“In this village on the coast, a giant, crazed octopus came down from the magic-filled waters of the north. Its appetite was huge, and it began devouring all their fish and ripping apart the boats that dared to cross into its new territory. The entire village was slowly starving to death. Hands and bellies empty. Hopeless eyes. Wailing babies. I heard about their plight, traveled there, and caught the gigantic tentacled monster—at great personal risk to myself, as you can imagine—and tore it limb from limb with my bare hands. Pluck.” I mime yanking a leg off and tossing it over my shoulder. “Pluck.” I toss the next one over the other shoulder and watch the imaginary limb splat in the imaginary dirt. “When I got to the eighth and final leg, the creature looked at me with doleful eyes and said, ‘You are truly terrible,’ and then it died in a pathetic, gelatinous heap.”
Griffin explodes with laughter, the sudden sound making even Brown Horse’s ears twitch. It rolls from him in great, deep waves, and I can’t help laughing, too, even though my ridiculous grin destroys Talia the Terrible on the spot. It’s the first time in days he’s looked happy like this. The broad smile, the way his eyes crinkle at the corners, bringing out the silver lining around his irises—it’s a different kind of pleasure from the intensity of lovemaking, or the times when it’s just the two of us, wrapped in each other’s arms. I like seeing him simply enjoy himself. I love being the reason for it.
“Octopuses live in warm water, Madam Terrible. And is tentacled even a word?” Griffin asks, still chuckling.
“Of course it is. It rhymes with manacled.” I give him a significant look, my mind jumping straight to his big hand gripping my wrists, but my face heats to the point of burning, which ruins the effect.
Fabulous. Catalia Fisa, master of seduction.
Griffin’s glittering gray eyes smolder with interest, though. He looks ready to drag me off my horse and forget about leaving for a few hours.
Maybe I am a master of seduction!
With a low sound that makes my whole body hum, he leans down and brushes his lips over mine. When that’s not enough, because it’s never enough, he clasps the back of my neck and presses his mouth down harder. Our kiss starts to move in a rhythm. His fingers tighten on my nape. I breathe him in and savor his taste, and when he pulls back, I tingle from head to toe.
“You are terrible when you need to be. And terribly selfless.” Griffin drags his thumb across my lower lip. “Even in that ridiculous story you made up, you were defending people, putting others before yourself. You like to pretend otherwise, but don’t you see? You’re the shield, and I’m the sword. Together, we’ll forge a new world.”
My heart hangs suspended for a moment and then beats again hard. Fear mingles with…anticipation? “Who said I made it up?”
Griffin grins and kisses me again. Our teeth click softly when I grin back. Then our lips cling until I lower my head.
Do we make a whole? Or do we cancel each other out? What if he’s the shield, and I’m the sword? What if I break him, and everything else?
A dull clomping in my ears tells me the others are finally mounted and ready. I look over my shoulder and see the guys moving in our direction.
Carver draws alongside us. Kato and Flynn take up the rear. On Griffin’s signal, the gate rises. The rest of the royal family calls out and waves to us again. I briefly wave back but don’t linger over another good-bye. The first one was hard enough. I don’t turn again as the spiked portcullis finishes its slow crawl up into the high rectangle of the castle’s main gate, although I think I’m the only one. I don’t know why it’s not universally acknowledged that looking back is a terrible idea. It only makes going forward that much harder.
“Now that we’re done with the kissing,” Carver mutters, “we can finally leave.”
I flush and adjust my seat, picking up the reins I’d apparently dropped. Griffin gives his younger brother a withering look and then presses his heels to Brown Horse’s sides, setting the big animal into motion.
Panotii follows without any direction from me. “I didn’t realize we were kissing,” I tease Carver, trying to take everyone’s mind off the people and place we’re leaving behind.
Carver grunts. “Gods forbid.”
I arch an eyebrow. He’s usually such a flirt, although I’ve never seen him look seriously at any woman, and certainly not at me. “I’m pretty sure I should be offended, although I’m telling myself you’re just doing your best to avoid Griffin’s rampant jealousy.”
Now Griffin grunts.
“I love kissing women,” Kato offers. “I’ll kiss hundreds of them.” He sweeps his hand toward the tiled rooftops of Sinta City. “The whole city.”
“That sounds unhygienic,” Carver says without humor.
Kato winks at me. “And fun.”
I roll my eyes.
Kato tips his blond head toward Carver and tells me in a low voice, “He’s just frustrated because he’s not using his sword.”
I choke a little. Is that a metaphor again?
“We all know I’m the best swordsman around,” Carver comments dryly.
I doubt that. My money is on Griffin—unless this really isn’t a metaphor again. In actual swordplay, Carver just can’t be beat.
“It’s not only about the sword. It’s about knowing how to use it,” Flynn remarks sagely.