Page 43 of Thief of Hearts

“Good?” Zain asked.

Opening my eyes, I said, “This is the best thing I have ever had in my mouth.”

“That’s a shame.”

I knew what he was alluding to but I didn’t have time to bother with banter. I was going to eat every single bit of this fish and then I was probably going to have the server bring me more.

“After the way you talked about it, I thought it would be more elaborate,” I said.

“Sometimes going back to basics and improving them is better than coming up with something new.”

The server came by our table with flatbread and dishes of olive oil and honey for dipping. Zain thanked her because I was too busy eating.

“Today, in the fifth heat, when you hung back and then passed everyone, is that part of your Thracian code? To give people hope they might win when you have no intention of that happening?” he asked.

It felt as if he was talking about more than just the race, but my food was too delicious to stop eating. I decided to get him chatting so that I could nod and listen while finishing my lavraki.

“Do you have a code?” I asked.

“Yes. Don’t get caught.”

That made me laugh and he looked delighted with himself. “I thought thieves had codes that they all adhered to.”

“The Epirians have them. They claim that Eramis himself dictated them to an oracle for their benefit, so most thieves live by them. Their code is elaborate, so here are the most important parts—never steal from anyone worse off than you, don’t take people, only objects, never kill anyone while thieving, and, my favorite one, don’t get caught.”

He flagged down the server and asked her to bring out two more fish and I couldn’t help but grin at the prospect of more.

I studied him, thinking about the Epirian code he’d just shared. “You have told me that you’re the king of thieves but I think that you are all talk.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“What have you stolen since we’ve been here? Other than the registrar’s pin, it seems like you haven’t taken anything.” I knew I was baiting him and I didn’t understand why. As far as I was concerned, stealing was wrong. So why was I encouraging him to do just that?

“You seem very determined to make me prove myself.” After a beat he asked, “If I told you that I was the king of sex, would you want me to demonstrate?”

Chapter Fourteen

Goddess, yes. “No.”

He smiled like he didn’t believe me. He shouldn’t have, because I was currently envisioning him kneeling on the floor in front of me as he lifted my tunic and—

“Basileia?”

“What? Yes. No. What?” I had to get a hold of myself. “I’m only worried about the thieving part.”

Because I believed him about the sex part.

“I do like you flustered,” he said in a voice that validated my belief. “You know the drill. Pick something for me to steal and I’ll do it without getting caught.”

I had noticed a young woman married to a much older man when we’d walked in. Mostly because she had a sapphire the size of a chicken’s egg around her neck and every few seconds she would touch it, as if to make sure that it was still there. It matched her sapphire wedding band.

“The sapphire necklace,” I said. I didn’t need to point out which one.

“And here I thought you were going to make it difficult.”

The woman’s husband was at a nearby table, talking to the people there. I watched as Zain made his way over to her table. Whatever he said to her initially made her entire face light up and she laughed.

He elegantly slid into the seat her husband had vacated, putting his arm around the back of her chair. The woman was completely focused on him, hanging on his every word.