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you.” My frustration must have shown through because the vampire reached out and took my hand. “Come and sit. Perhaps a drink will allow the truth to flow more freely from your lips.” He called over the bartender. “Vodka, I believe.”
    The bartender nodded. He knew me and what I liked. I gave the shapeshifter a look that tried to convey my comfort with the current situation. If I’d been talking, I was sure Louis would have pointed out lie number three.
    “So, Zoey, where are Daniel and Devinshea this evening?” I hated the way he said my name. It was intimate and spoke of a relationship we didn’t have and I didn’t want. I preferred our previous formality.
    I was going for honesty on this one. The last thing I needed was Marini thinking Danny and Dev were out doing something subversive. It was the one time they weren’t. “They’re indisposed.”
    I said that last word with a certain emphasis to let Marini know they were doing something naughty.
    “Truly?” Marini asked, not hiding his surprise. “They didn’t invite you to their little party? I find it hard to believe my Nex Apparatus is upstairs fucking his lover while his wife is down here with me.”
    I shook my head. “I don’t think they’ll be doing anything like that this evening. Dev finally managed to get drunk enough that he passed out before he got to the good stuff. Danny passed out long before Devinshea.”
    Marini laughed long and loud. “You sound very much like a harried wife. So Daniel discovered that little vampire secret. It’s very hard, you know. The person who donates must have an unusually high capacity for liquor. If, say, I wanted to use your blood to get that sweet high, you would be dead from alcohol poisoning before I could even taste the liquor. Your faery prince must have a legendary tolerance.”
    “Yeah, well, he doesn’t have much tolerance for blood loss,” I muttered.
    “Your husbands have been very naughty boys,” Marini said, and he stopped to gauge my reaction. I opened my mouth to protest but he stopped me. “Think carefully before you react. I wouldn’t like another lie to pass those sweet lips of yours.”
    “Yes,” I said finally. “My husbands have been rather obnoxious tonight. I fear it will be even worse tomorrow.”
    “So your faery prince is not so disengaged as he wanted me to believe.” Dev always played the idle, negligent lover around Marini. “I heard of the pagan rites performed at the werewolf gathering last year. Should I offer congratulations? I’m not so sure. You’re Vampire property. I don’t know how much I like you being tied to Faery. It could cause trouble down the road.”
    I was very sincere in my response. “I assure you, I married Dev for love. I don’t want to be tied to Faery. And Dev and his brother are fighting again, so I wouldn’t expect that the Seelies would even care if anything ever happened to us.”
    It was true. When we left Faery, I was tied to a tribe, but it wasn’t the Seelies. King Angus of the Unseelie had allied himself with both Dev and Daniel, but I decided not to mention that little tidbit.
    The vampire weighed my words and pinned me with his dark eyes. He finally nodded and sat back, crossing one leg over his knee. “I believe you, chère . You’re very young and foolish, all three of you, if you believe it will work in the end. The prince should have been kept as a lover and nothing more. Daniel will regret it. Perhaps not. Perhaps he will regret other things.”
    He let those enigmatic words hang as the bartender brought me an icy cold martini just how I liked it, with two plump olives. I took a long sip as Chad came to sit beside me.
    “Mrs. Donovan,” he greeted me. “Or is it Quinn now?”
    Well, at least I knew who told Marini about my marriage. It would have been nice if he had kept that to himself. “In the vampire world it’s easiest to be Mrs. Donovan.”
    “Of course,” Chad said flatly. “Daniel’s claim is the one