Page 64 of The Rebel Seer

“My death.” I don’t say what I really mean. My Dev picked me. My Dev stood strong on his own and told his brother he could bite his ass when he refused to give us permission to marry. He married me anyway. But I have to play to this side of Dev.

And suddenly I know I can. Because he’s right. He is the same man. My Devinshea can be selfish. He can be egotistical. He can be brutally stubborn.

Once Marcus and I sat in a park in Fort Worth and he told me I was the only reason Danny and Dev didn’t follow their darker impulses. At least with this version, he appears to be right.

Devilshea closes his eyes and takes in a long breath. “I will never forget finding the grave Deinny put you in. Finding the pieces of you they left behind. Monsters. My brother being the worst of them. I knew that day that I could kill or be killed. I could let the monsters take me down or I could become the biggest one of all.”

This Dev cares more about his station than mine.

When his eyes open and he offers me a hand, I take it. The Cwn Annwn follow me to the plush sofa. “I have tea and wine being brought in. Your favorite. From the vineyards of your father. Well, the vineyards of her father. I hope it will please you.”

I settle myself in, fighting the deep urge to run as fast as I can. I sit down like it’s perfectly normal to relax while my children and friends are on the run. I don’t see any sign of Neil or Brendan or Cassie, so I have to believe they got out. Daniel will bide his time.

Devinshea will be tortured.

“How did you steal the Cwn Annwn?” I ask the question as though it doesn’t really make a difference. I idly pet them. “From what I understand they only live in Arawn’s domain.”

He shrugs. “They are native to here in this time. And the crone as well. She chose to live here when Arawn took on non-corporeal form. Our sithein is close to the death god’s domain. I suspect that is why. Though he does not visit here often. Myrddin claims it is because he prefers another timeline. I personally am fine with less gods walking my realm.”

“So Myrddin came here because he could set us up easily?” I ask, hoping to find some reason for this. I know we are hard to catch, but it seems like a lot of work to go through.

“He wants something else of me,” the king replies. “It is none of your concern. He has paid his debt and I will pay mine. I will have all the power I need to protect us. I will ensure you are happy and satisfied, Zoey. We will have the life we should have had. Now, I want to talk about you. Our wine should be here momentarily.”

I won’t touch it. “I would love to try it. So my father in this timeline was a winemaker? In mine he was a thief.”

The king’s lips quirk up. “So I have heard.”

“Myrddin has told you stories,” I say in an unassuming tone. That is completely passive aggressive.

“He has told me you are formidable, and I should not underestimate you. But what I see is the most beautiful woman in the world, a woman my soul meshed with, who completed me in all ways.”

But you left her to die. You didn’t fight for her. Yeah, I don’t say those words out loud either. Instead I lean in. “I felt that way about my Devinshea. Once.”

He stares at me for a long moment. “He calls you his goddess. Do you love the god? What was his name?”

“Bris.” At least he seems to want to talk. I want to put off the inevitable moment when he decides to take what is his. “Devinshea and I were married in a place called Colorado. Our ceremony attracted an old agricultural deity who matched with my husband.”

He winces. “I don’t like to hear you call him that.”

“But he is. At least until you murder him.”

He frowns, and I can see the man thinking. “Yes, well, it did seem like an excellent idea at the time.”

“An idea Myrddin planted,” I muse. “He’s good at that. In my time, my other husband is the King of All Vampire, and Myrddin found a way to strip the crown from him and take over himself.”

What I need is some sweet, sweet paranoia. And to find a way to keep Myrddin from killing me just to shut me up.

Somewhere in the background I hear yelling and feel something shake the ground beneath my feet.

And then the doors blow open and my greatest enemy strides through like he owns the place. That’s saying something because I once had a real Hell lord as a nemesis.

I killed his ass, and I’m going to take this fucking wizard down, too.

Maybe what he needs is a little poking.

“Well, I hope you’re happy, Devinshea,” he begins. “They are locked in the temple, and we know the rebels have some way to get in and out of there. I have the wards back up since now there’s a damn fertility god in the temple, and we all know how that can go. We need to stay in the palace proper. I got the uncle, but Lee got away with Sasha and Rhys and whatever the fuck that girl is.” He turns on me. “Did you know? Did you know what she is?”

Devilshea stands, and so do I, placing a hand on his arm and glaring at the wizard, who really should know better. “It’s Your Majesty.”

---