I’m going to escape. After I sleep.
The afternoon heat is unbearable enough to wake me up for good and make me want to claw off my skin. Beta Sinta is throwing off more than his fair share of heat as well, and all I can think about is dumping buckets of icy water over us both. I keep sane by thinking about the north, the cold, the fiery glow of sunshine through a curtain of ice, and the soft chill of snowflakes frosting my skin, but all that does is fill the hollowness inside me with an even deeper ache. Longing for things I can’t have is useless, just like wishing for freedom and a life no one wants to steal out from under me.
Stifling a sigh, I blink against the dry summer brightness and look around. Dust, dust, and more dust. Fabulous.
My stomach wakes up with a low rumble. “Don’t you people eat?”
“We ate. You slept through it.”
Beta Sinta’s deep voice vibrates through my rib cage, and I wiggle back as far as the rope will allow.
“I have to get down.”
He glances over his shoulder at me. “Now?”
“I have to… You know…”
There’s a slight pause. Of course he knows.
“There are woods and a stream up ahead. We’ll stop there.”
I squint and can barely make out the greenery on the horizon. It’s miles away. What does he think I’m made of? “I have to pee now.”
Wordlessly, he reins in his mount, loosening the rope to give me about four feet to work with.
I slide to the ground and land on wobbly legs, bracing myself against the horse’s steaming flank. I glare up at him. “You have to get down. Or untie the rope.”
Moving with easy, masculine grace, Beta Sinta swings down, still irritatingly fresh except for the sweaty face print on his back. Ha!
“Some privacy?” I grind out.
He arches one eyebrow. You’d think I’d just asked him to catch Pegasus and fly him to the moon. There’s no privacy anyway, not even a bush to squat behind, just sunburned plains, heat haze, dust, and tumble bumbles.
Shrugging, I turn invisible, taking the rope and the warlord along with me. His men shout in alarm.
“It’s all right,” Beta Sinta calls. “I’m still here.”
He can’t see me, though. Right now, he can’t even see himself. Anything attached to me turns invisible right along with me. Clothes, ropes, warlords… It’s a great way to scare the life out of someone. They think they’ve died and become a realm-walking spirit. Nobody wants to end up like that.
The second we pop back into sight, Beta Sinta mounts his big, brown beast and reaches down for me. I’m so stiff I can’t get back on the horse. None of my muscles comply with my brain, and he has to haul me up like a sack of grain.
“Go easy, Griffin,” Flynn rumbles on our left. “She’s not used to riding.”
I almost throw him a grateful glance but then turn it into a scowl, which is easy since I’m squinting into the sun, and Flynn’s shock of auburn hair is so shiny it’s practically a weapon in its own right.
Beta Sinta ignores Flynn’s advice in favor of getting to the woods—and shade—faster, setting a pace that makes me wish my seat bones were even better padded than they already are. I sink my nails into his sides, half to hold on, half to maim him, but he doesn’t even react.
Griffin. I turn the name over in my head, reluctantly curious. A griffin is an exceptionally rare creature, a mix of lion and eagle, king of beasts and king of birds. His parents must have been the pretentious sort. Then again, he did take over Sinta.
He finally slows to a walk, I think for my sake even though we’re not yet to the forest. My stomach growls, louder this time, and he fishes around in his saddlebag, handing me something wrapped in grape leaves. It’s smelly and not quite firm. Goat cheese. Gag!
“Got any bread to dilute this?”
“Dilute?” Beta Sinta sounds like he’s laughing. There’s definitely a smirk in his voice.
Kato’s blue eyes dance with humor as he hits me with a dazzling smile that’s almost as bright and sunny as his hair. “Griffin ate it all.”
I huff. “There’s no need to be so merry about it. Did you abduct me just to starve me?”
“I was hungry, you were sleeping, and you’re hardly being starved,” Beta Sinta says.
It’s hard to argue with that around a mouthful of cheese. I swallow and ask, “Why Beta? Why crown your sister Alpha when you’re the one who did all the work?”
It doesn’t seem like he’s going to answer, so I take another bite of cheese and keep eating until I devour the entire chunk. It turns out goat cheese is edible if you’re really hungry.