Page 87 of Princess of Thieves

For whatever reason, my mind wanders upstairs—to my old room, the one I’ve avoided since I left. It’s just sitting there, untouched, waiting for me. Before I know it, I’m climbing the stairs, the familiar creaks of the old house echoing in my ears.

When I push the door open, the room is bathed in the hazy silver light of a summer evening. I can hear crickets faintly outside the small balcony. Everything is exactly how I left it—the bed still made, the little shelf lined with books I plucked up from around the rest of the house for my private collection...

I’m hit with a wave of emotion I wasn’t expecting. This room was mine.

Still is, maybe.

I step inside, shutting the door softly behind me. For the first time in what feels like forever, I don’t have the urge to run, to be anywhere else or be doing anythingelse.

I don’t want to leave. Not yet. Not ever.

I climb into bed, curling up in the soft blankets, and let the exhaustion take over. I’ve been running for so long—maybe it’s okay to rest for a while.

Just as I’m starting to drift off, there’s a knock at the door, soft but insistent. I blink awake, still groggy from exhaustion, my heart picking up its pace. “Can I come in?” The voice is low, familiar.

It’s Rob.

I hesitate for a second, my pulse thudding in my ears. “Yeah,” I manage to say, though my voice comes out quieter than I’d intended. I sit up slightly as the door creaks open and Rob steps in.

He glances around the room, taking it all in—the soft light filtering through the curtains, the bed I’m curled up in, like nothing’s changed. And even though his face is set with theweight of...whatever’s going on in that damn head of his, there’s still something disarmingly calm about him.

“You look right at home,” he says, his voice soft but tinged with something else, something deeper. His gaze lingers on me in the bed for a moment longer than I expect. “Like you never left.”

I swallow, still trying to slow my racing heart. “I feel... back at home,” I admit, almost surprised by how easy the words come out. I wasn’t sure I could still feel that way about anything, but here I am, in my old room, and it feels like a part of me that I’d forgotten.

Rob moves a little closer, his eyes catching the light, and for a moment, the rest of the world feels distant. The tension that usually hangs over him seems softer, just for now. I can’t help but notice how handsome he looks, despite everything. His worn work boots, the way his sleeves are rolled up just right, and that faint auburn stubble along his jaw—it all pulls at me, even when I’m this exhausted.

There’s a quiet understanding in the air between us. I don’t know what to say, and he doesn’t push me to speak. But something about him standing here, looking at me like that—it’s enough to keep my heart racing, despite the tiredness pulling at my limbs.

“Want company?” Rob says, just as I open my mouth for a question.

“Lie with me?”

He grins. “Thought you’d never ask, pretty lady.”

He takes a seat on the bed next to me and I can feel the heat radiating off of him, the animal warmth, though there’s plenty of space between us.

“This okay?” he asks.

“More than okay,” I reply. “If you get closer.”

He lies down, parallel to me, strokes the top of my forehead. My eyes close involuntarily, wanting to focus on just this—just the sensation of his touch.

“I don’t want you to leave, Maren,” comes his voice.

A lump springs up in my throat. I don’t say anything, just nod.

“I don’t ever want you to be far away from me, from any of us, again.” His words are deep but soft, rumbling. “But I don’t want to be so damn selfish anymore. I can’t.”

Instead of answering, I just pull him closer, pull our lips to meet.

Rob cups the back of my head in one large hand and deepens the kiss, and my hands slide up the back of his shirt, feeling his warmth beneath my fingers. He leans me back, pressing his body against mine, and we stay like that for a while, kissing deeply, until we’re both breathless.

“If you’re selfish, I’m selfish,” I say. “Because I can’t leave all of you. I can’t. I won’t.”

“I know you won’t.” Now Rob’s the one to close his eyes. “Goddamn. This would be easier if you still hated me.”

“Got pretty close to it earlier,” I retort. “When you ordered me to leave.”

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