Page 7 of Thief of Hearts

“To . . . people. Experiences. Trying new things.” Another pause. “Seeing if your goddess has a message for you.”

Not this again. “I’m not a savior like you, Lia.”

“Maybe. But that doesn’t mean Invara won’t call on you.”

I was the last person she should call on. “Why are you saying this?”

“It’s just a feeling I have.”

I was familiar with Lia’s feelings. They were usually messages from her earth goddess. So I didn’t probe further or ask her to explain.

Whatever her goddess said to her had nothing to do with me.

She reached out and hugged me goodbye as best she could and then I mounted my horse. My mother got on her horse as well, and with one last wave, we set out.

As we moved farther from the city, something urged me to look back one last time.

Everyone stood where we’d left them, still waving.

I felt an unfamiliar twinge in my chest.

The only word that I could think of to describe how it felt was . . . homesickness. Like I was missing something important, longing for a home I’d never seen before.

Ridiculous.

I faced forward again. I would do that favor for Lia and then I would return to my actual home, to the life I already knew.

Chapter Three

My mother and I traveled in silence. She was deep in thought about something and I didn’t want to disturb her.

About every four hours or so, we would find a place to rest and water the horses. Darkness began to fall and we came to a spot we had utilized on our way to Ilion. My mother said, “We should stop here for the night.”

I nodded and dismounted and she did the same. We led the horses over to a crystal-clear pond that bubbled up from some underground spring. After they’d finished drinking, we let them graze on the grass surrounding us. They were battle horses who would respond immediately to our commands and didn’t get startled easily. We didn’t have to worry about them running off.

We set up our camp, both of us at our tasks. We had done this so often that it took no time at all to get a fire started and our bedrolls set up.

I didn’t feel like hunting for fresh game, and apparently, neither did my mother. We ate dried meat and dried fruits for our supper.

“Being with Thrax and his family, did you feel like you were missing out on something?” My mother’s voice cut through the silence.

“No. Why would I?” It was almost like she had guessed that strange feeling I’d had when we were leaving, and it made me uneasy.

“I worry that fighting, war, is more important to you than anything else.”

“That’s . . .” It wasn’t something I could deny. I loved my family and my people, but fighting had always been very important to me. “What’s wrong with that?”

Her eyebrows shot up her forehead. “What’s wrong with it? You can’t fight your way out of every problem.”

“I haven’t found that to be true.”

“There is more to life than the next battle.”

I nodded. “Yes. There’s the next hunt, the next race, the next—”

“Basileia!” She interrupted me with that sharp tone she used when we ran fighting drills. “Being at peace and content is not a bad thing.”

“I am at peace and content.”