Red Demon by Deidre Knight Page B

her rejection and her death. Now, if she truly had returned? How could he ever trust her again, much less risk his heart?
    He groaned. “My head, gang. Is Sophie coming? She gonna heal me or what?”
    Emma moved to his side instantly, pressing the cool cloth against his brow again. “I couldn’t reach her for a while, Ari, but she’s on the way now. She’ll take care of you.”
    He noticed that “Juliana” was watching the action very closely, blotches of color staining her cheeks. The little hellion had the nerve to be jealous? And of Emma?
    “So Juliana was a Daughter of Delphi, too,” Ajax resumed, sounding as if he were a hound chasing down a fox’s trail. “Like you, like Shay. The gifts came down through the female bloodline, correct?”
    Emma nodded, gaze locked on the woman she clearly believed was her great-great-aunt. “All the way back to ancient Greece. It’s in our family journals; the exact lineage is traced.”
    “Your point, Jax?” Ari asked, dropping his hands to the table. At that exact moment, “Juliana” spread her palms openly in front of her, causing their fingertips to graze. It was like being touched by wildfire, Ari’s entire body tensing and electrifying in response. For such a simple touch, it sure incited a complicated, intense reaction.
    His brother kept talking, oblivious. “Well, as a man who happens to be married to a very powerful Daughter of Delphi,” Jax said, “I’ve learned they’re capable of quite the supernatural feat. Channeling the Highest God, seeing the future, hearing the dead . . .”
    Ari turned to look up at his younger brother. “Again, Jax, get to the point.” He knew he sounded raw and irritable, but physical awareness of the female beside him was starting to burn a hole in his consciousness.
    Ajax smiled slowly, a warm, genuine expression that reached his eyes. He bent over Ari’s shoulder, his voice so low that only the two of them would know the secret. “Brother of mine, I’m suggesting that you might be sitting beside your one true love.” Jax paused, letting those intense, meaningful words sink all the way in. “So close, Aristos, that you could turn and kiss the lass if you wanted.”
    Then Jax straightened up, raising his voice for the whole group to hear. “There’s only one way to confirm the woman’s identity for sure that I can think of, and that’s to summon a very old, dear friend of mine. Of ours.”
     
    Oh, by the Highest, Leonidas would think she’d come of her own volition, Daphne thought, afraid to even breathe. Ares had spun her through the dimensions, torturing her as she hung in between for what felt an eternity—but was probably only a few hours. Now she’d landed gracelessly in the king’s intimate chambers, clearly her brother’s notion of a cruel joke. Or a dangerous temptation.
    Leo was unaware of her silent arrival, kneeling before a makeshift, candlelit altar, lost in prayer. His head was bowed, one hand pressed over his heart, quiet and earnest words spilling past his lips. She closed her eyes, willing herself to vanish or move through the heavens without lifting so much as a pinky, but she couldn’t bring herself to leave the man she loved.
    “Highest Lord, Father of all, guide our steps. Lead us from the path of evil. Protect us from the arrows that fly by day and by night,” he prayed, but then his words simply faded to nothing. With an anguished groan, he rubbed both palms over his face. “Highest, what is she, this woman I love to the point of distraction? A goddess? Half a goddess? And what are these gods, when you command them all?”
    Leonidas kept his face buried in both palms, moaning low in his throat. “I’ve never wanted anything for myself. Not glory, not handsomeness, not even immortality. But this Oracle, this mystical Daphne . . . I want her to the point of madness.”
    Daphne stifled a gasp, eyes wide and fixed on Leo’s profile. In the candlelight, his dark skin and hair appeared to