Steal the Sun (Thieves #4)(84)

Dev sighed. “Zoey, you don’t understand this world. Please, just leave this to me and you concentrate on getting well again.”

“I want to go home, Devinshea.” I stated my desire as plainly as I could. I wanted to leave this place and never come back. If I was ever lucky enough to get pregnant again, I would never let these people near me. I was tired of being a pawn in their war against each other.

“We talked about that.” Dev nodded, seemingly happy he could give me something I wanted. “Albert is organizing the packing already. Neil and Sarah are getting everything ready so you’ll be comfortable.”

I smiled the tiniest bit for the first time in days. The thought of being back in our condo made me slightly energetic. I was a twenty-seven-year-old woman, but I wanted to see my dad. “Really?”

“Of course, sweetheart.” Dev ran his hand through my hair, smoothing it back. “I would never want you caught up in this. I love you. You’ll be home in just a few days.”

There was something about the way he said it that made me suspicious. Daniel was frowning over him as well. He didn’t look like a man who was getting to go home. “What do you mean by ‘I’ll be home’? What about you and Danny?”

Dev looked earnest, like he expected me to understand. “The wolves are going with you, but Daniel and I must remain here. We must avenge our son, sweetheart. They took our child. We can’t allow it to stand.”

Any joy I had felt was snuffed out like a candle. “I don’t have a say in this?”

Dev swallowed nervously, trying to figure out a way to handle me. “Zoey, don’t you want revenge?”

I lay back, tired again. “Revenge won’t bring back my baby. It will just get you killed. Why would I want that? Why can’t we just go home and try to put our lives back together? I just lost a baby, Dev. You’re going to leave my care to my bodyguards?”

I loved Neil and Lee, but they weren’t married to me. They hadn’t made a baby with me. They hadn’t lost what Dev and Danny and I had.

“You can’t expect me to just walk away.”

“But that’s what I’m asking you to do,” I replied simply because if there was ever a time when what I wanted should come first, I thought this was it. “Take me home, Devinshea.”

He stood up. “No, I can’t do that. I’ll make sure you’re safe, but I can’t leave until those who did this have paid for their crime. I owe this to our son. Come on, Daniel. We’re needed in the throne room. We have planning to do. The call has already gone out for the warriors of the sidhe to gather. They’ll be here within the week.”

Dev had turned his back and was halfway out of the room when I heard Daniel say “No.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Dev asked, rounding on him.

Daniel frowned, shaking his head as he looked at Dev. “I can’t go with you. I’m going home with Z.”

Dev’s eyes got wide as though he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “You can’t mean that. Daniel, you can turn the tide of this war. You could be the deciding factor in whether we win or not.”

“I’m not sure this is a war I want to be involved in, Devinshea,” Daniel admitted, trying to make him understand. “Things don’t add up. It doesn’t make sense. If you were being rational, you would see it. Beyond that, we have to worry about our wife. She’s been through so much. She’s hurting. If she wants to go home then we should take her home.”

“And our son? What about him?” The question dropped like a land mine between them.

Daniel shook his head wearily. “Dev, she’d been pregnant for a couple of days, man. It just doesn’t seem real to me. I’m sorry, but I’m much more concerned with Z than some baby who didn’t seem real to me yet. You’re safe. Z’s alive. I have to be satisfied with that. The two of you, you’re real to me.”

Dev eyes narrowed and every muscle in his body went tense. “You never thought of him as yours.”

“Man, I never had time to think of him as mine,” Daniel shot back, frustrated at the whole situation. “I’ve had less than a week to digest this. I know all of your life this has been a goal of yours because your culture expected it, but I was raised a human. I’m just a guy. It’s not real to us until someone puts a screaming baby in our hands and tells us to take care of him.”

Dev shook his head like he couldn’t believe him. “You never wanted a baby.”

“That is not true,” Daniel replied, getting angry himself now. “I’m just not willing to risk the people I love for a revenge I’m not even sure is justified. You want me to basically commit genocide on the word of one man, one man who might or might not have been under a spell. Your brother made sure we couldn’t figure out the truth. Give me concrete evidence and the names of the conspirators and I’ll take them out for you. You can’t take out an entire people for the actions of a few.”

Dev’s whole face fell, his skin going pale like a man who just lost his footing and worried about ever getting it back again. “After everything I have done for you, this is how you treat me? I have devoted my life to your cause. I have fought beside you. I have done everything I possibly could to ensure you get what you want.”