Dance of Thieves (Dance of Thieves 1)

Come out, girl!

Here.

He was here.

How was that even possible?

It was as if no time had passed. He looked the same.

Fear swelled in my throat. My knees became hot liquid.

You’re not powerless anymore.

He was mine. Mine for a simple trade. For a worthless captain and his cohorts.

Know what is at stake. Kazimyrah, I need you.

Justice for thousands, or justice for one. My feet were on two different paths, my insides splitting, tumbling in two directions.

The Previzi driver spotted the dagger in my hand and struggled to get away. I heard Mason call him Zane. They knew him. He had a name. Zane. Both Mason and Gunner were holding him now. He had seen the murder in my eyes. It fueled me, wanting him even more, a hungry, thirsty, ravenous need to spill his blood a drop at a time. “What happened to her?” I called. “What did you do to my mother?” The questions came out quiet, halting and unexpected. The sound turned my stomach to ice. I heard the voice of the child I used to be. The man called Zane looked at me as if he knew he had no chance.

He opened his mouth to speak, but Gunner clapped his hand over it and shoved him into someone else’s arms behind him. “Trade first. Then you get your answers.”

I stared a

t Gunner, wishing him dead, my rage so hot I could have torn him in two with my bare hands, but at the same time I was paralyzed. I might as well have had a sword slicing into my soul. The man who had haunted me for my whole life was here and Jase knew. He knew his name.

He had known all along.

I looked at him.

I didn’t need to say it. I knew he could see it in my eyes.

This? You lied about this too?

He stepped closer. “Kazi, I was—”

Make a choice, Kazi. There was only one choice. I had to give one thing up to gain another.

Jase lunged toward me, but I was expecting it. I knew things too. Things like the moment a thief closes in on their mark—it’s always when they are at their weakest.

I kicked him to his knees and yanked his hair, pulling his head back with one hand and pressing my knife snug against his throat with my other. A quick sleight of hand, a dance, a swift, practiced movement that had kept me alive for years, maybe just for this moment.

“I gave you a chance,” I said between gritted teeth. I leaned close to his ear. “I gave you every chance.” I pulled his hair back a little harder, pressed the knife a little closer. “Now tell them to move away.”

“Step back,” Jase said carefully. Even speaking was risky with the blade so tight against his skin. “She’ll do it,” he warned. “She’ll cut my throat.”

“You heard him!” I yelled. “The Patrei is going with us.”

Everyone was shouting now, yelling for me to let go, telling me the horrible things they were going to do to me. I didn’t know if Zane was among them anymore. My throwing knife. Why didn’t I throw it while I had the chance?

Because too much was at stake. Too many crowded around him. A stray knife could have sent everything spinning out of control. My logic battled with my hunger.

I didn’t throw the knife because Zane wasn’t my mission and returning criminals to the queen was.

“Up,” I ordered and moved my knife to the base of Jase’s skull. “I know every vulnerable spot on your body. No more tricks. Lace your hands behind your head. Slowly.”

He did as I instructed, and I began guiding him toward the gate with my crew following close behind. Jase’s family, straza, and guards with their arrows still aimed followed on the sidelines, just waiting for an opportunity.