Steal the Sun (Thieves #4)(92)

“Seriously, who falls for three-card Monte these days?” I stared at the crowd surrounding them. The leprechaun’s hands shifted quickly, moving the cards back and forth.

“They learned it on the Earth plane, I’m sure.” Daniel’s eyes followed every movement. “These sidhe are from the country. They’re only making their way to the palace for the war. They’re just ripe for the plucking. What a bunch of pigeons.”

“We have a winner,” the leprechaun said with a frustrated sigh. He made a big deal of paying out the “winner.”

“We have a shill,” I commented and Danny smiled.

I watched as he caught Lee’s attention across the field and gestured toward the faery we were pretty sure was working with the leprechauns. They were working a classic short con. Get a bunch of people together with nothing better to do and offer them a seemingly simple game. The shill would look like everyone else. He would pretend to not know the cons and step up to play the game. He would make comments on how easy it was. Hey, he would say, look at that. The idiots marked the queen without knowing it. We can take them for everything. For a while, the shill’s words would prove true, but in the end, the fast hands of the con artists would win every time.

We stood on the fringes of the small crowd, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. The pigeons were starting to lose, but they hadn’t realized the scam yet. Unfortunately, they did realize something was wrong and, as usual, it was me.

One of the sidhe warriors stared at me and not in a sexy, good way. He looked at my hair, and distaste was plain on his face. He turned to his friend and whispered something that made Daniel tense beside me and then the friend studied me, too.

“Your clothes are strange, warrior,” the faery said to Daniel. He didn’t speak to me but regarded me with disgust. I knew I wasn’t the hottest chick on the plane, but I was pretty sure I hadn’t grown horns.

Daniel looked at the faeries. They’d been joined by two others. The faintest smile crossed his lips and I sighed. I was going to have to move out of the way and soon because Danny had been itching for a fight since he’d allowed Devinshea to beat on him. The sex had helped, but he was a creature of violence and nothing but a little bloodshed was going to satisfy him. It looked like the faeries were going to indulge him.

“One might think you aren’t a Seelie, friend,” another said, and the word “friend” was bitten off.

“I know damn well your strumpet there ain’t Seelie,” the third said. “She’s short and her hair is red. She’s a halfling of some type. Probably goblin from the way she shows off her limbs.”

What did these people have against limbs? They thought nothing of boobs hanging out, but the minute they saw an ankle, a girl got labeled a tramp.

“I’m human, idiot.” I would try honesty at first.

They looked at each other as though trying to see if anyone was buying what I was selling.

“We don’t let humans in our sithein,” the tallest one said.

The card game was put on pause as all of the faeries looked our way. They moved away from the leprechauns, who eyed us, obviously upset that their con was turning into an evening of mob violence.

“Z, come here, baby.” Daniel spoke in quiet tones. Danny was always at his most dangerous when he was ice cold. I did exactly what he said. I moved cautiously to his side, never taking my eyes off the men threatening us.

“I think what we have here is an Unseelie spy.” A big faery with dark hair frowned our way, his hand cradling the hilt of his sword.

I felt a presence at my knees. I looked down and Neil sat back on his haunches beside me, his arctic white fur brushing my legs. He barked up at me, and I knew what he was telling me without words. He had my back.

“The man is odd, too,” said another. “He ain’t pure. He has the look of an Unseelie.”

“There’s no reason to fight, men.” One of the leprechauns tried in vain to interest his pigeons in rejoining the game. The evening was young. He was probably still in the hole. Danny and I were causing major problems for him and his partners. I noticed the shill hadn’t joined in with the mob. He stood at the back, shaking his head.

“There’s always a reason to fight the monsters,” someone said.

“The war hasn’t started yet, boys.” The second leprechaun climbed up on his table, raising his tankard high. “They’ll be time enough later for killing. Tonight is for drinking and gambling.”

A particularly mean-looking faery stepped to the front of the crowd. “How about we celebrate after we string up the Unseelie interlopers?”

That got the small crowd cheering, and I wondered why we hadn’t thought to bring along a note or something from my mother-in-law explaining who the hell we were. I fingered the delicate gold chain that marked me as Dev’s wife, but I doubted any of these country faeries would have seen it before, much less believe that I could be their High Priest’s wife. Pulling it out and using it would be a good way to lose it. The Goddess Chain was my only real connection to Dev at this point, so I wasn’t willing to risk it.

“He ain’t even wearing a sword,” one of them pointed out. “If he ain’t Unseelie, then he’s a coward ’cause he’s not going to the palace to join the queen and the good prince.”

“If he isn’t Unseelie, then what’s he doing with that half-breed?” someone else muttered.