Firebug by Lish McBride Page A

now, can I?”
    Duncan amassing an army? For what, overthrowing the Coterie? That would interfere with his fishing. “You mean, like, a golem army?”
    â€œWhat is an army of wood to my Owen?” She stroked Owen’s arm, and I wanted to vomit a little.
    â€œSo, what, you think he’s recruiting people or something?”
    â€œWhat I know is not really your concern. All you need to worry about is you. Never make me question your loyalty, Ava. Remember that.” She ran her fingers down the chain that held her ward. Logically, I knew there was no way any traces of my blood were still on it. My blood-pact ceremony was too long ago. But it felt like the connection was still there, one touch and my blood was hers. I shivered.
    None of this made any sense. I kept waiting for her to threaten me, shove Duncan’s folder back in my hand, or … something. Instead, she stood there, watching me. Okay, then.
    â€œI’m not doing it. That’s final.” I scowled at Owen, my chin jutted out and defiant. “And if I catch you within burn range of him, I’ll roast you myself.”
    A soft smile played across Owen’s lips as he made a lick of flame dance across his knuckles, the glow flickering as it wove its way to index to pinkie and back again. “You mean you’ll try,” he said lightly. His finesse was amazing, I had to give him that.
    â€œIf I’d meant try , I would have said so.” I was angry, tired from all the politics of the evening, and ready to go. In my book, Owen was long overdue for a smack-down.
    Venus clucked at us. “Sometimes you two are worse than children. You don’t want me to make you behave, do you? I didn’t think so.” She had a strange look on her face; it made my heartbeat quicken and my palms sweat. You didn’t say no to Venus. And I certainly didn’t have any grounds to refuse her order. According to my blood pact, she owned me. Up until now, I’d contented myself with tiny rebellions, things that annoyed her but certainly didn’t do a whole lot. But this—well, I was being stupid. Was Duncan worth it? I thought about last winter when he’d stopped into the bookshop and given Cade and me an ornament he’d hand whittled—it was a very Horatio-looking cat relaxing on a book. Cade had loved it so much that it stayed up well after Christmas on our counter. Yes, Duncan was worth it.
    â€œCan’t blame me for trying.” Venus never took her eyes off me. Her tone told me that she absolutely could blame me . “Surprising, though, you of all people defending Duncan. Yes, very interesting.” She smiled then, and it was sickly in a cat-eating-a-whole-aviary-of-canaries kind of way. I didn’t like that smile.
    â€œHe’s not part of Coterie business,” I said. “Leave him be. Please.” I wanted to look away but knew it was a bad idea. It had hurt to say “please” to Venus. “I don’t ask for many favors. Whoever gave you your information, they’re wrong.”
    â€œYou appear to know very little about what is or is not part of Coterie business, my little bug.” She stepped closer to me. “Even if what you said were true, it doesn’t matter. My business is Coterie business. Understand?”
    I held her gaze, even though my eyes were starting to water from not blinking. What did she mean, “if what you said were true”? I may not know every single person in the Coterie, but I knew that Duncan wasn’t involved. Was she hinting at things I didn’t know, or was she just messing with my head?
    â€œYes,” I finally said, when it was clear she was waiting for me to respond.
    â€œYou need to sleep more,” she said. Her hand caressed my temple, then pulled back slowly. In a blink, she’d slapped me, thankfully not into unconsciousness. Enough to sting and remind me who was boss, though. Enough to draw blood