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.
I was tired, so tired. I was sore. I was feeling intensely stupid. They tried to tell me, every single one of them. They’d tried to explain about the possibility of Bris and now I recalled that the word union had been mentioned several times when Ingrid spoke of the ritual. Did I listen? No. Zoey Wharton Donovan…god, Quinn. I was practically a soap opera character and I didn’t listen to anyone.
I needed a shower and I had no idea how I was going to face these wolves in the morning. Our entire party was supposed to have brunch at the big house with McKenzie tomorrow and I just wanted to hide. It had been easy in the heat of the moment, but I felt the full weight of everything hitting me now.
The leftover magic had me shaking. I didn’t think I could make it back to the tent. I was going to have to sit here until Dev came back or Padric took pity on me and carried me home. I hated feeling so weak but more than that, I hated feeling so stupid. I should have known there was more to this. Now I realized all the signs had been there and beyond that, I knew why Dev had done it.
I could still hear Dev and Daniel in the limo after the night at the club. Daniel was going to get the wolves and Dev was going to get Faery. This had all been one huge power play. Dev needed to go back to Faeryland in a position of power. He needed a tool to force his mother to our side, and his ascent to godhood was just what the doctor, or the vampire, ordered.
I knew what their reasoning would be. They were just protecting me. Tied to Faery, Marini would have to think twice about messing with me. I was now a high priest’s wife. I was a member of the royal family. They would be obligated to defend me should anything happen. It would satisfy Daniel’s need to see me safe.