Heart Fortune

us.”

He put the papyrus down with relief, but another big feeling moved in his chest . . . he’d made a GreatLady cry with his words, his storytelling! Incredible.

“You have another gift,” Laev said to him.

“Just modified the man’s journals,” Jace said. Glyssa picked up the papyrus and took them to Camellia, set them beside her.

“I doubt that,” Laev said. He stood and picked up Camellia who held the cat and papyrus and nodded to Jace. “You’re a man of many gifts.”

Jace stood, too. Glyssa slid her arm around his waist. “We’ll teleport home,” she said.

“To the Licorices,” Jace said.

Lepid zoomed through the open door bringing with him the coolness of the ocean breeze. Zem and I want to stay here for a while, he announced. His feet pattered as he jiggled a dance, leaving damp spots on the carpet. We can play in the ocean! It is not like the Sea that Zem knows. WE CAN FISH!

Everyone laughed. Glyssa flapped her hands and said, “Go!”

He came over and rubbed against Glyssa and then Jace. MY FamWoman. My FamMan. He lifted his nose and fluffed his tail at the cat.

Foxes, the cat sighed.

I caught you and your mate a rat, cat.

The cat’s ears perked.

Brazos is eating most of it, Lepid said, barked a laugh, and ran out into the day and to the GreatLord’s estate. The cat followed. Jace quashed a thought that he would have liked to see the place.

Good day, FamMan, I will be back in a couple of hours, Zem said mentally.

Where are you?

In a large oak just outside the door. The hunting has been unusual and good. There is excellent prey in the tide pools I want more of.

That’s fine, Jace replied. He was walking arm in arm with Glyssa. She hugged the Hawthorn couple, Camellia still in Laev’s arms, then stepped aside.

He decided to bend down and kiss Camellia on the cheek. After all, she was one of Glyssa’s best friends, and more importantly, she loved his gift and his story. “Thank you for praising my work.”

She reached up and patted his chest. “It deserves it.”

Jace bumped his fist against Laev’s shoulder. “Later.”

Showing teeth whiter and more perfect than Jace had ever seen, Laev said, “Yes.”

“He means that, you know,” Camellia said. “He’ll hunt you down.”

Jace winked. “I think I can handle him.”

Camellia chuckled and rubbed her head against her husband. “They all do. But even Glyssa got entangled.”

“I’ll watch out for traps,” Jace said.

“You’ll never see them coming,” Laev said, nodded at him. “Merry meet.”

“And merry part,” Jace said, the response coming automatically now. He’d never said the phrase so much in his entire life as in the last couple of days.

Laev lifted a brow. “And we’ll definitely meet merrily for both our profit again.” He turned and walked up the stairs with his wife.

After a sigh, Glyssa said, “They look so good together. I’m glad they found each other and worked through their problems.” She tugged on Jace’s arm, so he followed her down a wide corridor.

“They had problems?”

“Doesn’t everyone?”

He didn’t think she wanted an answer, which was good because he wasn’t going to address that topic. She opened the door to a small room with a tall, opaque window, closed the door, and flipped the teleportation indicator that would show the pad—the whole room!—was in use. “A whole room set aside for teleportation,” he said.

“One on every floor,” Glyssa said. “Like in the PublicLibrary. But unlike the library, most visitors here can teleport. There’s a marked-off area in most of the rooms here, too.”

“Huh,” Jace said, stepping up onto the pad and opening his arms. He could provide Flair for Glyssa if she needed it to teleport them, which she didn’t. Otherwise she’d be doing all the work, ’porting them. “Where are we landing?” he asked.

“My bedroom.” She paused. “I hope you will stay.”

“Sure.” Energy ran through her, too, and he finally said what they’d been ignoring. “We can spend time together before your hearing. And Camellia approved of the novel, so your Family shouldn’t be able to use that against you—us.”

“Probably not.” Glyssa sounded doubtful.

“Camellia is the judge of the quality of the story, not the FirstLevel Librarians, and I think she’s happy with what we’ve got so far.”

“Yes.”

“I know something that will ease those nerves.” He grinned, and she leaned back against him and his body hardened. She snuggled her ass around his cock and the blood drained from his head.

“Glad we’re going to your bedroom,” he said hoarsely.

She said, “You’re right. The reading, as short as it was, went well. I’m sure Camellia will say so for my progress report hearing.”

Before he could say anything else they were in her bedroom, a couple of minutes later naked and rolling on her bedsponge.

He was having a difficult time getting enough of the woman. But he wouldn’t stay in the city with her.

* * *

Still, in two septhours he sat on a hard wooden bench in the corridor behind the door marked “PublicLibrary Administrators Only.” Across from him was the door the Licorices had gone through, Glyssa lagging two steps behind for a quick hug and kiss.

“You can do it!” he said, though he didn’t know whether she’d be successful in defending her fieldwork or not. He sat on the bench and waited, completely out of his element.

* * *

Inside the room, Glyssa blessed her bespelled formal tunic and trous that wicked away sweat as she gave her progress report and answered questions about her studies and work at Lugh’s Spear.

Her mother, mouth down with lines bracketing her lips, examined every detail—still not happy at all with the project, with Glyssa being outside of the PublicLibrary and Druida City.

Her father watched her with a shuttered gaze. She had no clue whether he’d vote approval of her report and continued support of her work or not. She did decide that how her father voted would be partially due to Jace. And she had no idea what her father thought of Jace.

Enata simply scowled and drew sketches—no doubt unflattering ones of Glyssa—with her writestick.

“You continued to work with Maxima Elecampane and Jace Bayrum on the blueprints of Lugh’s Spear in your third day at the excavation,” D’Licorice said.

Lady and Lord help her. They’d only gotten to the third day. Maybe she could move it along, jump along the timeline a bit.

“Yes. And I began my work on the novel for D’Hawthorn. Later, I heard GentleSir Bayrum’s storytelling at the bonfire and within a week we were working together.” She smiled as she lilted Jace’s name, couldn’t help it.

Despite everything, she’d achieved one goal. Yes, she desperately wanted to become a FirstLevel Librarian, and it would leave a hole in her, destroy her notion of the future if she didn’t . . . but Jace remained more important.

So did the sheer discovery of Lugh’s Spear.