Page 39 of Realm of Thieves

“That’s not possible,” he says just as there’s a knock at the door. “Come in!” he yells.

The door opens and Andor steps in. He’s dressed in a dark, long-sleeved tunic with a V-neck that shows off a dusting of chest hair and his dragon-tooth necklace, half of the shirt casually tucked into his straight-leg pants, tall boots on his feet. His beard is groomed, his wavy hair pushed back off his forehead, and when he sees me, his eyes light up in a way that makes my stomach flip.

I probably just need breakfast.

“The Truthmaster said you would be in here,” Andor says, and I manage to tear my eyes away from his body to notice he’s holding two stone mugs in his hand, the steam and smell similar to the drink that Steiner has been having. “I brought you some coffee. Have you had it before?”

“No,” I tell him as he shuts the door with his heel and strides over to me, holding out the mug. I take it from him and peer down into a light, milky brown drink, feeling strangely shy suddenly. A feeling I can do without.

“It’s grown all over Vesland. We get it imported,” Andor says, sounding rather proud. “I put milk and sugar in yours since that’s how most people drink it.”

“Not Andor, though,” Steiner says with a laugh. “He thinks drinking it straight makes him more of a man.”

“Perhaps it does,” Andor teases. “You should try it. You could use a little hair on your chest.”

Steiner waves that comment away with his hand. “Some other time. You didn’t tell me that your thief here is untouched by suen.”

Andor frowns as he has a sip of his drink. I’m still holding mine, waiting for it to cool down. We don’t drink a lot of hot drinks in the Dark City; everything is already so hot as it is.

“What do you mean, untouched?” he asks.

“It doesn’t work on me,” I explain. It feels good to finally tell him this, like I’ve been harboring a grave secret.

“But that’s not possible,” Andor says.

“And I’m telling you it is.”

“No,” Steiner says, getting to his feet. “How have you survived getting dragon eggs all this time? You couldn’t.”

“Every thief we’ve ever used for our operations that has come back alive has had suen in their blood,” Andor says. “We tried it the first few times with the unmagicked, but they died. Horribly. You need speed and strength and other suen-given abilities to do this job and make it out with your life intact.”

I shrug. “Well, last night at dinner you insinuated that all my success is because of Lemi.”

“That doesn’t explain how you’re still here, how you haven’t been blasted with fire or eaten yet,” Andor says. “What do you mean it’s never worked on you? Have you properly taken it?”

“Yes,” I say testily. “Don’t you think my aunt gave me some before I started the job? Suen works for her but it doesn’t work for me.”

“Maybe you didn’t have enough,” Steiner says, getting to his feet. “We can fix that.”

“Go right ahead, but I’ve had it several times.”

“How old were you? It doesn’t work if you’re younger than twelve or thirteen.”

“I was seventeen,” I tell him. “Eight years ago.”

Blazes, how time flies by.

“But how did you take it?” Steiner says as he starts rummaging through a shelf.

“In a shot glass,” I say, still remembering the horrid taste, how slimy it felt on the way down. I can almost taste it. I take a sip of the coffee drink instead. It’s sweet and bitter and feels good on the tongue, washing away the memory.

“That’s a lot,” Andor says. “You should have felt the first effects right away.”

“Yes, those would have been your dominant traits,” Steiner says, turning to face me with something short and silver in his hand. “They kick in minutes after first ingestion. Any extra suen after that won’t be as powerful.”

“Well, I didn’t have any traits, dominant or otherwise. I’ve taken it about four times. I kept on trying.”

“So you’re just…a commoner,” Andor says.

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