Page 42 of Realm of Thieves

“As long as Brynla’s here, there will be two women of the house,” she says. I don’t like the teasing look in her eyes, the way she’s smiling.

“Brynla is a—”

“Prisoner, I know.” She lets out a long sigh and then rests her head against my shoulder. “I’ve just never seen a prisoner treated so well. She wears my dresses, sleeps in the nicest guest quarters, is allowed to eat dinner with us, has the seamstress making her custom attire, has a dog that’s treated better than Grandfather when he comes to visit. She’s only been here ten days and it feels like she’s here to stay. Not to mention the way you look at her.”

I shrug her off my shoulder. “What do you mean, how I look at her?”

“It’s disgusting,” she says, curling her lip for emphasis.

“You’re wearing the fool’s crown,” I tell her, pressing my hand against her face and pushing her away. “Go back to your garden and busy yourself. I think you’re running out of pastimes.”

She feigns fighting back, rubbing her dirty fingers on my face until I push her far enough away. Then she runs off to her garden that runs along the walls of the courtyard, giggling.

Laughing, I wipe the dirt off my beard. I bring my attention back to Brynla only to catch her staring at me with a look on her face that I rarely see. There’s a wrinkle across her forehead, a strange longing in her gaze. It only lasts a second before Steiner takes advantage of her distraction and slaps her on her armored shoulder with the sword.

“You’d be dead,” Steiner says. “Pay attention.”

Brynla shakes her head, looking slightly chagrined, then suddenly drops to her hands in a push-up position and kicks out at Steiner’s ankles behind her, leveling my younger brother to the ground in a heap.

“No,you’dbe dead,” she says, towering over him and dusting her hands off.

Then she reaches out for his hand and pulls him to his feet, even though I know my brother doesn’t need the help. We’ve spent every moment over the last ten days testing Brynla to see if any of the suen has taken a late hold, but she doesn’t seem different, just as naturally strong as before.

“Go again?” Brynla asks him, brandishing her wooden sword as if it could slice him in two.

Steiner shakes his head, rubbing at his ass where he fell down. “I think I need a break. Andor, you want to take over?” he asks me.

“I’m not wearing armor,” I tell him, holding my arms out, but I’m walking toward them anyway. “I’m not sure I trust her not to stab me.”

“You’ll have to take your chances,” she says sweetly as Steiner tosses me his sword.

I catch it in midair, not even having to look at it. Okay, perhaps I’m showing off a little.

“You know I like to take chances,” I tell her.

“Good luck,” Steiner mutters under his breath as he walks away, the gravel crunching under his boots. “I’m going to see if Moon has come back to roost.”

At the mention of his white raven, Brynla’s face falls.

I take advantage and lunge, tapping her other shoulder with my blade. “There, you just died again.”

She gives me a pained yet annoyed look.

“Hey,” I say to her, trying to keep her focused. “Moon will be back any day now. It takes four days to fly from here to the Banished Land.There’s probably a day trying to find your aunt in the underground city, then four days back.”

“That’s nine days.”

“And it’s day ten. Give the bird a break.” I reach out to tap her again, but this time she’s quick. She swiftly raises her sword and almost knocks mine out of my grasp.

“Ah!” I cry out, grinning at her. “There we go. Give it to me.”

“You don’t want me to give it to you,” she says with a smirk, and I strike again. She grunts, twisting at the waist, her footwork smooth, keeping her just out of my reach. Then she slices down at my sword, preventing me from cutting her the other way.

“You don’t think I can handle a little blood drawn?” I say, stepping back and keeping my eyes locked on her warm brown ones so that she can’t follow my next move. An easy mistake is to let your eyes betray your plan.

“I suppose you can simply heal yourself, can’t you?” she asks.

“Actually no,” I say, ducking as she strikes with a wide swipe. “It doesn’t work that way.”

---