I frown. Climbing from the bed, I find my own clothes and put them on, but she’s already hooking a leg over the ledge.
“Be careful!”
“I have to go.” She disappears over the edge, and I run across to watch her descend. The sky is growing light at the edges of the horizon. Morning is almost here.
“Do not follow me,” she calls as she reaches the ground.
But that’s exactly what I’ll do. How else am I supposed to make sure we accidentally run into each other again?
Waiting until she has cast one final look up at my room and darted away into the street, I swing around the opening and tuck my toes into the gaps between bricks, climbing higher rather than descending. There’s an overhang on the north side of the spire, and I land on it moments later, dropping from there onto the roof of the main section of the temple and running across the red tiles. There’s hardly any noise as my feet tread lightly across the roof. When I reach the other side, I speed up and take a running jump, rolling and letting my momentum bring me to my feet again on the roof of a nearby building, repeating the process until I’ve made up enough ground to catch sight of Yalina again.
A dark figure alone on the quiet predawn streets, she hurries around a corner into a narrow alley between leather shops and bookshops leading down toward the Solhara’s Gift, the main well in the center of the city.
The sector of the city nearest the palace is where most of the expensive mansions are. So it’s no surprise to me when she turns south and follows the Ishra Way past the grand fountain which used to splash cool clean water day and night. It’s now still and dry.
She glances around, and I duck down low, hoping she hasn’t caught me stalking her. I know she asked me not to follow, but what am I supposed to do?
There’s an extra guard on duty outside the mansion I robbed last night. I smile thinking of the pompous idiots huddled up in bed, wondering how it was done. They don’t need the gold anyway. They have so much.
I follow Yalina on and on past every grand house on the row until we come to the high walls of the palace grounds. She stops, looking around. I watch in wonder as she clambers up the walls and over the other side, right into the palace itself.
I’m so surprised I don’t even leap to the next roof. I just stand and stare at the walls.
Yalina! She told me she was the solha and I didn’t believe her. But that’s crazy.
I can’t follow her into the palace. I’ll lose a hand if they catch a vagrant like me there, and that’s if I’m lucky.
I wish I could know for sure. See with my own eyes, but no one sees the solha’s face. That would be sacrilege. I run a hand over my own face in astonishment. Was I just the luckiest bastard in the kingdom?
How am I supposed to feel when I’ve had a taste of her and it was so sweet, and now I’ll never see her again? I can’t leave it there. But what hope do I have with a princess? With the future solhara of Vathira? I’m nothing but a poor homeless thief. She’s so far out of my reach I may as well hope to catch a star or the sun itself.
Disheartened, I turn and slide over the lip of the mansion roof, dropping to the ground, speed and stealth forgotten. I trudge through the streets as people wake and leave their homes to go about their business, head down, hands shoved into my pockets.
Pockets that are still filled with gold!
I need to get this jewelry to my friend before I’m caught with it. I hope he’s awake at this hour.
I force my feet to turn down toward the river. My mind is not so easy to direct. My thoughts stray to the first moment she cameagainst my tongue, her pussy fluttering over me, covering me with sweet honey. Or the way she felt in my arms as I woke. Her perfect ass tucked against me, enticing me with promises of so much more than what we explored together.
I can’t believe I did something so stupid as to fall for a girl I’ll never have. I’ve never even come close before. I always thought my heart was immune. I’ve been on my own for so long I’ve just grown used to it. Other lovers were always just a bit of fun. A chance to test my skills, to practice my charm.
None of them got to me the way Yalina has after only a single night.
I have to pound pretty hard on the door before I hear Zerth stir. Eventually he unlocks the door of the little shop, peering out at me with a grouchy expression on his face. Once he sees who is at his door, he opens it wider and pulls me inside, shutting it again after us. “You’re up early. Or is it out late? I take it you have something for me.”
Reaching into my pockets, I draw out my pilfered riches. “Sure do.”
His brow lifts. “That’s a lot in one visit. You’re getting reckless, my friend.” Bending, he retrieves his scales from under his work bench, and I place my gold onto one side.
“What does it matter? They haven’t caught me yet.”
Zerth scoffs. “You ought to be more careful.”
“What for?” I mean it. What is the point of being careful when all it gets me is a cold hard bed and barely enough to see me through the week. I’m sick of scrounging and running all the time just to make ends meet. And so what if I’m caught? Not like I have much to look forward to anyway.
He gives me a funny look. “Well, if that’s your attitude, I might have a job for you. Some foreign merchants came through yesterday talking about the biggest haul of treasure I’ve ever heard about.”
This perks me up a bit. “Oh?”
