it if you like but I think we have enough light,” he said.
She kept her grip on it and brought it.
“Enough light for what?”
He held up the stone with the Jester God.
“I want a closer look at this,” he said, still grinning.
She couldn’t help but smile back at him as he quickly strode toward the tent. He was like a schoolboy with a new toy. Once they were inside, he guided her past the mosquito netting to sit on the edge of her bed. As she sat, she realized that she really was tired. Dizzy spells aside, her legs felt like lead after climbing the pyramid. He must have noticed her relief.
“You don’t eat,” he said, as he set the stone down on the bed beside her and took the lantern from her. “You’re having a reaction to the antimalarial,” he continued as he set the lantern next to the one that was already lit. “And the translations really seem to take it out of you.”
He was dragging his bed through both mosquito nets. Jesse quickly raised her feet when she realized what he was doing–putting the beds together.
“And we’ve been through a lot,” he said, pushing the bed into position. “Is it any wonder you’re tired?”
He quickly took off his boots and crawled over his bed. She took off her shoes and tossed them to the floor as he picked up the stone tablet and sat cross-legged opposite her. His face was beaming as he stared down at it.
“The Jester God,” he whispered. “But I’ve never seen him carved in stone and never a stone like this.”
He held it between them so that she could see it too.
The dark blue of it was beautiful. Small white veins ran across the surface and its high polish glinted as he moved it. The carvings were delicate and low relief, in stark contrast to the huge stone architecture. It was a work of incredibly high craftsmanship.
As always, it was the glyphs that drew her attention. Despite the deep blue of the stone, her multi-colored symbols began to form.
“Tomorrow,” he said. “We’re going to take this stone down those stairs and we’re going to find a place where this fits.” He gripped it by its edges as though he were doing that now, slotting it into some unseen hole in the air. “And when we do that,” he pronounced. “We’ll find the Red King. I know we will.”
“Bring me your confession,” Jesse whispered, staring at the glyphs. “Your confession?”
That wasn’t right. She knew it. It was the language of Zuyua and it couldn’t be that simple. Besides, a confession wasn’t a thing. Her mind began to wander through her mental catalog: there were glyphs, images, colors, sounds, and dialects.
Not confession.
It was on the tip of her tongue.
Not confession.
She felt a hand on her shoulder.
“Jesse, stop.”
She blinked and looked down at the blanket. The tablet was gone.
“Where–”
“I put it next to the lantern,” he said, taking both her shoulders. “You’ve been staring at the bed.”
She looked up at him, his face no longer beaming.
“It’s on the tip of my tongue,” she said. “It’s not confession but, what it really is…”
“I know,” he said, quietly. “There’ll be time for that tomorrow.” He lightly brushed a stray lock of hair from her forehead and then both hands gently held her face. “You’re incredible,” he said. “I couldn’t have done this without you.”
She didn’t quite know what to say but, in a moment, it didn’t matter, as he gently kissed her.
He rose up on his knees and drew her upward, as his lips lingered on hers. Soft and feathery, his lips slipped across hers. Moist and warm, the slow, sensual slide of them, one way and then the other, was hypnotic. Though the glyphs still whirled in her head, they began to fade, replaced by the singular sensation of Brett’s mouth.
His lips seemed to explore hers, probing and sampling, as though he’d never kissed her before. He tested her upper lip, drawing it tenderly between his. His hands, lightly framing her face, slid to the nape of her neck and hers finally found his waist. His tongue skimmed her captive lip, a seductive sweep that felt like he was tasting her. Then his mouth found her lower lip as she finally closed on his upper.
Somehow this kiss was different–Brett was different. Instead of the fiery passion that had exploded from him earlier, Jesse sensed a new calm. His tongue slowly and steadily stroked her as her mouth