A Promise of Fire (9 page)

There’s a side for women and a side for men. I don’t care which is which, and I don’t stop to find out. I turn right and run down the marble hallway. There are waves under my feet. Cool foam curls between my toes. I shriek with laughter as a Satyr chases me, trying to pinch my cheeks.

A tall, heavy door stops me in my tracks. I reach for the latch, but for some reason, I keep missing it.

“I get the feeling you’ve never been high before,” Beta Sinta says, leaning around me to open the door.

“Have you?” I ask.

He shakes his head. His eyes dance with silver streaks. They glitter like far-off galaxies in the deep of night. I stare into the scatter of stars, falling, falling…

“Looks like fun,” Carver says, pulling me out of space.

I turn to the wiry swordsman. “Want some? It’s fabulous!”

“No thanks.” Carver grins. “Offering anything else?”

I giggle and blush. Then my smile turns into a pout. “Don’t flirt.”

Carver does his best to look stricken, ignoring Beta Sinta’s glare. “Why not?”

“Don’t you know? Poseidon sent your incredibly annoying brother to me with an oracular dream. Once-in-a-lifetime thing. Except for most people. Most people never have one. Anyway”—I roll my eyes—“he probably thinks it
means
something.” I snort. “I’d rather eat goat balls. Or goat shit.” I frown, confused. “Or goat cheese!” I shout triumphantly.

They stare at me. I could catch flies in their open mouths. I don’t want any flies, even pink ones.

“Oracular dream?” Beta Sinta says.

“She’s a wealth of information,” Carver murmurs.

“What? Never heard of one?” I shrug. “I’m hot.” Remembering the water, I turn, trip over my own feet, and crash to the floor.

Beta Sinta sets me upright. I run again, driven by blind need. Booted footsteps follow. The rope draws taut and then gives as we burst into a bathing chamber with three naked men. I laugh at their startled expressions and then yank my tunic over my head.

Beta Sinta’s eyes widen. “For the Gods’ sakes, Cat!”

I keep stripping, tossing my clothes into a messy heap.

“Out!” he barks to the room.

There must be something scary about him because all three men jump out of the pool and run, leaving puddles on the floor.

They disappear, and I turn back to Beta Sinta. He doesn’t look that scary to me. I tilt my chin, inspecting him. His hair is the color of a starless night, shiny, and curling softly around his neck. I reach up, playing with the silky strands. They look like ink splashed across my fingers.

Smiling, I smooth stray locks away from his face and then pat his head. “Good Beta.”

There’s a low rumble in his throat.

“Woof!” I bark back.

He grins. Then his eyes drop to my bare chest. His smile freezes, his nostrils flaring as his hands curl into fists.

Heat explodes inside me along with a thousand tiny wings. A flush sweeps up my neck. My nipples harden under his smoldering gaze, and I’m suddenly intensely aware of my own breasts—the sway and the weight, the roundness of them. A muscle ticks in his jaw before his eyes drift down, taking in the rest of me. His expression reminds me of a starving man who just stumbled upon his next meal. Focused. Hungry. Ready to pounce.

“Untie me or get in.” My voice is husky. There’s a butterfly colony inside me.

Beta Sinta steps closer to shield me from Carver’s view, ordering his brother out of the room. Carrying most of our purchases, Carver backs away with his usual bravado. I blow him a saucy kiss over Beta Sinta’s shoulder, startled when a violent sound rattles in Beta Sinta’s chest.

Carver laughs his way out of the room. Quickly.

Warm air brushes my skin.
All
of it. It’s Beta Sinta’s heat. He’s that close. I think I’m forgetting something important.

Silver eyes meet mine. “Give me your binding word you won’t leave without me.”

“All right.”

“Say it.”

I roll my eyes and bow, adding a pompous hand flourish. “I won’t leave the bathing chamber without you, O Imperious One.”

His mouth twitches, and I preen, oddly elated that I make him laugh.

Beta Sinta unties the rope, which I think I should care more about. His fingers barely brush my waist, but the contact makes my breath catch and my belly tighten. Tiny flames lick my skin where he touches. I shouldn’t like it, but I do.

The moment the rope drops away, I take a deep breath, dive into the pool, and swim the entire length underwater.
Bliss.

I pop up, laughing, and then swim for what feels like hours. My hands and feet wrinkle like month-old grapes, but I keep swimming, Poseidon’s ocean in my ears. Beta Sinta paces the length of the pool, shadowing me. I splash him, and he frowns. I invite him in, and he shakes his head. I don’t know why he won’t join me. I haven’t had this much fun in…well,
ever
. Too bad he’s such a grump.

Sometime after dark, exhaustion hits me like a Cyclops’s fist. I go limp, my muscles used and tired and so heavy I can barely move. Nothing is pink. Nothing is wonderful. I’m not dizzy or happy, and Beta Sinta watching me swim around naked isn’t even remotely funny anymore. Gasping, I try to turn invisible—that important thing I was forgetting earlier—and can’t. I’m too weak. I try again, but nothing happens. The blood drains from my face so fast I see spots.

Beta Sinta’s eyes sharpen. He takes a step forward, hesitates, and then stops, hovering on the edge of action.

My face flames as humiliation sweeps me into dark places. I’d rather take a hundred beatings than this.
This
is torture.

My eyes sting, and I fight back tears.
Cats don’t cry.
But this time, I think I might. Years of dread crash down on me, and I shudder, wondering if I can just let myself drown to save the realms from the calamity of Cat.

Standing in the water, I hang my head, my dark hair floating around my shoulders like a peacock’s fan at midnight. I can see my toes through the water. I can see everything. So can he.

“That’s why addicts stay high,” Beta Sinta says from the side of the pool. “It’s too awful when it ends.”

I sniff. I can’t look at him. I won’t.

“Come.” He holds out the gaudy red drying cloth I chose. It’s hideous and oversized.

He averts his eyes while I crawl up the steps. My eyes hurt. There are shooting pains in my head. I’m shivering. I’m not cold, but I can’t stop shaking. My teeth even chatter, which is an entirely new experience.

Barely holding myself upright, I let Beta Sinta wrap the cloth around me. He pats me dry, his hands surprisingly gentle. His touch is efficient, not overly invasive, and—
good Gods, I can’t believe I’m even thinking this
—oddly comforting.

I squeeze my eyes shut, for once hating myself more than I hate him.

“Why did you take it?” He leans over me to wrap the cloth more snugly around me. Sooty lashes shield his eyes. Black hair sweeps forward, brushing my bare shoulder.

A tremor runs through me, warmer this time.

“The magic wanted to be inside me.” My voice is as weak as a wisp of smoke. It sounds like I feel. “I couldn’t control it. I-I didn’t even try.”

“It wasn’t his magic. It was a spell.” Beta Sinta straightens. Shadowy in the torchlight, his eyes are like the ocean at night, dark and deep. He’s close, too close, but I don’t have the strength to step back or even look away.

“It doesn’t matter,” I say listlessly. “It’s the same to me.”

He fiddles with the cloth again before tugging lightly on my elbow. “Let’s go,” he says, his voice thicker than usual.

I’m not sure I can. I locate my clothes, take one step, two, and then sink to the floor and curl up on my side, my cheek pressed to the cool marble.

Beta Sinta gathers my things, then puts one arm under my knees and the other behind my back, picking me up like I weigh nothing. I can’t find the energy to protest, and my head flops against his shoulder, soaking his tunic. I close my eyes, feeling the heat of my breath circle back to me from against his neck.

“You never smell bad,” I mumble.

“Should I?”

“It would make you mortal, like the rest of us.”

“I am mortal. That’s why I need—”

“—your help,” I finish wearily, forcing my leaden eyelids up.

“This isn’t a game, Cat.”

“Just leave me here,” I moan. “You can’t carry me all the way back.”

He grunts, like I should know better. “And leave behind my most valued treasure?”

Despite my magical worth, I’ve never been anyone’s most valued treasure. “I won’t be used.”

A smile curves his wide mouth. His lips are expressive, and so…
close
. “Egeria will win you over.”

I doubt that. I yawn noisily, the tip of my nose accidentally brushing Beta Sinta’s neck. Drawn to his warm, solid strength, I’m tempted to burrow closer. I’m about to give in when a stab of panic slices through me.

Oh Gods! It’s all over. Eight years of hiding, and now this.

I didn’t think it was possible to hate myself any more right now, but I was wrong. “It won’t get that far.”

“You’re wrong. You’re wrong about a lot of things.”

I let that go. I have bigger problems. “I bled on that sword and didn’t dilute it.” I didn’t care at the time. It’s true what they say—drugs make you stupid. “They’ll track my blood. It’s been hours. They’re already on their way.”

He tenses, and his voice turns into a knife’s edge—hard and sharp. “Who?”

I yawn again. Apparently, even the most terrifying people in the realms can’t compete with bone-deep fatigue and drug withdrawal. “It’s your fault. You exposed me.”

His arms tighten, locking me against his chest. “I’ll protect you.”

My eyes drift closed, darkness enveloping me like a shroud. Not for the first time, I wonder how long I’ll live.

Beta Sinta’s heart thuds under my hand.

“You could try,” I whisper, fading into oblivion.

Conversation wakes me up. My head is pounding, I’m on a mattress, still wrapped in my drying cloth under a lightweight blanket, and my wrist is tied to the bed. I obey my first instinct and tug on the knot. When it doesn’t move, I feign sleep and listen. The first thing I hear is Flynn’s gruff voice asking who’s after me.

“That’s what I’d like to know.” Frustration colors Beta Sinta’s answer. He’s pacing, his long strides beating a steady rhythm on a wooden floor. “She told me everyone is her enemy. At the time, I thought she was exaggerating, but any royal or noble would kill to get their hands on the Kingmaker. She can steal magic. Turn invisible. She might even be able to drive a Dragon. The Gods only know what else she can do. She’s even handy with a knife.”

Handy? Handy!
My eyes almost pop open out of indignation.

Beta Sinta’s footsteps stop next to the bed. Warm fingers brush mine. “Who wouldn’t want her?”

Something in his tone makes my stomach tumble. That horrible mushy feeling hits me again.

Carver joins the conversation, sounding broody. “There’s more here than we know. More to her.” He exhales loudly. “Can we protect her?”

I doubt it.

“Can we hide her?” Flynn asks.

Maybe.

“We have to get her to Egeria,” Beta Sinta says.

Gah! Her again.

“Our first problem is who’s coming now,” Kato says. “We’ll deal with the rest later.”

Good old Kato. He knows how to get rid of the dung and clear out the stench. Behind closed eyelids I see broad shoulders, Adonis-like features, smiling blue eyes, and sunny blond hair. In my mind, he’s winking at me, his three knives planted in the knot of a tree. I showed him that.

“I could ride hard and fast, bring back a third of the army,” Flynn offers.

“No. They’re protecting the castle.” Beta Sinta’s voice rings with finality, and I mentally roll my eyes.
They’re protecting the castle—and his darling Egeria.

“We could find more Magoi and pay them for protection,” Carver suggests.

“That would only expose her more,” Beta Sinta says, pacing again.

Other footsteps join Beta Sinta’s. The tread is heavier, less precise. “So what do we do?” Flynn asks.

No one says anything for a while. Then Beta Sinta’s voice rumbles above me, low and sure. “Stay together, like we always have. The four of us have never come across an enemy we couldn’t best.”

A hollow feeling spreads through me. I could be lying on my circus cot, listening to Aetos, Desma, Vasili, and Selena having this same conversation. But they’ve loved and protected me for years. Beta Sinta only wants me alive so he can use me.

I want to live. At least one of our interests converges.

I let out a sigh and start talking. “They’ll start by sending armed men. At least twenty, and some with magic. If that doesn’t work, they’ll resort to creatures. Centaurs, Kobaloi…that kind of thing. Maybe even a Dragon.” I open my eyes. My head throbs, and the glow from the oil lamp feels like a dagger through my skull. “By the way, I hope Lamia drains your blood and eats your hearts.”

Carver grins. “Lamia only eats children.”

I huff. “That’s what you think.”

“Welcome back.” Flynn pats my foot through the blanket.

I sit up with a groan and grab my head.

“The headache is a whole Harpy’s nest of fun,” Kato says, his expression strained, his face paler than usual. “Thanks for that.”

I scowl at him. “Sarcasm is not favored by the Gods.”

“Do you see any Gods here?” he asks, spreading his hands wide.

“That’s the whole point. You don’t see them until they’re firing lightning bolts at you.”

His lips twitch with a weak smile before his eyes squeeze shut, and he drops his head, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Great.
I brought down Adonis with a hit of euphoria. I feel like a delinquent.

Beta Sinta crouches by the bedside, eye level with me. “How do you know what’s coming?”

I look away, flushing. I can’t help remembering his heated gaze on me in the pool, or the way his arms tightened around me before sleep robbed me of conscious thought.

My eyes lowered, I pluck at the blanket. “Experience. And just a hunch. I could be wrong.”

“Are you ever wrong?” he asks.

“Yes. Unfortunately.”

His weight dips the mattress. “Work with us, Cat. We’ll help you.”

My eyes jerk back up. “I wouldn’t even be in danger if it weren’t for you!” At least not immediate danger. “I’m not part of your team. When will you get that through your head?”

“You’ll have everything you need,” Beta Sinta argues. “Coin, shelter, protection.”

Does he really think that’s all a person wants? I could sell myself to any number of Magoi nobles for that. “Do
you
need protection?”

“Sometimes.”

“I don’t. I don’t need anyone.”
Is that my eye twitching?

Beta Sinta watches me, his expression sober. “That sounds like a lonely life.”

A familiar hole gapes wide inside my chest, and I swallow, closing my eyes against the four of them. When I open my eyes again, they’re still looking at me, and I can’t seem to muster all that much hate. Well, Beta Sinta gets some, but it’s not that dramatic, even in my own head. It feels like another defeat. He caught me. He kept me. And now I don’t even truly despise him anymore. It’s humiliating. I’ve already been humiliated enough for one day.

I disappear.

“Cat?” Beta Sinta calls. I don’t know why. I’m still attached to his bloody rope, which is attached to the bloody bed, which is now bloody invisible right along with me.

“I’m getting dressed.” I push the blanket back and reach for my clothes. I manage well enough except for my tunic. I pull it over my head, slip my free arm through one sleeve, and then tug the rest of it down enough to cover most of me before reappearing. “You have to untie the rope.”

Beta Sinta’s eyes lock on me when I reappear, their burning intensity turning my temperature volcanic. His gaze keeps coming back to my hair. It’s almost never loose, but now it’s a wild mess, falling to my waist in waves.

Almost hesitantly, he reaches out, lightly touching a dark curl. “You’re too young to be so cynical.”

I shiver, growing horribly self-conscious. Being mostly covered just reminds me of being completely naked, and I blush uncontrollably. Even my toes turn red.

As my color rises, Beta Sinta’s mouth curves a little too smugly for my taste. He wraps hot fingers around my free wrist, slowly reaching across me to untie the rope with his other hand. As soon as I can, I punch my arm through my tunic, ignoring the traitorous tightening in my stomach and the Gods-awful fluttering in my chest.

He tugs me off the bed and then gets Carver to tie us back together around the waist. I feel unsteady, and not because of the euphoria.

“Is that really necessary?” I ask, glaring at the rope.

“You make it necessary,” Beta Sinta responds.

He’s right. I’d be gone like an arrow from Artemis’s bowstring if I could get away. “Did you really think I’d hand over my loyalty just because you say you won’t randomly massacre Sintans, and your sister, the Alpha, is ‘so nice’?”

“I thought you’d see reason,” he says stiffly.

“Reason and I don’t mix.”

“I can tell,” he mutters.

My blood instantly boils. Everything about him sets me off, builds up pressure I don’t know how to deal with. With no other conceivable outlet for my visceral reaction to him, I swing at Beta Sinta, my fist connecting with his gut.

Pain explodes in a flash of blistering heat, fracturing my body into brittle shards. I crumple to the floor, my cry muffled by a clap of thunder so violent it rattles the inn. I scream. On fire. Burning up. Ripping apart. Lies are nothing compared to this. This is Olympus raining fire, scorching my skin, my eyes, my soul!

I claw at my throat and chest where the burning is excruciating. The room echoes with a long wail. It’s me. The wail is me!

Beta Sinta grabs my hands and hauls me back up. “You’re hurting yourself!”

I fight him, kicking and screaming, thrashing like the Furies.
Oh Gods! The Furies!

“What in the name of Zeus is wrong with her?” Flynn demands, joining in the struggle to keep me still.

I whip my head around. My skull splinters, leaving me half-blind with pain. “Get it out! Get it out!”

“What? What, Cat?” Flynn looks as panicked as I feel.

“It’s the betrayal.” Beta Sinta’s hands are like manacles on my wrists.

“What betrayal?” Flynn asks.

“She gave me her binding word she wouldn’t punch me for a day. She broke it.”

I can’t believe I swore a false oath. I’ve never broken a vow. Only Beta Sinta could make me mad enough to forget my binding word. I had no idea what the Furies would do to me, but I never imagined this—frantic to tear myself apart, consumed by fire, screaming my head off. What about a lesser Goddess slap on the wrist? An annoyed zap from the Underworld? No one ever told me about
this
!

I fight like a caged beast. I could rip the fire from my flesh if Beta Sinta would
just let go
.

Carver grabs me around the waist and stops me from kicking his brother. “I’d hardly call that a betrayal,” he grates out, barely holding on to me.

I’m wild, frantic. Pain rages inside me. Blinding. Jagged. “Burning” doesn’t even begin to describe it. It’s
unbearable
.

“She’s practically made of magic!” Beta Sinta snaps. “What do you expect?”

“But she punches you all the time,” Flynn says, grunting when I elbow him in the ribs.

“And I’m supposed to let her?” Beta Sinta snarls.

“What do you expect when you keep her tied up? Tied to
you
?”

“I’d had enough!”

“
She’s
had enough!” Flynn thunders.

“Whose side are you on?” Beta Sinta thunders back.

“Fix her!” Flynn roars.

“I don’t know how!” Beta Sinta hauls me against his chest, pinning my arms down with his much heavier ones.

I go limp, in too much pain to fight anymore. I’m sobbing now. I haven’t sobbed in years. Tears stream down my face, salty and wet.

“What do I do?” His voice urgent, Beta Sinta crushes me against him. The weight of his arms makes my bones ache. “Tell me, and I will. Tell me!”

I can only guess. It’s not something anyone ever talks about. When you make a vow, you don’t break it. Period. Now I know why.

It takes all my strength to scrape two words from my throat. “Release. Vow.”

“I release you from your vow.” His breath rushes over my temple. “I release you, Cat. Be well again. Be well.”

Something inside me shifts. The vow dissolves instantly. The pain melts slowly, leaving me shaking.

Beta Sinta’s arms stay locked around me. “Cat?”

My nose is buried in his chest. I leave it there, breathing raggedly. Breathing him.

“Are you all right?” he asks.

My skin stings where I scratched it, and I must have bled, but that doesn’t matter right now. I peek at my hands, thinking they’re charred black. They’re not. They look normal except for the bloody fingernails, but they feel fried, like the rest of me.

“I’m alive.” My throat hurts from screaming. My voice is a hoarse rasp. “That’s all you need.”

He blows out a long breath, stirring the hair at the top of my head. “You do realize you’re both stubborn and infuriating?”

I don’t answer. Does he really expect me to agree?

“If I didn’t need you so much I’d have—”

“—killed me by now?” I supply.

He chuckles. The sound vibrates through me, disturbing and much too intimate. “Let you go. Just to be rid of you.”

I lift my head enough to glare.

As if it were a normal thing to do, Beta Sinta sweeps his hand up and down my spine in slow, soothing strokes. “Come eat something. You haven’t eaten in hours, and we finally have food you like.”

Warmth follows the path of his hand, heating more than just my back. I feel it in the strangest places. Coiling deep inside of me. Spiraling through my belly. Tingling along my ribs.

Neither of us moves. I eventually gather the strength, or maybe the will, to push off and stumble away from him. I get this awful feeling the second I leave his arms—I want to be back in them.

My eyes wide, I back away, a tangle of fear and emotion knotting in my chest. I’m used to being scared, but this time is different. This time, I’m afraid of myself.

* * *

Beta Sinta changes his mind about going straight to Sinta City. We stay in Velos for nearly a week and then wander the nearby countryside like vagabonds, waiting for something to happen. I keep saying we should run. Hiding is what I do, but he wants to find out who’s chasing me, and I won’t tell him.

At this point, I’d be safer in Sinta City, in the castle. There’s an army there. But he doesn’t want to draw mysterious enemies into the heart of the realm, and he wants to protect his family and his perfect sister who smiles for widows and orphans and has Sintans falling on the ground to kiss her feet.
Gag!
She won’t last another month as Alpha.

On the bright side, I get to have an opinion now. What do I want to eat? Do I need to get off the horse? Do I want three or four feet of rope? Which side do I sleep on?

Fruit, I’m used to the horse, four feet, and on the left.

Beta Sinta even offers to show me how to use the sword he bought me in Velos. In his arrogance, he actually thought I’d need lessons. As soon as he hands me my blade, I nick his chin and draw blood.

His eyes narrow as he wipes his chin on his sleeve. “I thought you knew knives.”

“I’m better with knives.” I thrust again. He blocks this time, throwing me back so hard I almost fall over. I might have, if not for the rope. It’s awkward sparring like this, but I’m too happy to be doing something different to complain. “That doesn’t mean I can’t use a sword.”

“You fight dirty,” he mutters.

I grin. “Is there any other way?”

He plays with me for a while. I hold my own because he’s holding back. One swing with his true strength and I’d buckle instantly.