“Why are we going in circles?” I ask. The rope is as short as ever. There are about three inches between Beta Sinta’s back and my front. And he’s so bloody hot! Sitting this close to him makes me want to dump snow over his head.
“We’re being followed.”
My heart jolts in my chest. Are Aetos and Selena coming for me?
I doubt it. They read my note. They would think about it, fight about it, but in the end, they would leave me be.
“How do you know?” I ask.
“I saw smoke from a campfire twice in the last two days.”
“Maybe it’s a coincidence.”
“That’s why we’re going in circles. To find out if they’re really following.”
“I hope they are,” I announce.
“Why’s that?” He doesn’t sound even mildly concerned.
“Because then there’ll be a fight. If I’m lucky, someone will kill you, and I can finally untie this stupid rope.” I have to eat next to him, sleep next to him, bathe next to him, pee and…other stuff next to him. It’s horrible and humiliating. It’s a worse punishment than Prometheus getting his liver eaten every day by a giant eagle.
Poseidon, why are you doing this to me?
If I have to wake up with my nose in Beta Sinta’s chest one more time, I think I’ll scream.
“I’ve fed you, I haven’t harmed you, and I haven’t asked you to do anything in particular. Your situation could be far worse,” he argues. “With whoever might be following us, it could be.”
“First of all, abduction is a major strike against you. Second, they won’t necessarily catch me. Third, you hit me in the face.”
His back tenses. “That was unintentional.”
“It still happened.”
“You hit me often enough,” he mutters.
“Good idea.” I grind my fist into his kidney, feeling no remorse. He snatched me from the circus and threatened the people I love. He deserves that, and worse.
Gray eyes glint at me over his shoulder. Beta Sinta’s voice turns a little too calm for comfort. “Cat…”
“Your Highness?” My tone is a sweet-and-sour masterpiece.
“Have a care.” His eyes narrow, and he takes his time turning back around.
After we set up camp, earlier than usual, Beta Sinta unties himself for the first time and links me to Carver. Unease grips my stomach in the strangest way.
“What are you doing?” I demand.
“They’re following us. See the smoke?” He points at something that looks like a cloud. “I’m going to investigate.”
“Alone?”
He smiles faintly, angling his body toward mine. His warmth burns a flush into my cheeks. “Worried about me?” he asks.
“What? No! I hope you die.”
His smile fades. Straightening abruptly, he tells Carver, “You know what to do.”
Carver nods and claps his brother on the back. After acknowledging Kato and Flynn, Beta Sinta prowls away without a backward glance. The send-off is pretty minimal, if you ask me.
“What are you supposed to do?” I ask when Beta Sinta is out of earshot.
Carver tugs me toward the campfire, and I drag my feet. Southerners always want to be where it’s hot. “If he doesn’t come back, I’ll take you to Sinta City myself. To Egeria.”
If he doesn’t come back, he’s dead, and his rope won’t work unless someone else claims it. That someone will be me, and I’ll be long gone before we reach Sinta City.
I watch Beta Sinta disappear on foot up a rocky hillside scattered with scrub. “Good riddance.”
“You don’t mean that,” Flynn says.
I cross my arms, frowning. “Yes, I do.”
“Why?” Kato asks. His golden hair glows almost celestial white in the strong beams of the setting sun, and I have to squint to look at him. “He’s been decent to you.”
“If decent means abducting me and keeping me tied up, then I guess he’s been decent, by your standards.”
Carver moves, forgetting I’m attached, and I lurch, falling to my hands and knees. A stone digs into my palm, and I hiss a breath between my teeth. Grating a curse, I grab the rope and give it a hard enough yank to make Carver stumble.
“I hate this bloody rope!” None of these people have magic. There isn’t a dribble of power to steal, nothing to get me out of here.
Flynn is instantly by my side, reaching down to help me up.
I shove his mammoth hands away. “Don’t touch me. I hate you all.”
He looks sympathetic, which makes me want to throw him under a Cyclops’s boot. “That’s not true.”
I glare at him. “I have no freedom, no privacy, and now I don’t even get to have my own mind? Don’t tell me how I feel!”
Flynn sets his ax down with a sigh. “You hate Griffin, even though you shouldn’t, and the rest of us are just lumped in because that’s easiest for you.”
I roll my eyes as I contemplate making a lunge for the ax. I would if I thought I could lift it. “Spare me your psychological ramblings.”
“Do you want a bath?” Carver asks, his question cutting straight through our argument and ending it.
We’re fifty feet from a stream with a tempting clear pool. I’m hot and dusty, and I desperately want to jump in. Swimming is in my blood. I’m a fish in Poseidon’s sea.