Page 2

Chapter One

E ight years later…

“ Gold! Kya gold !” the grey parrot squawked only an inch behind my ear. “ Gold!”

“Quiet, Kipu!” I shushed the mouthy bird, stroking his ruffled feathers to calm myself as much as him. “I know you’re bored, but you’re going to get us in trouble.”

I looked over my shoulder, my breath catching for a moment when I saw the tall, stoic guard standing directly behind me.

His armor made him wide enough to take up the entire alleyway, and his sun-bleached shemagh scarf covered everything but his shadowed eyes.

A hefty sword sharp enough to turn Kipu into a kebob hung from his hip, and a soft grey feather stuck out the top of his helmet like it had sprouted this morning.

“ Jean! Jean, Kya!” Kipu fluttered his wings, dropping a few identical feathers on the ground.

“I was wondering if you’d show up.” I crossed my arms, glaring up at the silent guard with a not-so-subtle tap of my foot. “You said the princess would be here today. Yet we’ve been out here sweating all morning and no one richer than Mr. Allum and his rotting fruit cart has come through.”

The guard said nothing, as usual. He narrowed his almond-shaped eyes, lifting a singular brow as he folded his arms to match mine.

“Don’t give me that look,” I said. “It’s not like you have never been wrong before.”

“ Never! ” Kipu squawked, perching himself on a cracked clay brick sticking out of the alley wall.

“You’re supposed to be on my side!” I snapped my fingers at the bird, and he tilted his beak at me the way he always did when he wanted to be onery.

“ Jean! ” the traitor said proudly.

“Ky-a!” I annunciated an inch from Kipu’s face, trying to ignore Jean’s snickering over my shoulder.

“ Jean! ”

“No! Ky—”

A trumpet blared, startling everyone except Jean, who smugly lifted his chin.

Guards identical to Jean rushed down the center of the street, pushing aside any man, child, or rogue donkey in their path.

A man dressed head-to-toe in purple robes paraded down the street, leading a gorgeous camel whose harness jingled with silver bells and bright red pomegranates.

Sitting atop the camel was none other than the Princess of Solana.

“She’s here! Never doubted you for a second, Jeanie ole pal! ”

I flashed him a grateful smile, and he only rolled his eyes at me, then stepped aside to let me get into position.

The air was thick and humid, doing little to help my lungs as I puffed my way through the streets of Caramin.

Sitting out in the heat had taken its toll on me, but it had been days since I’d experienced a dizzy spell; surely it wouldn’t happen again today, would it?

The crowd pressed together like an impermeable wall, making it difficult for me to squirm my way to the front.

I found an opening between Mr. Allum and a stout woman who smelled like she had bathed herself in the perfume she sold.

The camel strode slowly past us, promenading the princess, who kept her nose held too high to ever smell any commoner’s stench or perfume.

That’s fine. She doesn’t need to see what happens next.

I lifted my hand in the air, pointing two fingers toward the sky and then toward the camel with a discreet flick of my wrist. It was hardly detectable among the waving hands and crowding bodies, but it was perfectly visible to a grey parrot who was waiting patiently for his cue.

Kipu didn’t hesitate to perform. He swooped down from the top of the highest building in the bazaar, gliding as close to the camel as he could safely get.

Once in range, he started mimicking the eerie howl of a wolf.

The camel froze, its sturdy legs planting themselves even as the attendant tried to tug on his reins.

Kipu howled again, this time getting brave enough to swoop down by the camel’s ear.

“Deter, why aren’t we moving?” the princess huffed. She kicked her slippered foot into the camel’s side, acting as the pretty piece of straw that would break the creature’s back. “It’s hot. I want to—Ahh!”

The camel reared its front legs, pulling the reins straight from the handler’s grip and sending the princess flying toward the ground. Everyone screamed or looked away, but I shifted closer, watching with narrowed eyes as two golden bangles flew off the princess’s dainty wrist and into the sky.

As expected, a pair of guards rushed to her aid, catching her before she could even touch a toe to the filthy ground. A swarm of guards followed, surrounding the princess and completely ignoring the fallen jewelry.

Yes! Success!

I ran into the street and hunted down the lost gold.

The sun glinted off the thick bracelets, drawing me to them with two quick strides.

I swiped them from the ground, then turned to disappear back into the crowd just as the princess pushed free from the guards.

She locked eyes with me, her painted lips parting as she looked down at the bracelets in my grasp.

Never mind...

“Thief!” the princess screamed, and just like that, I went from having a lovely afternoon to wishing I’d stayed in bed. “That dirty mongrel stole my bracelet!”

“Get her! She endangered Princess Morana!” a guard with a deep, echoey voice shouted, rallying the surrounding men.

I made a run for it. Dashing back into the crowd and squeezing through the thickest patches of people I could.

The Caramin guard all wore the same armor, face coverings, and helmets that Jean did, making them easy to spot in a crowd when the sun glinted off their shiny heads.

I scanned the helmets, hunting down the only one with a grey feather sticking out the top of it.

There!

I ran toward Jean. He saw me immediately and tilted his head to gesture toward a stack of crates a few paces behind him.

Following his cue, I hid behind the crates, my breaths short and shallow as my head started to spin from the sprint.

I pressed a palm to my pounding chest, taking slow, deep breaths.

I’m fine. Completely fine...

I peeked out around the edge of the crates, catching a shaming glare from Jean. “You could have told me she was the observant type,” I whispered.

Jean didn’t respond any further or even nod in my direction. His head was turning toward the direction I’d come from, and I followed his gaze until a shiny gold bangle on the ground caught my eye. I reached for my wrist, cursing under my breath when I saw that I only had one of the gold bracelets.

I dropped it.

Before I could consider running back for it, an unfamiliar hand plucked the gold from the dirt.

A hooded man with long white sleeves poking out from his cloak turned in my direction, the bracelet gleaming nearly as enticingly as his amber eyes.

I felt my breath catch. He almost didn’t look real, his flawless skin the perfect shade of sun-kissed honey, his dark brown hair sweeping just above his brow.

He raised the bracelet in the air, his perfectly white sleeve like a beacon among the bright colors of the bazaar. “Miss!” he called out in a clear tone. “Miss! I think you dropped this.”

Does he not...? Oh, for the love of...

“Over there! Thief!” Another guard spotted the man, pointing his curved sword toward his pristine white sleeve. “Get him! ”

Jean flicked me a look, one that was wordless but perfectly understood. Here’s your chance.

It would have been so easy to let the handsome stranger take the blow for my crimes, but my conscience was already dragging me back to the sparkling gold in the man’s hand.

Growling under my breath, I pushed past Jean, who dramatically pretended to trip and fall, giving me a chance to catch up to the hooded fool.

I snatched his wrist out of the sky, startling those twinkly eyes into widening. “Come with me if you don’t want to lose that hand.”