A Promise of Fire (Kingmaker Chronicles, #1)(62)

“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 his 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?