Page 132 of The Last Syphon

This entire thing would have pulled at her heartstrings if it weren’t for the fact that she knew exactly what it was.

Stepping forward, Prince Walder offered him the last of his worms on a stick. The moment he moved, one of the youthens at his back went in for the steal. Inara conjured a shield in place with just a thought. The knife the young boy was going to use to cut the coin pouch from Prince Walder’s belt slammed into her shield, and the blade bent, snapping clean off.

The youthen gasped, stepping back in shock.

Prince Walder stiffened, then slowly turned his head to glance behind him. His eyes flashed a terrifying blue, and the temperature around them dropped. “Did you just attempt to steal from me?”

The youthen was frozen in place by fear. His comrades took off instantly, splitting off in different directions and leaving him behind.

Well, she guessed that was where they differed. Inara instantly recognised what they were up to because she and Felix had done the same thing countless times growing up. One would distract while the other would sneak up behind and pick their pockets. It was unbelievably effective.

They’d been caught a few times. It happened every now and then. But they’d never abandoned each other like that.

Inara felt bad for the boy.

Sighing, she bent down and picked up his broken weapon. “You shouldn’t steal,” she began, rising back up. “Or, if you’re going to do it, you should get a better team.” Inara offered the broken blade and hilt to him. He just stared at her. She shook the items. “Go on. Take it.”

Shaky hands reached forward and snatched them from her. His feet still hadn’t moved. Inara thought he was too scared to because the prince was glaring at him.

She slapped the back of her hand against Prince Walder’s chest. “Ignore him. He’s a little grumpy because you got the drop on him. Not an easy thing to do, you know.” She winked.

“But not you?” His voice was small and meek. It matched him.

“It’s a lot harder to steal from another thief,” she said, winking again. “But your effort deserves a reward.”

“What are you doing?” Prince Walder protested as she opened the coin pouch still attached to his belt and dug out a silver coin. He didn’t stop her, though, simply grumbling under his breath, “You have grown far too comfortable with me.”

She flicked it to the young boy, and he caught it, eyes wide in surprise.

“Don’t let your friends know. They don’t deserve it for ditching you like that.” She whipped her head to the side. “Off ya go.”

The young boy spun and darted off, disappearing quickly into the crowd.

Inara smiled, watching him. She turned to find Prince Walder scowling at her, arms folded across his chest. “What?” she asked innocently. She resumed walking down the path, and he followed, still scowling.

“You gave him a silver coin for trying to steal from me.”

“No. I gave him a silver coin because I felt bad for him.”

“Yes. My silver coin.”

She just shrugged. “You could have stopped me.”

His scowl turned even deeper—something Inara didn’t think was possible. “How did you know they were going to steal from us?”

“Experience. Felix and I used to pull that con all the time. We were a lot better at it, though.” She laughed at the memories bombarding her all at once. “You can probably guess who the distraction was. Felix is as slick with his words as he is with his movements.”

He just grunted.

They finally reached the end of the markets, stopping just before a wide-open clearing. The land sloped downwards, and she saw a cluster of people at the bottom of the hill, talking and laughing amongst themselves. The field ahead was lit up brightly, roughly 400 feet wide, and filled with more people stretching as if they were preparing for something.

A man standing a few feet away looked at them, his arms stretched above his head. “You two wanna play?”

He was a tall man. Well-built. He didn’t have a shirt on, just a pair of loose pants that cut off at the knee and a piece of fabric wrapped around his forehead.

“What?” Inara asked.

He inclined his head to the field. “Six Kings. We’re just about to play the next round, and we’re short a few players. You in?”