Page 110 of Thief of Hearts

I told my libido to calm down.

“Although I suppose you’re right,” he said, taking the bedding back to where he’d gotten it. “The spy. We certainly wouldn’t want them to see me sleeping away from you. They have to be able to tell the king that we spent the whole night together.”

It felt like he was making fun of me but I ignored it.

I got into the bed and grabbed a blanket for myself and turned away from him. We were sleeping just as we had in the barracks, only this time we were sharing a bed instead of being in two separate ones.

He let out a deep sigh. It blew against the hairs on the back of my neck and I had to close my eyes against the sensation.

“Do you want me to hold you, too?”

“No,” I said in the most scathing tone I could muster.

“The spy would have more to report.”

I ignored his teasing and pulled my blanket up to my ear.

After a few beats he said, “Good night, Queen Thalia.”

And I surprised myself by responding with, “Good night, Theogenes.”

Once again, he fell asleep quickly and I envied him that. If someone had told me a few days ago that I’d be kissing him and sharing my bed, I would have laughed until I cried.

I couldn’t sleep. I began to toss and turn, trying to find a comfortable position while Zain slept. I briefly imagined hitting him with a pillow for being so annoying, but refrained.

Instead I turned so that I was facing him and watched him sleep. He looked boyish and sweet and I thought about what he would do if I woke him up and asked him to touch me.

He would welcome it.

Lia’s voice filled my head as clearly as if she were sitting on the bed next to me.

“You can’t possibly know that,” I said.

You’d be surprised by what I know. Why are you so mad at him?

“I worked hard to win that diviner stone. I gave up so much and he drugged me and stole it and used it.”

I’ll admit that was . . . not great, but look at him!

That didn’t sound like Lia to me. “That’s not a compelling argument. He said he wasn’t sorry.”

So?

Was this my own internal voice? Or was someone actually speaking to me? “That’s not a rebuttal.”

Please take this from someone who spent way too long being angry over things that ultimately didn’t matter—don’t do this to yourself. Isn’t he a thief? Stealing is what he does.

That put up my defenses. Lia would never say such a thing. “That doesn’t excuse it.”

There are people who might think you’re a murderer.

“What?”

Because you take lives. But you’re a warrior. That makes things different.

“He’s still a thief.”

Yes, but he’s the king of thieves. You’d get a title.