“Why were you privy then?”
His question is so deceptively casual that I speak without thinking and then don’t see any reason to stop. “I had tutors. Andromeda wanted me to know all about her nobles, her rivals, Gods, creatures, the other realms, their royals and elite…” I shrug. “I had to know what was important, so I could filter the lies.”
“Learn anything useful?”
I gaze into the darkness. “All the time.”
“And what happened?”
Besides burning up inside and being in constant pain? “If I told Andromeda about it, people usually died.”
“And did you always tell her?”
I arch an eyebrow. “What do you think?”
We stop talking. I don’t know what Griffin is thinking—probably about how often I might lie to him, or withhold the truth.
“Did she know when you lied?” he asks after a while.
Andromeda always knew when I was lying. Kind of like Griffin. I nod.
“And what did she do?” His tone turns cautious, as if he doesn’t really want to hear the answer.
I roll up my sleeve and bare my upper arm to the moonlight. Long, thin scars shine like silver threads, marring my skin from elbow to shoulder. The other arm looks the same. I don’t bother showing him. He’s already seen it. “Do you know what these are?”
“Death Marks. There’s the new one here.” He softly touches my arm, his finger warm against my skin.
“Selena did that. It’s what healers do when you’re so close to death they have to enchant your blood to get it flowing again. They draw it out on a knife, chant over it while you lie there struggling for your final breaths, and then smear it back on and hope for the best.”
“There must be a dozen,” he says grimly, counting both arms. “Andromeda caused this?”
“She tried beating the truth out of me several times. Unsuccessfully.”
His lips flatten into a tight seam, eliminating that distracting curve. “You’re not one to break under torture.”
There’s respect in his voice, which I choose to ignore. I roll my sleeve back down. “I’d rather die, so don’t bother trying.”
Griffin’s eyebrows slam down. “Cat—”
I pop up, brush myself off, and return to my bedroll without letting him finish. My blanket is cold. Oddly, so am I.
Griffin shakes Kato awake, and Kato takes over watch while Griffin spreads his bedding on the ground about ten feet from mine. In a matter of minutes, he appears to be asleep. I argue with myself for a while and then drag my things closer to his, stopping four feet away.
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.”