Page 70 of Dishonor Among Thieves
“Is that…sedum?” I asked.
Neo nodded. “My mother came from nothing,” he said. “No land, no dowry. She loved this place, the Oderisi land, so deeply that my father had the Dragon’s Blood Sedum stamped into this ring as a symbol of everything their union meant. This place was not just a home, not just a farm. It was the symbol of their love for one another. I believe it’s why even when my mother had the chance to leave, to find sanctuary in other parts of the Realm, she simply couldn’t abandon this place. Of course, we didn’t have blood moss growing here at that time, but these rubies?” He pointed to tiny red stones that looked like tiny pinpricks of blood set into the sedum. “My mother added them when she met Jaenelle. This became the ring my mother gave her wife on their wedding day.”
He slipped the ring over my finger. “I’d like you to wear it, if it pleases you.”
I closed my eyes against burning tears of joy. This was the first gift anyone had ever given me. Selflessly. For my own pleasure. Not the hag stone, with its manipulation and control over me. Not the borrowed breeches from Dale or Odile’s shoes. This ring had been passed down from one loving union to another. And now Neo was giving it to me. A symbol of what our union was and what it might be.
“It would be my honor,” I whispered, kissing his eyes, his nose, the slope of his cheek, and his beautiful lips. “Thank you, Neo.”
I settled back beside him in bed, my drying hair mingling with his. “You know,” I said, tracing my fingertips along his bare chest. I watched the rubies in my ring sparkle in the firelight as my fingers danced. “You’ve never told me what Gia and Rain do. What is their part in the Oderisi family criminal enterprise?”
Neo grinned and closed his eyes, groaning in pleasure as my hands explored his body. “You realize Antonia will summon us for dinner any time now. The bedroom door isn’t locked,” he reminded me, “and we have a house full of little mongrels running about.”
“I’m well aware of the foundlings and the hour and the locks,” I crooned. Soon we would have to get out of bed, dress, and break the sweet seclusion of each other’s company. But I wouldn’t mourn it, as I knew this was only the first night of many, many nights and days to come when Neo and I would share passion and pleasure and pain. Everything required of a true family.
Neo scrubbed a hand over his face. “I’ll need to find a way to get Elgit safely back to Tarqeq,” he said. “As soon as he’s well enough to move. I’ll try drinking from him tonight. We’ll test the effects. If it speeds his healing along… Who knows? We might save this goblin yet.”
I nodded. “Perhaps we can bring Ivo. His talents are especially suited, I think, to communicating with goblins.”
Neo widened his eyes. “Hmmm, I look forward to learning about these foundlings. May the gods bless Flynnie. That boy is going to have his hands full.”
“Flynnie?” I gasped. “Is that a note of affection I hear in your voice?”
“Don’t be a fool,” he barked, tugging the blankets up higher and wrapping his arms ever tighter around me.
“I won’t be distracted, you know,” I reminded him, sneaking another peek at my ring. “Gia and Rain? Their work? What’s one more secret between husband and wife?”
He sighed and closed his eyes. “Brexia, please. If you would prefer to live as the mistress of this manor, steward of foundlings…” He opened his eyes and held my gaze with his. “You may leave the thieving life behind you. I will support you through my own sweat and labor. Protect you from the harsher realities.”
I lifted a brow at him, ignoring his noble but entirely ridiculous sentiment. “I have no intention of being protected from life by you, Neo. If there are harsh realities ahead, I intent to share them with you. And perhaps even protect you from them.”
Neo’s body seemed to shudder as he looked at me with raw affection. Purity of emotion that one day, I was certain, would be profound and lasting love.
“So are they pickpockets?” I asked. “Thieves of…ideas? Do they steal the songs from the mouths of bards?”
Neo shook his head, sighing through a resigned chuckle. “They are grave robbers,” he admitted. “They have a network of…I’ll call them friends, who spread the word through the shires when a wealthy person dies. They specifically seek out the worst of humanity. Wife-beaters, cheats, murderers. You’d be surprised the means some will go to for riches. They locate the grave of the recently departed villains, take any jewels or gold the person was buried with, and return the body to its final rest. Just a little less fancifully attired.”
“What of the vengersax?” I asked. “That sounds like dangerous work, digging graves out under cover of darkness?”
“Don’t forget the trolls,” he agreed. “It is dangerous work. Very dirty, very complicated, very dangerous work.”
“I’m going to need clothes that suit the job. Some breeches that actually fit,” I said. “And shoes. Gia can teach me to outfit myself appropriately for the work. Thankfully, I’m already well-schooled in stealing. I have only one condition,” I added.
“Hmmm, what’s that?” Neo stroked the hair back from my face and kissed my forehead. “My perfect little thief?”
I wove my legs between his and breathed a dozen light kisses against his lips. “No graveyards in Fish Head End,” I said.