Page 137 of A Tribute of Fire

“Are you all right?” he asked, walking over and taking my injured arm in both of his hands. My arm looked so small in comparison to the size of his hands that I sucked in a sharp breath at the difference. He was searching my arm for marks or cuts, and the top of his head was so close to my mouth that I could have kissed him and he might not have even noticed.

“I will be fine,” I told him.

Then he leaned in and pressed his lips onto my arm, setting all my skin afire.

“What are you doing?” I asked, alarmed.

“Kissing it better. Didn’t your mother ever do this?” He murmured the words just above my arm. I curled my fingers toward my palm as tiny bumps rose along my forearm.

My mother had done that when I was little, but that had been an entirely different experience from this.

Apparently satisfied that no serious damage was done, he released my arm and it fell to my side, useless and heavy.

He said, “I once saw a goose break a man’s arm with his wing because they hit so hard. There’s a lot of force behind that motion.”

“And you let me go in by myself?” I asked, my feelings swinging back to anger.

“I offered to accompany you, but you insisted on going alone.”

This wasn’t about me. This was about him wanting to win the bet. Knowing that he would. That was why he hadn’t helped me.

Or I was just being so obstinate and headstrong that he’d let me do something reckless just so that I could learn my lesson the hard way.

And he understood me well enough to know that it was the only choice he could have made.

That bothered me in a way I didn’t want to examine. “You should have been more persistent,” I tried to argue, knowing that I was losing.

The corner of his lips hitched up. “You like persistence. Duly noted.”

“That’s not what I—” I sighed. “The point is you shouldn’t have sent me into a situation where there wasn’t any opportunity for a peaceful solution. You can’t reason with a goose.”

“I know the feeling. You can’t reason with you, either.”

“I am entirely rational!” I told him and he laughed again.

When he finished he asked, “A peaceful solution? That sounds unlike you. I’m a little surprised you didn’t stab the goose.”

To be honest, drawing my weapon hadn’t even occurred to me. “One of my sisters is very opposed to harming animals and I suppose she’s influenced me.”

“We should be grateful that you only encountered the one goose and not the entire guardian flock. Then I would have had to come to your rescue.”

While I was very capable of rescuing myself, there was something thrilling about the idea of him battling snake-bird monsters in order to save me. I was sure that it would have been quite an exciting sight to behold.

The goose honked inside the library again and I couldn’t help but smile. I turned to Jason and he was doing the same, and I liked sharing this moment with him.

There were responsive honks from other geese. He toyed with the sword at his side. “Do you want me to go in there with you and stab some geese?”

I knew that he would if I asked him to, but I was going to have to figure out a way past the geese besides massacring the entire lot. Io would never forgive me. “Not tonight.”

Which meant finding another potential source of information.

“We will have to leave soon. A patrol will eventually show up and they’ll go in to see why the geese are honking. Are you going back to the temple?” he asked.

“Not yet. Is there a records or an administrative building nearby?” I didn’t think it would be as helpful as the library, but it might be something. Just so long as there weren’t any resident geese.

“There is. I suppose you’re expecting me to take you there.”

“I can find it by myself if you’re too busy.”

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