The Lotus Thief novel · Chapter 14 of 32

Chapter 14: Bua's Chapter

Bua had been trained since he was five.

Stance. Breath. Sword.

He could stand in one place for three hours without shifting.

He could take a blow without moving his face.

He could sit in a council where his uncle lied to him and eat his rice.

He had never once done anything he hadn't decided to do.

The mushrooms had been in his mouth before he thought about them.

Then the heat came up through his chest.

Ton was sitting across the fire with his collar open.

Bua stopped deciding anything.

He remembered standing at the tree line in the grey.

He remembered the smell of the fire and the wet leaves.

He remembered the root Ton had chewed and put on his arm.

He remembered Ton's wrists in his hand.

They were thin and hard under the skin.

He remembered Ton saying please.

He put both hands on his own face.

That was the part that wouldn't go.

Not the rest.

The rest was a body doing what bodies did.

He had done that before, twice, quietly, with people who never spoke of it.

This was different.

This was a man who had lied to him for two days saying please.

Bua had wanted it more than he had ever wanted anything.

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