I should fight him. I really should, but my fingers curl into his hair, and my tongue tangles more urgently with his. He smooths his hand up my back and then back down again to the curve of my bottom, squeezing. With us pressed together, I can feel all of him, making me intimately aware of his coiled strength, of the tension rising in his powerful frame. His lips cover mine, brushing, seeking, drowning me in sensation. Unable to stop myself, I lean into him, and my body ignites. Wings beat, fanning the flames, and I hear a moan that couldn’t possibly be mine. Definitely not mine.
I should really do something about this.
Soon.
Very soon.
My leg skims up his thigh to hook around his hip.
With a ragged sound, Griffin grabs my leg and tears his mouth from mine, trailing his lips along my jaw and down my neck. He’s probably getting a mouthful of dust. Ha!
Sort of.
Hmm…
His tongue swirls against my skin, and I gasp. His voice rough with passion, he rasps, “You’re living fire. I burn.”
I open my eyes. Actually, I’m the Fisan without fire.
His lips mold to mine again with alarming perfection, but I twist, breaking his hold on me and stepping back. It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.
“Don’t kiss me.” My legs are unsteady. My voice comes out hoarse. We’re both panting.
Griffin stares at me, his eyes dark, his chest rising and falling. “Why not?”
A fist squeezes my heart, crushing it. “You abducted me. You kept me tied up. You coerced me into working for you. I don’t want to be with you.”
“You’re lying.”
That fissure gapes wider. I press my lips together, as if that small act of cohesion will keep the rest of me from falling apart.
Griffin blows out a long exhale and then touches my cheek in a way that makes my breath stutter. “What’s scaring you?”
Everything. Her. I feel like crying. “Don’t kiss me again. Vow it.”
His fingers fall from my cheek, and he scrubs his hand down his face, looking tired all of a sudden. “Is that really what you want?”
I nod, too scared to open my mouth. Something unexpected and dangerous might pop out.
Carver enters the cavern just when it looks like Griffin might speak. “I was the unfortunate chosen to come in here and make sure you two haven’t killed each other off,” he announces cheerfully.
“We haven’t,” Griffin replies evenly.
“Yet,” I mutter.
Griffin throws me a somber look and then strides out of the cave. It doesn’t escape me that he never gave his word. And as I stare in shock and confusion at the charred footprints branching out like lightning bolts in the dust where I just stood, it doesn’t escape me that I’m relieved he didn’t.
CHAPTER 16
Griffin discusses projects and politics with Carver for the rest of the journey. With Flynn and Kato riding as a pair, I spend our final two days on the road trailing behind. There’s no sparring, no teasing, no being hounded with questions. There are no jokes, at least not for me, and being on the outside suddenly tastes like sour lemons.
I pull up alongside Flynn. “Why is everyone ignoring me?”
His big shoulders roll in a shrug. “We’re not. We just don’t understand. Griffin agreed to your conditions. He asked one thing in return, and you went berserk.”
His disappointment jars me. “I said I wouldn’t leave the castle alone.”
“Under duress. And we’d all like to know what Griffin did to make you agree.”
“He asked nicely,” I answer tartly. And nothing else I’m talking about. Or thinking about. Or acknowledging. Ever.
Flynn turns to me with round eyes. “Is that all? If being nice to you is all it takes to make you less prickly, why do I always feel like I’m talking to a hedgehog?”
Feeling more than a little chastised, I urge Panotii ahead and only drop back again when we reach the walls of Sinta City. I can’t believe Griffin hasn’t sent someone ahead to prepare an escort, or at least get some kind of fanfare going. This is Beta and Delta Sinta returning to the royal seat after weeks away. There should be a ceremony.
Instead, we amble toward the castle largely unrecognized. Taking quiet back roads through the city, Griffin and Carver talk over what their guards said at the gate. Apparently, nothing is happening. People are satisfied, settled. Trade is healthy. Crops are good. A Magoi royal family gets butchered. A Hoi Polloi family moves in. All in a day’s work. I feel like I should dust off my hands and shrug. If you ask me, it’s weird.