A Country Falls (Greatest Thief 3)

Bonus - My Best

I stepped behind the changing screen and peeled off my sweaty tunic. I tossed it into the laundry basket, and my pants soon followed. I picked out a new pair of black pants and was pulling them on when I heard indistinct voices in the hallway. A moment later, my door opened. Light footsteps crossed the room, and I could hear him moving near the mirrors.

"Are you going to tell me what those are about?" I grabbed a new blue tunic and stepped out from behind the changing screen. Finn looked at me. His gaze caught on my chest for a moment before flickering up to meet my eyes. That glance helped settle the fluttering in my stomach. "I have a perfectly good mirror behind the screen. I know what I look like."

The corners of his mouth lifted in a smile and he nearly rolled his eyes as he turned back to the mirror. "It isn't about you." He touched one of the mirrors, moving it so slightly to the right that it hardly seemed necessary.

If he wasn't going to look at me, there was no reason to keep my tunic off. So I pulled it over my head while crossing the room to settle on the armrest of my couch. "No? But it's my birthday."

He didn't turn around, instead focusing on another one of the mirrors. "Did you have a nice time with Tairia and your mother?"

He asked plainly, no hint of jealously or annoyance. Still, the slight guilt I had felt all day came back. The last thing I had wanted was for him to feel left behind. "Yes," I said, as evenly as I could. It was true, of course, the ride had been good for us. "We needed the time away. And it's been a long time since I went riding." Soon, I would be doing not much besides riding, but I didn't want to think about that yet. Instead, for a moment a let myself imagine buying Finn a horse and teaching him to ride. Surely Tairia wouldn't mind him coming along.

Finn moved over to the largest mirror. He didn't seem upset. He was a very believable actor, but I didn't think he would be able to hide that from me. Relieved, I let curiosity take over. "What are you doing?"

He turned around. "I couldn't think of a gift for you, and I know that's part of birthdays."

I almost interrupted. Almost told him that I didn't care about a gift. But he continued before I could.

"But then I thought that maybe a gesture would mean more than a gift. So..."

He tapped the mirror with his foot. The slight change in angle changed everything. Suddenly the meticulous placement of the mirrors made sense. The mirror reflected the full moon, framing it as if it was a painting of the night sky. It was beautiful, but...

I stood and moved closer to him. "It's beautiful. But I don't understand. Is this instead of dragging me onto the roof to look at the moon?"

Finn shook his head. He sounded nervous as he started to speak. "In Deorun, I told you that if you asked me to, I'd—"

The memory came back to me as clear as if it happened that very day. Finn, barely woken up after the poisoned arrow. I asked him to steal a ship, because it seemed like our only option, and because I was sure that he could do it. And he had said, in that tone he sometimes used when he was trying to pretend he wasn't brilliant, that for me he would—

"—steal the moon. Come here," I said, reaching for him.

Finn took my hand and I pulled him snugly against my chest. I wrapped my arms around him, loving the way his head tucked under my chin.

"I thought that when you're with the army," he said quietly, "you can look up at night and see the moon and remember this."

I would. The moon and sunsets. It didn't matter how tired I would be on the march; I would stay up every night to see them. To remember him. "I love it. I love you." It was his turn now. I had something to give him that would hopefully comfort him while I was gone, the way the moon would now comfort me. Caught up in the thought, I didn't even notice that he had started speaking until it was already too late. "I have something for you, too."