Steal the Sun Read Free

been in Faery for a few hours and yet my world already seemed so far away. Just this morning I’d sat in our condo in Dallas reading through the materials Louis Marini had sent for me. He’d sent me all the information he had on the artifact he wanted me to track down while I was in the sithein . He also sent a cell phone with instructions to call him when the job was done. I was worried I would never be able to make that call because, as clients go, my current employer sucked. His info was crappy and he only had the vaguest idea where the Blood Stone might be. Everything he knew was based on vague rumors. He was expecting a miracle, but I needed to pull it off if I wanted Daniel alive. My payment for this job was the client not killing my hubby.
    Louis Marini ran the world my husband lived in. He was the head of the Vampire Council. He was also the man who had attached a device to my husband’s heart and had the detonator on a remote he carried with him. One push of that button and Daniel would be gone.
    So I was going to find that stone.
    “Well, Ross, I might have to take you up on that offer.” I said, flirting just a little. “I think I’ll definitely be spending some time here. There’s nothing I like better than a good tavern and some hot gossip. I’m interested in the history of this place. After all, it’s important to Dev.”
    “We can help you there,” Loran offered with his gravelly voice. “I’ve forgotten more about this sithein than most people remember. I remember when we left the Earth plane.”
    Loran just might be my new BFF. I knew the gemstone Marini was interested in had disappeared around three hundred years before. According to Marini’s intelligence—and I use that term lightly—I was searching for a medium-sized, blood-red jewel. It once decorated the crown of the last Vampire King and had gone missing from the vamp stronghold in Paris. He’d tracked the stone down to the sithein through some earthbound faeries who had seen the stone at the palace, but that was years before. “Well, I would love to hear some of those stories. I’m married to a Fae now. I should know something about the sithein .”
    “Come by anytime.” Ross winked my way, a gleam in his eyes. I was certain he would love to entertain me with stories and perhaps ply me with ale. I wondered how close Ross was with my husband.
    “Aye,” Loran agreed. “You can find me in the gardens most of the time.”
    “I would love to visit with you.” Sarah got to one knee to get eye level with the gnome.
    He nodded with a knowing grin. “Aye, I thought you would. Ross might only see that lovely face of yours, but I know a witch when I see one. Come by and I’ll teach you how to grow herbs that will make your spells spark.”
    “Very nice,” Mara was saying as she joined us with a shake of her blonde head and a condescending stare she leveled at the group. “It’s nice that you are greeting the local color, Your Grace, but if you would not mind, there are some others who would be interested in meeting Prince Devinshea’s new bride.”
    I could totally read between her lines. There were people with more money and power and we should be talking to them. I didn’t like Mara but I suspected the feeling was mutual. When she’d first gotten a look at the lot of us, she assumed Sarah was the new bride. I guess I shouldn’t blame her. Despite her eclectic choice of hair color, Sarah was much closer to what Mara would have expected. Sarah was tall and lithe with an angular face that belonged on a magazine cover. I shouldn’t blame Mara for the mistake but I did.
    “I think Dev’s handling things just fine,” I replied, looking back at him.
    He was laughing at something the woman in front of him said, and I was sure he just oozed charm. He was the nerd who got to go back to his class reunion as a multimillionaire playboy. He was enjoying playing the conquering hero. I wouldn’t have been quite so bitter about it if