Page 69 of Thief of Hearts

“To say that you’re beautiful? But you are.” He sounded so confused. “How has no one ever told you that before? Do Thracian men not have eyes?”

“They have eyes.”

“I’m sorry, I’m not sure I can believe that is true, given that it is an objective fact.” He studied me and his gaze felt intense, like he was touching me just by looking at me. I adjusted myself in the bed, wondering what he was thinking.

I didn’t have to wonder for long.

“It’s not just me saying that you’re beautiful. Any time I compliment you or say nice things to you, I can see that it makes you uncomfortable as well. Why is that?” he asked.

I gulped down the emotion clogging my throat. Perhaps it was the exhaustion or the brush with death, but I found myself telling him. “No one ever has. My family doesn’t believe in praise. They said it would make me soft.”

He looked furious for one brief second before his face relaxed and he said, “Have my compliments made you soft? Have they lessened your chances of winning?”

“No.” My heart beat erratically. His words hadn’t affected my physical strength or my determination to succeed.

But in a sense, his words had softened me. He made me see myself in a way that I never had before, and I liked how I saw myself and how he saw me. I didn’t have to be the woman my family had decided I should be. I didn’t have to lead the same way that they had. I could forge my own path.

I could be more than a weapon.

And now I was one step closer to acquiring the diviner stone to get the answers I needed.

“Why do you want to lead a people who don’t even recognize your worth?”

Another thick lump formed in my throat and I had to push it down again. “I feel like I’m supposed to lead. As if that is what I’m meant to do.”

“There are other ways to lead besides becoming the next chieftain of your clan.”

“I know,” I said.

Again he studied me, like he could read my secrets written across my face. “There’s something else that you’re not saying. Another reason you want it.”

I pressed my lips together, as if that might keep me from speaking. It did not. “My mother told me that I was an accident. I shouldn’t even be here. I wasn’t wanted by anyone. My father left and never returned and I have spent my whole life trying to make up for that. To be enough. Enough to be noticed. Enough to be cared about. Enough to matter. Enough to be wanted.”

He took my left hand and held it. “My illora, you already are all those things. You are noticed. You are cared about. You matter. You are wanted.”

I had not cried since I was a small child but I found myself wanting to. I had to blink the tears back.

“That is why you want to lead,” he said. “You would never feel unwanted again. You would be the center of everything.”

His assessment surprised me—he was right and I hadn’t ever realized it. If I were chieftain, I would always belong.

If we kept speaking about this, I would lose control over my emotions and sob in front of him. “You haven’t told me what you would do with the diviner stone if you won.”

He knew what I was doing but he played along, shrugging. “I haven’t really thought about it. I suppose I’d probably ask it where I could find the world’s greatest treasure.”

“I shouldn’t be surprised, considering that all thieves love treasure,” I said.

His expression was solemn. “They do.”

“If you found the greatest treasure, would you retire?”

“I don’t know. I probably should think about it. I want to make plans for my future.”

Why did my heart lift with hope when he said that? Ignoring it, I said, “I’m sure it is important for you to sit down and make your plans because the gems of the world aren’t going to steal themselves.”

He laughed and said, “We should add that to the list of good things about you. You are funny.”

Zain was still holding my hand and I felt the warmth from his skin contrasted by the coldness of his rings. His thumb absentmindedly stroked my palm and I was getting little bumps on my arms every time he did that.