some water. She has walked a long way and needs to rest.”

“I’m fine,” I insisted as Ross began to lead us to a quiet table in the back. The tavern was quite full even at this time of day. It seemed many people ate here rather than their own homes. I found the hum of conversations around us comforting after the relative quiet of the palace.

“You should put up your feet and rest,” Declan declared. “Why my brother decided to allow you to roam around the countryside in your condition I have no idea.”