Page 94 of Thief of Hearts

“Because I get to kill you first before anyone else.”

He actually smiled at my words, apparently not taking me seriously.

We passed the agora and went down a main street. We had been walking for about ten minutes when I heard a feminine scream and people laughing. A woman in a beautiful dress ran out into the road in front of us and halted, looking behind her. A large man came and threw her over his shoulder while the onlookers cheered.

“That man is kidnapping her!” Why was no one stopping this?

Zain’s fingers wrapped around my arm, signaling me to stay put. “This is part of their marriage ceremony. He is ‘stealing’ her from her family. That’s why she stopped and waited for him to catch up to her. Look. She’s smiling.”

The woman was smiling, just as he’d said. It did look like a celebration. I jerked my arm away from him and tried to ignore the burning trails he had left behind.

“Barbarians,” I muttered as we walked forward. “It doesn’t surprise me this king hired Dracanians. Epirians are just the same.”

“Dracanians are without honor, without morals,” he said.

“So are Epirians.”

“That’s different.”

“How?” I asked.

“Dracanians steal and sell people, which is against the Epirian code.”

I understood the point he was making but I did not acknowledge it. Instead I thought about what I would do to him when I got my hands on a decent knife again.

Or a dull one. Either would work.

He launched into a tale about the history of the Dracanians, all things I’d heard before. That they were descended from pirates whose ship had been wrecked. When they found other people, instead of joining them, the pirates enslaved the men and took their women. They repeated this pattern everywhere they went and then branched out into taking men, women, and children to be slaves.

The one good thing was that the Dracanians had never created their own nation. They were nomadic, always moving from one place to the next so that they would never get caught.

Never be held accountable for the crimes they and their ancestors had committed.

I had always wondered why they hadn’t returned to their homeland once they could afford to build new ships. I supposed they made too much money from their disgusting practices.

Perhaps I should create a list like Zain had for all the people I needed to kill after I had figured out a way to escape.

I thought about who would be on that list, which included all the men currently surrounding me.

We finally arrived at the palace, walking up a grand staircase to the front entrance. A servant waited for us there and ushered us inside.

A woman with only a few black lines on her skin and bright white hair stood in the front hall. “I am one of the stewards of the palace. Welcome, Queen Thalia. The king has asked that I escort you to your rooms so that you may wash after your long journey and join him for dinner this evening.”

What would she do if I refused? I wouldn’t. I needed to see this king for myself and find out what it was he wanted with Lia. Then I would escape and warn her.

The steward inclined her head slightly. “You Dracanians may go to the office of the high steward and he will see that you are compensated.”

I was glad to see them go.

“Queen Thalia, this is your . . .” The steward trailed off, her gaze pointed at Zain.

“My manservant. Theogenes.”

Her eyebrows lifted for a moment in a flash of emotion, but then her serene look returned. “I see. This way.”

She began walking, not even checking to see if we followed. Zain stayed a few steps behind me. I supposed he was trying hard to appear to be a servant.

I kept track of the twists and turns and where the doors and windows were. I was going to break out of this place and I needed to know the floor plan to do so.