Page 47 of A Tribute of Fire

“Quynh is my sister. Adopted, although that makes no difference to me. I love her as I do my other siblings.” As if my mother were at my elbow, reminding me to treat others with courtesy and respect, I felt compelled to ask, “Do you have siblings?”

“A sister and three brothers,” he said, but there was a tightness to his face that made me think I shouldn’t ask any further questions about his family. Was he not close to them? Did they disagree with his decision to make his living this way? Had something happened to them?

My curiosity would be the death of me one day.

If a sword didn’t take me out first.

I had to stop thinking about Jason altogether. I needed to remember why I was here and how I could prevent Quynh’s death.

“Is there anyone on the ship who can be bribed?” I asked.

He leaned against the railing, folding his arms over his broad chest. I had seen the members of my regiment without the top of their tunics many, many times, but I was overcome with a desire to see what Jason would look like underneath his clothes.

To run my fingers over the ridges and planes I’d felt against my chest when he’d held me close.

His slightly sarcastic response snapped me out of my reverie. “I haven’t had an occasion to test whether or not my crew places money above honor.”

“What about the captain?”

“He’s sworn an oath, like all trierarchs do. Who do you plan on bribing?”

“Anyone who would take Quynh and drop her off somewhere. It doesn’t matter to me where she’d go, just anywhere that’s not Troas. When we arrive in Ilion, we can tell whoever’s in charge that she died on the voyage over. Maybe when our ship was attacked by pirates.” This was brilliant—why hadn’t I thought of it before? We were already so close to land. We could dispatch the rowboat now and be back before anyone even missed us.

Jason seemed to consider my request seriously before answering. “I am sorry, but we’ve already had this discussion. Our hands are tied. The goddess wants her priestess replaced.”

“She would have had that two thousand times over if she’d allowed the maidens to live.”

“We do her will.”

“Even if her will is terrible?” I countered.

“Even then, unfortunately.”

I’d never been able to ask anyone about the tribute who might have witnessed it. “What if Quynh stays on the ship? Refuses to get off or participate at all?”

“Then someone will come and drag her out and they’ll kill her on the docks. Neither one of you will have a choice but to run.”

He was knocking down every plan that I had come up with so far and I felt my vexation and anger mounting. There had to be something I was missing, an angle I hadn’t considered.

“You may have more of a chance than you realize,” he said. “There are many in Ilion that disagree with the tribute. Just past the docks and before you enter the city’s walls, there is an open area called the Fields of Sithon. The men who will participate in the hunt will line up there. Those who do not want to take part will stay in their homes, living their lives as usual. Many have said the tribute should be done away with completely. But it takes time for these things to change.”

“I am out of time,” I told him. “And I’m terrified that Quynh will not survive the race!” I hit my fists against the railing out of frustration.

“She matters that much to you?”

Hadn’t I just told him that she was my sister? “She matters more to me than almost anyone in the world. I will not see her die. Please help me find a way to keep her safe.”

He was silent for a long time. “I wish that I could. But I’m only one person.”

“It only takes one person to change the world, one person to save a life,” I snapped back. I was furious with him and myself. I should have known better than to ask for his help. He had shown me that he was a man who cared only for himself and his desires.

I pivoted and strode away from him. He called my name, but I didn’t look back. There would be no more clandestine meetings on the deck at midnight.

I would not allow him to distract me further.

The next morning, two members of the crew came in to mop away the blood that had already stained the planks of the lower deck.

They were also cleaning up the red dirt I had found around my cell. I’d gathered a handful of it and studied it. This was what the first pirate had retrieved from his pouch and thrown on the floor. It also must have been what I had felt under my feet when I’d gone up to the top deck last night.

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