be ridiculous.” I wasn’t about to leave Danny behind. “You can’t stay in a faery forest.”
He nodded like I’d made his point. “Of course not. Look, I’ve given this a lot of thought. I’ll talk to Taggart and ask if he knows somewhere I can stay on the Vampire plane.”
“And who’s going to feed you?” I asked. “From what I can tell, humans and Fae don’t live there on their own. They can only live on the plane if they’re tied to a Vampire family.”
“I’ll figure it out,” he insisted. “This is stupid. I’m getting dressed.”
Dev moved with quick grace, getting in Daniel’s space and knocking that cube from his hand. “No. That’s exactly what’s wrong with this whole situation. You don’t want to be naked around me.”
Dev loomed over him and Daniel reacted, snarling up at Dev. “I’m naked around you all the time. Back the fuck off now.”
“I can’t.” Dev’s voice had softened and he put his hands on Danny’s head, smoothing back his hair. “I can’t because if I back down now, I lose you. We work in a specific way. We have for years. We found our places very quickly. I’m asking you not to step away from it now. We need you.”
“My place?”
“Yes, Daniel. Your place. You lead us. I advise you. Zoey makes us crazy. Our places.”
A hollow expression took over Danny’s face. “I can’t lead you now.”
My heart threatened to seize as Dev dropped his forehead to Daniel’s. “You are still worthy. You are still strong. You are still my king.”
I wanted to join them, but this was their fight because the power had shifted between them. All of our life together, Daniel had been the protector, the strongest among us. So much of Danny’s worth was wrapped up in the fact that he could provide us with safety, that even if we died, he could bring us back.
He couldn’t now. He was powerless, and now Dev was the one with all the strength.
Deep down Danny knew I would love him no matter what. I had loved him when he was a child with no power or hope for any. I’d been ready to live a normal life with him.
Devinshea had only known the vampire, the most powerful vampire the world had ever seen.
“I am not a king like this,” Danny said quietly.
“You are my king. Always. That will never change,” Dev replied. “Nor will my love for you. I still love you, Daniel. I still want you. I can’t think of anything I want more right now than to show you. Let us show you. I know when we began this journey together that I was master in this part of our lives. But even though it was my special skill, I submitted to you. I did it because I’ll follow you anywhere, into anything. Let me do that for you tonight. Zoey, tell him what you want.”
I wanted to be with them. I wanted to love them and show them they were still my whole world. And I wanted another chance.
I moved behind Daniel, letting my arms wind around his back to place my hands over his chest. “I want you no matter what. I loved you when you were human. I loved you when you were a vampire. I loved you when we planned our family, and I loved you and chose you when we both thought you couldn’t give me one. Do you know why?”
His hand covered mine and I could feel the emotion coming off him. “Because you were my family. I love our kids, but we would have been enough. The three of us would have been enough.”
In my mind, it was why our kids were so lucky. Danny, Dev, and I hadn’t come together so we could have children to fill some void between us. Our children had been born out of the completeness we had found in each other. Out of our pure love and passion.
“We have a chance, Danny.” I let my head rest against his back. “I don’t know why this happened, but I know I would love to look at our child and see you in his or her eyes. So would Devinshea. Let’s take that chance tonight.”
“Tell her yes,” Dev whispered. “Let me do this for you, my loves. I have performed this ritual a thousand times, but this is one I was born for. This makes everything I suffered through worth it, to give this to the two people I