Quill of Thieves

Chapter 35

"Quit smirking like that," Matthias snapped.

But he snuck another glance at Abel who walked one step ahead of him. He suspected she did that to simply piss him off, and he felt entirely stupid when he realized it certainly did its job.

Abel shrugged. "Like what?"

"Like you've manipulated the sun into shining at night."

She loosed a tinkling laugh. "And you're the sun in this scenario?"

Her auburn hair hung down her back, bits of it tucked beneath the leather strap of her quiver. He glared at it and picked up his pace until he fell instep beside her. If possible, Abel's smug expression widened. She was a maddening girl.

"Anyways," she continued, "I think I'd prefer to be the sun."

For some reason, he wanted to ask why, but it turned out he didn't have to. She continued regardless.

"The sun goes where it pleases. Even at night, I like to think the sun has simply left to go explore someplace else. It always stays in the light."

Matthias couldn't help it; he looked at her again. Her slight shadow splashed up against the dimness of the tunnel they walked in. Not the worm's tunnel, thank the gods. He watched it waver between the cracks of the stone as he said, "There's an old story that claims the sun and moon coexisted once in the same sky."

"The Tale of Earth's Deceit?" Abel said. "Sebastian read it to me on our journey here." She peered over at him. The look of it made Matthias clench his fingers around the air as if he could snatch back his words, which had somehow so encouraged it. "But I didn't think the academia of Halorium bothered with such nonsense tales. Are you a mystic, captain?"

He frowned. "Isn't everyone now?"

"But you were always, I assume."

There was an inquisitive accusation to her tone that both worried and awed Matthias. He stared at the wall, jaw ticking, but felt Abel's gaze on him all the same.

"Astrid knew, too. I'm assuming Queen Davina remembered since her own daughter spews out magic everywhere, but Bash never—"

"So did you," Matthias said, interrupting her. "You didn't seem at all fazed enough when you mentioned the portal earlier."

She stopped in the middle of the tunnel to glance back at him. The corners of her lips flipped downwards, a small dimple in her chin appearing beneath her mouth. It reminded Matthias of someone. Then, she looked away, flipping her hair behind her ear in a gesture that was suddenly self-conscious.

"Because I grew up reading the stories. I wanted to believe. Needed to. I had to believe in something grander than the life I was stuck in."

Matthias looked her over with a subtle sweep of his eyes. She was beautiful in a way that screamed at Matthias to watch his back around her. Her slender, graceful form had, no doubt, tricked many, and her tawny eyes shone like a predator's. Not to mention, she was from Eilibir where, Matthias imagined, the most interesting person who lived there was Sebastian. It hardly spoke of much. So what exactly had her life been like that had forced her into such atypical vulnerability?

And why did he particularly care?

Matthias shook his head and moved to march past her when her posture straightened like a hound on a scent. Her neck quirked as she flattened her palm against the stone of the mountain.

"By the Scribes, your fortress walls are ridiculously thin," she said under her breath.

"Thin? We're inside a solid mountain that runs nearly sixteen kilometers deep—"