Page 152 of A Tribute of Fire

Then, as if he knew exactly what I had been thinking about, Jason pulled his legs away from me while tugging me toward him. I went flat onto my back and he loomed over me.

His expression was serious but soft. He reached up to stroke my face. “I pledge you my sword, my body, my blood. I will protect you and keep you safe.”

I put my arms around him, tugging him closer, but he wouldn’t budge. “You would lay down your life for me?”

“Without hesitation.”

He continued to stare down at me, and then he said, “I’m glad that you finally stopped wasting time.”

“What do you mean?” I asked while tracing the column of his neck with my fingertips.

“You’ve been delaying the inevitable.”

“With you?”

“No, not with me. With what you came to Ilion to accomplish.”

That made my fingers still. “You know about that?”

He rolled to my right side and propped up his head with his arm. “Lia, no one knows you the way that I do. I know the things that make you smile, what makes you angry, what I can do to coax those soft, excited noises out of you that I so adore.”

His words went straight to my gut, setting me on fire. He reached down to kiss me and I rose up eagerly to meet him.

“Does anyone else know you the way that I do?” he asked against my mouth.

“Only you,” I breathed.

“It’s time for things to change.”

Now his words had the opposite effect, as if someone had doused me in cold water. It was the same thing the goddess had told me. “What?”

His eyes stared into mine with an intensity that I had never seen from him before. “When the time comes, you need to say yes.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“You will,” he promised.

“Why are you being so mysterious?” I had enough frustration in my regular life. I didn’t need it here.

“Isn’t that the way of dreams? Open to interpretation?”

Jason had never mentioned that we were in a dream before. I was about to tell him that, but he kissed me again until I was mindless with need for him.

He went still against me and then said, “Be ready. And remember that you love me.”

When I awoke with a start, Ahyana was sitting on her bed adding a new ribbon to one of her braids. “How’s Jason?” she asked.

I groaned. My heart was pounding, my body aching with frustration and need for him.

“Still in love?” she asked.

Had I said his words aloud? His claim that I loved him?

Did I?

I turned on my side and contemplated what both he and Ahyana had suggested. Was I in love with Jason?

I’d never been in love before. Never felt anything even close to it. I had no experience with it at all.

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