Steal the Moon(73)

“Dev, you would not allow that.” Declan sent his brother a pleading look.

“There’s a saying on this plane, brother,” Dev replied. “Turnabout is fair play. I look forward to your ceremony.”

“You have just given me another good reason to not get married at all,” Declan admitted. “And I had a list before.”

McKenzie introduced us to the alpha wolves joining us this morning. They were the four most powerful in the country and important to Daniel’s plans. Each had been impressed with the magic Dev had performed and commented on the rare nature of what they had witnessed. Dev talked to them smoothly, working in certain points and making them laugh. He played the politician with ease, and I knew he enjoyed having the wolves right where he wanted them. I only caught them looking at me a few times, obviously remembering what they had seen the night before. They had each been there with their mates.

“Relax, Your Grace.” Padric guided me slightly away from the crowd.

“Really, I prefer Zoey.” I had to crane my neck up to get a good look at him. I’d brought mostly flats in deference to the fact that we were in the woods, but I would be taking my good heels to Faery with me. I would need them.

“What you did last night was a great act of love and nothing to be ashamed of, Zoey,” Padric said softly, looking down on me with affection. “Devinshea is lucky to have you for a wife.”

“Thank you.” I was happy I had at least one faery on my side. Now that we were as close to alone as we seemed fated to get, I decided to ask the question I’d waited to ask for almost a year. “So am I really his wife? Am I his only wife?”

Padric blinked a couple of times in obvious surprise. “He told you about Gilliana?”

I nodded. He’d told me the tale when we’d gotten serious about our relationship. Gilliana was the woman his mother had wanted Dev to mate with, despite the fact that he hated her. His mother had used magic to force her will on him. “Of course he did. I know what happened. Did he get her pregnant?”

Padric frowned, and his eyes strayed over to where Dev was talking to the wolves. He seemed to wonder just how much to tell me. I was sure he would rather talk to Dev first and find out what Dev wanted me to know.

“I’ll find out, Padric,” I warned the royal guard. “You can tell me now or I’ll find out later and it will be worse.”

He sighed. “The short answer is yes. Gilliana did get pregnant from the night she spent with the prince.”

I felt my eyes well up immediately at the thought of some other woman having his child. It made my stomach roll.

“Zoey, don’t cry,” he said quickly. “She was foolish and lost the child. She acted as though she wasn’t even pregnant. She got drunk and fell down her own stairs. She lost the child in her fourth month. I believe she was with another man at the time of the accident.”

“I am sorry for her.” I hated the fact there was a part of me that was relieved. It was horrible, but I couldn’t stand the thought of that woman who wanted to leave Dev to die when he was proven mortal having his baby.

“Don’t be. She’s vile, Zoey. I don’t know what Miria was thinking except that she’s been obsessed with Devinshea reproducing. She fears he will die and leave her with nothing. He would never believe it, but he’s her favorite child. She died a little the day she discovered his mortality. It’s been difficult for her to deal with the fact that she will lose him.”

My eyes narrowed in suspicion because that wasn’t the way Dev told the tale.

“There are always two sides to every story,” Padric pointed out, sensing my disbelief. “I’m sure you’ve heard Devinshea’s, but I ask that you hear Miria’s side as well. Devinshea was young. The filter he viewed the world through was self-centered. I think he’ll see it differently as he ages and has young of his own. You will meet the woman and I ask that you judge her worth based on your experiences with her, not Devinshea’s childhood struggles. You remind me a little of her, actually.”

I doubted that, but I was willing to give my mother-in-law a chance since this journey meant so much to Dev. Walking in and punching his mother might cause him trouble. It seemed like it was going to be hard on me, though. “So I’m a second wife?”

Dev would have been married to the witch when she came up pregnant. The fact that they were compatible would have ensured the marriage. Being a second wife limited my rights once we got to Faery, the way I understood it. I wouldn’t be running Dev’s household and I would be relegated to second class status, given only the rights his first wife was willing to give me.

“Miria annulled the marriage herself when Declan and I returned and told her Devinshea was taking a goddess,” Padric explained.

I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. I wasn’t sure how Dev would have reacted to being forced to live with a wife he hated. I was certain he wouldn’t be happy that she would have had authority over me.

Padric smiled at my relief. “She loves her son, Zoey. It was her right to annul the marriage because there were no children. You’re Devinshea’s only wife and a full member of the royal family. You should take it as a great sign of her love for her son that she consented to the marriage with no proof of your fertility.”

I was choosing to ignore that. I didn’t wish to be married for my fertility, but I knew it would be highly prized in Faery. “And Gilliana is all right with this?”

“She realized how much she angered the queen when she lost the child.” Padric frowned. “You will have trouble with her. She’s been petitioning the queen to be allowed to leave the sithein to join her husband on this plane in the hopes she would get pregnant again. She wasn’t happy when Miria denied her and then annulled the marriage. She’s vowing vengeance on you, Your Grace. I fear she won’t go down without a fight.”

So I’d be packing my Manolos and my Ruger. I’d take some knives with me too, I decided. Cold steel. I smiled up at Padric. “She won’t find me an easy mark.”

“I do not doubt that. I believe she is expecting a sweet little flower like Devinshea’s priestesses. You’ll be a shock. She will also not be expecting your vampire. I’ve already discussed the situation with him. I thought it best that he understand the position you’re in. Devinshea must act the royal and the priest. Daniel’s position is freer. He can protect you without worrying about any consequences.”

“So you think the queen will allow Daniel to stay with us?”

“If it means her son comes home then yes, she will most likely make allowances.” Padric gestured to my left. “I think something is wrong with your wolf, Your Grace.”

I turned to see Lee as he fell to the floor, clutching his stomach. Zack and I got to him at the same time.

“What’s going on, brother?” Zack took a knee beside him.

I got down on the floor with the wolf, who seemed weak all of a sudden.

Lee was sweating and his face had lost its color. “I hate this. What the hell is wrong with me? I don’t get sick, damn it.”

Dev left his conversation and looked down at us now with great concern in his eyes. “What’s happening?”

“I don’t know.” I put my palm against Lee’s forehead. It was cold and clammy, not warm as it should have been. Wolves tend to be warmer than humans. Even as I touched him, his muscles began to shake. “He said he was feeling bad this morning. Sarah gave him some ginger for nausea.”

“It’s like before.” Lee ground out the words between clenched teeth.

I started to have a very bad feeling because I had an inkling of what he was talking about. I remembered well the last time Lee had gotten this ill.

I looked around the room. All of the humans and the wolves associated with us were watching Lee with concern on their faces.

The crash of glass breaking forced my attention away from Lee. And then another, and then there was the sound of a plate smashing. The other wolves in the room dropped whatever they were holding and blank looks came across their faces. They dropped their drinks or the plates they’d been holding and no one made a move to clean up the mess. Almost as though they were one, their heads turned toward the front of the house and without a word to anyone, they began walking.

I stood, terror starting to creep across my heart. One moment they were laughing and joking together and the next all those alphas were zombie-like, moving as though someone else controlled them.

John McKenzie was the only wolf left with us, and he was sweating and shaking. “What the hell is going on?”

“I don’t know,” Dev replied, his eyes tight. “Are you feeling ill?”

McKenzie shook his head. “I feel a great urge to leave this house and join the crowd in the field. I didn’t even know there was a crowd in the field. He’s calling to me, but I won’t answer, damn it. I am the alpha. I submit to no one.”

Just as Dev shot me a look of sudden understanding, my cell phone rang. I took a deep breath, praying it was a wrong number. I was pretty sure if I looked down the number would be 1-800-YOU’RE FUCKED. I slid my finger across the phone to connect the call.