Ravaged: An Eternal Guardians Novella (1001 Dark Nights) (14 page)

He also didn’t want to lie. Not after the way she’d been so honest with him. He pressed a kiss to the soft skin behind her ear. “Two hundred and twelve.”

Her hand shoved against his shoulder, knocking him back into the mattress. Sitting upright, she stared down at him with even wider eyes. “Holy Hades. It’s a wonder you didn’t break a hip with that last acrobatic stunt you pulled.”

She had an adorable way of lightening the mood. One that put him at instant ease. Tugging her down onto his chest, he wrapped one leg around hers, locking her tight against him. “I have a stockpile of acrobatic stunts saved up.” He lifted his head and kissed her. “And I heal fast. So if you break my hip, little nymph, I’ll be good to go in only a few hours. Don’t worry.”

Laughing, she relaxed into him again, then laid her head back on his chest. “No wonder you’re so attracted to me. You need someone to keep you young.”

He sifted his fingers back through her hair and realized she was right. Isolating himself the way he’d done had only aged him beyond his years. Every day he felt the weight of loneliness wearing on his body and mind. He hadn’t realized how much until Daphne had come into his life like a breath of fresh air, reminding him he was still a relatively young male.

“So when was the last time you saw Cerek?” she asked, drawing a lazy circle on his chest with the pad of her index finger.

His stomach instantly tightened, and an image filled his mind. A flash of that last day, when he’d set that fire. “Fifty years ago.”

“In Argolea?”

“No. The human realm.”

She didn’t ask, but he knew she was waiting for more. And even though talking about it only brought back painful memories, he owed her answers after everything she’d given him.

“After my soul mate was killed, I wasn’t much fun to be around. I was living in the human realm then, just trying to get from one day to the next. Cerek kept popping over to check on me when he should have been focused on his new position with the Argonauts.”

“He took your spot after you left?”

“Yes.”

“Do you have other children?”

“No. Just Cerek.”

“And you miss him.”

It wasn’t a question but a statement, one that hit him hard beneath her hand where it rested on his chest. A lump formed in his throat. One he’d spent fifty years trying to get rid of but never quite could, one that made it hard to form words. He nodded.

She was quiet for several seconds, then said, “Since you said you were only with your soul mate a few months, and Cerek’s way older than fifty, I’m guessing his mother wasn’t your soul mate?”

He breathed out a sigh of relief, thankful they’d moved on from what a shitty father he was. “No, she wasn’t.”

Daphne looked up at him with narrowed eyes. “It’s very hard to get information out of you, Mr. Super Secretive Argonaut.”

There she went again, relaxing him when no one else ever really had. He brushed his hand down her hair, smoothing it over her lower spine. “It was right after I’d joined the Argonauts. I was young. She was interested in hooking up with a Guardian. It wasn’t serious. When she discovered she was pregnant, we both knew our relationship wasn’t going to last, but we remained connected through our son. We stayed friends.”

“Does Cerek see her often?”

“She died when he was about ten. This was back when the borders of Argolea were more fluid. She and some friends crossed into the human realm and were attacked by a horde of daemons.”

“I’m sorry.”

He sighed and looked up at the ceiling, another whisper of guilt rushing through him because he hadn’t been able to stop Gia. Hadn’t been able to save her. “It was a long time ago. When she died, I mourned her, but it didn’t break me. It was harder for Cerek. I had the Argonauts. He didn’t. Somehow, no thanks to me, he got through it.”

Ari’s chest squeezed tight. Cerek had been dealt a crappy hand, and it was all Ari’s fault. He hadn’t done a thing to make life easier for Cerek, and when it all got to be too much, he’d walked away, leaving Cerek to pick up the pieces of a shattered family. That was Ari’s greatest regret. That his son had paid for his mistakes. Was
still
paying for them.

“No,” Daphne said softly. “I’m sure it’s
because
of you that he got through it.”

Startled by her words, Ari looked down at her. Her eyes were a soft green, her face filled with so much emotion, the pain in his chest slowly seeped away. She didn’t know Cerek, didn’t know how cocky and arrogant Ari had been back then, didn’t know anything about his old life except what she saw now. And even after all of the horrible things she knew about him today, she still believed the best of him.

 “Why do have such faith in me?” he asked quietly. “I’m not worth it.”

“Do you really have to ask? I have faith because I love you.”

For a moment, he was sure time stood still. Of all the things he’d expected her to say, that wasn’t it. His heart beat hard against his ribs as he searched her face for the lie he knew had hidden somewhere inside her. But in her shimmering gemlike eyes he saw nothing but truth.

“Daphne.” His pulse turned to a whir in his ears. “I’m pretty sure I’m not capable of love.”

Bracing her hands on each side of his shoulders, she straddled his hips and leaned forward so her lips brushed his in the sweetest, softest kiss. “I don’t believe that for a second. I can tell by the look in your eye and what you don’t say that you love your son. And something tells me you didn’t fake your death so Cerek would stop pestering you. You left to spare him from seeing his father in the throes of a nightmare he didn’t understand. You can love, Ari. You already do.”

She moved back to his side, rested her head on his chest, and curled into him. “Love is a blessing, not a curse. You just have to choose it.”

Her breaths slowed as she drifted to sleep beside him, but Ari knew he’d find no sleep. Because as he looked into the flames on the far side of the room and her words of love echoed in the air around him, he knew he couldn’t keep reality at bay any longer.

Zeus would never let her live. Not with the way she’d sacrificed her duty for his enemy. By now his Sirenum Scorpoli had probably already shared what had happened in those woods. And that meant every moment she spent in this hold put her life in that much more danger.

His chest pinched so hard it stole his breath. Rolling to his side, he wrapped his other arm around her and pulled her in tight to his chest. Gods, she awed him again and again. She believed in him when she had no reason to. Cared for him when others would turn away. Loved him even when he didn’t love himself.

She was wrong. Love wasn’t the blessing.
She
was the blessing. And he would do whatever he had to do to keep her safe.

Even if that meant becoming the savage she didn’t believe him to be.

* * *

Daphne slid out of bed at dawn, tired but in need of caffeine. She hadn’t been able to sleep much, thoughts of the Sirens and Athena and Zeus and the Sirenum Scorpoli sifting through her mind. She knew that wasn’t the last they were going to see of Zeus’s secret sect, and as much as she hated to leave Ari naked and asleep in that big bed of his, she needed to talk to Sappheire about what their next move should be.

She found one of Ari’s huge button-down shirts in the closet, tugged it on, and headed for the hall. Voices echoed from the kitchen, and her brow lowered as she tried to figure out who Sappheire was talking to.

“And I bet that’s something you do regularly on Olympus,” a familiar male voice said.

“Actually,” Sappheire answered, “it’s not. I can’t tell you the last time I went out on a date. The only males on Olympus are gods who aren’t interested in anything but casual sex. And, no thanks, I don’t need to be another notch on an immortal’s bedpost. The males I encounter in the human realm won’t even come near me when they discover what I am.”

The male chuckled, then the refrigerator door opened and closed, and as Daphne listened, she realized it was Silas, back from his supply run a few days early. “Maybe it’s not what you are but the way you look. Gorgeous females are more than a little intimidating to the average guy.”

“It’s not real,” Sappheire said. “It’s part of the whole Siren gig. Immortal glamour to create the perfect female. The old me isn’t anything like this, believe me. Daphne’s the only female I can remember in all the recent classes who wasn’t altered. Nymphs are so genetically blessed. It’s disgusting.”

Silas chuckled again. “Something tells me you’re wrong. Zeus doesn’t pick the homely girls for the Siren Order. I’m sure he was fully impressed before your transformation.”

“Well, I did always have great tits. Those didn’t change.”

“See?” The sound of a knife hitting a cutting board echoed from the kitchen as Daphne drew close, but it was the smile she heard in Silas’s voice that piqued her interest. “There you go.”

“Are you agreeing with me?”

“I’m definitely not arguing. They’re more than nice from where I’m standing.”

They both looked up when Daphne stepped into the room, Silas from the stove where he was cooking, and Sappheire from the counter where she sat on a stool sipping a cup of coffee with a silly grin. The Siren was still wearing the same pants she’d had on yesterday, but the light-blue T-shirt hanging off her toned shoulders had to be Silas’s.

“Oh, there you are.” Sappheire’s smile wobbled as she set her mug down. “I was just telling Silas here about your irritating genetics.”

Silas grinned. “She doesn’t give her own genetics enough credit. Nice shirt, Daphne.”

This wasn’t one of the shirts Silas had picked out for her before he’d left, which meant he knew where she’d gotten it. And how. Daphne knew she should be a little embarrassed, but she wasn’t. Not at all.

“How’s the patient?” Sappheire asked.

“Fine.” Actually, he was better than fine, but Daphne didn’t want to share that with her friends. Some things were meant to stay private. She crossed to the far side of the kitchen, pulled a mug from the cupboard, and poured herself a cup of coffee. “He was more than surprised to learn you were here though, Sappheire.”

“I bet he was,” Sappheire mumbled, lifting her cup again. “Not as much as this guy though.”

Silas chuckled. “You shocked me, I’ll admit it.”

“But it was a nice kind of surprise,” Sappheire said with a smile in her voice. “Wasn’t it?”

Daphne turned. Sappheire sipped her coffee, and looked right at Silas with that same silly, mischievous grin. His gaze held hers, and he smiled too, then went back to chopping. “Yes it was. A very nice surprise.”

They were flirting. Daphne looked between the two, amused and, yes, surprised herself. Ari’s caretaker and Daphne’s mentor. Who would have guessed? In all the years Daphne had known Sappheire, she’d never known the Siren to flirt. Sappheire didn’t even use seduction on her victims, like the other Sirens in her Order. Just arrows.

Silas’s grin faded, and he turned toward Daphne. “Sappheire filled me in on what you discovered about Zeus’s secret Sirens. It makes a lot of sense. Makes a shit ton of sense.”

The secret Sirens. Right. Daphne needed to remember why she’d come in here, not get caught up in someone else’s romance.

“The question is what are we going to do about it?” Sappheire asked. “No one’s ever confirmed the Sirenum Scorpoli actually exist. That tells me right there that anyone who knows about them is dead. Which means we’re at the top of Zeus’s shit list. It’s only a matter of time before he finds this place.”

“I was thinking the same thing.” Daphne bit her lip then looked toward Silas. “Ari’s not safe here. The only place where Zeus can’t get to him is Argolea.”

“But his Sirens can,” Sappheire pointed out. “That won’t protect you or me from Athena’s retaliation, or any of us from Zeus’s evil bitches.”

“No.” Silas braced his hands on the counter. “It won’t. And if Zeus sends his assassins into Argolea, it’d turn into a blood bath. Thousands of innocents would die.”

Silence settled over the room as each of them considered. Finally, Daphne said, “We could contact the Argonauts. Ari’s son serves with them. I know they would send help if they knew he was still alive.”

“No one’s contacting the Argonauts.” Ari’s voice echoed from the archway to the hall.

He’d pulled on loose-fitting jeans and a black T-shirt that stretched seductively across his broad shoulders, and as Daphne took in the sight of him, her skin warmed and all the delicious things they’d done to each other last night rolled through her memory. But there was a hardness to his mismatched eyes she hadn’t seen last night, and remembering their conversation about his son, something in the back of her mind whispered not to push him too hard too fast. “It’s the smartest option we have, Ari. I know you’re not ready to go back to Argolea yet, but if Zeus comes here—”

“Then I’ll deal with him.” His gaze didn’t waver from hers. “The same way I’ve dealt with his secret sect all these years. But you’re right. The three of you need to leave.” He looked toward Sappheire. “Take her back to Athena. If you tell her what happened, I’m sure Athena will protect her.”

Oh no. He wasn’t sending her away. Not now. Not after everything that had happened between them. He’d tried that once before and this time she wasn’t leaving.

She set her mug on the counter, moved behind Silas, and crossed to stand in front of Ari, still in the doorway. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily. If you’re staying, I’m staying.”

“This isn’t up for discu—”

His words died as he lifted his head. Every muscle in his body went rigid. Before Daphne could ask what was going on, his eyes shifted from their mismatched blue and green to deathly black.

“Oh shit.” Her stomach clenched with fear. For him. “Ari?”

He darted to the window and looked out at the early morning light.

“What’s going on?” Sappheire slipped off the barstool. “Do you sense something?”

Ari darted to the next window, his gaze scanning the cliff beside them, then shifting to the valley far below. A low growl built in his throat. “Sirens.”

Silas and Sappheire exchanged worried glances, but Daphne was too focused on Ari to care what they were thinking. Rushing to his side, she reached for his hand. “Ari, stay with me.”