Page 150 of A Tribute of Fire

I also had to consider the possibility that I might not be able to get into her office. That despite my best attempts and efforts, I could still be kept out. Or even if I did succeed, find a spare key, and open the vault, the gem might not be there. It might mean I would have to investigate other paths.

Like returning to the public library.

Which could mean seeing Jason again.

While sweeping alongside Io, I asked her, “Is there something you could create that would put a goose to sleep?”

“Why would you want to put a goose to sleep?” She didn’t sound surprised, only curious. I think at this point my sisters expected me to say bizarre things to them.

“So that I won’t have to kill it.”

She accepted this as an explanation and paused. “I think so. I could combine some poppy powder with valerian root. The problem would be having it work and then immediately dissipating so that the person who threw it wouldn’t fall asleep as well.”

Io began mumbling to herself, brainstorming a formula out loud.

A wave of exhaustion hit me and I sat down on one of the temple steps.

Zalira saw me and wagged one of her fingers at me. “We have to make sure the courtyard is spotless for the festival.”

I nodded. There was some annual festival that was set to take place in a few days. It had been mentioned frequently but I’d mostly been ignoring the details as it was unimportant to me. Again, I hoped I wouldn’t still be here when the festival took place. I knew almost nothing about it—just that it was something that only women participated in here on the temple grounds and in the surrounding neighborhood. Men were not allowed to attend.

Maia had said something about harvest and fertility and that the festival would ensure good fortune for the next season by celebrating and thanking the goddess, if I remembered correctly.

I yawned.

“You should skip dinner and go to bed,” Zalira said.

“Maybe I will.” It wasn’t like me to miss out on a meal, but I would probably fall asleep halfway through.

She reached for my broom. “Go now. We have this.”

I thanked her and headed for our room. I used the washroom and then crashed onto my bed. Kunguru was waiting in the windowsill and called out to me. I reached under my bed and felt the edges of the bookagainst my fingers. He seemed to have done as I’d asked and watched over it.

“Good boy,” I called out to him right before I passed out.

“Who’s a good boy?” Jason asked me.

Blinking, it took me a few beats to take in my surroundings. I was back in Jason’s room, with him on his bed. We were sitting up, facing one another. I had my legs over his so that the backs of my knees were on top of his strong thighs.

I was running my fingers through his midnight-black hair and he was turning his head so that he could lean into my touch.

“Kunguru is a good boy,” I told him. “I was talking to him before I got here. Your hair reminds me of his feathers.”

“You like him.”

“I do. He’s usually quiet. Unlike you.”

Jason grinned. “I can be quiet.”

“Only when my lips are on yours. And you’re not very quiet then, either.”

“That’s true.” His hands were around my waist and he pulled me a bit closer to him. “Should I be jealous?”

“Of a bird?” I asked with a laugh. “No.”

It was different when we were here together. I wasn’t ever as angry with him or as annoyed. We could be playful. Tease. Laugh.

Or, more accurately, I could. He was always like that.

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