Page 109 of Thief of Hearts

“Then you shouldn’t be putting them on my finger!”

Zain continued to hold my hand, lacing his fingers through mine. I didn’t want to like it, but I did. And I just stood there and let him do it.

“Those girls out there . . . You know why you want to save them, don’t you?” he asked.

“Because it’s the right thing to do?”

“It’s because of your nightmare. You failed that family in Troas and now you are determined to save all the innocents you come across.”

Indignation swelled inside my chest, and my gut reaction was to tell him he didn’t know me and didn’t know what he was talking about.

But he was right.

I let go of his hand and walked away from him, to the farthest point in the room.

“It’s not your job to save the world, my illora. You can’t fight everyone.”

Now he sounded like my mother. “Maybe not, but there are a lot of people that I can fight.”

He stayed quiet for a few moments, looking deep in thought. “In Sasania, they had a leader named Shamash who made a code for his citizens to live by. One of the things he advocated for was an eye for an eye. Whatever you did to someone else would be done to you. The problem with that is when we get so caught up in revenge, when everyone is poking each other’s eyes out, we lose sight of what’s important.”

“I’m not trying to get revenge on anyone.”

“But you are planning to go around and take out a lot of eyes.”

I bristled. “At least I’m not stealing them.”

More silence. Then: “I’m not going to let you push me away, illora, like you do with everyone else.”

He walked out of the washroom, closing the door behind him.

I sat down hard on the side of the tub. What did he mean by that? I had already pushed him away once he had stolen from me.

Expelling air from my lungs, I did my best to collect my thoughts and calm down. The two Thracian girls did not need any more anger around them.

When I came out of the washroom, Zain was entertaining the girls with a game he knew while Dagger lolled on their laps.

“I thought he only liked me,” I said.

“Maybe he just likes Thracians,” Zain said.

I walked over to them and asked, “Can I join?”

He looked up at me and I saw confusion and then another emotion I couldn’t interpret before he smiled. “Yes. Sit here.”

We played and he lifted the girls’ spirits. Even Cotys was smiling. I noticed how late it had become and was sad I had to send them back to their room, but given that Actos had “lent” them to me, I needed to return them. I called one of the guards and asked him to escort the girls back.

I watched until they went around a corner and then I closed the door. When I turned, I saw Zain grabbing a blanket and pillow and heading toward the sofa.

“What are you doing?” I asked incredulously.

“I thought I was going to sleep on the sofa but now I’m sensing that might be the wrong answer.”

“We have to sleep in the same bed.”

When his expression turned from surprised to intrigued, I had to stop him. “Not for the reasons you’re thinking. They might send spies back, and how would it look if we are sleeping in two different locations?”

“Like I had somehow displeased you, which no one would believe because I would never leave you unsatisfied.”