Without a King (Greatest Thief 1, mxm)

Chapter Fifteen

Kassia and I spent most of our time together for the next few days. I realized that this served two purposes. I could answer any questions she had about our lives, but I could also keep an eye on her for Baisan. Every morning, she cleaned and re-dressed Castin's wound. On the second day, he woke up briefly and Baisan managed to force him to eat a bit of bread before he went back to sleep. We all saw it as a good sign.

For the rest of the day, Kassia and I either stayed home or went out, depending on where Baisan wanted us. No matter where we were, she asked me questions constantly. Mostly, they revolved around the hierarchy of our family, or the way we did certain things. One afternoon, four days after her arrival, she locked on to the topic of our pasts.

We were on the main street, I was looking for a stall I could quickly grab some food from, but she kept distracting me.

"So Orrun and Leker are actually brothers, right?"

I nodded and turned my attention to a nearby stall, but she nudged me sharply, meaning she wanted an elaboration. I flinched and rubbed my side. "All right, calm down. Their father was having an affair. He was married to Orrun's mother. They were born only a few months apart."

"What happened to their parents?"

"Um..." They'd told me the story before, but I didn't know all the details. "Somehow they both ended up living with Orrun's mother and his siblings. He has a bunch, five or six, I think. Anyway, I think their father died and Orrun's mother hated Leker so she made him leave and Orrun went with him. Something like that. Their siblings never came to look for them, so..." I trailed off and shrugged.

"That's horrible."

"It's common. When you're poor, taking care of children is difficult." I slipped up between a few people and grabbed a couple of oranges from the basket I'd been eyeing. After moving away from the cart so we wouldn't be noticed, I grinned and handed one to Kassia.

She smiled. She was really pretty when she smiled. "Thank you. So tell me about Baisan."

I started peeling my orange and tossing the peels to the ground. A rat would probably appreciate them later. "Baisan lived with an uncle because his mother died and his father was a sailor. Then his father died at sea and his uncle refused to care for him, so he ran away. He's the only one of us who has any sort of education, but it's nothing useful as far as I can tell. He was young when this happened, I think around eight. Then," I paused to eat a piece of my orange. "Then he met Castin and they've been together ever since. That's why Cast's second in command instead of me, when I'm clearly smarter and better for the job."

"You don't think Castin's smart?"

I shrugged. "Sure, he is. But he and I have this rivalry, you know."

"I hadn't noticed. With him being unconscious and all," Kassia said.

"Right, well... Anyone else?"

"How about Castin?"

"He's like me, I guess. Son of a prostitute. We think his father was Native, or a foreigner, based solely on his skin. He's darker than me and Ninavi, so we're probably half Telt, but it's impossible to find out."

Kassia looked thoughtful. "So he might be part Deoran or Navirian?"

"I suppose so."

"And is he the same age as Baisan?"

"We guess so. See, Baisan, Stria, Leker, and Orrun all know how old they are, since they had real families. Ninavi, Castin, and I don't. Ninavi's probably the youngest, and I'm pretty sure I'm the oldest." I paused, remembering how old Tannix had guessed me to be. "Sixteen or so, I think. How old are you?"