Erik snorted. It was such a terrible joke, it was hardly even worth saying.
“That’s very helpful, Rheka,” Claudia snapped.
Narra shrugged. “Let’s see… the Emperor is dead. His two eldest daughters are on trial for his murder. They’ve been found guilty, though Marina is the true snake in the garden.”
The footsteps behind her stopped, and even Erik froze where he stood.
“What ?” Claudia hissed.
Narra looked back at them. “Right. This is news to you all.”
She didn’t realize how much of a shock it’d be to learn of the death of the emperor. She’d assumed they’d probably heard it from the guards in the dungeon, but apparently not.
“Marina’s coronation will be soon, I imagine,” Narra continued dryly. “She’ll be the next Empress of Rova.”
“Emperor’s Ancestors ,” Erik said.
“You should really read the Chronicle tomorrow.”
After a moment of silence, they continued their trek back to the city.
“What else have we missed?” Erik asked this time.
Narra looked up as she thought. “The hangings and general civil unrest have gotten worse. The Church of Srah now preaches in the streets, and has aligned with the next empress. Their High Priest has been murdered and the entire country is wondering whether it was because of Ashra’s wrath, or if Srah has abandoned them.”
“You say that so casually,” Erik remarked.
Narra shrugged. “Honestly, it has all been the least of my worries.”
“And what about these Daughters of yours?” Claudia asked coldly. Venom dripped from her tongue. “How could you agree to join those assassins when you’re already a Commander of the Thieves Guild?”
“Don’t you see how this reflects on all of us?” Klaus added. “Next thing you know, we’ll be getting contracts for assassinations because of you.”
“It’s none of our business why she joined,” Erik snapped.
Narra’s fists clenched as she spun on the two commanders. “How could I agree to join them?” she mocked. “You’re serious? I had no other damned choice!”
Claudia sneered. “Really? No choice but to kill? How very like you, Rheka.”
Narra took a step forward, and Klaus flung out an arm to shield his sister. “When I say I had no other choice, I mean it.” Her voice was cold, and hissed between her teeth. “Either I joined the Daughters and saved the Guild, or didn’t and let you all die .”
Claudia’s eyes widened and she stepped back, startled.
“So when I tell you I had no other choice, believe me. If there was another way, I would have taken it.” Narra looked between the two, making sure they understood the severity of her words. She’d already told Erik; either she joined the Daughters or they killed her. There had literally been no other choice unless she wanted to meet Ashra a whole other way.
When no one said anything else for a long minute, Erik cleared his throat. “We should get going.”
Narra nodded, and took one last look at the two commanders before she turned away. Though Klaus continued to regard her as if she was the enemy, something shone in Claudia’s eyes—something like respect.
Narra sighed. She really needed sleep. Her mind had to be playing tricks on her again.
The Thieves parted ways the moment they arrived in Rova City. Claudia and Klaus took off into the shadows of East Gardens, while Narra and Erik made their way around the lavish suburbs. It was well past noon, and Patrolmen would be out in their usual formation. It wasn’t safe for any of them to be in this part of the city .
She cursed herself for not thinking to bring a second grappling hook. If she had been thinking more clearly, she’d have brought one and they could have sailed back to her apartment in minutes.
Instead, it took the better part of several hours on foot to reach the Criminal District. By the time they entered Narra’s apartment, her feet were sore, and her entire body sagged with fatigue.
“You look about as bad as I feel,” Erik said as Narra flung the locks on the front door.
“Thanks ,” Narra said sarcastically.
Erik grinned and made his way into the kitchen after kicking off his boots and tossing his cloak over the back of the couch. He rummaged through the cabinets until he found a clean mug, then filled it with water. He drank two full cups and washed his face before wiping his face on a dishtowel.
“I’m going to bed,” Narra said. “You should clean up.”
Erik laughed. “That bad huh?”
Narra looked him up and down. His clothes were baggier than usual, since he’d borrowed a pair of Alden’s, but even under the clean clothes, she could still smell the faint odor of the dungeons. She imagined he’d have to bathe a few times and scrub his hair vigorously to fully be rid of the stench.
“Yes,” she said.
Erik flashed his teeth and took a step toward her, arms spread wide open. “Why don’t you come in for a hug then? Get one last good whiff?”
Narra reeled back. “No thank you!”
“Come on!” Erik rushed forward, and before she could flee back to her room, he gripped her hard.
Narra struggled to get out of his iron grip. “Enough!”
Erik laughed, and soon Narra was smiling, and not struggling quite so hard. She couldn’t believe he was finally back. It seemed like forever since she’d last seen him, and finally her other half had returned.
“All right, I’ll get cleaned up.” Erik hooked a thumb over his shoulder toward the bathroom. “Do you mind if I borrow some of your dad’s clothes?”
Narra’s smile fell, and her heart lurched painfully. She’d hardly thought about Quinn since all of this had begun. What would he think of her now?
“Sure,” she said. She stepped out of his grip.
Erik raised a questioning brow, his smile fading. “Are you certain?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“I’ll see you in the morning then,” he said.
Narra sighed. Finally, she was going to get some much-needed sleep. “Good night.”
“Good night, Narra.”
N arra awoke the next morning to the scent of eggs and bacon frying. She blinked heavy eyelids, her mind slowly pulling from the darkness of sleep. It smelled amazing. Better than anything she’d eaten in weeks. Narra had never been one for cooking. She’d always relied on her father or Erik in that area. Erik’s mother had taught him when he was young, and he’d made Narra dinner hundreds of times growing up. With her father almost always too drunk to cook, she’d been lucky to have him.
She licked her lips and stretched, easing the knots from her limbs. She relaxed back on her pillow, her mountain of orange hair spilling over her shoulder. It nearly strangled her every night, but she couldn’t imagine getting rid of the one connection she still had to her mother.
As the haze of sleep slowly faded, Narra’s eyebrows furrowed. Someone was cooking breakfast in her apartment?
She hadn’t had any food in the cupboards or fridge—nothing but rice and molding potatoes at least.
She slowly got up, and slipped on a pair of leather pants and a loose cotton button down. She holstered a long dagger around her thigh, just in case, and left the rest of her weapons sitting atop her dresser.
If she was right, Erik was on the other side of the door, cooking up a feast he’d probably stolen from the market while she slept.
Narra sighed and shook her head. She couldn’t believe him. After all he’d been through, the first thing he did was make breakfast. He should be sleeping—recovering from the awful ordeal in the dungeons.
She cracked the door to her room and peered through. The hall was dark as usual, but light spilled from the kitchen. She eased the door open and crossed the hall in a few steps.
As expected, Erik stood over the gas burners Quinn had installed several years ago. A tiny blue light danced below a deep cast-iron pan. Bacon and eggs sizzled side by side, and Narra’s stomach growled uncontr
ollably.
Her cheeks heated, and she held a hand over her stomach.
Erik looked over his shoulder and grinned. “Good morning.”
Narra wiped her mouth, just in case she’d been drooling. She was definitely salivating at the divine smells filling her home. “Morning.”
“Hungry?” Erik turned back to face the burners. Two plates sat next to him on the counter, a fork on each, and glasses of orange juice already poured from a pitcher.
Narra gasped and rushed forward. “Where did you get oranges this time of year?”
She gripped the glass of sloshing orange juice. Tiny bubbles swirled on top, and the cold glass chilled her fingers. She inhaled the sweet, but tart scent of oranges, and a shiver passed down her spine as she took a sip.
Erik chuckled. “Taily had a few left in her own kitchen. I didn’t think she’d mind if I borrowed some.”
Narra gaped at him. “Borrowed ?”
“All right, stole .”
“That sounds more believable.”
Erik laughed before he shut off the burner and piled eggs and bacon onto each plate. He brought them both over to the small kitchen table, and sat them down before grabbing his glass of orange juice and the pitcher that still remained half-full.
“Taily will kill you if she finds out,” Narra said. She took a seat opposite from him, sipping on the tart sweetness of her beverage.
Erik shrugged. “She could try.”
Narra rolled her eyes. Taily owned a small grocery store in the Criminal District. It was just on the edge between the seedier parts of the city and the Shopping District, giving her good business. The middle-aged woman was married to a thief. Narra and Erik had been stealing from her since they were nine.
They ate in silence, the pleasant, easygoing stillness she missed about her time with Erik. He never forced conversation, and instead let her be until something genuine came to him.
She was halfway through breakfast when she realized the Rova Chronicle laid bound in twine on the far end of the kitchen counter.
“Oh, you got the paper,” she said. Narra grabbed it before taking her seat again. She carefully pulled the pages from the twine loop before snapping them out to view the front page.
FOREIGN ROYALTY ARRIVES FOR THE PRINCESS’ CORONATION.
The headline made her stomach drop and her gut sour. She was no longer hungry. Narrowing her eyes at the page, she quickly scanned the article.
“What is it?” Erik asked.
She glanced up over the paper’s edge to see her friend’s large curious eyes. “They’ve set a date for Marina’s coronation.”
Now that she thought of it, royal delegates had already been arriving for a couple of days. That’s the only way she’d met Srah, which she still couldn’t believe. She shook her head. She still had to explain that one to Erik, but she wasn’t sure he’d believe her.
“Lovely,” Erik said dryly. “When is it?”
“Less than a week from today,” Narra said. She finished the article, reading a long list of foreign delegates who were coming to see the next empress receive her crown. There was of course the Duchess of the Wells, the last Princess of Rupa, and a slew of other names and titles she didn’t recognize. Even Kiznaiver was sending an ambassador, though Narra wasn’t sure how well that’d go over.
Her fingers clenched around the pages as she took in an interview from the princess herself on all the new policies she intended to implement, as well as how she intended to get the Church more involved with Rova’s politics.
Heat pushed through her chest until her hands shook and the paper wrinkled. Marina was so cocky about it all. She thought she’d won. In less than a week she’d be crowned empress, and that would be that. She’d own this country and everyone in it.
Narra sighed. What would Marina on the throne mean for their country? Getting the Church involved in politics was the very thing that split the continent apart in the first place. Three centuries ago, Rova, Kiznaiver and Talcotta had all been ruled as one realm, under the monarchy. But when the death of the Last King came, his General of Armies, High Priest, and Head Advisor all couldn’t agree on how the kingdom should be run.
A brutal war broke out which split the realm into three empires. The general, Norac Kolarova, founded the Rovan Empire. He was a warlord who abolished most of religion, while Aurelius Kiznaiver, the High Priest, created the Kiznaiver Empire, leading it under the Church of Srah, and eventually passed it down to his eldest daughter, Leona, who was the first High Priestess to become empress. Though the man she named as her own High Priest later assassinated her, she had a relatively peaceful start to her reign, and tried vehemently to return some semblance of kinship to the three countries.
The last of the realm was taken by Anora Talcotta, a woman far ahead of her time. She created the first democracy in the known world, and had much of her woodlands taken because of her peaceful nature. She was left with the icy mountains and tundra on the north-easternmost edge of the continent, and not much has been heard since Leona’s High Priest, Kalren, overthrew the Kiznaiver Empire and took as much from Talcotta’s lands as he could .
Would Marina return Rova to the Time of Kings? Would she divide her own country because of her religious beliefs?
Narra shook her head. She hoped not. Another divide would only mean war, and that was the last thing the empire needed.
“Narra?” Erik said.
She looked up, blinking from her thoughts. She’d been so wrapped up in the article and her thoughts that she’d crumpled half the newspaper. “Yes?”
“Are you all right?”
Narra bit her lip. “I don’t know.”
“What is it?”
Narra lowered the paper. She opened and closed her mouth as she tried to find the words to say. How did she explain to her best friend all that had gone on with Marina, Asher, and Avalon? She wasn’t sure how she felt about any of them, yet they had all worked together at different points for different goals.
All she was certain of was that she didn’t want to see Marina on the Rovan throne. She wanted revenge, and stealing the one thing Marina held most dear would be the best way to get it.
“It’s a lot to explain,” Narra said finally.
Erik sighed. “Look, I know you’re keeping things from me. You always do. But remember, I can help you.”
Narra worked her jaw back and forth. “I know.”
“Then tell me what’s been going on.”
Narra took one last look at the paper, her gaze grazing articles on the High Priest’s death confirming the existence of Ashra, and how the princesses’ trial was done and an execution day set. She set the paper aside, and told him all of it. All about Asher, his son, and what she’d done to him. All about Marina, and their stolen kisses, and how Narra had used the princess’s feelings against her to steal back Asher’s birth certificate, only to have to give it back in order to free them all. Then there was Avalon, sister of the prophet, and pirate captain. Narra told him about how they’d helped each other, and how they’d almost gotten Caroline back, only to have her stolen away again .
Of course, eventually Caroline had been freed with the Thieves, all thanks to Narra. She hoped Caroline had made it to the City Docks okay.
Erik sat back in his chair, stunned by it all.
Heat flushed her skin. She was embarrassed, even sharing all of this with her best friend. She had no idea what he might think about her attraction to women as well as men, or what any of it might mean. Were her feelings wrong? Or had she simply not met anyone like her before?
“Wow,” Erik said.
“Wow?” Narra huffed. “That’s all you’re going to say?”
Erik chuckled. “Just give me a moment to process.”
Narra squirmed in her seat. She wanted to know what he was thinking, and she didn’t want to wait. Though she’d always been a patient person, this was one thing she had a hard time waiting for.
“I can see why you’d be interested in
the princess. Her and her sisters might have been conjured from Ashra’s Hells, they’re so hot.”
Narra gasped in surprise, and then laughter burst from her chest. What the hell had she been thinking? Erik would never judge her, especially not for her sexual preferences.
“You aren’t wrong,” she said when she’d finally calmed down.
Erik flashed a smile, but worry clouded his eyes. “So you want revenge? Is that it?”
Narra’s elation popped, and she nodded. “Yes.”
He sighed. “I don’t really think the empire’s affairs are our business, but if it’s revenge you want, I’m not letting you go alone.”
Narra’s eyebrows flew up. “You’ll help me?”
Erik regarded her with a look . “Obviously.”
A smile tugged at the corners of her lips. “I should have known.”
He grinned. “You really should have.”
Narra’s boots clicked on the slick cobblestone as she descended toward the pier. Erik walked alongside her, smelling much better than he had yesterday. They both wore their full thief outfits: leather, cloaks, and a plethora of weapons. It felt good to have it all strapped to her again, ready to take on anything with her best friend by her side.
Once they’d finished breakfast, they’d spent some time catching up on the news before taking turns bathing. Dressed and ready, they flew over the rooftops of Rova City by dinnertime with a new plan in mind.
If Narra and Erik were going to stop Marina’s coronation, they needed help, and given Narra had done a big favor for Avalon, she still had her own favor to cash in with the pirate captain.
“Do you think she’ll be happy to see you?” Erik nudged her with his elbow and waggled his eyebrows at her.
Narra narrowed her eyes. “It isn’t like that.”
Erik grinned from ear to ear. “Or is it ?”
Narra barely resisted rolling her eyes. They passed the warehouse she’d been landing on for the last week during her many visits to the pirate ship, and descended to the wharf. The docks trembled as they stepped onto them.
She braced her legs and core, balancing much easier than she had last week, and made her way up to the plank set against the edge of the large ship.
Clockwork Thief Box Set Page 50
