Page 106 of Thief of Hearts

The hidden assassins?

I supposed it didn’t matter.

“You can’t give Actos the caduceus.”

The idea of handing him a god-weapon didn’t thrill me either, but I knew that god-weapons were not always easy to use. Perhaps he wouldn’t be able to figure out how to properly wield it. “Why does he want it?”

“Because he is a false king.” Her entire body shook with her anger.

“You hate him.”

“If I could strangle him to death with my bare hands, I would!” She almost shouted the words and I glanced again at the door, hoping no one had heard that. Realizing what she had done, she took in several deep breaths as if to calm herself.

“My uncle was a good and just king, and Actos killed him. He wanted to steal his throne and he succeeded, and according to our code, my uncle should have been banished. Instead Actos ordered his death, which goes against everything we believe in. Then he had my parents killed and took me to be his servant. Our nation has been cursed ever since he went against our code. He destroyed the heart of us.”

“Weak men cause hard times,” Zain said from across the room, where he stood with his arms crossed, listening.

Dione wiped away an angry tear. “If he holds the caduceus, he thinks it will give him the right to rule until the end of his days; that having it will prevent someone else from stealing his throne.”

“Why wouldn’t an Epirian just steal the caduceus from Actos?”

“Actos controls the military,” Dione said. “And the legislators. He knows all their secrets and blackmails them into behaving. There is no way to steal the throne without those two groups.”

“But if I don’t bring him the caduceus, he won’t let the Thracian concubines go. And I can’t leave them here. That’s a vow I’ve taken.”

We all fell silent. How could I do this and make everyone happy? I asked, “Could I tell him I’m going for the caduceus but then circle back and free the concubines?”

Dione shook her head. “The palace is impossible to break into, by design. And Actos has been collecting dishonored Daemonians to be the palace guards for years. They keep him safe, and he will have some of them secretly follow you to the cave to make sure you do what he commanded.”

“No one has better guards than thieves do,” Zain said.

I supposed that made sense, but . . . “Daemonians! We can reason with them.”

“Didn’t you hear the part about them being dishonored?” he asked. “These are not the kind of Daemonians who shoot someone for cheating. They’re the kind that cheat.”

Lia had a former priestess from her temple who was goddess-blessed and she barely held her own against one Daemonian. That was how good they were at fighting.

A palace full of them, all intent on killing me?

That would not end well.

“I am sorry for the concubines,” Dione said. “But you can’t sacrifice an entire nation for a few lives. Actos is destroying Epirius. He takes everything for himself and leaves his people with nothing.”

“I will find a way to do both,” I said, shocking myself. I had just offered to help save Epirius.

My mother would disown me.

There was another knock at my door. Dione looked frightened. “They can’t know I’m here.”

“You’re our liaison,” I said.

“Not at this time of night.”

Zain took her into the washroom, and when he reemerged, I opened the door.

It was the same white-haired steward we’d met when we first arrived. “Please pardon the interruption, Queen Thalia, but I am looking for Dione. Have you seen her?”

“Not since this afternoon,” I said, the lie falling off my tongue far too easily. And perhaps because I’d been telling them so often, another one occurred to me. One that might help this situation. If I could have Dione meet the Thracian girls, maybe then she would see why it mattered to me. “At dinner this evening, the king offered me two Thracian girls. I would like them brought to my room right away.”