Read Drowning in Fire for Free Online Page B

tighter to his leader.
    “What happens when the truth about us finally comes out?” Griffin started to pace. “And it will, make no mistake about that. You yourself mentioned technology, how hard it’s made things. What then? How will we be able to defend ourselves, our very existence, when the Primaries learn what we’ve been doing to them? Have you thought about that?”
    Aya inhaled sharply, but said nothing.
    Griffin’s focus darted between the Airs and the Chimerans. It had been years since he’d been in a physical fight, but the signs of an impending one would never leave his mind and he possessed strong muscle memory. The other elementals’ threats against him were quiet but present.
    “The truth won’t ever come out.” Chief’s ribcage expanded and contracted. “That’s why we have the Senatus, to keep that kind of thing under control. Do you understand now why we can never integrate in the way and to the extent that you want?”
    Oh, he understood. He knew now that it would take a hell of a lot more than stories about young Ofarian boys to turn the tides of this mess. He looked to Keko, but she was stone-faced. No, wait. There. A squint of her eyes—showing doubt in him, fear of his opinion, blind agreement with her chief—erased all the personal good that had been forged between them. It annihilated everything .
    “Then I’m going to Seattle.” Griffin whirled on the premier. “I’m stopping this.”
    The head air elemental let out a mocking laugh and swept his eyes up to the stars. “I’d forbid you to do that, but you’d never make it in time anyway.”
    “I’m not part of you, remember?” Griffin snapped. “You can’t forbid a thing. And you can’t do this.”
    Behind Griffin came the crunch of footsteps. “It’s already done,” Chief said, as though the finality of his tone was the end of this issue.
    Like hell it was.
    Griffin roared and spun on the Chimeran. Chief was standing there like a mountain, just waiting for Griffin to come after him with a new argument, but Makaha was moving, lunging for the chief’s side. Wait—no. The warrior was launching himself right at Griffin.
    Fists like iron balls at his sides, thick legs pounding into dirty snow, Makaha’s bare chest expanded like a balloon. It filled with magic that singed Griffin’s Ofarian senses. The Chimeran warrior opened his mouth and a flame burned at the back of his dark throat.
    A flame meant for Griffin. An attack.
    A few years of sitting behind a desk or at the head of a conference table did not soften an Ofarian trained from toddling age to be a fighter. Griffin instantly snapped into his old self, the one he’d been conditioned to become and often wanted to leave behind. Fists meant nothing to this beast of a man coming after him. Even if Griffin had a gun, it would become ash in Makaha’s threatening fire.
    Ofarian spilled from Griffin’s lips. He whipped out his magic, snagging every available bead of moisture from the air, the ground, his very skin, and slamming them all together in his palm.
    At the same time, in clear view of everyone, Makaha’s ribcage collapsed, expelling the fire from within. Griffin could see it, the barrel of flame coming out from between Makaha’s lips. The Chimeran was going to fry Griffin alive, right in front of the entire Senatus . . . but this was not the way he would die, outnumbered with no magic or power to show for it.
    He flung out his water at the exact moment Makaha let his fire loose. Chin tilted up, Makaha’s eyes raged in orange and gold. The warrior’s hand grabbed fire from his mouth, a brilliant, terrifying ball in his grasp.
    Griffin aimed his spear of water for that hand holding the fireball. Aimed and struck. Makaha bellowed in surprise as Griffin extinguished the fire burning in the other man’s palm. Griffin instantly merged his water with the moisture on the Chimeran’s skin, taking it all under his control, binding it all together.
    Then he