A Promise of Fire

by Amanda Bouchet

  “Easy, Cerberus.” I keep my voice low.

  He bays, a long, eerie howl that makes my skin crawl. It goes on and on, his three heads taking turns so that it never stops. It’s all I can do not to cover my ears and cringe. The lake smokes and hisses where his saliva splatters the surface, and I back deeper into the water to avoid the venomous drops.

  He eventually quiets and stares at me, his upper lips still curled and twitching.

  I ease a hand in his direction. “Thank you.”

  Cerberus snuffs noisily in response and then disappears in a shudder of fur and fangs, leaving his carnage behind.

  I sink into the lake, utterly spent despite the power I just absorbed. Breathing for the first time in what feels like years, I look up to see Griffin, Flynn, Carver, and Kato galloping toward the shore, leading Panotii behind them.

  I wait, only my head above water, watching as Griffin leaps down from Brown Horse and splashes toward me. The closer he gets, the harder my heart hammers in my chest, beating some life back into me.

  He grabs my shoulders and pulls me to my feet. “Are you insane?” he thunders.

  “Marginally.” I cough because he managed to slosh water up my nose.

  “You. Dragon. Falling. Giant…water hand. Cerberus. Gods, Cat!”

  “That about sums it up.”

  Griffin glares at me like he wants to throttle me. Instead, he hauls me up against his chest and kisses me. There’s heat and urgency and relief in his touch. My lips part in surprise, and he deepens the kiss, sweeping his arms around me and lifting me to my toes.

  Wings unfold inside my chest, the feathers pulsing lightly against my ribs. I’m achingly aware of every point of contact—Griffin’s warm, firm lips moving over mine, his solid chest flush against me, his big hands splayed across my back. Before I can question the strange wings, he angles his head, and his tongue touches mine, scattering my thoughts completely.

  Sensation roars through me. One of Griffin’s hands slides up my back, delving into my wet hair to cradle my head. The raw, almost desperate sound that rises in his throat makes me feel powerful in a way that has nothing to do with magic, or knives, or knowledge. Heat sizzles through me, desire scorching me from my head to my toes.

  Griffin’s mouth leaves mine, gliding across my cheek and jaw, stopping where my pulse pounds in a wild rhythm. Gathering me tightly against him, he places a searing kiss just below my ear. I feel the hot press of his lips like a brand and wonder if it’s permanent.

  His voice drops to a low, ardent growl. “I would have come for you.” His strong arms are a fierce pressure around me. His ragged exhale warms my neck, making me want to curl into him. “When you jumped, I thought I’d lost you.”

  I blink. Does he think he has me?

  The desire blazing inside me falters. I ruthlessly shake off the passion making me weak and push out of his arms, splashing back a few steps. Stumbling, really. My lips burn. My body is on fire.

  I somehow dredge up the scowl to end all scowls and wipe my entire forearm across my mouth, glaring at him.

  He grins.

  I disappear.

  Trembling and breathing hard for reasons I refuse to examine, I climb the bank, grab my bag from Panotii’s back, and then rummage for a change of clothing. Decently covered and invisible, I sit on a rock, compulsively touching my lips. I had no idea a kiss could feel like that. No. Idea.

  Flynn scans the area, his hands on his hips. “Where is she?”

  “Not far,” Carver says.

  How does he know? Smug bastard.

  “Cat?” Kato calls. “There’s no need to hide. We’re just glad you’re all right.” He chuckles. “I would have settled for a pat on the back, but you know Griffin. He’s overemotional.”

  I snort. “I’ll stay invisible until Beta Sinta learns to control his urges.”

  They laugh. Except Griffin. He’s not laughing at all.

  I shiver even though I’m the exact opposite of cold.

  Carver ambles over and sits on my rock. On me.

  “Get off!” I grumble, kicking him.

  He gets up. “So this is your rock?”

  “They’re all my rocks! Go away.”

  Carver clasps his hands over his heart. “And leave our loyal soldier? The one who slays Dragons?”

  I roll my eyes. Too bad no one can see. “Cerberus killed the Dragon.”

  “You had Cerberus.”

  “Not anymore,” I say sullenly.

  Carver frowns. “How did you have Cerberus?”

  “Hades.” Which explains everything, and nothing at all.

  “Cat’s better than loyal.”

  My heart jolts at the sound of Griffin’s voice. Things tug in my chest, and tiny, winged creatures swarm my belly, dive-bombing left and right. I hate him. Hate, hate, hate him!

  “What’s better than loyal?” Flynn asks.

  “Loyal and self-sacrificing,” Griffin announces.

  I feel myself blanch. Me? Self-sacrificing? Gag!

  CHAPTER 15

  I can’t bear to face Griffin after that kiss. My maturity level is apparently that of a five-year-old because I stay invisible for two whole days, until Panotii starts to protest. I’m there, but I’m not, and it starts making even my calm, reliable mount nervous. Steadiness only goes so far, and you can only ask so much of a horse.

  His blue eyes twinkling, Kato heaves a sigh of relief when I finally reappear. “That was the strangest two days of my life. It was like talking to a realm-walking spirit.”

  “With an attitude,” Flynn remarks.

  “You could have just pretended I wasn’t there. That’s the point of invisibility.” Instead, they’d hammered me with questions. Royals, realms, Magoi, magical creatures, the Ice Plains, the Lake Oracles. My voice is hoarse from talking when all I’d wanted was to be left alone. I need to think about Andromeda, what might come next, what I’ve gotten myself into with the Sintans, and not at all about Griffin’s kiss.

  Not. At. All.

  No.

  At least all this talking has filled me in on a thing or two concerning the new Sintan royals. It turns out Carver isn’t Gamma Sinta like I’d assumed. He’s Delta Sinta. There’s a brother, Piers, between Griffin and Carver who’s in charge of the army when Griffin isn’t there. After Carver, there are two younger sisters, Jocasta and Kaia. Their parents, Anatole and Nerissa, are still alive. Anatole led their tribe for forty years, making it one of the most powerful in the realms, before passing the reins to Griffin.

  The idea of buttercup Egeria being Alpha while her father is still alive and she has strong, warrior brothers shocks me to the core. It doesn’t work that way. How could a warlord from the south sweep in and shake up everything so thoroughly, including me?

  Panotii tosses his head, protesting my death grip on the reins.

  “Sorry,” I mutter, patting his neck and trying to relax.

  “I’m happy to see you,” Griffin says, his unhurried gaze roaming over me and snagging on places that make my temperature rise. “I didn’t fancy introducing my family to a person they couldn’t see.”

  We’re two days from Sinta City and a future that promises to be sheer torture. “I have conditions.”

  Griffin smiles with just enough resigned humor to make me want to kick him in the teeth. “Why am I not surprised?” he asks.

  I open my mouth and sparks fly out.

  “Steal that from the Dragon?” He doesn’t even look impressed. He’s relaxed, in a good mood. They all are. Carver is even whistling. They forced me out of hiding after eight years. We fought off thirty men and survived. We killed a She-Dragon driven by Alpha Fisa, by far the most powerful mortal in Thalyria. We could be attacked at any time by only the Gods know what. What is wrong with these people?

  “Your fire won’t work on me,” Griffin
says. “You’d end up frying Brown Horse, and then I’d have to ride the chestnut.”

  “Panotii. At least my horse has a real name.”

  “Panotii? Because of his ears?” He studies Panotii’s head for a few seconds and then chuckles. “Maybe he’s part donkey.”

  “Shhh! Don’t say that. You might hurt his feelings.”

  “He’s a horse.”

  “He’s my horse. Any attack on him is an attack on me,” I say frostily.

  “You’re the one who named him after people who are supposed to have ears down to their feet.” Griffin’s mouth tips up at the corners, drawing my eyes to the distracting curve of his lips. Full lips. Warm lips. Firm, demanding, possessive—

  Gah! Get a grip!

  “Panotii.” His oversized ears swivel in my direction. “Let’s ditch these southerners and find some people who understand us.”

  Flynn pulls up on my left, so tall and broad he shadows me from the afternoon sun. “You like us too much for that,” he says, his cheerful smile threatening to infect me with something awful, like a good mood. “And everything’s going great.”

  “Great? You almost died. Twice! We all did.”

  He shrugs, grinning. “But we didn’t. And you’re funny.”

  Funny? Funny! I grin back. I can’t help it. I’m such an idiot.

  “So what are your conditions?” Griffin asks.

  My smile dies as I turn back to him. “First, no one outside of this group ever knows I’m the Kingmaker. Most people don’t even know what that is, but I can’t take the risk. Tell them I’m a soothsayer and can read people. That’s it.”

  “I’ll have to tell Egeria.”

  “I mean it, Griffin. No one. If one day I decide to trust Egeria, I’ll tell her. But you won’t. None of you will.”

  “Or?”

  “Or I won’t help you. You won’t enjoy trying to get the truth out of me, and I won’t break under torture.”

  “Are you sure?” he asks.

  “Am I sure I won’t break? I thought we covered this.”

  “Are you sure I won’t enjoy getting the truth out of you,” he clarifies. His eyes brighten with mischief, and I’m pretty sure his mind is somewhere it shouldn’t be. Definitely shouldn’t be.

  A flush crawls up my neck, and he laughs. The warm, teasing sound seems to take up residence inside me, lightening my bones.

  “Stop flashing your teeth,” I grumble. “They’re blinding me.”

  “I don’t like it, but I’ll agree,” Griffin says, still smiling. “You’ll report directly to me on any lies you hear and the truths they reveal.”

  I look around the group. Carver is staring straight ahead, but he hasn’t missed a word. Flynn appears unconcerned, huge ax slung over one shoulder. Kato grins at me, looking like Adonis—too handsome for his own good.

  “Don’t worry,” Kato says. “Your secret is safe with us.”

  “All of you?”

  Flynn and Carver give their consent.

  Okay then. “Second, no one knows the Fisans are after me, not even your family.”

  Griffin frowns. “Why not? We can protect you.”

  My heart trips a little at his gruff tone. “I’ll protect myself.”

  His midnight eyebrows slam down, so I wave an ungracious hand in the air. “You can help, if I need you.”

  He grunts. “How generous.”

  “If no one knows Alpha Fisa wants me, no one will be tempted to sell me out. It’s simple. It’s human nature. People with knowledge betray that knowledge, sometimes out of greed, sometimes out of malice, sometimes out of necessity. It happens every time. That’s why I never told anyone at the circus who I am.”

  “Who are you?” Griffin asks.

  “What I am,” I amend.

  He gives me a look that says he wasn’t born yesterday. So what? Neither was I.

  “Third, no one mentions Poseidon, oracular dreams, or any of my abilities. Turning invisible, absorbing magic, possible creature driving, calling on a God—these are not things we casually talk about.”

  “Why?” Flynn looks genuinely perplexed. “Our people will fall at your feet. They’ll worship you.”

  I chuckle. “Like you all?”

  Flynn grins. “Exactly.”

  “Magic is a weapon. It’s always better when you can spring something no one’s expecting.”

  He nods. “That’s smart.”

  “Of course it is. I do have experience with this kind of thing.”

  Griffin chokes on a laugh. “Astounding modesty, as usual.”

  “You’re one to talk, Your Arrogant Highness.”

  Griffin leans closer, his voice dropping to a low, suggestive rumble only I can hear. “There are things I could boast about, but I’d rather show than tell.”

  My head jerks around, and our eyes collide. He winks, and my jaw goes slack. I thought that moment of insanity was over, left behind at the lake. What exactly is he referring to anyway? Oh Gods! Now I’m thinking about it. Him. Us. Together. Stop!

  “You’ll be waiting a long time,” I say coolly, burning from the chest up.

  His eyes dip to my mouth, lingering there. “We’ll see.”

  It’s all I can do not to wet my lips.

  I nudge Panotii so I’m ahead. Eat my dust, Warlord. “Fourth, I won’t live on the castle grounds.”

  “Absolutely not,” Griffin says, pushing Brown Horse alongside me again. “You’ll stay behind the castle walls, and that’s final.” His storm-cloud eyes flash until I think I’ll hear thunder.

  “Calm the lightning bolts. There’s no reason I can’t stay in the city.”

  “No reason?” He starts ticking off so-called reasons on his fingers. It takes both hands. “At the castle, I can keep an eye on you. I’ll know where you are. Carver can keep an eye on you. I won’t have to waste time looking for you. Flynn can keep an eye on you. When I need you, you’ll already be there. Kato can keep an eye on you. You won’t get dragged off without anyone even knowing about it. And, especially, I can keep an eye on you!”

  “You already said that. It was point number one in a long list of inanity.”

  His jaw muscles bulge. “I’ll give you your other conditions, but not this. You’ll have access to the castle and two hundred and sixty acres of training grounds, gardens, and woods. There are baths and an entire army barracks to explore if you want to, but you will not leave the castle grounds without one of us. Is that understood?”

  “No.”

  “Promise, Cat.”

  I snort. “I hope that’s a joke.”

  His nostrils flare when he realizes the enormity of what he just asked me. “No vow, then. Just agree. It’s better for everyone.”

  “Better for you.”

  “And you.”

  “Not really.”

  He growls deep in his throat. “Zeus’s bollocks, you drive me insane!” His eyes darken. He looks ready to wring my neck.

  “The feeling is mutual,” I assure him.

  With a sudden snarl, Griffin snatches me out of my saddle so fast I shriek, landing facedown across his legs.

  I twist, glaring up at him. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m not sure yet,” he grates out.

  In that case… I knee him in the ribs. He grunts and slaps a heavy hand down on my rear end, pinning me. I bite his thigh.

  “Gods damn it, Cat!” He kicks Brown Horse into a gallop and heads for a rock formation up ahead. The horizontal ride is so jarring that my teeth hurt by the time he reins in, lets me slide to the ground, and jumps down after me.

  Griffin grabs my wrist and drags me toward a cavern entrance. There’s no way I’m going into a dark cave with a seething male. Life has taught me something.

  I swing at him with my free hand, landing a punch on h
is jaw. Son of a Cyclops! My fist feels like it hit a wall.

  “Hit me again and you’ll regret it.”

  There’s no lie. He definitely means it. Outwardly at least, he’s mastered his temper, calm again, like he’s the eye, and I’m the storm. He makes me crazy! Why am I always the one to explode?

  I tear my arm out of his grip, pivot, and kick him with everything I’ve got, catching him squarely in the chest. Thrown only slightly off balance, he narrows his eyes and tackles me. I land hard, going half-numb from the impact.

  Griffin grabs my wrists, pins them above my head, and then lowers his forehead to mine. Our mouths are suddenly even. His breath fans my lips, a warm, seductive caress across my mouth. Heat floods me, and my anger flies like a bird from a cage.

  “What are you doing?” I gasp.

  “Making sure you don’t head butt me, you little Harpy.”

  Oh. I’m not disappointed. Definitely not disappointed.

  He rolls off, then heaves me up and flops me over his shoulder. Not liking that at all, I slap his backside as hard as I can. I smack him again, just in case he didn’t feel it the first time.

  Griffin hits my ass back, making it sting. “Control yourself! You’re not a bloody animal.”

  He doesn’t hit me again, but he strings together a long, colorful sentence detailing just why my ass deserves his hand. Infuriating, reckless, and hot-tempered pop up, peppered with a few choice curses I haven’t heard often, despite living in a circus.

  His diatribe leaves me momentarily speechless, my ears ringing from the unfortunate truth in it.

  The cave is cool and dark compared to outside. He sets me down hard, and I blink, adjusting my eyes to the gloom. “What are you planning? To beat on me where no one can see?”

  Griffin looks at me like I’ve gone mad and doesn’t bother answering. His jaw flexes, and he glares at me, silently fuming. Then he throws back his head and howls. It’s a sound of utter frustration, and I feel a moment of sharp anxiety when both his hands clench into fists. Maybe I shouldn’t have wanted him to crack. His tanned skin and dark hair blend into the shadows. Only his eyes stand out, and they’re feral.

  He drags both hands over his scalp, raking his hair back and tugging hard. “You get shot. You nearly burn to death. Twice. You think a good escape plan is to jump off a flying Dragon. You disappear for two days and then come back griping as usual. You make selfish, impossible demands.”