It was the first time since we’d gotten to Colorado that I had a chance to really enjoy the Gathering. We walked through a massive flea market where all sorts of artists sold their wares, from paintings to ceramics to wood carvings.
A portion of the valley was celebrating the festival of Litha. It wasn’t a holiday the werewolves usually observed, but they made accommodations for their Fae guests. Tonight was the solstice. At midnight, we would celebrate the rites of fertility promised to all on Midsummer Night. I watched Dev and Declan teaching a group of children how to dance around the maypole. I smiled but didn’t approach as we were forbidden to speak until the ceremony and I was trying to take it seriously. Dev had given me a look that told me he was anticipating the evening.
I had a surprise for him, too. We’d managed to find a little tattoo booth offering piercings as well. Wolves are big on piercings. The artist had several lovely rings with jewels on either side. I found an emerald one and one with sapphires and I knew just what I wanted. Once I bought both, the proprietor was more than happy to change them out so I had one emerald and one sapphire. They matched my boys’ eyes and I loved the way it looked.
The wolves had decorated their tents and shelters with wildflowers, paying particular attention to sunflowers, marigolds, and St. John’s Wort. Sarah explained these were the flowers associated with Litha and were said to aid fertility. I found the entire thing fascinating while Lee groused the whole time.
The sun was starting to set as we finally made our way to the stream Dev had directed Sarah to take me to for our final preparations. Sarah spread the blanket on the ground and stripped down to her bikini. There were several torches around the space that I supposed Dev and Declan had prepared. Sarah went around lighting them. It gave the whole place an intimate feel.
“You should probably turn around now,” Sarah said Lee’s way. “I know how you don’t think you should see naked married ladies.”
“Damn it. Why does all the faery crap have to be naked?” He found a tree and sat with his back to us.
Sarah laughed and got out all the products she’d been told to use. “Okay, Z, take it off, honey. You’re seriously supposed to get this stuff everywhere.”
Neil looked up from his place on the blanket where he was unwrapping the ham Albert had sent. “Do you need any help? I can eat this really fast.”
“We have to wash her hair,” Sarah explained. “But we’re not allowed to use anything modern on it afterward, so when I’m done here, she’ll dry off and you can comb her hair out.”
“Nice,” Neil replied. “It’s curly when we don’t use a blow-dryer and a flatiron.”
“Then we have to weave St. John’s Wort all through her hair,” Sarah continued, referring to the little yellow flowers she’d brought with us.
“I can wash my own hair,” I grumbled as I shed my clothes for what seemed like the thousandth time since Dev decided to go all formal on me. I didn’t see why we couldn’t just get it on. It had worked fine before.
Sarah and I walked into the stream and had to get all the way in the middle before it got deep enough to bathe in. Even in the mountains it was a hot summer, and the water was a respite from the heat. It was cool against my skin and felt a little delicious. I sighed and let myself sink in. Dev had done this yesterday. He’d bathed in the same pond, thinking about me. I wondered if Declan had washed his hair for him. I would have paid to watch that.
“So, I think I’ve waited long enough to ask,” Neil said, knocking back a bottle of soda and starting in on some cookies. “Who’s Tamara?”
I rolled my eyes and Sarah simply stared at me expectantly. I knew she’d heard some of the fight. I sighed and answered honestly. “Tamara is the companion Danny brought in to replace me.”
“No, he didn’t,” Neil said, his jaw dropping open.
“That’s why I kicked his ass.” Lee threw in his two cents from behind the tree.
I shook my head at Neil because Lee really hadn’t kicked Danny’s anything. I would let him think that, though. I didn’t have many people willing to go up against Daniel for me so I was going to let Lee think whatever he wanted.
“OMG, Zoey, I can so handle this for you.” Sarah’s eyes went a little dark. “By the time I’m done with him, his dick will wish it was just a pretzel. I have a hex that will make it turn in on itself.”
“The witch is making sense.” Lee yelled from behind the tree.
I took the soap from Sarah’s hand and started the first part of my well-orchestrated bath. “He’s upset because it’s getting serious. He’s just realizing that what we’re doing is dangerous. People are going to die. People we know and love are probably going to die.”
“So Danny gets all freaked out about you dying and tries to get Dev to take you someplace safe before you can die.” Neil neatly summed up the story with a shrug. “Well, I was his servant for years. I heard many a dumbass plan to force Z into a cage where she would be safe, and she would never have to know all the creepy stuff he wanted to do to her.”
I smiled, thinking about the night before. “Well, he’s decided to do all the creepy stuff to me now. Once I got it through his thick skull that I wasn’t playing that game, he suddenly wasn’t so hot for Tamara, who better get herself out of my house.”
“Yeah,” Sarah said, starting to soap up my hair. “I’ve got a hex for that bitch, too.”
“We might be using that one,” I said under my breath. “Okay, Neil, so you’ve been around Vampire Daniel for a long time. Explain to me why he thought I couldn’t handle the freaky vamp stuff?”
“Do you want his reasoning or the actual truth?”
“Hit me with both.”
“In Daniel’s mind you’re far too sweet and innocent to ever handle his darker impulses,” Neil offered. Lee snorted because he’d seen some of my own dark impulses. “He has you on a pedestal. You’re his darling, beloved princess who shouldn’t be bothered with the bad crap the world has to offer.”
“But I seek that crap out,” I replied because god knew I did.
“I didn’t say it made sense. Think of it this way, Z,” Neil offered, trying to make me understand. “Daniel died. That in and of itself is horrible and traumatic. Then he rises and figures out he’s this monstrous thing. He finds the girl he loves and all of a sudden she glows like an angel and when he tastes her blood for the first time, it’s so sweet and makes him feel so good and then she’s gone. He spent the next three years being tortured and made into a death machine. All he wanted that whole time was to get back to you. You were this perfect light for him. He would have done anything to keep you safe. Then you run off with Dev.”
I groaned because put like that, it seemed like a crappy thing to do.
Neil shook his head. “I can see now that Dev is necessary, Z. Daniel would never have accepted you as a partner without Dev. He would have taken you as a companion and hidden you away from everything, but he wouldn’t have been able to handle the real you. Dev forced that issue.”
“It doesn’t hurt that he trusts Dev to take care of you.” Sarah opened the dreaded canister and started to rub that sand into my back. “Daniel can do what he needs to do without being worried you’re on your own.”
“All right.” I accepted his explanation. “And what’s the real reason?”
“So if Daniel thinks you can’t handle the truth then the real reason is this—Daniel can’t handle the truth,” Neil stated bluntly. “The things he wants to do, he’s afraid you’ll never forgive him for.”