Page 70 of Thief of Hearts

I was grateful when he spoke, giving me something else to concentrate on.

“As much as I would love to sit here and compliment you until you believe me, there is something I have to tell you. Something I don’t think you’re going to like.”

I couldn’t even imagine what he had to say.

“Someone attempted to murder you last night.”

It had been an accident. “I don’t think you can say what the horses and track did to me was attempted murder.”

He didn’t laugh and kept his serious expression. “The axle on your chariot had been sawed into and the harnesses attaching the horses had been cut into.”

I remembered seeing the falling-apart harnesses when I was trying to figure out what to do about my wheel coming off. “I’ve already won two of the events. The other competitors would be fools if they didn’t try to stop me.”

He blinked several times, looking as if he wasn’t sure how to respond. “I thought you’d be a bit more upset.”

“People have been trying to kill me my entire life. This is nothing new. I suppose I should be glad that whoever’s behind it isn’t very good at it.”

“The officials think the accident was probably supposed to have happened sooner.”

Why had the officials investigated? Without having to ask, I realized it was because Zain had asked them to. That warm, pulsating feeling returned to my chest. “Maybe it lasted so long because Invara wants me to win.”

“Then she should have kept your chariot intact until you were done.” He sounded personally offended.

“My grandmother would have said that tearing up half my body would give me character.”

“You have plenty of character, my illora. You don’t need to be injured to try and get more.”

“Any suspects?” I asked. Because it could have been anyone. The Lemnian, the Epirian, Erebus because I broke his foot, the Jacharian who had threatened me and told me to throw the tournament, sponsors and investors, someone angry that not only was a woman competing, but she was winning.

“Not at the moment. Maybe I should start killing the people on my list and then we’ll see if things improve.” He said it as if he were joking but his expression indicated he was not.

A healer with bright silver hair entered the room. “We need for Basileia to sleep so that the potions can continue to regenerate her skin.”

I glanced at my arm. It wasn’t done?

“I’m supposed to be training right now,” he said as he stood up. “I hate training.”

My mouth dropped. “You hate training? I don’t think I’ve ever used those words together in a sentence before.”

He grinned and pulled my hand up to his mouth, kissing the back of it, and then turned it to place a kiss on the skittish pulse in my wrist. My fingers curled in as he did so. “I can think of much better ways to spend my time than training.”

I didn’t have all my skin back yet and it felt like he’d just set fire to what still remained. I was burning everywhere.

Zain put my hand down gently. “I will see you later tonight, my illora.”

After he’d left, the healer turned to me with a conspiratorial smile. “That young man is quite devoted to you.”

“We are friends,” I said.

She inspected my left arm. “I don’t know many friends who would sit all night in an uncomfortable chair, waiting for you to wake up. We offered to relieve him but he wouldn’t hear of it.”

It was like she’d taken aim and fired an arrow directly into my chest. What was I supposed to do with that information?

The healer lifted the blanket to check my side and then my leg. “You are healing faster than we could have hoped. I don’t think there will be any problem with you competing tomorrow.”

She handed me a vial and I drank it.

I would have to win the last event. Especially since Zain had won the chariot race last night. He’d come in second in the footrace and made it to the quarterfinals of the pankration. I didn’t know how the Sagari would weigh each event or how points would be assigned.