Page 115 of Thief of Hearts

“Does that happen a lot?” Zain asked, interested.

“More than you’d think.”

“I should have picked more fights with you.”

Dismissing him with a wave of my hand, I went back to my pants and did some practice kicks.

How had I lived my entire life without these?

“The king expects you in half an hour. Please let me know if there’s anything you need,” she said.

“More pants.” When I brought these back to Thrace, the people would be lining up to wear them.

“I’ll see what I can do.” Dione let herself out and closed the door.

“You seem different today,” Zain asked.

“It’s the pants.”

“It’s not the pants,” he said with a smile.

If communication was important, then I needed to be doing it. “Recently, I sometimes speak to someone that sounds like the queen of Ilion. In my head.”

He didn’t say anything and I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

“Maybe it’s because I’m pretending to be her and so I feel closer to her. But she gave me a lot to think about last night, and it might have . . . changed how I see some things.”

Now he was the one saying, “Oh.”

I heard a rustling noise and thought that maybe our spy had returned, but I didn’t see a pair of real eyes in the painting. I looked behind me and it was Dagger, dragging a pillow to his bed.

“What do you think Actos would have done if we weren’t ‘having an affair’? How would he have hoped to control Lia?”

“I’m just glad we don’t have to find out.”

So was I, and Zain was right: It was probably better we didn’t know because what we did know about the man was depraved enough.

I continued to train in my pants while Zain got ready. When it was time to leave, Dione knocked on our door again to escort us. It wasn’t necessary, as I would have been able to find my own way, but this seemed to be how things worked in this palace.

The guards opened the door and announced us. Now that I knew they were Daemonian, I saw the telltale signs. Their shaved heads. The pieces of armor they had added to their Epirian uniform.

The xiphos that every man had in a sheath on his belt.

“Queen Thalia! Theogenes! Come in, come in,” Actos said.

It was difficult to arrange my face so that I didn’t look like I wanted to stab him.

Especially because he had Nesdahlia and Cotys chained to his chair by their neckbands.

Was that supposed to be some sort of message for me?

“Did you enjoy yourselves last night? I heard word that the two of you engage in quite a bit of talking during your love play.”

The only reason he knew that was because of the spy he’d sent. “Theogenes is a master conversationalist.”

“Good with his tongue, eh?” Only Actos laughed at his joke.

That confirmed that the spy hadn’t been able to hear the words we had said or else this conversation would be going very differently. I tried to think of what Lia would do in this moment. She wouldn’t respond to his vulgarness. I stared at Actos until he started shifting uncomfortably in his seat.