Steal the Sun (Thieves #4)(99)

I couldn’t see more than snatches of the fight. I heard something hit the ground with a low huff.

“Did you hear the stuff about the eyes?” I shouted my question as I caught a glimpse of Daniel rolling away from the giant’s attempt to squash him like a bug. I heard Lee’s growl and briefly saw Neil nipping at the giant’s heels. The cave shook as the giant’s fist narrowly missed its target.

“I heard you,” Daniel yelled irritably. “Woman, I am working here. Give me a break.”

I rolled my eyes. Men never listen to good advice. They have to make all the mistakes on their own because they just know better. “Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. I tried all this stuff with the ogre. The only thing that worked was cold iron straight through the eye, into the old brainpan, and this guy is way bigger than the ogre. So shoot him in the damn eye.”

“Did I ask for your advice?” Daniel screamed.

There was a volley of gunfire and another gut-shaking roar. I jumped back as a bullet whizzed past me. I turned to my husband.

“Nice, Danny,” I said with some irritation of my own because I warned him about the dangers of bullets on large faery creature’s bones when I told him how I killed the ogre. “Ricochet. Do you listen? I told you that could happen.”

“This is why I don’t drive anywhere with you, baby.” Daniel growled through the darkness. I could hear he was on the run. “I don’t know how Dev handles it with you constantly giving him instructions. Speed up, slow down. Why are you taking the scenic route? It’s annoying, Zoey. It makes me want to pull out my hair.”

There was a loud thud and then the giant roared.

“Dev is a gentleman,” I continued once it got quiet enough to talk again. That last roar had made me drop the flashlight and it had gone out. I got on my knees and felt around for it. What Dev was really good at, I admitted to myself and myself alone, was tuning me out. When we drove somewhere together, his conversation consisted of saying “uh huh” and “yes, dear” a lot.

“Neil,” Daniel screamed. “Go with her! Get the freaking job done. If you don’t, she’s just gonna stand there and bitch at me because I’m not working fast enough for her.”

I frowned in the darkness. Put like that, I did seem kind of controlling. I had to admit I was harder on Danny in these situations than I would have been with Dev and that wasn’t exactly fair. Danny deserved praise, too. Right?

“I think you’re doing a wonderful job, baby.” I used my best cheerleader voice. I found the flashlight and now Danny crawled up the creature’s torso and was trying to punch him in his probably sensitive nose. “Just like a shark,” I commented, letting my appreciation for his technique show through. “Very clever.”

Daniel groaned as he was tossed off and Neil was there growling at me, looking thoroughly annoyed. He used his nose to push me forward.

“Fine.” I knew why he was mad. He wanted in on the kill, and he’d never tasted frost giant before. “I was only trying to help.”

Neil and I made our way through the cold darkness. The cave’s ceiling eventually sloped down and I had to stoop as I got closer and closer to the back. I moved the flashlight around, searching for the glint of metal I’d seen before, but I couldn’t quite remember exactly which direction it had come from.

Neil scented the air and then put his nose firmly to the ground. He looked up at me and yipped shortly. It was an order. He had the scent he wanted. I trained my flashlight on his white tail and followed. When I heard his happy bark, I knew he’d found what he was looking for.

Even in the gloom of the cave, I could see the gleam of gold. Wherever my light hit, the color washed across the walls, glittering in the darkness. The leprechauns had been right to be worried. This was some cache of treasure.

“God, Z, it’s like a pirate treasure.” Neil was suddenly a naked man. He still didn’t seem to mind the cold. He reached down and picked up a handful of gold coins and let them drip from his fingers. “We’d never have to work again.”

“No, we wouldn’t,” I commented with amusement. He was forgetting a few truths about the leprechauns. “We would never have to work again because we would meet with some nasty accident before we could ever spend it.”

Neil pouted up at me. “That sucks. If we’re smart enough to steal it we should be able to spend it.”

“Doesn’t work that way, buddy, at least not in Faery. Those leprechauns will be in here soon making sure I didn’t take anything we didn’t agree on. If they find a single coin missing, they’ll be after us.” I looked at the chest in the middle of all that glorious gold. I ran my hands over it. It was solidly built and there was a heavy chain around it. I felt the well-made lock holding the chains together. It whispered to me, like all locks do. It begged me to wiggle it and play with it and pick it open.

“I want my own money, Z.” Neil looked forlornly at the wealth around him. “I’m not married to Dev. He shouldn’t have to give me an allowance. I would rather he just let me pick his pocket. At least I would feel like I was working for it.”

I heard another volley of shots as I pulled my lockpicks out of my pocket. Daniel was obviously having a good time with the frost giant. “You are working for it. He’s paying you to be my bodyguard. It isn’t an allowance. It’s your salary.”