Drowning in Fire by Hanna Martine Read Free Book Online Page A

ask the same of the premier. Or your chief. Or Makaha.”
    She recoiled. “You attacked him!”
    Icy wind raked through his jacket and clothing, scraping at his already chilled skin. “I what? No—”
    “You are never allowed to use magic as offense during the Senatus.”
    Griffin threw his bag to the ground. “Keko, I didn’t attack. Makaha did.”
    “No. He didn’t—”
    “I saw what was coming, what he was about to do to me, and I threw the ice as a defense.”
    “Defense?” She laughed, that kind of hysterical laughter that often partnered with disbelief. With hatred.
    “Fire was coming out of him. I saw it in his mouth. I saw it in his hand. He was coming for me, about to throw it at me. I will swear by it until the day I die.”
    “He birthed fire to throw it into the sky. It’s a sign of frustration and warning among my people.”
    “Well, maybe if you’d actually told me all that instead of fucking me, none of this would have happened.”
    That hit home. She opened her mouth, her lips ready for a retort. Only there would be none because she knew he was right.
    She slowly started to back away. “You destroyed him, Griffin,” she whispered, and her voice was broken again.
    He cleared his throat. “He will live.”
    But she was shaking her head. “You don’t understand.”
    “So tell me this time!”
    She glared. “He’s a defeated warrior now. Disfigured. Disgraced. When we take him back to the stronghold he will lose his warrior status. He will lose his home and have to go live in the Common House with all the others who are no longer worthy. He will serve everyone above him. He will have no sexual contact. He will lose his familial rights. And I will no longer be able to have any contact with my best friend.”
    “ Jesus .” The Primary invective came shockingly easy, the harsh whisper swirling between them. But she just stared at him. Challenged him. “Great stars, Keko, that’s barbaric. It’s medieval.”
    “It’s Chimeran. It’s how it’s done.”
    The wind tossed her loose hair around her head. Griffin took a brave chance, moving closer. “I think you know me better than this. It’s only been a few days, but I believe you know me. You know how much the Senatus means to me, how much you”—he licked his lips, cutting short that sentence. “Please understand my side, that I was protecting myself against an attack. Please. I’m asking you to take me back there and give me the opportunity to tell your chief that. To explain myself to the premier.”
    The formal speak sounded insincere, even to his ears. It sounded like Griffin the politician, the leader. Not Griffin the Ofarian man.
    Fire consumed her eyes, and it was dangerous and explosive. “You want me to take your side? To defend you?”
    “I would like you to come with me as I explain my side. They won’t let me back in without you. I’m asking for your help.”
    The silence between them grew more and more dense. “Nothing you can say to them will matter. Because to my people, Makaha no longer matters. It would be like speaking about a ghost.”
    The loss in her eyes was too great to be measured. She was right. An apology wouldn’t mean a thing to anyone involved. Griffin would have to bear the regret on his own and figure out a new way to make things right.
    “So it’s over?” He wasn’t talking about the Senatus.
    Her expression was painfully blank. “Yes.”
    Then she turned and disappeared back into the forest.

ONE
    Present day
    Griffin’s jacket had lost its scent.
    For the millionth time, Keko wondered why she’d kept it these past two months, this tangible proof that she’d been wrong and Griffin had been telling the truth. And for the millionth time since he’d found her being held captive in that Colorado garage and had given her the jacket to cover up her nakedness, she held the jacket at eye level and remembered how his body had filled it out.
    The black all-weather coat lined with the zippers