A Promise of Fire (Kingmaker Chronicles, #1)

by Amanda Bouchet

I smile, too, until a strange, invigorating sensation sweeps through me. Griffin’s liquid warmth doesn’t stop at my core. It spreads to my limbs, my head, my fingers, and toes. I take a deep, surprised breath and feel like myself for the first time since Ios. “You fixed me!” I say, laughing. Griffin lifts his head. “Hmm?” “I think you just gave me my life force back.” He grins, looking way too smug, as usual. “I knew we should have been doing this for days.”

Instead of moving over, though, he strokes me again—inside. “Maybe you need more life force.” I roll my eyes. “Put a leash on your hips, Beta Sinta. I need to recover.” He stops moving instantly. “Was I too rough?” I shake my head. “No. You were”—amazing, mind-blowing, better than anything I ever imagined—

I wake up way too hot. It doesn’t take long to figure out why. There’s a naked warlord plastered to my back. I inch forward, trying to get away without waking him. A steely arm bands around my waist, dragging me back. “Where do you think you’re going?” There’s no trace of sleep in Griffin’s voice. He’s been awake for a while, holding me. My heart lurches, and I feel the intense need to run. He rolls me to face him and looks at me like he wants me again, like all he wants is me.

Picking up some clothes I left lying around, I move quickly and as quietly as possible because he’s stalking me now—him and his rampant erection.

I try not to walk crooked. Maybe Griffin was a little rough? Or maybe this is how I’m supposed to feel—tender and a bit slippery.

“Don’t mess with me. I can punch again now, and it might actually hurt.” Kato looks intrigued. “How did that happen?” “Don’t ask. Please, don’t ask.” He grins, and I’m pretty sure I turn even redder. I get hotter, anyway.

“Since you probably can’t ride today, or even walk, what should we do?” Kato asks. Coughing, I blow spice cake crumbs all over the table. “Excuse me?” “It’s just that Griffin isn’t, er…” I narrow my eyes at him, and Kato actually turns pink. Ha! “Known for his gentle nature,” Flynn provides. “And how many women know that?” The snap in my voice sends their eyebrows bouncing up. Kato grins again, obviously enjoying my reaction. “Enough for him to know how to please the woman he wants to claim.”

They make noises that sound suspiciously like man giggles. Griffin strides into the refectory, sword strapped on, boots clomping, and spitting mad. Uh-oh. He marches straight to our table, hooks his foot around the leg of my chair, pulls it out with a screech of wood on stone, and then drags me up with a biting grip on my upper arms. My heart starts galloping like a herd of centaurs. I have to tilt my head back to look at him. “Don’t disappear on me, Cat. Don’t.” He drops me back into my chair, and I land on everything that’s sore.

Griffin started distributing pensions, even to the people who fought against him. Go figure.

After weaving through the outdoor marketplace at an agonizingly slow pace, it’s clear that if anyone in Sinta City is stupid enough to even look at one of us wrong, they’ll be shredded by an angry mob.

Satisfied with my purchases and once again in my tunic and pants, I emerge from the back room to find Jocasta having trouble unhooking a necklace she tried on. The merchant goes to her at once, eager to help, but the second his fingers touch her skin, Flynn shoots like a lightning bolt from the shadows where he and Kato were hiding from all the shopping. With a growl, he yanks the man back hard enough to toss him halfway across the room. Jovial Flynn suddenly looks rabid. Kaia snorts and then sucks the sound back in, making for an interesting combination. Jocasta’s eyes jump to Flynn’s, tense and grateful. I could swear Flynn’s color rises. He tries to back away, but she holds her hair to one side, and he has little choice but to help her with the necklace himself.

“No, you did. I keep forgetting to give you your wages, so I just gave you everything at once.” “Oh, well, we’ve been busy dying, and healing, and…everything else.” A smile tugs at his full mouth. “Everything else?” His voice turns gruff. He seems very interested in the everything else part.

“You don’t have to bind me to you with sex.” Griffin picks me up and carries me to the bed, lying down next to me. “I’ll bind you to me in any way I can. Sex. Children. Love.”

“You’re bright like a star. You shine for me now, but the sky turns. Where will you shine tomorrow? Or the day after? I won’t let you go, not without a fight that would make gods tremble.” I shiver, rattled by his words. “You’ll regret pledging yourself to me. It will cut your life short.” “You’re my life now. We’ll live together, or die trying.”

I kiss his jaw. It’s official—I am an idiot. At least there are two of us now. “Be my Ares and finish what you started. Otherwise, I might just kill you, and all this pledging will be irrelevant.”

My eyes widen at the size of him. His erection still surprises me. And it’s still intimidating. It makes me wonder how wide my jaw opens. I drop to my knees. I’ve heard men like this. “Cat!” He pulls me back up. “You don’t have to do anything.” “You did.” “That was only to give, and I enjoyed it. A lot. I don’t expect this in return.” I’m getting more nervous by the second. “You’re very giving. It’s nauseating.”

“Don’t worry,” I say, wiggling out of his grasp and sinking back down. “I have no idea what I’m doing. You might hate it.” There’s a sharp intake of breath above me when I touch my tongue to his arousal. His voice already strained, he says, “There’s no chance of that.”

Wanting to draw out the pleasure like he did for me, I rock back on my heels and look up. Griffin is watching me, his face rigid with need. There are other feelings there, too, and the stark emotion makes me want to do more than please him. I want him so delirious for me that he’ll forgive me for anything, no matter what I do, or who I am. I understand what he meant now about Ares and Aphrodite. If I can make him want me enough, maybe he’ll never give up on me.

“That was amazing.” He sinks his hands into my hair and rains kisses all over my face. “You’re amazing. I love you.” My heart flips over, and I bury my nose in his chest. “The things men will say for sex,” I mutter against his sweat-slicked skin. “It’s after the sex.” My head jerks up, and I frown. “Really? There’s no more?”

With a contented sound, Griffin puts his hand over mine. It engulfs mine, twice its size. I stare at our joined hands for a long time, wondering what tomorrow will bring.

Griffin comes up behind me, sweeps my curls to the side, and kisses the back of my neck, making me shiver. “I’ve seen the others. They’re the royals, but it’s you who looks like a queen.”

Emotion mushrooms in my throat, making it hard to breathe. “I don’t have anything for you.” Griffin’s smile turns wolfish. “We’ll discuss that gigantic falsehood later tonight.” Heat swamps me, and I flush until it feels as though even my hair catches fire.

“I’ll come down later. I have no official place here. I can’t be in the receiving line.” His expression hardens. “You’re Beta Sinta’s future wife. I think that’s official enough.” My mind blanks in shock. Then I sputter, “E-excuse me? When did you decide that?” His eyes turn wary. “What did you think I was going to do with you? Sully you and watch my illegitimate children run around the castle?”

Desperate, crazy, crushing emotion overwhelms me, and I suddenly can’t believe how much he means to me.

My hand rises to his chest. I feel his heartbeat under my fingertips, aware of how lucky I am to have him, petrified of all the ways I could lose him. “I want to be with you. I don’t want to be anywhere else.” Griffin cups my face in his hands. “I want you to be with me, too.”

“You’re intelligent, brave, skilled, and lethal. You’ve got Poseidon and Hades looking out for you. I don’t believe you’ll die young, and I don’t believe they’d let you. And even if they’re not paying attention, then I am. I won’t let you. I told you I was keeping you. I meant it.”

Griffin gives me his hard stare. “Soon, or I’ll come back for you.” I grimace, feeling burned to a crisp already. “I know I have a job to do.” “It’s not about the lies,” he says sternly. “I need you by my side.” I nod, pretending there’s not a lump in my throat.

Scowling, the man snaps, “I don’t know what everyone is talking about. Beta Sinta doesn’t look that terrifying or impressive to me.” Truth: Gods! He’s huge! If that man looks at me the wrong way, I’ll wet myself.

She’d make a strong ally, and a potentially difficult enemy. I’ll have to make sure she stays on my side,” Griffin says, finding the statuesque blonde with his eyes. My voice sours further. “Yes, but without any weird sex.” The corners of his mouth twitch at my jealous tone. I could swear his chest puffs out.

“The Power Bid is in motion. There’s no turning back.” Griffin shifts his gaze back to me. “So let’s do it our way.” “Do what?” I ask. “Take over the realms.” I stop breathing. “Excuse me?” “We’ll bring things full circle. No more divided rulers. One kingdom, like the Origin’s.” “Who? Where?” I sputter. “Us. Wherever you want.”

I take a fruit kabob and ask him how he likes his new job. “Actually, Your Highness, I prefer hauling rocks. It’ll make me strong. I want to be a warrior like Beta Sinta.” He glances shyly at Griffin. I nearly choke on a kalaberry. “You don’t need to call me ‘Your Highness.’” “He will soon,” Griffin mutters. The boy beams.

Another tray of food passes in front of me, and I grab a phyllo triangle without really looking. Griffin plucks it from my fingers and tosses it back onto the tray. “Goat cheese.” Damn it! It’s impossible to stay mad now.

On top of that, seated where I am, I can’t learn anything of interest except that Piers, who is on my other side, is capable of disagreeing with absolutely everything I say, even when it’s strictly a matter of personal opinion. By the end of dinner, I’m ready to stab Griffin’s brother with a fork.

I glance fearfully at Griffin, but he doesn’t seem to register anything amiss, at least not with that last part of the conversation, and I realize he already sees me as a princess—his princess.

Why didn’t your family come for you when you were a prisoner in Castle Fisa? I would never have left you there.”

I spread out my arms and float in a patch of sunlight, half-asleep, my ears underwater. Naked. Relaxed. Healing. A sharp pain splits my middle. I gasp, water spilling into my mouth as my eyes fly open, and my hands dart to my belly. I stare in shock at the knife sticking out of my stomach, blood billowing from me like a watery sunset. Bare feet pad almost silently across the marble floor. My head whips around. Daphne

When he comes into focus, I wish I hadn’t tried so hard to see. The look on his face terrifies me. I see my death in his harrowed gaze, in the stark lines and stricken planes. “Don’t die,” he orders gruffly. “Don’t you dare die.” Tears spill from my eyes and slide hotly down the sides of my face.

I blink leaden eyelids, wanting to keep looking at them. I have a family crying over me. What a strange idea. I hold on to that thought as I slip in and out of darkness. Eleni emerges from the shadows to greet me, a smile on her lips, blonde hair glowing, green eyes merry, a bottle of Fisan clover water in her hand. Has Hades sent her to collect me?

He glares in disgust at the shattered chunk of wood left in his hand and then hurls it out the window with a bellow. His family stares at him in shock. Only Anatole looks like he understands and would do the same. “If you don’t like it,” Griffin rages, “get out!”

With a frustrated curse, Griffin drops to my side. I scowl at him. “I liked that chair.” His lips jump up in surprise. “I’ll get you a new one.” “I liked that one.” Light returns to his eyes. He lifts my hand to his mouth, pressing my palm to his lips for a scorching kiss. “You must be feeling better. You’re arguing.”

“Sleep,” he says, his arms tightening around me. “When you wake up, I’ll make love to you and give you as much life force as you can take.” I grin against his chest. I can’t wait. “How smug do you look right now?” “Very,” he admits. “Feed me first.” He chuckles. “If I have to.” After a slight pause, he adds, “And then you and I are having a conversation. No more mysteries, Cat.”

A whispered argument wakes me up. “Eight years with me and one broken arm because she was overambitious with the acrobats. A few months with you and she almost dies! Repeatedly! What in the Underworld is wrong with you?” Selena.

“Tell me truthfully, Cat. Are you happy here?” It’s not a simple question, but there’s a simple answer. “Yes.” My eyes find Griffin’s. My voice softens. My whole body does.

“How’s Hades?” I ask before she goes. She gives me a significant look. “Virile. As always.” I smile. I get it now.

“Cerberus didn’t guard the circus until you came. He hasn’t been around since you left.” It takes a moment for her words to sink in. Hades may be her lover, but Cerberus is my watchdog.

I laugh, clutching my aching middle, and in that moment, I don’t care that Griffin has all but vowed to uncover everything I can’t bear to confide in him, that he wants to take over the realms, that Andromeda is coming for me, that I have thunder and lightning in my veins, or that I am destined to end the world as we know it.

I open my eyes and meet Griffin’s steady gaze. “I love you, and I’m so glad you love me, too.” His eyes widen at my admission. He stops midbreath, his whole body going utterly still. “Live together, or die trying?” he asks, his voice a deep rasp. I nod. “Us. Together. Forever.”

“Make love to me.” His gray eyes ignite. “Are you sure?” “I want you. In me. Around me. Always.”

I kiss him back and touch every part of him that I can reach. And when he makes love to me again, I don’t cry at his tenderness even though I feel like I might, and I don’t tell him that if I were going to break, it would have happened a long time ago.

Scowling as he looked around, Griffin scanned the crowd for signs of the enormous man he’d watched perform earlier in the evening. The near giant made fire and flew. Or hovered, anyway. He could be useful. But for some reason, Griffin still itched to find something else, someone else; he just didn’t know who.