A Promise of Fire (Kingmaker Chronicles, #1)

by Amanda Bouchet

He kept me tied to him with a magic rope. I couldn’t even pee by myself. He’s awful.” “You’ll get over it.” Jocasta cheerfully throws my own words back at me. “See you at dinner.”

“Pretty as a posy. Spin for us,” Flynn says. I twirl, throwing them a saucy look over my shoulder. “Come sit on my knee,” Kato says, patting his thigh. “So I can inspect.” I laugh. “I’m not falling for that.”

“What are you doing in here?” He looks me up and down, his tone a mix of disgruntlement and accusation. Heat floods me at the sight of him. Irritation overrides it. “I was having fun ten seconds ago. Now I’m annoyed.” “Answer the question,” he grates out. My hands land on my hips. “Having a wild orgy. You’re not invited.” His eyes narrow dangerously. He turns to leave, and I know I’m supposed to follow. “Wait!” I cry in mock alarm. “Where are my underclothes?” “Gods, Cat!” Flynn visibly pales. Kato barks a laugh.

“I’ve been wanting to taste that for weeks.” “What does it taste like?” The breathy murmur sounds nothing like me. “Like a snowflake on my tongue. So cold it burns.” He lifts his head, his eyes searing. “It tastes like magic. And you.”

“Don’t kiss me,” I whisper, and the wings stretch in protest. His thumbs glide over my cheeks in a tender, sweeping caress that makes my chest ache. “Give me one good reason not to.”

“You can’t. You’ll die.” He shakes his head. “I won’t let her take you from me.”

“You don’t get it,” I say, my voice muffled by his tunic. “She won’t let anyone take me from her.” “You don’t get it.” He sets me back enough to look me in the eyes. “You’re mine. Not Cat the Soothsayer. Not Cat the Kingmaker. Just Cat.”

“It’s inevitable,” Griffin says softly. His gray eyes are like anchors, weighing down my heart. I shake my head. “It’s not.” “You were made for me. I know it.”

“Griffin also advocated starting in the north,” Egeria says. “He mentioned Ios as well. You two are so well matched. You even think alike.” Heat floods my face, and my heart starts pounding like a herd of centaurs. I don’t look at Griffin. I will not look at Griffin.

“Lovely to see you again, Carver. Your existence had completely slipped my mind.” Kaia chokes on something, probably goat cheese. Carver grins. “I’ll remind you tomorrow when I spank you in a sword fight.”

“Cat!” Nerissa says sharply. “Manners, please. And don’t threaten Carver at the dinner table.” “He said ‘spank’ first!” “You’re the lady. Rise above.”

“I think it would be lovely to have you as a friend,” she answers. Warmth spreads through me. Gah! When did I turn so emotional?

After a while, Nerissa breaks the silence with a story about how Griffin got chased by a bull when he was young, and that’s when he got serious about swords. “He was determined always to have something longer, pointier, and sharper than that bull’s horns.” “It was the Minotaur,” Griffin rumbles. “As big as a house.” Nerissa’s lips twitch. “It was old Cosmo from the field across the river.”

He turns it back, his tone sharpening to a dangerous edge. “Who hit you?”

If he can’t guess, it just shows how insignificant Daphne is to him, despite what she obviously thinks. The knot that unwinds inside me is proof of everything I keep refusing to admit. The realization makes my stomach cramp.

Humor brightens Griffin’s eyes, and I blurt, “I’m still seriously considering stabbing you in your sleep.” He smiles. “You don’t want to.” “I’ll take that bet.” “You’d miss me,” he says confidently. I roll my eyes, letting him know what I think of that bit of arrogant absurdity. “You’d miss this.” He swoops down and kisses me, his lips softly urgent. Incredibly enticing. It’s all I can do not to open for him, to let him invade me, and to conquer him in return. I want to throw my arms around his neck, press myself against him, and tangle my tongue with his so much it hurts.

Griffin laughs, grabs my hand, and drags me out of the barracks. “Not easily discouraged, are you?” I mutter. He shepherds me across the courtyard, Athena watching with flat eyes. “Do you think I could have conquered Sinta if I were easily discouraged?”

“Is Cat supposed to threaten us?” He nods. “It means she likes you.” “That doesn’t make any sense.” Kaia smiles brightly anyway. “I like you, too, Cat.” Griffin grins, obviously pleased with himself. “You’ll pay for that,” I whisper so Nerissa won’t hear. Griffin arches an eyebrow and discreetly mimes spanking between our two chairs. I seriously consider bolting, binding vow or not.

Griffin frowns, shaking his head. “It happened a few times. Not more.” Flynn sighs. “That’s because she was almost always with y—” I dart around Griffin and punch Flynn in the kidney. He grunts and stops talking, but it’s too late. Everyone knows what he was going to say. Griffin looks nauseatingly gleeful, and every member of his family suddenly has a hideous gleam in their eyes. I hate them all.

“You don’t own me!” His voice deepens, making me shiver. “Ownership isn’t what I’m after.” “It’s useless,” I croak. “Give up.” Griffin pins me with a steady gaze. “

“Worried about me?” He winks, and I see red. “And, Cat? Modesty doesn’t suit you. You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

“I can’t believe you told Griffin I don’t have nightmares with him.” Flynn shrugs. “It’s true.” “He just snores so loudly you couldn’t hear me screaming.” “Nice try,” Kato says, coming in behind me.

“You’re only staying there while we’re away.” I’m not sure any of us fully believes that.

Kato and Flynn pat my head before they mount, Carver promises me a sword fight when they get back, and Griffin sweeps me into his arms and kisses me in front of all three of them. He lifts me to my toes, and I forget to kick or punch or scratch, or even breathe. When he lets go, I come to my senses enough to cough out a “Yuck!” He grins. “Keep telling yourself that.”

Ordering starving, homeless kids around isn’t nearly as much fun as I thought it would be.

I lie down in Griffin’s bed for the third time. His crisp, masculine scent still lingers on the sheets. The shallow dip in the mattress is the imprint from his body, fitting around me like an embrace. I haven’t had a nightmare once. I hate this. I hate needing him.

“Am I bothering you?” she asks. “Not at all.” In fact, she just saved me. I was about to wrap myself in Griffin’s tunic. It still smells like him, like salt, citrus, and sunshine. I know because I stuck my nose in it once already.

A girl doesn’t know her bed is big enough for four Flynns without having thought about him in it.

“I think for the moment, he notices weapons, and war, and women he doesn’t intend to marry,” I answer honestly.

“Does he always get what he wants?” If she’s surprised by my question, it doesn’t show. “Griffin is very persistent. Relentless, even.” Since there’s no point in beating around the harpy’s nest, I ask, “Why does he want me?” She looks genuinely puzzled. “Why wouldn’t he?”

“Has he been serious about anyone before?” I try to sound casual and fail miserably. She shrugs. “Women have come and gone. I’ve never seen him fixated before, or really even care one way or the other. You’re different.”

“You won’t let Griffin claim you because you’re afraid your mother will harm him?” Claim me? Southerners have such a different way of putting things. So basic. Primal. Deep inside me, excitement flutters to life, and something needy clenches in anticipation. I ignore it. Whatever irrational part of me craves claiming will have to learn to live without.

“Griffin was right,” I mutter, annoyed. “I don’t have nightmares in his bed.” Across Kaia’s sleeping form, I see Jocasta smile. She looks maddeningly like her older brother—smug. “Don’t tell him!” I whisper-shout. “Swear you won’

“Have fifteen horses carry women, and they double up. The twenty-five others carry your best men. Sixty more follow on foot. And they run. I’ve run for a day. So can they.”

What the Tarvans don’t know is that their position now puts them between Beta Team and me, and every last one of them is about to comprehend something vital—that’s the wrong place to be.

Lightning bursts from my body, splitting the air with cracks of thunder. I advance, my footsteps charring the ground as bolts radiate from my feet, long, jagged, and intensely hot. There’s a tearing pain in my back, along each shoulder blade. I don’t stop to question it, or the lightning, or the wind. I don’t question anything. I am mighty, and I will kill anyone who gets in my way.

It flies end over end and buries itself in Griffin’s chest. My scream snuffs out the storm. Silence crashes down as magic collapses back into me. Confusion, disbelief, and the rawest pain I’ve ever felt make me stumble. I lose my grip on the healer, and she runs. I’m slow to move and then waste time chasing her down. I grab her by the hair and jerk her back while Carver sprints toward the fleeing Tarvan, ruthlessly taking his revenge.

His eyes lock on mine. They lack their usual piercing clarity. “My kingdom’s treasure. My treasure. So glad I found you.”

I hear Kato and wish he would pat my head while Flynn says “shhh” in my ear. This is a nightmare, and I need them to wake me up.

“I think you gave too much to save me. I woke up to a great clap of thunder, perfectly healed. Even my old scars were gone.” Really? I’ll miss the one over his eye. “I thought you needed improvement.” His soft chuckle rumbles through me. His arms tighten, sliding me up his chest. “Am I naked?” I don’t feel any clothes. “Yes.” “Are you naked?” “

“I told you to bring an army.” I feel him smile against the curve of my neck. My skin tingles under his mouth. “Turns out, all I needed was you.”

“Don’t go, Cat.” Griffin’s mouth never leaves my skin, his breath a warm whisper. “Please.” My heart splits wide open, finally finishing off the crack he started that hot night at the circus fair.

“Time to get up,” Flynn says brusquely. “We’re all waiting for you to give us that know-it-all look of yours so we can kneel down and kiss your feet.” Kiss my feet like a goddess. Like Athena. Wisdom and war. Well, war anyway. “And present our arses for spanking,” Carver adds. A smile tugs at my lips. “Don’t…tempt me.”

Egeria sighs. “I wish Cat would wake up. She’d have ideas about all this, I’m sure.” “I just wish Cat would wake up,” Griffin says dully. Emotion swells in my chest. Warm fingers brush my forehead. The touch is gentle, the skin rough. I want to turn into Griffin’s hand. The irony isn’t lost on me. I spent weeks rejecting him, and now that I don’t want to anymore, I can’t even move.

“What if she doesn’t get better?” Egeria voices the question everyone is thinking, especially me. Griffin strokes my hair. “She will.” “But what if she doesn’t?” Egeria insists. Boots stomp, and the door creaks open. “Kato! Flynn! Get a healer in here!” Egeria’s muttering tells me this ground has already been covered. Repeatedly. “They can’t do anything, Griffin.” “They’re not trying!” he snaps.

“Take it back!” He lifts my hands to his face. His jaw is prickly, and I wish I could see him—strong, determined features, black stubble, gray eyes that never fail to unmask me. His voice is rough with emotion, and I wonder what I did to earn his affection. I’m not even nice to him. “Take your life force back!” His grip is urgent, his face close enough for his breath to stir my hair.

Muttering under his breath about how stubborn I am, he lies down next to me, tucking me against his side. I wish I’d kissed him back. I should have thanked him for the lamb steak.

“Easy, kardia mou. I’m just cutting deeper.” My breath hitches. His sweetheart? Most people have forgotten the ancient language of the gods. The tribes must have retained some endearments.

Griffin tilts my chin up until our eyes meet. “I love you, Cat. I would do anything to keep you safe. That is my binding vow.”

I AM PASSING AWAY

“I don’t care,” he says flatly. His storm-cloud eyes drink in my face like he’s memorizing every detail. “You’re everything to me.”