Steal the Sun (Thieves #4)(97)

I nodded and Neil sank down on a log, pulling me with him. I sat beside Neil and leaned into his warmth. Lee kept his eyes on the sky, watching as Daniel tried to break through that wall of wind.

Neil put his arm around me as I shivered. I’m not a cold-weather girl. I felt that cold in every damn bone. “I saw a castle while we were up there.”

“We’re close to the door between the sitheins,” Neil pointed out. “We’re on that duke person’s land.”

“The Duke of Ain?”

“Yes.” Lee cocked his head to keep his eye on Daniel. “His castle is supposedly well fortified since he’s so close to the Unseelie sithein. I overheard Declan talking about it. It’s the first line of defense. From what I overheard, the queen spends a lot of money making sure this part of the sithein has the best defenses.”

In the end, whenever you want to know who’s behind anything, whether it is an assassination plot, a theft, or who stuck gum in the lock on your locker, it’s necessary to ask one all-important question. Who profits most? At the heart of almost every crime is a dollar sign of some sort.

At first I’d thought someone was trying to start a war because they hated the other side. What if someone wanted to start a war for a much more mundane reason? Wars are profitable.

Daniel hit the ground with a resounding thud, leaving a crater in the dirt.

“Shit, that hurt,” he said, pushing himself up.

“So flying is a no-go.” Lee pointed out the obvious.

“Unless everyone wants to end up like that.” Daniel pointed to the indention in the ground.

“Pass,” Neil said.

Daniel sat down on the other side of me, and his big body did a wonderful job of shielding me from the wind. I moved my head from Neil’s shoulder to my husband’s and his arm went around me.

“Z, why don’t you stay in the tent? The wolves and I can take care of this,” Danny said. I gave him the look I always gave him when he said stupid stuff. “All right, baby. I was just trying to keep you warm. I’ll give you a minute and then we’ll go.”

“Danny,” I started as Lee came around and sat at my back. I was warming up rapidly now. “What do you know about the Duke of Ain?”

A long, slow smile spread across Daniel’s face. “I know that if I had a shred of evidence against him I would rip his throat out.”

“I couldn’t get Dev or Declan to listen to me.” They didn’t want to look past the obvious villain.

Daniel regarded me seriously. “I tried, too. I especially tried after I found out that the Duke of Ain makes all the war machines the Seelies use. His province is also known for their candles.”

“How is that not evidence?” Lee asked in a low growl. He’d wanted to kill something or someone for a long time now.

“Almost every province makes candles, Lee,” Daniel explained. “I got the whole lecture when I came in. Padric took me on a tour and gave me the rundown on who did what and how the economy works.”

I frowned up at him. “I was shown to the bedroom where I could f*ck Dev.”

Danny laughed. “They’re not the most liberated of thinkers when it comes to women. I think Padric would tell you that’s your job. The Seelie women won’t be fighting in this war, not even the queen. She’ll be there but kept well away from the fight. In these times, she cedes her power to Padric or Declan, now that he’s of age to rule.”

Yet another reason I was happy to live on the Earth plane. “That’s shitty. I wouldn’t ever cede my power.”

“We know you wouldn’t, Z” Neil said as Daniel stood again.

Danny reached down and helped me up. “We’re climbing.”

I groaned but got my butt off the log. I looked down at my Nikes. They were good for running and supposedly something called cross training, but I doubted that included complex mountain climbing. I’d also noted the snow started about halfway up to where we needed to go. I doubted my jeans were going to prove a good barrier against that frigid white powder.

I was more of an urban thief.

Lee was already taking off his shirt and he gave me a frown. I turned around so I wouldn’t see anything I’d already seen in action. Neil didn’t care. He passed me his polo to fold and then his jeans. He never bothered with anything as silly as underwear. When he was ready, he smiled and waved and changed in the blink of an eye, his transition from man to wolf a smooth slide. He barked cheerfully and ran to Lee, whose brown wolf was enormous. Lee’s wolf seemed larger than his human body. When in wolf form, Lee could give the black dogs a run for their money.

“Go on ahead,” Daniel said. “We’ll wait for you on top of the first ridge then we’ll continue together.” Danny picked me up again. He started to float and I hung on. “I can at least spare us the first leg.”

He made it to the ridge quickly and set me down. We waited, watching the wolves make their way up the rocky incline. Daniel hugged me to him, but his body didn’t provide the warmth that a human’s would. Still, I huddled close.

“It’s going to be all right, Z,” Danny said, and I heard the smile in his voice. “If it gets too cold, I’ll slit Lee open like a tauntaun and slide you inside for warmth.”

“Dweeb,” I shot back. Only my husband would be making Star Wars references at a time like this.