An abandoned boy, a grieving prince, and a reclusive sorcerer find themselves caught in a web of peril and mystery...
Domi, a young thief abandoned on the street at birth, just wants to save his dying foster mother. But first, he must survive the m...
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If Domi wanted to pull off the most audacious burglary of his life, he needed better clothing.
"Way better clothing," he said under his breath with a glare down at his tattered black rags.
The boy grimaced and sighed. Better clothing was worth more than Domi and all his worldly possessions combined, so he also needed coin. Perfect disguises didn't come cheap, after all, but the prize would be worth the expense.
It had to be.
Crouched in a shadowed alleyway across from a bookseller's stall, the boy eyed his afternoon's mark with sharp hunger. The hunger burned not just for the honey cake the man under the blue awning nibbled while browsing a book Domi couldn't read. Oh no, the boy's belly might have been empty, but he hungered less for the sweet roll and more for the clothes the man with the roll wore.
The young man displayed his wealth for all to admire in a glossy cascade of long bleached masculine pastels. Like everyone else in society, he wore a tunica, but his pale underrobe extended three times longer than Domi's own black tunica, and he wore an ankle-length sleeveless paenula mantle draped over it. Every inch of the expensive garments screamed "respectable gentleman."
Domi didn't care a fig about fashion and lacked the coin to afford it, but he eyed the lavish egg-blue and pale-apricot apparel with envy. He needed an outfit like that for his big job, or he'd stick out like a roach on a rosebud.
Alas, he was a skilled thief, but he could not snatch the clothes off a man's back in broad daylight. Instead of the pampered dunce's outfit, the boy meant to steal a little thing Domi had spotted and the man had not.
The coin, shiny and gold, lay half-buried beneath the oblivious man's slipper.
Domi stared at the bright disc with an intensity he half expected would burn a hole straight through the coin and into the dirt beneath. He had been making his way through the marketplace when a metallic glint in the corner of his eye drew his gaze to the beautiful glimmer of glorious gold. The coin had tumbled, unnoticed, from the man's generous, ill-fastened purse. The gold wouldn't be enough to buy Domi the tailored outfit he needed for his disguise, but it would help.
All the best thieves were opportunists, his ma always said. And although Merula didn't want him to snatch in the marketplace on account of the danger to life and limb, it wasn't like Domi's life and limbs were all that valuable. Besides, he knew his ma would appreciate his entrepreneurial spirit.
Not that he intended for Merula to find out about this little stunt. Ever.
The man flipped another page with sticky fingers and chewed his sweet roll, an absent expression on his face as he read. Behind him, the stall owner drew a breath to complain, then closed her mouth with a heavy sigh. The gentleman shifted his weight, and his slippered foot slid the rest of the way off the coin.
