by Lexi Blake
* * * *
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.
Chapter Eighteen
I doubled over as a horrible cramp hit me. Pain filled my body, racked every inch of my flesh.
“Oh, god, what’s happening?” Deep down I already knew what was happening. I was just too horrified to admit it. It had to be something else. It couldn’t be that. Not my boy.
The gown that had been delivered for me to wear earlier this morning was a light yellow. It turned a dirty brown color as I continued to bleed. So much fucking blood. Like it would never stop.
I clutched my stomach, low toward my pelvis, and wondered what I’d done to cause this. It couldn’t happen. Not my boy. Not my baby. It was mine and Dev and Daniel’s and he couldn’t be dying. He couldn’t.
There was so much blood.
“She is losing the baby,” Declan said quietly, looking completely terrified at the prospect.
Another cramp, worse than anything I’ve ever felt, struck me. My knees buckled, but before I could hit the floor Neil was there, picking me up and taking me with him gently to the ground. He had one arm around my back and the other held my hand as I squeezed through the pain. Agony shuddered through my body, every moment a fresh misery. I started to scream. I couldn’t help it.
“It’s going to be okay, Z,” Neil promised me once I calmed slightly, though his eyes were wide with fear. He looked up at Lee, who was stark white as he stared down at me. It was the first time I could remember Lee not having any idea what to do.
I was aware of the crowd surrounding me. They looked down, their faces worried and horrified at the event unfolding before them. I heard the whispers about a curse on the Fae and that all of this was happening because their priest was a mortal. They were cursed because Devinshea was cursed.
“Shut up, all of you.” Declan looked savage as he stood over me, staring down the crowd. He had his sword out, brandishing it toward the crowd. “I hear one more whisper about my brother and I swear I’ll consider the lot of you traitors. I’ll behead you all myself. Do something useful. Someone get the healer.”
“Don’t you fucking touch that,” Zack yelled, and I saw a smallish man attempting to clear off the table. Zack had pulled a gun and was aiming it directly at the blond faery. “The first one of you who touches anything on this table will find out what a cold iron bullet can do to you.”
“Everyone else all right?” I heard Lee asking.
“I feel fine,” Declan said but then allowed, “well, physically, that is. Zoey did not eat anything. It was not the stew.”
“I’m sure it was that tea,” Zack said. “I don’t think we ordered it, but I saw Zoey drink it.”
I started crying because I was just realizing that this was truly happening. I looked up into Neil’s blue eyes. “Where’s the doctor?”
A doctor would fix it. I needed a doctor.
“They have gone to fetch him, Zoey.” Declan kneeled beside me. His emerald eyes looked so much like De
v’s it hurt. I loved Neil, but I wanted Dev’s arms around me. I wanted Daniel standing over me.
“He’ll save my baby?” I hadn’t meant for that to come out as a question, but it did. My insides seized and I felt another rush of blood leaving my body. I barely concealed a scream. The fact that it hadn’t hurt so much this time terrified me. If the worst was over, then what was left to do?
Declan looked at Neil, his face filled with pain. Neil just shook his head and pulled me close. “No, sweetie. There’s too much blood. I’m so sorry, but I think the baby’s gone.”
“He can’t be.” I sobbed and now I wasn’t rational. I was a ball of pain and emotion. Any ambiguity I had about wanting a baby was completely gone now that I was losing him. Now that I was losing him, I wanted nothing more than to be his mom. “I need Daniel. Where’s Daniel? He’ll fix it.”
“Daniel can’t fix this, Zoey.” There were tears escaping from Neil’s eyes now. I felt them hit my skin as he tried to pull me close. He tried to give me the comfort I needed.
“He’ll give me blood and then the baby will be fine.” Danny fixed things. I got hurt and he fixed me. I died and he brought me back. It only made sense in that moment that he could save our baby. Daniel could do anything. I just needed Daniel. Daniel wouldn’t let this happen to me. I sobbed, calling out for him. Calling for Dev. Begging anyone who would listen to stop this thing that was happening to me.
God, this couldn’t happen to me.
Neil hugged me to him and stood up. “It’s too late. We have to worry about you now.” Neil looked at Lee. “Tell the healer to meet us at the palace. I’m getting her away from this place.”
Lee stepped forward. “We should wait.”
“And let them gawk at her?” Neil asked savagely, turning his scorn on the people around us. “I won’t let her pain be mocked and gossiped about. I won’t let them use her to further their own agendas. For god’s sake, Lee, one of them did this to her.”
“We don’t know that,” Declan said, but even to my ears he sounded unsure.
“I do,” Neil replied. I let him take over because I couldn’t. I let myself rest in the security of his arms. “I know it deep in my bones. They got the baby but they don’t get her. You hear me?” He shouted the question all around. “You don’t get to take her! Get that healer to the palace. I’m taking her to Sarah.”