Without a King (Greatest Thief 1, mxm)

Chapter Eleven

We waited until the sun was starting to rise, after realizing that I might have trouble finding a window I had never been to in the dark. We spent the time talking, partially, I thought, because Tannix wasn't sure if he trusted me yet and didn't want to go to sleep. He even went down to the kitchens to get me some food. When he returned, he sat on his bed, and I once again buried myself in the comfortable chair. He was asking me questions, but I didn't mind answering them, not after getting the hard topic of my parents out of the way.

"So, that dagger?" he began, after giving me a moment to start devouring the bread he had brought me. "Fairly soon after you left, one of the others started complaining about how he couldn't find one of his daggers. I assume that's it?"

I nodded.

"And the cloak too?"

"Someone else's," I explained. "I knew better than to take both things from the same person."

"And the ring is Lord Co's?"

I nodded again. This time I took the chain I wore around my neck and pulled it out from under my tunic. The ring still hung on it. The key I'd long ago given to Baisan so that he could use my little chest for our money. "I was thinking of selling it, but I got a little attached to it. I didn't know I was getting myself into anything important when I took it, I just thought it was another piece of jewellery." I tucked the chain back under my tunic and tore a piece off the bread.

"You like jewellery?"

"It's easy to hide and easy to sell," I told him. I was a little surprised at how open I was being about my life, but Tannix seemed fascinated by the way I lived. "There's always a prostitute who wants to make herself look nicer."

"Know a lot about prostitutes, don't you?"

I looked up from my bread. "For the love of Zianesa, I grew up in a brothel. That doesn't mean I go visit them often. I couldn't afford them anyway, not like you could."

Tannix laughed. "I have been, more or less, locked up in this compound since I was fourteen," he pointed out. "When do you think I would have time to go to a brothel?"

I shrugged. "You're the son of West Draulin. I assumed you could make time."

He shook his head. "Why did you decide to stay here for as long as you did?"

I hesitated. "To be honest, it was for the food at first." He looked a little insulted. "You don't understand. You've spent your whole life being given enough to eat. I've had to fight for food. This," I waved the piece of bread, "is a day's worth of work for me. All you had to do was walk downstairs and ask for it. At the very beginning, when you tackled me, I went with you to avoid suspicion. Then the next morning I heard about food, and I couldn't help myself. I found you again because you'd been nice to me the day before. I was used to being on my own, but as soon as I started sticking with you and we became friends, I don't know, something changed. I didn't choose you because of your status; I didn't even know who you were until the second day."

"So we became friends because you were hungry?"

"I'm always hungry," I said. "After leaving, I didn't want to be on my own again, so I joined a group of other thieves. The one that attacked us when we were out with Malte, remember?"

"You joined someone who attacked you?"

"They didn't attack me." I paused to eat another piece of the bread. "They thought I was following you two because you had something good, so they decided to help out. The only reason they left is because I told them to."

"And they listened to you?"

"You're important in your world, I'm important in mine."