A Country Falls (Greatest Thief 3)

Bonus - My Thief

I made a decision when he collapsed into the sand in the Deorun desert. I decided that I would never leave him behind again. My intentions had been good—to keep him out of the fighting and away from danger. But danger had found him in East Draulin, and brought him here. He would have safer staying with the camp from the start.

I picked him up, only half-hearing what Acen and Kor were saying to me. Flashbacks of the last time I'd held Finn like this bombarded me. In Zianna, with the noose still tied around his neck. This time, he wasn't quite as light or thin. There was a different sort of fragility to him. His skin was dry and caked in sand, and he was hot. Heat exhaustion, of course, it was common in the camp. Almost everyone had suffered from it from at least once. Even while I tried to attribute his condition to the sun, I still knew his time in Deorun wouldn't have been pleasant. I didn't know what they had done to him.

Still, I wanted to find the people who had hurt him and rip them apart with my bare hands.

I decided more than one thing on that day, but sneaking into Deorun took priority. I was pulled away into my world of fighting and politics, and I never got the chance to put my plan into action. It had to wait until we were back in East Draulin.

The morning Jalor and Mayah were going to be married, I woke up when the sun was just starting to rise. I tried to go back to sleep, but quickly gave up. I couldn't ignore the nervous fluttering in my stomach. Finn had attached himself to me in the night, and it took me a few moments to carefully slide off of the bed without disturbing him too much. I walked to my desk and stared down at the piece of parchment lying on it. It was the short speech I'd have to give at the wedding, almost taken word for word from the formal report I'd written earlier in the month. The one Finn had read over my shoulder.

I glanced over at the bed. He'd shifted, pulling the blankets up to his head. He was on the verge of being awake, but I didn't want to bother him. He learned to read over the course of the war. It wasn't how smart he was that confused me; it was his approach to his intelligence. I'd always been aware of it, lurking behind his act of being an illiterate, uneducated thief. He knew he was different, he was proud of it, and yet he hid it. It was another part of him that I felt like I'd never fully understand.

There was a knock on the door. Finn rolled over but didn't fully wake up, and I walked over to the door. Acen pushed it open just as I was reaching for the doorknob.

"Sorry, I didn't think you were awake." He walked past me carrying a large bundle of clothing, which he placed on the desk. When I joined him, he held out his right hand. I took what he was offering me without looking.

Finn was going to wake up and I had to speak quickly and quietly. "I don't know how much time we'll get to talk before the wedding, so—" I hesitated, glancing at the bed again. "Keep an eye on him during the celebration. I'll have to greet all the guests and answer questions about the war, and Goddess knows what else. Once things are starting to wind down, get him out onto one of the balconies. I'll—"

Finn mumbled something and I cut myself off sharply. He was awake, but hopefully he hadn't been listening.

"Finn, I know you're awake," I said. "Sit up." Sometimes I couldn't help but sound like I was ordering him around and I got annoyed every time I did it. It was the way I'd been raised to talk. A habit that was hard to break.

He sat up and looked like he was about to say something before changing his mind. He stared at me, his gaze wandering over my chest and for a moment locking on the amulet I was wearing. I was so used to it being there that I hardly noticed its weight anymore. I let myself stare back. He was wearing one of my blue tunics and it was far too big for him, but he enjoyed sleeping in it so I let him. And I liked it. There was something about him wearing my clothes that I simply liked.