Page 127 of Thief of Hearts

Especially that voice.

I asked him what he thought the voice was. He shrugged. We were both stumped.

“The thing I keep thinking about was when it said ‘you’ll never win.’ Every dream I have of Invara, she always says the same thing. ‘Win.’ What am I supposed to be winning?” I wondered aloud.

“I think gods are unreliable messengers.”

“So you think another god was telling us to let go and untie the rope?”

“What else could it have been? If I had to place a bet, it would be on the goddess of discord being behind all of this. We are on her lands and she hates our gods.”

“Does that mean it’s specifically directed at us for worshipping Invara and Eramis, or does she do this to anyone in her desert? Do you think the Daemonian guards are safe?”

He came to a stop and closed his eyes. When he reopened them, he said, “I can’t tell if they’re still back there.”

What if they’d been washed away because they hadn’t known what to do like Zain had? “How did you learn about those floods?”

“I’ve lived in several towns on the edge of the Wastelands. I’ve seen those floods wash away entire villages. The sheer power of it, the level of destruction—it’s not something you ever forget.”

I certainly wouldn’t. “I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to sleep out here. What if it happens again?”

“We’ll have warning.”

“What if it rains somewhere we can’t see and the flash floods reach us without warning?”

“Given how strange last night was,” he said, “I don’t think we can take anything for granted. We should probably plan to sleep on rocks that are high.”

That made me feel slightly better. I’d never been in a situation like last night, where I was trapped by the elements. There hadn’t been an option to fight my way out. People in my life kept reminding me that this would be the case—that I couldn’t resolve everything in life with a sword.

I had felt so helpless in the face of that water, and I hated that feeling.

“I don’t know if I thanked you last night, but thank you for rescuing me,” he said, cutting into my thoughts.

“You rescued me first by getting me to safety, so I supposed I owed you one.”

He grinned. “I think we make a good team.”

“I think so, too.”

That lifted my spirits a bit. It was one thing I had accomplished during that storm.

Yes, you protected someone and you did it without a sword.

Lia had told me once that she had often heard voices in her head that she later discovered were her goddess communicating with her.

If this is you, Invara, find a different way. You’re going to make me angry with my sister.

Zain and I continued on and I thought about how, instead of reaching the cave today, we had at least one extra day of travel since we were walking instead of riding. It didn’t help matters that we were both exhausted and worn out. He mentioned possibly finding somewhere to stop to take a short nap to reenergize ourselves when we came upon what looked like a large bird claw sticking out of the ground.

“What do you think that is?” he asked.

“Something we probably shouldn’t be bothering,” I said, and I scanned the horizon, feeling uneasy.

“Whatever it is, it’s dead. It’s lying under several feet of sand.” He went over and tugged on the foot. He moved it a little, but not enough. “Could you grab this?”

“Why?”

“I’m curious.”