Heart Fortune

Glyssa winced. “Uh-huh.” She waved her fingers at Lepid. “Go.”

His lower jaw dropped in a foxy smile and she wondered if she was doing the right thing, letting him roam the camp freely. But there were enough complications in the tent with regard to tangled relationships to distract her. She didn’t need an antsy Fam, too.

After one last lick of her hand, Lepid bolted from the tent, ears up, tail flying. I will search the stables first.

Jace said to Maxima, “I’m happy to help.”

“That’s wonderful,” the girl enthused.

She flipped open the box and Glyssa saw a couple of additional journals and some loose papyrus inside. “There’s a detailed map of the ship . . . Hoku called them ‘specs’ or ‘blueprints,’” Maxima said.

Stiffening, Jace said, “Yeah?”

Glyssa recalled when her friend Camellia D’Hawthorn had sent a copy of the blueprints to the Elecampanes. Another set was in the PublicLibrary, and the originals stayed in the T’Hawthorn Residence vault. Evidently the Elecampanes had kept the blueprints secret from the crew.

“I’m not sure that your parents want that information disseminated,” she said. Both Maxima and Jace scowled at her.

“Are you questioning my honor, too?” Jace snapped.

She rubbed her forehead. “Of course not.”

Maxima stuck out her chin in a gesture that Glyssa, as a younger sister, had used herself. Dammit, she needed to be more sensitive.

“I think I know who can keep a secret and who can’t,” Maxima said.

Which, of course, made Glyssa wonder what secrets Jace might be keeping that Maxima might know. Glyssa’s nose twitched. She did have a tiny problem with curiosity.

“Jace won’t tell anyone about the blueprints, and that’s what we’re supposed to be working on today, right?”

“Checking the maps against entries in the journals, yes.” Glyssa took the teapot and the flatsweet plate off the main table and put it on a smaller one, moved the two cups to one corner, and spread out the specs. Each sheet showed one level and there were three, probably those Hoku was most familiar with.

“I’m honored at your confidence,” Jace said, his expression smoothing as he gave a little bow to Maxima.

She glowed, swept a look at him from under her eyelids before glancing at Glyssa. “You don’t mind if Jace stays and works with us, do you?”

Now she asked.

If it had been anyone but Jace, Glyssa would have bundled the blueprints and journals up and taken them next door to the Elecampane’s tent.

But the need to spend time with her HeartMate throbbed inside her, even if he was annoyed and angry with her.

Glyssa told the truth. “No.”

“I promise to be helpful.” A charming smile from the man that Glyssa didn’t trust—he remained irritated with her. He lifted Zem off his shoulder and set him on the back of her best chair.

Glyssa eyed the BirdFam dubiously. “Maybe I should put some papyrus down for Zem.”

The hawkcel cast a beady glare at her. I am a clean bird. Another snick of his beak. I am also a tired bird. He closed his eyes.

“We took care of our personal needs before we came in,” Jace said easily. He smoothed the maps, frowned. “Hmm.” Staring at the papyrus, he angled the plans a little, and Glyssa saw that he’d set the ship to match the angle of the ship’s outline that had been delineated on the ground outside.

Glyssa looked at the map. Unlike the intelligent starship in Druida City, Nuada’s Sword, which was one massive cylinder, Lugh’s Spear had graceful, modified wings, angled back like the ancient Earthans’ air machines. More interesting in Glyssa’s point of view, but she wouldn’t be telling Nuada’s Sword that.

She wasn’t the only one who focused on Jace’s long and elegant finger as he traced the outside line of the ship to behind the right wing.

They worked together well, though watching Maxima attempt to flirt with Jace was painful in more ways than one. As the minutes passed, Glyssa realized Jace was clueless about the girl’s puppy love since he treated Maxima like a younger sister. She wondered at that—he struck her as an observant man—but she figured he just had man blindness about this.

She’d have liked to have warned him, but he wouldn’t listen to her.

Midmorning the alarm of the camp pulsed in the pattern of “interesting information.” Maxima’s face lit with a grin. “I wonder what’s going on!”

She headed out of the tent at a jog, leaving Glyssa alone with Jace. “Where do we gather?” She already knew, but asking such a basic question would keep her from commenting on Maxima’s crush on him and alienating him. No man liked to be given advice he didn’t ask for. All right, no person cared for unsolicited advice in general.

He lifted his brows. “There’s a cleared circle a couple of rows in.”

“Ah. I’m sorry I embarrassed you this morning,” she said.

He grimaced.

“I was just trying to help.” She knew the instant the words dropped from her lips that it was the wrong thing to say.

His head came up, his expression turned stormy. “I don’t need your help. Like I said, I don’t like being dependent on anyone. Or anyone being dependent on me,” he said, but Glyssa sensed more. He didn’t like to be dependent on lovers.

But his words hurt.

She bit her lip. “Sorry.” Back stiff with tension, she walked to the pavilion’s threshold. “I will endeavor not to try to help you again, even if you do need it.” She walked out of the tent, nearly blindly and bumped into someone who was hurrying toward the open area. “Pardon,” she muttered. Then she sent a loud and private mental call, Lepid!

Coming!

Back in the tent, Zem lifted his wings. You were not nice.

Jace scowled. “Maybe not, but I don’t want to get tangled up with Glyssa Licorice here in camp. One or two nights of sex are fine, but after that people think there’s a relationship and relationships are difficult here.” Gossip got hideous. He’d been careful to keep all his dealings with lovers light. And though his body yearned for her, he’d known quickly she wouldn’t want only a couple of nights of sex. She was different than the other women in the camp. Higher status, more serious. More of a woman who’d want forever from him, everything from him, until he lost himself in pleasing her. Like his father had his mother.

“We can’t just fly out of here, like you. There’s nothing outside of camp but thousands of kilometers of wilderness. You live here within your community. I have to live within mine.”

The bird made a noise that Jace understood to be like a human snicker. He moved his shoulders, relaxing them from a high line of tension, before lifting his Fam to perch on his shoulder.

By the time they reached the circle, everyone was there, but Maxima found him and led him to where she stood with Glyssa—who ignored him.

“Your attention, please,” Raz T’Elecampane said, easily sending his voice through the space, quieting the crowd.

Twelve

Expectation seethed through the crowd, Glyssa felt it, too.