Page 184 of A Tribute of Fire

If he was surprised by my random question, he didn’t show it. “Are you planning on controlling her?”

“What do you mean?”

“As I said, names have power. And when it comes to the gods, they’re a bit like dogs. They only come when you call them by name.”

In all the time that I’d been here in Ilion, I’d never once heard anyone refer to the goddess by any name. The same thing was true of my grandmother’s book. “I don’t know what her name is.”

He hesitated for several long heartbeats before finally saying, “My mother always called her Damara.”

Damara. I repeated it in my mind.

“Am I to expect something in return for such a valuable gift?” he asked in that teasing tone of his.

As if I would use my kisses as bargaining chips. Did they really mean so little to him? That I wanted to kiss him was beside the point. I grappled onto my anger as an anchor to keep me steady so that I wouldn’t throw myself at him. “I saw your beloved tonight.”

“Which one?” He laughed at my expression—his question, meant to provoke me, had so easily found its mark. “I don’t know who you’re talking about.”

“Chryseis. The one you said every man in Ilion desires? The one the prince wants to marry?” Part of me still held out hope that Prince Alexandros would turn his attention to this woman and just wed her so that I would be free to do the things that I wished. Maybe he would do it after my parents rebuffed his requests multiple times.

“He’s welcome to her,” he said. “Just so long as it’s not me trapped in the marriage net.”

I grimaced. Of course he would be terrified of wedlock. “It’s actually disappointing how typical you are for a man. Afraid of committing yourself to another.”

His honey eyes shone with delight. The last time I’d been in his presence had been at night and I’d forgotten about their beautiful shade. I reminded myself that it bothered me that Jason wanted Chryseis and to hold on to that jealousy. “She is very beautiful,” I admitted begrudgingly, almost daring him to contradict me.

To prove that I was the one he preferred.

I would understand if he didn’t. She was everything I was not, had everything I didn’t. Including all of her hair.

Jason took a step toward me. “I saw no other woman tonight.”

“She was very hard to miss,” I said. “They put her right in the front.”

“Lia, I saw no other woman tonight.”

Had he temporarily lost the ability to see? “The entire neighborhood and temple grounds are filled with nothing but women.”

Another step. “I saw no other woman tonight butyou.”

It finally dawned on me what he was saying and my stomach swooped in response. He was right—he was dangerous.

My instincts were warning me that I was about to fall into a carefully constructed trap. “She’s perfect.”

“I don’t want Chryseis,” he said, so close now that we were nearly touching.

“Then who do you want?”

His answer was his mouth hot on mine, moving and sliding, pressing and pulling. He filled my senses so that he was all that existed—his taste, his heavy breathing, his salt and leather and iris scent, his touch making my eyelids drift shut.

The kiss was over as soon as it began, and he took a few steps back so that he was leaning against the tree. He sported a knowing smirk that I itched to wipe off his face.

“Why did you do that?” I demanded, my lips urging me to kiss him again.

“It’s the best way I know to keep you quiet.”

I walked over, determined to unleash my full wrath on him. “Of all the insufferable, arrogant, overbearing—”

But this time it was me who kissed him. Pressed our bodies together so that he was trapped against the tree. As soon as I realized what I was doing, I pulled away from him.

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