Page 24 of A Thief to Die For

Kingsland has its own traders to minimise the stranger traffic, so that’s probably not where I’ve seen him. Or is it?

‘Would you excuse me?’ Brother Thomas asks, suddenly interested in something over my shoulder. He walks swiftly in the direction of a dilapidated shack among the trees.

I casually glance back to see him sliding into the darkness and spot a person with a hood before they both disappear.

Is Marian connected to Brother Thomas?

I leave for my camp, tipping my head in farewell at the people I met tonight. But once the light recedes and I’m in the trees, I cut back to where I last saw them. It’s dark here, but the fires give just enough light to –

A figure lurches at me from behind a bush, pushing me against a tree. I react fast, locking on to their wrist, stopping their blade from reaching my exposed throat. My heart kicks into a healthy rhythm. The person is shorter than me and wearing a hooded cape. But even if I were deaf and blind, I’d know exactly who this is.

‘Hello, Marian.’

She exhales in frustration at being named but doesn’t pull back. ‘You’re as noisy as a horse crashing through the trees.’

‘Maybe … I wanted to be found.’

That’s not even close to the truth. I really need to stop underestimating her.

The lack of hostility in my tone surprises me. This woman’s accusations could have got me kicked out of Notting, or something worse. I should be livid.

That’s not at all what I feel right now.

I’m a little breathless, actually.

‘That’s not very soldier-like,’ she says. ‘I thought you had some training.’

‘I never said I was a soldier.’ My scalp tingles at her fishing for information. I have a sudden compulsion not to disappoint her, so I wiggle the knife I’ve drawn with my other hand, letting her feel the point of the blade I have aimed at her liver. ‘What made you think that?’

She inhales sharply.

To be fair, how my knife got there was pure muscle memory. The part of my brain that should be focused on defence or something useful is distracted with questions and … awareness of the angry girl still pressed against me.

Get your head together.

‘Maybe we don’t need weapons right now. Maybe we just talk.’ And back up a few steps so I can think. Except she doesn’t move. ‘Or … is this you wanting another opportunity to touch me?’

She leans into me even harder, and her knife breaks my skin. I bite back a hiss at the sting. ‘Or maybe I should gut you,’ she says soft and deadly.

I grit my teeth, and finally a half-decent thought arrives in my head. ‘Then we’ll both bleed out on this grass. I’m not here to hurt you, but I will if you go any further down this path.’

Her grip wavers. ‘I don’t like being followed.’

‘And I don’t like being accused of things I didn’t do. Things I know someone else did.’ Her hood has shifted, and in the low light I can just make out the curve of her lips. ‘Why do you steal from your own father?’

She tenses and for a second, I think she’s going to open up my artery, but then she finally pulls away. She doesn’t go far, holding the knife out at arm’s length between us.

I try another angle. ‘Why meet up with Brother Thomas?’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ Her voice is angrier now. ‘But you’re going to leave. In the morning.’

I drag in a breath. ‘I can’t do that.’

‘You will.’

I slowly shake my head.

‘Then you’ll regret it.’