A Promise of Fire (Kingmaker Chronicles, #1)(57)

Perfect. Just like with the rope.

Something flashes, and I realize it’s Kato’s teeth. He’s grinning at me. I make a rude hand gesture and roll over, turning my back before he can retaliate.

“You could come closer.” Griffin’s gravelly voice rumbles over me in the dark, teasing.

My pulse leaps, and I flush with embarrassment. “I don’t think so.”

“Suit yourself.”

“I hate you.”

He’s silent for a moment and then very deliberately says, “I hate you, too.”

His lie rips through me along with the truth, searing my bones and charring my organs, especially my heart.





CHAPTER 14


“Hades, Hera, and Hestia!” Flynn curses, pointing up. “What in the Underworld is that?”

I squint into the sun. Oh my Gods! “A She-Dragon.”

Everyone turns to me, and as much as I love having four handsome men gape at me in stupefaction, right now, I could do without.

“What do we do?” Griffin asks urgently.

Magical creatures rarely stray from the Ice Plains. To southerners, they’re almost mythological. “Scurry like mice.”

“Be serious!”

“I am serious! Run!”

There’s a lake in the distance, maybe two miles away. I press my heels to my horse’s sides, spurring him into a gallop.

“Cat!” Griffin shouts, chasing after me. “Where are you going?”

“The lake!” I yell over my shoulder.

“There’s no cover!”

“There’s no cover anywhere!”

Racing alongside me, he reaches over in a move worthy of a circus acrobat and draws on my reins, pulling hard. “There’s no cover there. Here, there are…” He glances around. “Rocks.”

“Rocks won’t help us against a Dragon!”

“And water will?”

“I don’t know! Maybe.”

His eyes flick to the sky. “We’ll never make it. She’s moving too fast.”

I’m afraid to look up, almost cringing when I do. Her features are recognizable now. There’s no doubt the monster is Sybaris, which means Alpha Fisa is driving her telepathically. When this moment came, if it came, I always thought I’d scream, or run, or panic, but the closer she gets, the more dazed and numb I become. My thoughts grind to a halt. I feel rooted in place, blank. I think I’ve discovered the true measure of terror.

“My Gods,” Griffin says on an exhale, his tone part horror, part awe. I can’t blame him. Sybaris’s upper body is that of a beautiful woman, albeit huge. Silky blonde hair trails behind her in a long wave. Inhuman, her lower body is covered in reptilian scales that run the spectrum from sea green to shiny black. Her dark wings are sinew-veined and talon-tipped, smacking the air with a sinister pounding. Powerful hind legs end in massive feet with sharp, hooked claws, each one the size of my entire foot. I’ve seen her pop a man Griffin’s size. To her, it was like crushing a bug.

“Alpha Fisa sent Sybaris for me.” I sound scared, which scares me even more. “She wants me alive. Separate from me, and there’s a chance she won’t kill you.” I jerk my reins out of Griffin’s hand. “Go!” I yell.

I don’t want my horse to die, either. He’s strong and steady and seems to like me. I was just getting around to naming him. I was going to call him Panotii because of his freakishly large ears, just like those elusive tribesmen in the north. I slip off his back and start running.

Griffin curses and gallops after me.

I stop and turn, drawing my sword. “Back off, idiot!”

“I won’t leave you!” he thunders.

“Neither will we,” Kato says, skidding to a halt on my other side.

Oh Gods! They’re all going to die.

Sybaris shrieks, and I shake my head, trying to dislodge the more disturbing sound overlapping her eerie call, an echo of triumphant laughter only I can hear.

“Can we fight her?” Griffin asks.

I push Andromeda out of my head with a brutal mental shove, hoping I make her ears bleed. “Sybaris is enormous. She breathes fire. She devours people.” I shake my head, my eyes as huge as throwing discs. “No.”

“Can you control her?”

Does he have that much faith in me? “I said I might be able to drive a Dragon. I’ve never done it, and Andromeda’s magic is stronger than mine. She’s had years of practice. There’s no way I can break her hold on Sybaris.”

He looks up, his jaw clenching. Sybaris’s wings flap, immense and leathery, two ominous shadows stretching across the cerulean sky. His gaze drops back to mine. “You could try.”

My heart tumbles in my chest. “I will. But only if you four back off. I mean it. If you come anywhere near me, I swear to the Gods I’ll jump on her back and tell her to take me home.”

Did I just say home? I feel sick.

Griffin looks like he’s about to leap off Brown Horse and tackle me. “I thought you weren’t part of the team! That it’s idiotic to sacrifice yourself for someone else.”

“It is!” I snap, looking at each man in turn. It’s probably the last time I’ll see them.

“Cat—” Flynn starts.