Dance of Thieves (Dance of Thieves, #1)

by Mary E. Pearson

The ghosts, they never go away. They call to you in unexpected moments, their hands lacing with yours and pulling you down paths that lead nowhere. This way. I had learned to mostly shut them out.

Now it seemed, we needed to be watching the Ballengers.

“Blink last.” “Always,” I confirmed.

“And you, Kazi of Brightmist, have no understanding of the trouble you’ve caused me. I should be home with my family, protecting them, and instead I’m out here, chained to you!”

She knew something about survival. I wondered if she might even know more than me.

He was still angry. He still grieved. His pace quickened, and I knew the topic was closed.

“Tell me another one,” I said. And she did. A dozen more, until her lids grew heavy and she finally fell asleep.

I hated that I found him—appealing. Not just his appearance, but the confidence of his strides, the calculations in his gaze, his cockiness, his damned voice. I hated the ridiculous flip-flop my stomach did just now when I caught him looking at me. I was not Synové!

Kazimyrah. They come and go, like the centuries. I cannot grow lazy. Memories are short. It is the forgetting that I fear.”

“What did they do to you, Kazi?” His voice was low, earnest. Even in the dim light, I was able to see the worry in his eyes. I pretended I didn’t know what he was talking about. “Who did what?” “Who made you afraid of an open world? An open sky? Was it Venda? Your parents?” “No one did anything,” I answered quietly. “Then hold on to me,” he said. “Let me show you the stars.”

“Do you suppose,” he finally whispered, “that this could be part of making … the best of it?” My breath fluttered faintly in my chest. There were a hundred things I should have said, but instead I answered, “I think it could be.”

A fist tightened in my gut. It wasn’t right. This was a line I couldn’t cross. My hands slid around to his chest to push him away, but then I hesitated, my palms burning against his skin, and slowly they slid upward, rising, my fingers raking through his hair, lacing behind his head, and I pulled his mouth back to mine.

It was our story. It didn’t have to have a happy beginning or a happy ending, but the middle was a feast at a banquet, a rich soapy bath, a night’s rest at an inn and a full stomach, a warm chest nestled up against my back, the soft heat of lips at my nape, stories whispered in my ear.

This was just Jase remembering I loved oranges.

I pushed away from the door and walked back to my room.

NO OPEN IT. DONT WALK AWAY!

There is magic in everything, only you must watch for it. It does not come from spells or potions or the sky, nor by special delivery of the gods. It is all around you.

Hear the language that isn’t spoken, Kazi, the breaths, the pauses, the fisted hands, the vacant stares, the twitches and tears, for everyone can hear spoken words, but only a few can hear the heart that beats behind them.

Because if I could believe in tomorrow or the next day, maybe that would give the magic time to come true. Or better, maybe by then I wouldn’t need the magic at all.

Priya looked down and shook her head. “Oh damn, Jase. She’s got you by the throat.”

Yes she does lol that’s the best part

Choose your words carefully, even the words you think, because they become seeds, and seeds become history.

“Yes, I want to kiss you, Jase Ballenger. Not for show or to make the best of it. I want to kiss you because I want you, every part of you, even the parts that infuriate me beyond telling, because you’ve infected me with a poison that I don’t want to flush out, because you’re a mad viper twisting around my middle, cutting off my breath, yet I want you more than I want to breathe. Yes, Jase, I want to kiss you, just because I do, but the one thing I cannot do is promise you any tomorrows.”

“We should probably get back to work,” I said. “Hell’s bells we shouldn’t,” she said firmly. “I’m certain we need to rest a bit longer.” We didn’t need much encouragement. None of us moved. Wren took a long sip of water. “It looks like a whole flock of beautiful, muscled birds taking flight.”

They are so real LMAO. They are watching the boys shirtless working 🤣👏🏼

Their tattoos were all different—some on chests, some on shoulders, backs, or arms—but they all had some form of the Ballenger crest on them, the wings of eagles fluttering in front of us.

Show me then 😛

“Just so we know we have the story straight, you two are posing as husband and wife?” Eben set down the pot of water he had just filled, and Natiya paused from mincing scallions, the silence long and full. “No,” Eben answered. “We’re not posing.”

“Look at you! You’re drenched,” she said and grabbed my hand, pulling me inside. “You need a dry shirt and—” “I only need you, Kazi, that’s all I need.”

JUST STAB ME IN THE HEART, ITS FINE 😭💗

“He’s a logophile.”

I’m a logophile.

What I had told Kazi was true. There was no Previzi driver who looked like him. But there used to be. Now he worked for us. My father had hired him a year ago.

“I love you. I love you with every breath, with every thought that’s inside me. I’ve loved you from the first time I kissed you on that ledge. Even before that.”

LORDDD 😭😭😭😭

She would never believe another word I said. Truth that came too late was as useful as a meal to a dead man.

“Though I could send a trusted representative along to keep an eye on you,” the queen suggested. “An ambassador of sorts. What do you think, Patrei? Do you think I should trust you?” I stared at her, the air punched out of me, but then, the glimmer again—I saw the glimmer in her eyes, and it struck me. I understood what she was doing.

She’s getting kazi her man 😛😛