Red Mortal by Deidre Knight Read Free Book Online Page A

it to warm him; it’s already worked its magic.”
    “How could you do this to him, knowing what he means to me?”
    Ares only cocked a lazy eyebrow. “What he means to you? Come now, Daphne, he’s stolen what is rightly mine. You.”
    “We are brother and sister!” She stared up at him in disbelief. All these years, and he’d not relented in his perverse interest in her. “And if you destroy Leo, I’ll only despise you even more.”
    She stroked her beloved’s brow with a soothing gesture; his skin burned with fever, but visibly he hadn’t changed anymore—not yet. “What did you do to him just now? What power was in your cloak?”
    Ares’s eyes narrowed, catlike and cunning. “I am the god of bloodlust. I only gave a dose of it to your frail lover, a portion of what was due him. Namely . . . death. He should thank me for the intoxication, the taste of such glory.” Ares stared down at Leo’s prone, unconscious form. “Or perhaps it was more than he could bear, in his decrepit state.”
    “He is not frail! He’s the greatest warrior ever to roam the earth. No wonder you’re so hatefully jealous.”
    “Enough!” Ares thundered, yanking the cloak from Leo’s shoulders easily. With a snap of the fabric, he swung it over his own shoulder with a regal sniff. He cocked his head as he studied Leonidas’s unconscious body. “He will age quickly. And”—he smiled, baring gleaming white teeth—“your own suffering will be quick. As for Leonidas’s torture? Well . . . at least it will be interesting.”
    Torture. Her unnatural brother had planned this, plotted a careful end to Leonidas’s life, one that would be more painful than any other.
    Still cradling Leonidas’s head in her lap, she reached with outstretched hands. “I will grant anything you want. I will do it—for him. I plead with you, brother. Whatever you ask, whatever it takes . . . please just spare him.”
    His expression grew cunning, the catlike eyes narrowing on her. “ Whatever I want?”
    She pressed her eyes shut, shivering, aware of Leo’s prone form in her arms. If she gave Ares his way, it would possibly save her beloved’s life. “I . . . I will live with you on Olympus,” she offered quietly, still keeping her eyes shut. “As your sister.”
    She felt a murmur of a touch against her cheek; her skin burned painfully. “As I suspected,” came his deadly reply. “And so your love will die.”
    Her eyes flew open, but it was already too late. Without so much as a whisper of wind or hint of eternal power, Ares had already vanished into a thin, golden mist.

Chapter 4
     
    D aphne knelt beside the low sofa in Leonidas’s study. She’d teleported him here, away from the meadow, and hopefully out of Ares’s sight. She’d thought desperately as to where might be safest for Leo, and in the end knew that his study was his sanctuary. When he awoke, she wanted him to feel reassured, protected. And she knew they’d have much to discuss. He’d felt betrayed that she’d not told him the truth; she’d seen that fact reflected clearly in his eyes.
    She would have to make sure he understood her reasoning: She’d feared that by warning him she might endanger him more. Just as she had feared that loving him or being with him might harm him . . . and she’d been right. Ares had only chosen to strike Leo now only because she’d been in his arms, ready to make love with him. Here it was, almost ten minutes later, and Leonidas still hadn’t stirred, remaining unconscious on the leather couch where she’d gently teleported him. One heavy leg hung off the cushions, and he had a hand flung across his forehead, looking as if he’d passed out from heavy intoxication.
    Then a horrible thought hit her. What if he never woke again? Her breathing grew short as she considered the possibility that her brother might have cast Leo into a deep, eternal sleep as part of the overall curse.
    She panicked, reaching for one of his big hands and