Steal the Moon(68)

Declan pulled me out of that fantasy.

“He could have done it with any female,” Declan was saying to Padric. “This proves nothing except that he had fantasies I never dreamed he would have.”

“Are you insane, Declan?” Padric shot back, his voice proving his annoyance with the younger man. “He would have failed had it not been for Zoey’s intervention. Did you see the way Bris reacted to her? He was completely enamored. He couldn’t resist her.”

“Well, after what she did to my brother, can you blame him?” Declan said. “I’m enamored, too.”

“I saw the way you reacted. Did you forget to wear the charm that kept us safe from the lust magic, Your Highness?”

“I am wearing the charm, Padric, but it did not make me blind,” Declan declared. “She was filthy. She was truly disgusting. It was beautiful. She is so small, but she managed to take all of him. I would never have imagined she could do that. He had to be halfway down her throat. I take back what I said. Any woman who can do that is worth fighting your brother over.”

“But you don’t think she is a proper goddess?”

Declan sighed. “I think my brother is still young. Why should he be tied to one woman? She will expect that from him. She will expect him to be faithful. He should be with a Fae girl who will be more realistic. He is a priest of the old ways. What will it be like for her when we go home? Our people will be shocked when she is unwilling to allow him sexual freedom. Bris is not going anywhere. Dev can keep the god and his freedom.”

Dev raised his head wearily from my body and shook his head at his brother. “Stop fighting, the two of you. Padric, give it up. He won’t give consent, and I no longer give a damn.” Dev kissed my lips and pushed up. He got to his knees and grinned down at me. “Are you all right, my goddess?”

I nodded, feeling a little more energetic now that the magic was gone. “Is Bris still there?”

At least now I understood what Daniel had been talking about.

Dev’s smile was wide and let me know he was thrilled with the outcome of the evening. “He’s with me. He’s content to stay with us. Zoey, he’s here, but I’m in control. I’m here with you. I can call on his strength but still be myself.” He chuckled as he leaned down and dropped a kiss on the ring in my belly button. “This is ridiculously sexy. Tell me Daniel hasn’t seen it.”

“Not yet,” I admitted.

“He will lose his mind,” Dev said, obviously looking forward to it.

“You aren’t mad?” I asked, thinking about Declan, who was being a complete ass.

Dev didn’t bother to feign misunderstanding. “It doesn’t matter. He can pretend, but I know what I am. I no longer need his approval.” He pushed himself off the altar and reached down. When he came back up, he was wearing his white pants and had my dress in his hands.

“Come along, my goddess,” he commanded, pulling me up. When I was in a seated position, he drew the gown over my head and arranged it properly on my body. He had to reach into the gown to draw my breasts into the right position. “I wish I had a camera. It’s not traditional in Fae culture to take pictures on a night such as this, but I wish we had them. You’re so beautiful. My beautiful goddess.”

Padric was scowling at Declan. “You are seriously going to deny what you have seen tonight?”

“Padric, stop,” Dev commanded, not taking his eyes off me. “It doesn’t matter. He can deny it all he likes. It changes not a whit of what happened tonight. It merely means I will not be returning to Faery with him. I do not need to. Look at how the lesser Fae have embraced her.”

Padric stepped closer, and I heard his startled intake of breath.

Dev grinned down at me. “Don’t be startled, my goddess, but the pixies have come to welcome you.”

“What?” I didn’t understand until I glanced out of the corner of my eye.

Butterflies were everywhere. They clung to me. They landed on my dress and my skin and in my hair. They were startlingly glorious shades of blue and green and yellow. I lifted my hand close to my face. A huge butterfly with sapphire and amethyst wings rested there. When it was close enough for me to see the details of the insect’s face, I realized Dev was correct. These were not butterflies. The winged creature stared back at me with an almost human face. He bowed his head to me and I turned to Dev, not knowing what to think of the action.

The pixies had landed on him as well, paying close attention to the midnight waterfall of his hair. “Say hello, Zoey. They’re welcoming their goddess.” He lifted his hand and greeted the smaller Fae. “It’s good to see you, pixies. I promise I will bring you fertility. I will be your good priest.”

Their wings fluttered in anticipation.

Wonder filled me as I took in the sight of pixies flying all around, a cloud of colors. “They’re so beautiful, Dev.”

“Yes, they are, my goddess, and they’re ours,” he replied with a satisfied voice. “I wish you luck, Declan. The pixies have made their choice. I’ll be staying on this plane with my true goddess, and I don’t doubt that others shall follow the pixies’ lead.” He breathed in the night air and let it out as he helped me from the altar. His smile was only for me now. “We’ll have to do some renovations or perhaps change our residence. I expect the pixies will follow us and the brownies not long after that. Once the sidhe realize my brother has denied a true fertility god, they’ll seek us out as well. He can be the king of an empty sithein.”

Padric had had enough. “By rights given me by the queen, I am taking over the ceremony. Queen Miria gives her royal consent to these proceedings. She welcomes your goddess as she would a daughter. Will you allow me to finish the ceremony so it can be made legal?”

Dev inclined his head, giving his consent.

“Zoey, take his arm,” Padric commanded as he unwound a long length of golden rope.

“No, sweetheart, like this,” Dev corrected gently and he moved my hand from his palm up to his elbow, aligning them. Our arms lay against each other, and Padric wound the gold chain around us, binding our arms together.

“Zoey, do you wish to be this priest’s goddess? You will be the maker of his magic, the keeper of his spirit, and the protector of his heart. You will hold nothing back from him and give him every piece of you, the good and the bad, the light and the darkness. You will be mother to his children. You will be his partner, his love, his goddess in all things. Are these vows you enter willingly and with an open heart?”

The only part that worried me was the part about the children, but that might have already been decided for me. I answered Padric solemnly. “I do.”

Padric turned to Dev. “High Priest, this is your true goddess. Do you take her? You will be her provider, her defender, her lover. You will pour your magic into her and be grateful for that magic flows only from her. You will hold nothing back from her but give her every piece of you, the good and the bad, the light and the darkness. You will be father to her children. You will be her partner, her love, her god in all things. Are these vows you make willingly and with an open heart?”

“I do,” Dev replied, looking down on me with a satisfied smile.

Padric shifted his attention to Declan who had watched the proceedings with a sort of weary resignation. “Do I have to fight you for the chain?”

He shook his head. “No, I will do it.”

He pulled a golden chain from his pocket. It glowed in the soft light from the torches. The pixies had landed on our joined hands and their wings fluttered at the sight of the Goddess Chain. Declan let the medallion drop so all could see it hanging from his hand. While the jeweler who had made the copy might have had all the surface elements right, that copy didn’t shine the way the real one did. It was stunning, and I knew the minute I saw it that it was mine.

Declan crossed to me and put the chain over my head. He gently arranged my hair around it and pulled the medallion into the proper place.

“Welcome, my sister.” He kissed me lightly on the cheek. “I welcome you to our family and wish you every happiness in your union  .”

My eyes shot to Dev, who looked like a man who had just gotten everything he wanted. It all fell into place for me, and I was going to kill Daniel because he knew I had completely misunderstood the situation and he let me walk into it anyway.

I tried to make my question soft and merely academic because it wasn’t like Devinshea had tried to hide anything. I was just that stupid. I was really, really stupid. “Baby, did I just get married again?”

He stared at me for a moment, confusion plain on his face. “You have got to be kidding me.”

I winced as he unwound the rope and let go of my hand. “Unbelievable,” he muttered under his breath. “Padric, take care of my wife. I need a moment.”

Declan gave me a “told you so” smile. “I knew there would be trouble.”

I ignored him and ran off after my husband.





Chapter Twenty-Nine





I called out after him, but his long legs carried him quickly away from me. I got only halfway down the hill when my own legs gave out, and I forced myself to sit before I fell and went tumbling down the hill. It would be the perfect way to end the night. I could fall in a graceless heap and perhaps break my neck.