Page 129 of A Tribute of Fire

“Nothing,” I said to Jason. “I thought I saw something, but I was wrong.”

He looked concerned but only said, “You paid Simos too much.”

“It’s worth that and more to me.” I had enough left to hire a life mage and book us passage back home. If the mage required more compensation, I would offer him his weight in salt when we reachedLocris, if he wanted. Jason didn’t know the lengths I was willing to go to.

If anything, I would argue that I’d given Simos just enough to ensure his loyalty and make certain that the message was delivered.

Now, if Jason had told me that I’d paid Mahtab too much, he would have been right. But I would have given her all three bags of salt to have had that extra time with my sister.

Regardless, how I spent my resources wasn’t any of his business. Our time together was at an end. I wasn’t sure how to communicate that to him effectively. I settled on, “I have to be going.” My mother would have insisted that I thank him for his help, but given that he had annoyed me tonight more than he’d helped, I decided my farewell was enough.

“Where?”

“The library.” I grimaced. Again, I hadn’t intended to share that with him. It had just slipped out.

“You should go during the day. When it’s open to the public.”

“That’s not really something I can do.”

“Why? Oh. You’re breaking the rules by being out this late,” he said, not waiting for my answer. “I’ll come with you.”

“You don’t have to—”

He held up a hand, cutting me off. “Let’s not have this argument again. I’ll accompany you. Besides, I have to come. My toll has not yet been paid.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “And it won’t be.”

“We’ll see.” His arrogance was infuriating.

Biting back a growl I asked, “Do you know where the library is? And can you take me there?” If he was going to shadow me, I should at least take advantage of his knowledge.

“Yes. And yes.”

With that confirmation I headed for the main gates to enter the city, trusting that he would tell me what direction I should head. Or that he would take the lead and I could follow quietly behind him.

But when he caught up, he walked alongside me. Forcing me to keep an eye on him so that I could see which way to go.

“Why are we going to the library?” he asked as he headed into one of the northeastern paths, the opposite of the ones leading to the temple.

“Libraries have information.”

“What kind of information do you need?”

I let out a big sigh. “You say that I’m the one with the insatiable curiosity, but I think you’re even worse than me.”

He placed his hands against his chest. “Is it my fault that you’re so fascinating that I have to understand everything about you?”

My breath stumbled. It was the kind of thing he would have said to me in my dreams. So much so that for a moment I didn’t believe he’d actually said it out loud. I wasn’t going to let myself get caught up in some foolish fantasy, though. “I can’t fault you for your curiosity because it would make me a hypocrite. But if you’re going to play at being my bodyguard, we have to get one thing straight between us. I will not be telling you what I’m looking for. You can either accept that or go meet your barmaid.”

A part of me expected him to say his goodbyes and travel back to the Golden Lamb so that he could fully enjoy the attention of the beautiful and willing barmaid.

“I accept.” And while he didn’t say it, I could see on his face how amused he was by my demand.

Because he thought I was jealous.

Which I wasnot.

We walked in a comfortable silence for a few minutes with him leading me through the labyrinth.

---