Chapter Seventeen

 

Declan strode into the room with a smirk on his face the next morning. Or afternoon. I hadn’t checked the time. I just knew it was far too early to have to deal with my brother-in-law. “Well, we all know what you were doing last night, Zoey.”

It had been only minutes since Dev and Daniel had kissed me good-bye and promised to hurry their task to get back to me.

“Hey, what happened to privacy?” I pulled the covers up to my chin since I wasn’t wearing anything.

“What are you talking about?” Declan rolled his eyes and threw his body on the bed. “It is not like I have never seen it before. Besides, I would love to see it again. You know I find you attractive, Your Grace. I came to congratulate you. Once again your skills in bed have saved my brother from a horrible fate. You should teach a class, you know.” His face turned serious. “But we have to discuss the fertility rites situation. Give a guy a chance, Zoey.”

It was my turn to be confused. “You’re going to have to give me more than that, Dec.”

He gestured around the room. “This is the temple of the High Priest of Faery. It was constructed to amplify fertility magic and send it throughout the palace and down to the valley below. Before, when it was just Devinshea and his priestesses, he needed that amplification to get anything at all going. Think of it like one of your radios. Before Bris, the volume was set at a ten or maybe, if the night was going well for my brother, perhaps a twenty out of one hundred.”

“What was the volume like last night?” We’d done some pretty freaky stuff together last night. Devinshea had been creative, I’d been submissive, and Daniel had been insatiable. I felt a sweet ache in my backside from the spanking Dev had given me for sneaking away. He’d been serious about that bit of discipline.

“One hundred and fifty.” Declan crossed his arms as he sat up. “I was sitting in the throne room giving those wolves of yours the lecture of a lifetime when Padric suddenly walks in, sweeps Mother up, and carries her away. That was when I felt it. The wolves all ran when Lee explained what was happening. He said he didn’t want to be something called a ‘manwhore’ twice in one night and he shifted and ran away as fast as his paws could take him. I cannot shift into another body. I only have this one and I’m susceptible to lust magic since I’m already horny all of the time. I was caught up in your carnal cloud and now I might have to get married.”

I laughed out loud. “Serves you right. Was it that girl you were with last night?”

“Which one?” he asked seriously.

“You don’t remember?” I’d only seen the brunette, but apparently there had been more.

“There were several, though not all of them at the same time,” Declan replied. “There was the brunette at the ball. I do not remember her name, but I will ask about her because she was incredibly flexible. At one point I had her ankles touching her ears and she never complained.”

“Spare me the details, please.” I looked around to see if someone had thought to leave out a robe.

Declan was utterly unconcerned with my anxiety. “But that is not the one I am worried about. You have to understand that when that lust magic hits, the urge is overwhelming. I ended up fucking one of the village maids, well, one of the maids and her sister. They were somewhat attractive but they have no manners whatsoever. Actually, I do not even remember if they are attractive. That magic makes me feel drunk.”

I had a fun thought. “What happens if you got them both pregnant?”

Declan shuddered and blanched visibly. “Then I will have two completely unsuitable wives. From now on, you will inform me when you are going to fuck my brother so I can get out of the way. I need several miles between us.” He nodded down at me and relaxed. “At this point, I am just going to plead complete ignorance if they come up with child. Maybe they’ll forget. If Dev hadn’t been here, I could blame him.”

I sat up and tossed a pillow at his head.

He smiled. “Continue your violence against me, Your Grace, and I will get a peek at a nipple. I think they are already bigger. Pregnancy suits you.”

I was about to toss whatever modesty I had left out the door and slap that grin off his face when Albert walked in carrying a massive tray. My stomach growled as the smell of bacon, eggs, and waffles hit me. There was a pot of tea in place of my usual coffee, but I would just have to get used to it. No caffeine for Baby Boy.

Declan sat up beside me, resting his back against the headboard. “Excellent. I am starving. There is nothing like breakfast in bed.”

“Then go have it in your own bed,” I grumbled, securing the covers around me once more.

“Mistress.” Albert greeted me with a smile. He placed the tray on the bed next to me where I could easily reach it and he gracefully poured the tea. “I saw the masters off this morning. I fixed Master Dev a basket of his favorite foods and a few excellent bottles of wine. I included some eighteen-year Scotch for Master Daniel.”

The boys would definitely be getting their drink on while they were away from the wife. “I’m sure he will appreciate it, Albert. It was thoughtful.”

He nodded. “I’ll be back in an hour to retrieve the tray, mistress, and I expect it to be empty. You need your strength. Mr. Owens informed me you might be in the village for luncheon this afternoon.”

I took a long drink of the cold orange juice. “That’s right. I have to talk to the queen, but she said she gave the Blood Stone to a villager, so I’ll probably be there this afternoon.”

“Then I will pack a basket for you and the wolves,” Albert offered. He frowned. “It will have to be a large basket. The wolves eat an enormous amount of food.”

Declan reached across me and stole a piece of bacon. “I will take a sandwich or two as well, servant. Also, if you have any of those sodas Devinshea likes, I will take one of those, too. I like them. They have bubbles.”

“I don’t recall inviting you along.” I wondered if he was going to leave anything for me as I slapped his hand away from my remaining piece of bacon.

“I told my brother I would care for you in his absence,” Declan explained. “I did that even after he punched me in the face for absolutely no reason. Do you have any idea why he would do such a thing? My nose is still sore.”

“No idea whatsoever,” I lied. It was good that Dev had remembered his brother’s insult.

Albert walked around to the side of the bed Declan was occupying. “I will get on the luncheon basket right away, mistress, after I take out the trash.”

Albert picked up Declan by the neck and started to haul him bodily out of the room.

“Well, I suppose I will see you later, Zoey,” Declan said, taking his dismissal with surprising good grace. He didn’t fight or scream, as though being hauled bodily out of rooms was an everyday occurrence. “I would yell and complain, but he is bigger than me and I do not think my brother would be happy if I beheaded his servant. An hour, then?”

His feet disappeared out the door as Lee walked in. The werewolf did a double take, and there was satisfaction on his face as he watched the prince being dragged out. It didn’t last long. “Damn it, Zoey. Where the hell are your clothes?”

Zack and Neil walked in behind Lee. Neil laughed as he walked over to the closet. “I’ll get her a robe.”

Lee turned around, but Zack just sat down on one of the sofas. He couldn’t care less what my state of dress was. He was wearing casual work clothes, chinos and a button-down. His brown hair was stylishly metro and he was impeccably groomed. He was the exact opposite of his slobby older brother, who cautiously waited for me to cover myself.

“This must be Dev’s.” Neil brought out a plush white robe from the armoire. I climbed out of bed and let Neil wrap the robe around me. It was enormous but it would have to do until I got back to the palace and our rooms.

“I’m perfectly covered, Lee.” I sat back down on the bed and started in on my breakfast. The baby was being a good boy. I hadn’t felt a moment’s worth of morning sickness but god, I was so hungry. I poured maple syrup over the waffle. The way I felt this morning, I could eat a dozen.

“I don’t know why he’s such a prude, Zoey,” Zack said with a grin as his brother looked around the room, getting the layout. “I guess you’re just not his type. He prefers his chicks a little more on the bloodthirsty side.”

“Fuck you, Zack,” Lee growled.

“I thought we all agreed to lie to Zack if we got caught.”

We’d made the decision as we walked through the woods. In order to spare Lee the humiliation, we would all say we’d run into him as he came back from his mission to track down the boy from the dungeons. That mission hadn’t gone well. He found the boy’s cooling corpse several miles outside of the village. He mentioned that he smelled the same candle wax on the boy as he had on the assassin.

“We might have agreed to lie, but some of us aren’t good at it,” Lee said with a pointed look at Neil.

Neil flushed. “It’s my only flaw.”

He was, in fact, a horrible liar. I was sure Zack had zeroed in on that.

“Man, I just had to take one look at Neil to know there was a whole other story,” Zack announced. “I love it. I never thought big brother would fall for a nightcrawler.”

Lee rolled his eyes. “I was under a spell, asshole. I wasn’t in love.”

Zack sat back and grinned. “I don’t think that’s how I’ll remember the tale. I think I’ll always remember your true love, the faery vamp, and how that mean old Zoey chased her away. It’s Romeo and Juliet with fangs and claws.”

“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.”

“I’m pregnant, Declan.” I planted myself in the chair he held out for me. “I’m not an invalid. I’m not the first woman to find herself in this condition. Trust me, if all pregnant women spent nine months in bed doing absolutely nothing, the world would grind to a halt.”

“She-wolves work until they can’t stand the labor pains anymore,” Zack supplied helpfully. “I was told my mother was a strong bitch. She gave birth to me in between shifts at the casino. She was a blackjack dealer.”

Lee smiled, nodding. “No drugs for our mom. She bit the bullet. Literally, she bit down on a bullet so she wouldn’t be heard. She was paranoid about the medical establishment. She thought they would find out what we were and experiment on us.”

I stared at him in horror. “Well, I’m not going that far.”

“Zoey is not some peasant,” Declan pointed out.

Neil had an answer for that. “Sure she is. Just because she married nobility doesn’t make her a blue blood. Face it, man. Dev married a commoner.”

“Hell, Dev married a criminal.” Lee smiled broadly, enjoying Declan’s discomfort. “Has Dev told you about the time he and Zoey got hauled in by the cops? He has a record, you know.”

Declan’s eyes were wide as he looked at me.

“They’re teasing you, Dec,” I promised him. We worked hard to make sure none of us had records.

“Well, I should hope so,” Declan said. “My brother is a royal. He is not some common criminal. I would hate to think the authorities on the Earth plane would have a mistaken impression of him.”

“Oh, there’s no mistake,” Neil said implicitly. “Dev is definitely a criminal. He has some sticky fingers, that one. He’s just not a common criminal. He was in on that awesome hijacking that made like every newspaper in the country. I wish I’d been around for that one. I bet he would run a great long con, too. He’s an excellent liar.”

“Unlike some,” Lee grumbled.

“And he totally doesn’t have a criminal record,” I assured my brother-in-law. “The Council cleaned that up for us. The only record of our crimes is with the Vampire Council, though I’ve been told it’s pretty long and detailed.”

Declan stared at me. “When you told me you were a thief, I assumed you stole from various shops to enhance your wardrobe. Even some noblewomen here get a thrill from it.”

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t shoplift. I steal certain arcane objects for a select clientele.”

“Select?” Neil snorted.

“I turn people down from time to time. The point is I’m a pro, not some amateur trying to jack lip gloss. Why is everyone looking at me?” I had noticed that all the people in the room were whispering, and they kept stealing glances before turning their attentions back to their soup bowls and mugs of ale.

It was weird to be the center of attention. On our plane, I tried so hard to blend into the background.

Declan seemed surprised by the turn of the conversation and he looked around. It only took him a moment to get his bearings. He smiled slyly at me.

“Word of Dev’s magic has made it to the village, then. I thought it might have. The magic itself might have made it this far. Do you want to know what they’re whispering about? They’re wondering what you’re doing to my brother that six lovely Fae women couldn’t do.” Declan leaned in, his voice all soft seduction, and I knew he was making a conscious effort to sound like Dev. “I’m wondering, too.”

His seduction was interrupted by Lee smacking him upside the head. God, I loved Lee.

“What was that for?” Declan practically shouted the question, rounding on my guard.

“Don’t hit on the boss,” Lee growled as Ross returned with several steaming bowls of stew. He set them down in front of the men, but I was full and couldn’t see me fitting anything else in, so I waved him away. “If you want to be part of the crew, then you have to follow certain rules, and one of the rules is don’t hit on Zoey.”

“Well, I do not want to be a member of anything called a crew,” Declan claimed. “And apparently you do not follow your own rules closely because I know my brother was on the crew before he married Zoey. I doubt they stayed pure until their wedding night.”

I shot both of them dirty looks, and they were smart enough to shut up. I looked up at Ross, who placed a tall glass of water in front of me. “Thank you, Ross. Do you happen to have a woman named Hildie working for you?”

The satyr nodded. “Why, yes, Your Grace. She’s in the kitchens right now.”

“Bring her out, then,” Declan ordered, pulling his bowl of stew closer to his body as Lee made quick work of his second lunch. Declan huddled over his stew as though he expected one of the wolves to steal it. “Her Grace has a few questions for the wench.”

“Wench?” I had never thought of her that way.

“’Tis a common term for a person who works the kitchens.” Declan shrugged off my evil eye.

“I’ll let her know you wish to speak with her,” Ross acknowledged and headed back to the kitchens.

“Do you have to be so rude?” It seemed to be my brother-in-law’s stock-in-trade.

“I didn’t think I was rude,” Declan said, looking surprised. “She is a kitchen wench.”

“Have you ever heard of tact?”

He smiled. “Tact is just another way of lying.”

“Hello, Prince Declan. I knew you would come looking for me,” a sultry voice said from behind me.

“Oh, goddess, no,” Declan said, proving he really didn’t believe in tact.

I watched a look of complete horror cross the prince’s face, and it took everything I had not to laugh because I was sure now I knew at least one of the names of Declan’s sexual partners from last night. I looked Hildie over. She was pretty but not exactly Declan’s type. She was slightly tough looking and her speech was rough. I could see from my place that her hands were callused from work and she didn’t care about her clothes. They were stained and torn in several places.

All in all, I approved mightily of her being Declan’s future queen.

“Do ya want to go upstairs then?” she asked. “I can spare ten minutes or so for a rough tumble.”

Declan looked at me, his eyes pleading.

“Sorry, Hildie, I’m afraid I’m the one who wanted to see you,” I said, taking pity on my brother-in-law.

“Really? What for?”

“A couple of years ago, the queen gave you a jewel for your service to her,” I started.

Hildie smiled, showing only two missing teeth. “Ya, her carriage had broke down on the road and she was beset by a couple of bandits. I fought ’em off with a club.”

“Very impressive,” I said, and noted the wolves were impressed as well. Only Declan was thinking about how the large woman could take a club to his head.

Hildie shrugged her broad shoulders. “Anyone would do it for her. She’s a good queen, she is. And she’s got some pretty sons.”

I gave Hildie a broad smile. “Don’t I know it, sister. High-five!” I held my hand out and she gamely did the same but didn’t know to slap hands, so we just ended up waving at each other. “Anyway, I need that stone so if you could just get it for me, Dec here will pay you handsomely.”

“Zoey,” Declan protested. “I did not bring money with me.”

“Then I guess she can take it in trade,” I teased, loving the way his face went stark white.

“Damn, I knew I should have kept it.” Hildie was cursing.

I reached out to grab my water but noticed that someone had placed a nice cup of tea where the water had been. I hadn’t noticed when Ross had changed that but the tea smelled delicious. I breathed in that scent and couldn’t help myself. It smelled light and delicious, like something that would settle my sometimes crazy stomach. I brought the delicate cup to my lips and savored the semi-sweetness of it.

“You don’t have it anymore?” Neil asked the question I would have if I hadn’t had a mouthful of fragrant tea.

Hildie sank ungracefully into a chair at the closest table. “No, I don’t have it. It’s the damn leprechauns’ fault. They’re a menace, they are. They run those damn card games. I won for a long time but then I just couldn’t stop. Once I started losing, I just kept trying to get it back.”

I sighed and took another drink. “That’s how the con works, Hildie. You think you can win it all back, but you just get in deeper and deeper. So you paid your debt to the leprechauns with the Blood Stone.”

“Yes,” she acknowledged. “I didn’t have anything else and those damn leprechauns can be mean. You don’t want to owe them nothing. I always knew it would come back to haunt me. It would have looked good on my crown, you see.”

“I think we should go now, Zoey,” Declan said, standing suddenly. “If we hurry, we can find the leprechauns.”

“Oh, no, Prince Declan. It was many months ago. They’re long gone by now.” Hildie winked at him. “We have plenty of time.”

“Oh, I have to get back to the palace right away,” Declan said. “Don’t I, Zoey?”

I shook my head but something was off. I felt a small pain start low in my belly. I took a deep breath and figured it was my first pregnancy pain. I smiled to myself because for the first time, I actually felt a little pregnant. It was just a cramp and I stretched to relieve it.

“Zoey, are you all right?” Neil asked, his brows forming a concerned V.

Zack sniffed the air. “I smell blood. Where the hell is that coming from?”

“Yeah, I do, too.” Lee turned, looking straight at me, his face grim. “Zoey, what’s wrong, darlin’?”

Neil was on his feet, moving around the table toward me. All three guards stared in my direction, but I didn’t see the problem.

“I’m fine,” I assured them. “Who’s bleeding?”

“Oh god, Z.” Neil stopped as he approached my seat. “You are.”

I stood up suddenly and my gown was soaked in blood.