Page 87 of Thief of Hearts

“Pull out your daggers,” I said. I would prefer he was armed when we fought but at this point didn’t care either way.

“I’m not afraid of you, Basileia.”

“You should be.”

“I know you won’t hurt me,” he said. His tone was matter-of-fact, as if we were conducting some kind of transaction.

“Things change,” I said from my clenched teeth.

A tiny part of me hoped he would tell me this had all been a jest, that he’d tracked me down because he realized what a huge mistake he had made last night by leaving and that we had to be together.

But as the seconds ticked on, it became very apparent that wouldn’t be happening.

If a fight was what he wanted, then I would give it to him. “This is your last warning. I am going to win.”

No response.

Fine. I rushed at him, sword drawn. This would be over so quickly that—

He blew some dust at my face. I came to a halt. “What—”

My lungs constricted, as if I couldn’t breathe, and I began gasping for air. My head swam, my eyes blurring. My airways burned as I fell to my knees. I tried coughing it out, like I had with the dirt during the chariot race, but that only made things worse. It was like everything inside me began to shut down and stop functioning.

He said, “The only way you could have won would be if I fought fair.”

That lying, duplicitous, dishonorable, horrible thief. I was going to—

Then the world went dark.

When I woke up, I became quickly aware of two things.

The first was that there was a gag in my mouth, preventing me from speaking.

The second—my arms had been tied behind my back and to my feet.

Zain stood a few feet away from me, and loathing for him filled my entire being. I tried to shake the feeling off. I needed to concentrate on getting free of these ropes, not how much I hated him. He faced the other direction and I moved as quietly as I could so as to not draw his attention.

I stretched and strained, trying to get myself free. I didn’t know if I was strong enough to break thick ropes, but there was only one way to find out.

Nothing happened.

Glancing down, I saw that the rope was the rope of Phrygia. Unbreakable, and he was the only one who could remove it, since he’d put it on me.

He had bound me with my own prize.

And I had lost a fight for the second time in my life. I did not want this to become a habit.

Despite just resolving to never call on Invara’s magic again, what would happen if I could call up her warrior aspect? Would I be strong enough then?

But the gag prevented me from saying, “Invara Enyalius.” I couldn’t use her power if I couldn’t speak the words.

Maybe if I could get one of my smaller knives free, I could slip it into my hand and use it to start sawing at the rope.

I didn’t know if “unbreakable” meant that it couldn’t be cut either, but I at least had to try.

But no matter how I moved, I didn’t feel any of my knives.

He had taken them all.