Page 120 of Thief of Hearts

Dagger’s head popped out of one of the bags on Zain’s horse.

“Are you sure we shouldn’t leave him here?” I asked. The Wastelands would be dangerous and that poor dog did not have much of a survival instinct. It worried me that he was coming along.

Zain’s response was, “Do you want to leave him with a bunch of Epirians?”

I did not. Even with whatever waited for us out there, he would be safer with us.

“Please don’t tell me that you are worried about the ‘monsters’?” he asked with laughter in his voice.

Yes, and he should’ve been worried, too. “You don’t know what waits for us out there.”

“I’ll be sure to let you know if I spot any hydra,” he said with a teasing smile.

My grandmother had spoken to me about the creatures that roamed the Wastelands and I would never be quick to dismiss something she had taught. I didn’t remember specifics—just that they ate people and were always waiting for weary travelers.

There was a reason the Dracanians had pushed through the desert essentially without stopping after they had kidnapped us. It wasn’t that they were in a rush to get their money—they had been wary about something, and deadly monsters made sense.

We headed northeast and I was glad that the desert here was similar to what I had seen near Sagaris. There were rock formations, large boulders, brush, and in the distance, what looked like caves.

I had to remind myself that even if I was glad the landscape was broken up and there would be places for us to shelter that afforded some protection, these sorts of things meant life. Small animals and the predators who would hunt them.

Zain tried to initiate conversation a few times in the first hours of our trip, but I kept shutting him down. I didn’t have his innate ability to sense people and creatures around us, so I needed to keep my focus.

I also didn’t want to draw attention to us from anything that might be out there, and I didn’t want the guards to overhear us talking. I couldn’t tell how close they were.

We stopped every few hours to rest and water the horses and to stretch our legs.

When twilight began to settle in around us, we decided to find somewhere to sleep for the night and settled on three boulders that made a sort of box, with an opening on one side.

There wasn’t any wood to make a fire, and it surprised me how cold it was. And while I would have appreciated the extra warmth, even if there had been a fuel source, this wasn’t an environment where we should be advertising our location.

Dagger followed Zain around until Zain picked a spot next to me and sat, pressing the side of his body against mine. I was grateful for his warmth. Dagger came and flopped onto my lap, making my legs warmer. I patted his belly.

We were mostly alone, but it was too cold to take off any clothing and I was not interested in getting sand, rocks, and dirt in unmentionable places.

Zain said, “There are two guards about half an hour behind us. They will probably stop for the night, too.”

I hadn’t noticed anyone following and was glad he had the ability to do so.

He added, “Although I don’t know what Actos was thinking, only sending two guards. That’s not enough to take on a monster. How will they fight all the hydras lying in wait for them?”

I ignored the fact that he was teasing me. “They’re Daemonian. They could take on an army of hydras and be fine.” I shifted closer to him.

“Trust me,” he said. “We’re alone out here.”

While I didn’t want to argue with him, when he said ‘trust me,’ it unlocked something inside me that had to come out.

“You want me to trust you, but you don’t trust me,” I said.

His body tensed slightly from what I guessed was surprise. “Of course I trust you.”

“I’m not talking about having your back in a fight. I mean you don’t tell me things. How much do I really know about you? You sharing jobs you’ve done doesn’t tell me about you. I don’t know what you like.”

“Dagger and you,” he said. “Not in that order, but don’t tell him that.”

“Really?” He liked me more than his dog? “That’s flattering. I’m not sure I like you more than I like Dagger.”

He threw his head back and laughed and I realized that we were getting off track. I wanted him to tell me about himself. If I wanted to get past what he had done, this was a way to help that happen. “I have shared so much about my life with you and you haven’t told me anything. Are you close to your family? Do you visit them often? Do you have siblings? What made you become a thief?”