Page 85 of Thief of Hearts

The official pointed to each object. “The gold is there, no explanation necessary. That is a rope of Phrygia. It is utterly unbreakable. It will attach to anything, and only the person who set the rope may remove it.”

“What if something happened to that person?” I asked.

“Then I suppose the rope would be stuck forever. Now here.” He walked over to the table and picked up the box. “This is the diviner stone. The box is padded so that no sound may enter. When you are ready to ask your question, take the stone out of the box and speak to it. It will answer. You get one question and one question only. Take care when asking.”

I was tempted to open the box to take a look, but considering that I had already asked a question while standing in this room, I didn’t want to take the risk of doing so again accidentally. Or of someone else asking a question and wasting it.

I had one shot to get it right.

“Would you like to hire an escort home?” the official asked. “You would be able to afford a very good one. You are carrying some priceless things.”

“If I can’t protect them, then I don’t deserve to have them.” I opened the gold bag and put the rope and the diviner stone box in there, then threw the bag over my shoulder.

The official led me back out of the bank, closing and locking heavy doors behind him. He walked me to my horse and wished me well on my journey. I was eager to be off, so I loaded up the bag, climbed up, and then urged Phaethon to go as quickly as we could on these streets.

I needed to get out of this city, to leave these memories behind.

We had nearly reached the western wall when the Daemonians appeared, sitting on their own horses.

“Thank you for coming to my aid,” I said.

Their leader nodded.

“Did you have trouble with the city?” I asked. I should have found out earlier whether the Daemonians were being punished for what had happened.

“The Sagari hate cheating, and the archon determined we did nothing wrong by stopping a cheater who planned to break the rules.”

“I’m glad.” I would have hated it if they got into trouble on my behalf.

“Excellent work,” the leader said.

“Thank you.”

“My name is Thearides. If you ever need help, Basileia of Thrace, you may call on me or any Daemonian that knows my name.”

I did my best to hide my surprise. Coming from a Daemonian, it was an incredible offer. I thanked him again. Thearides nodded to me and then went the opposite direction with his men. I took the same road out that I’d used to enter the city. I would stop at Calydon to see if they had news and then head back home to Thrace.

The journey was very much the same going back as it had been coming in. The Wastelands were still desolate, still overbearingly hot.

My thoughts were continually drawn back to Zain. I wished that I could have told him I didn’t know the magic would do that. That I’d take it back if I could. I’d never been rejected like that before, especially not by someone who told me that I mattered. That he cared about me. That I was enough.

That I was wanted.

My pride had been dented, my confidence a bit shaken. I hated that it made me doubt myself. I was stronger than that. I knew that my self-worth was not determined by how a man saw me.

It was nearly evening and we needed to stop for the night. I found a small cave near one of the oases and decided to sleep there. I let Phaethon drink her fill while I refilled my waterskins. I brought her over to the cave, putting out food for her to eat. I had just finished building my fire when I heard something.

I stood, grabbing my sword.

“Basileia.”

I whirled around and Zain stood there, watching me. My first thought was wondering how he had managed to get so close without me being aware of it.

The second, that I was so glad and relieved to see him. “I’m very happy you’re here. I wanted to talk to you about . . .”

My voice faded when I saw the expression on his face. “Zain?”

After several cold, awful seconds, he finally said, “I am here to take the diviner stone from you.”