Page 28 of The Sunbound Princess
I guided Bel and Dain to a table near the wall. Bel sat gingerly, and she cast furtive looks around as she tugged her hood more securely over her ears.
Dain leaned across the table, his blue eyes earnest as he touched her wrist. “You draw more attention to yourself by fussing.”
Faint pink stained her cheekbones. She gave a slight nod and put her hands in her lap.
“Stay here,” I told them. “I’ll return with food and drink.”
Dain caught my eye. “Be careful.”
I palmed his shoulder, lingering just a little too long. “Always,” I murmured. The weight of his gaze followed me as I wove through the crowd, searching for easy marks.
A familiar satisfaction bloomed within me as targets appeared like coins winking in the dirt. A merchant with a bulging purse sat on a stool, his cheeks red from too much ale. A few stools down, a buxom woman with several rings on her fingers leaned into her companion and laughed. Near one of the mullioned windows, a man in a velvet jacket argued with his tablemates. Playing cards and gold coins littered the table between them. The man gestured wildly, sending a few coins tumbling to the floor.
The merchant would be easiest. His cup was nearly empty, and the barmaid had just passed by. I shouldered through the crowd, patting a few shoulders companionably as I made my way to the merchant’s side.
“Another round for my friend here,” I told the barkeep, slapping down a coin I’d lifted from a patron as I crossed the floor. The merchant looked up blearily. The barkeep placed a fresh tankard before him, and the merchant gave me a grateful smile.
“Very kind,” he slurred, raising his tankard. “Very kind indeed.”
Plucking a cup from the bar, I clinked it against his. “To prosperity,” I said. While he drank, I loosened his purse strings.
Moments later, I slid into the chair next to Bel as a serving woman placed three steaming trenchers of food on our table. Roasted chicken nestled among vegetables swimming in thick gravy. The bread underneath was golden-brown and glistening with butter.
Dain’s groan of happiness was loud enough to be heard in Solbarren.
Bel looked at me. “How did you—?” Her eyes widened above the finger I placed over her lips.
“Questions will spoil the food.”
She pushed my hand away, but reluctant amusement glimmered in her eyes. “You’re incorrigible.”
I tore a piece of chicken off the bone. “Does that mean handsome?”
She sighed, but her lips quirked as she turned to her food. Dain raised an eyebrow at me. I shrugged, and he snorted before falling upon his food like a starving wolf.
By unspoken agreement, the three of us spent the next few minutes stuffing our faces. Dain made short work of his meal, barely chewing as he inhaled the meat and vegetables. Bel was more polite, cutting her meat into manageable pieces.
“You’re good at that,” she said after a moment. “Stealing.”
I licked gravy from my thumb. “It’s calledpickpocketing, and I’m not good.” Leaning sideways, I bumped her shoulder gently with mine. “I’m the best.”
“And so modest,” Dain murmured.
Bel made an admirable effort not to smile. As I popped a bite of bread into my mouth, she tilted her head. “You really think it’s something to be proud of?”
“It’s better than swinging a sword,” I said around the bread. “Warriors separate people’s heads from their bodies. I only separate them from their purses.”
Her lips parted, and something that might have been respect moved through her eyes. Glancing around, she lowered her voice. “Don’t you worry you’ll get caught? You could be hanged.”
“Not tonight,” I said. It was an easy declaration with good food in my stomach and an abundance of gold in my pocket. And Bel’s body heat caressing my arm.
“More ale?”
I looked up to see a barmaid next to the table. Red curls peeked from under her frilly white cap, and plump breasts strained the laces of her bodice. She blew a fat curl from her face as she plunked down a fresh round of tankards.
“We didn’t order it,” Dain said.
Interest lit the woman’s eyes as she looked from his jaw to his thick shoulders. “It’s on the house.” Hefting her tray, she moved to the next table, a generous sway in her hips.
