The Kingmaker Chronicles Complete Set by Amanda Bouchet

The Kingmaker Chronicles Complete Set by Amanda Bouchet

Author:Amanda Bouchet
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2018-10-30T00:00:00+00:00


Chapter 22

“What?” we all shout at once.

Kato’s lips pull back in a grimace. Smoke rises from under his fingers, and the smell of burning flesh strikes my nose like an acrid punch.

He doubles over and retches violently. Saliva drips from his open mouth, and a horrible groan resonates in his chest. His blue eyes turn huge and watery. Then he heaves again, his entire body bucking with the effort. Titos’s head pokes up from Kato’s throat.

“Mother of Zeus!” I jump back with more energy than I thought I had, lose my balance, and land on my ass.

Just like at the Chaos Wizard’s house, the snake slowly emerges, shiny and black, with vibrant crimson and gold diamonds chasing each other down its back. Its forked tongue shoots out and flutters in the air. It licks again, seeming greedy for the taste of the warm, magic-charged air. The serpent scans the area, unblinking, before dropping to the grass with a flat thud.

Kato staggers back from Titos, hacking out a series of coughs that rattle like dust and gravel. In between, he gulps down half-strangled breaths, his chest rising and falling like bellows. The tattoo is still on his neck, the flesh around it raw and red. Almost immediately, though, the burn starts to fade, and the tattoo settles into healthy-looking skin again, more realistic and lifelike than ever.

Wary, my jaw still slack, I turn back toward Titos. Slowly, like he doesn’t want to startle me, Poseidon’s Drakon slithers toward me. He lays his head across my boot and stares at me with those lidless eyes. Still sprawled on my backside, I cringe and tense to kick him off me, but his tongue shoots out and curls around my calf.

Adrenaline spikes in my blood. I think the snake just hugged me. I’m disturbed. Very disturbed.

“If you jump down my throat, I will cut myself open to get you out,” I say with surprising conviction.

I could swear the word incompatible whispers through my mind on a soft hiss. The small hairs on the back of my neck prickle upright, and I shiver.

Titos slithers up my recently reset leg. Heat suffuses my thigh. Griffin steps forward, not looking at all comfortable with this, and I hold up my hand. “Wait. It’s okay. I think.”

From between locked jaws, he says, “You think?”

I nod, and then, through the tear in my pants, we all see the jagged, puckered, barely closed-over skin even out, losing all evidence of recent injury. The pervasive ache in my bone disappears.

Griffin lets out a soft grunt and visibly relaxes. So do I.

Titos wriggles into my lap, curls up, and then lays his shiny dark head on my lower abdomen. His tongue flutters out with leisurely vibrations against my belly, and a tingling warmth spreads through my pelvis and higher, soothing away the cramps and aches. Next, he coils around my torso, and my breathing turns completely pain-free. After that, Titos slides his head over my left shoulder and then wraps his sinuous body around my arm.



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