"A true hero of war?" Layel asked.
"Stay where you are," a nymph called. "You are not welcome here."
Layel recognized that voice. Valerian, King of the Nymphs. He gave the king his full attention, Marina forgotten at his side. Valerian stood on the highest ledge of the palace. Golden hair framed a wickedly mesmerizing face. Perfectly tanned skin, perfectly chiseled features. Lush, pink lips and long, fringed lashes. Eyes so blue-green they were as deep and fathomless as the ocean above them.
Valerian's features should have made him appear feminine. For some reason, his physical perfection made him all the more masculine, all the more harsh. All the more desired by women.
"Is that how you welcome an old friend? With arrows?"
"You know you are welcome to enter, Layel. The demon, however, must remain outside the walls."
"Alas," Layel called. "Where she is, there must I be, as well. Why do you not join us? We both wish to speak with you."
"Trust a demon enough to enter its midst? I think not." His laugh echoed across the distance, rich and husky, a caress even Layel felt. That was the way of the nymphs. With their voices, with their bodies, with their every glance, they radiated sensuality. "Why have you joined with one such as her?"
He couldn't announce his true reason, and he wouldn't lie to the only man he'd considered friend over the years. Though he knew Valerian would refuse and was glad for it--Layel didn't want him involved any more than necessary--he ignored the question and said, "We wish only to speak with you. You have my word you will leave exactly as you enter."
"I wish to fight you, coward." Marina bandied a claw through the air. She climbed back on her horse. "Bring your army down if you dare."
"Are you sure you can control her?" Valerian said, grinning. "She seems quite determined to place me on her dinner menu."
"Are you afraid?" she spat. "You should be. I plan to cut out your tongue and eat it in front of you."
Layel rolled his eyes. When would the woman learn such words and actions would get her killed?
His ears suddenly perked as he picked up the sound of Marina's soldiers readying their weapons for attack. Eyes slitting, he flicked his second-in-command a glance, motioning to the demons with a tilt of his chin. No words were necessary; his man understood what he wanted. If a demon made a single move toward the palace, it would be killed.
"Cut out her tongue if you must, Layel," Valerian said, "but shut her up. I'm tempted to come down if only to humble her. As if a female would ever be able to attack me." He chuckled. "The idea of such an occurrence is ridiculous."
"If you want my tongue, come down here and get it."
Valerian's golden brows arched.
"Not another word from you," Layel bit out, hand shooting up and latching on to Marina's thigh. If he hadn't needed her so much, if there had been any other way to defeat Darius, he would have killed her here and now.
Later, he comforted himself.
"His every breath insults me," she whispered fiercely. She squirmed against his hold. "He's taunting us."
"Obviously you've never been in the presence of a nymph before. If you go to him or if he comes to you, you will gladly become his slave. You will beg to remain at his side; you will want nothing else in your life but to please him. The nymphs cannot help it. Their very presence causes women to become enslaved to them."
Horror darkened her expression, and her gaze whipped to him. "If you knew that, why the hell did you invite him down here in the first place?"
"I knew he would refuse the invitation. I also knew it would open our lines of communication."
"Why are you here?" Valeran said on a sigh, cutting into their conversation.
"See," Layel muttered. "Now we are communicating."
Marina opened her mouth to reply, but Layel silenced her by strengthening his hold on her thigh. Painfully. Her lips pursed.
"We thought to take the palace, but as you arrived first we will leave it to you. However, now that we are here, I wish to inquire about a human man." As he spoke, hundreds of nymphs lined up beside their king, showing their great numbers. Every one of them was tall and strong with a beauty that surpassed that of any other creature or object. Such exquisite magnificence hurt his eyes, nearly forcing him to shield them.
"Did you also come hoping to find the Jewel of Dunamis?"
Layel shrugged. Valerian knew him very well.
"It's mine," Marina screeched. "Do not think you can keep it for yourself."
"I think I'll do whatever I wish," Valerian said, his sensual timbre laced with amusement.
Marina's hands tightened on her horse's reins, and her green scales drained of color. "Let's destroy him," she whispered. "Let's send these creatures to Hades."
Stupid woman. "We do not have the time nor the resources to war with both the nymphs and the dragons. You may take comfort in the fact that once Darius is defeated, we can do what we will with the nymphs." Not that he'd allow her to attack Valerian, or even that she'd still be alive at that point.
"I do not want to wait."
"But you will." He cast a glance at the armies behind him. His vampires stood completely still, halving their attention between the demons and him, not paying heed to the spectacle above. They awaited his signal.
The demons, however, continued to shift restlessly on their feet, licking their lips in hungry anticipation.
That was the difference between trained warriors and slovenly idiots.
"You know the dragons will attack you for taking this palace," Layel told his friend.
"Of course. We look forward to their visit. If you've disposed of the demon by that time, you may come and aid us." Valerian spoke as calmly as if they were discussing the weather, not a prophecy of war and death. "Now, if you have nothing more to say--"
"Have you seen the human and the girl?" Layel called for Marina's benefit.
"They have not passed through this land today or any day we have been here."
"You're lying," Marina hissed, and Layel saw her claws elongate, preparing to attack. "We'll fight our way inside, if we must, and see for ourselves."
Valerian shook his head. "I bid you goodbye, Layel."
"The portal." Her features were desperate as she turned her attention to Layel. "What of the portal? We cannot leave it in that bastard's care."
Hearing her, Valerian's beautiful face drained of all emotion, all amusement. His perfect lips lifted in a slight scowl. "You can, and you will," he said, his tone dangerous, menacing.
She gasped. "So, there is one inside? You've seen it?"
"That is none of your concern."
"All this time." Her snakelike tongue flicked out and moistened her lips. "The portals existed, and I had no idea. Javar's palace--"
"This is Valerian's palace now," the nymph king snapped. "Best you learn the name and use it."
"Javar's palace," she continued with a sneer, "Javar's, Javar's, Javar's."
"If the armies come any closer, kill them," Valerian shouted to his men. "All of them."
Layel knew the king, slow to rage, would not hesitate to slaughter them all now that he'd been provoked. Their friendship was the only reason Marina still lived.
"We have the information we need," he told her. "Let us leave. We will head toward Darius's palace. We must pass through the Inner City to get there and will search for the couple on our way."
"No, we can take Valerian. We can slay him."
"I have already explained to you why we will not." He spun around and stalked away from her, before he killed her now, all he'd worked for forgotten. She was forced to follow or die. "I hate Darius. I will help you kill him. But I will not hurt Valerian."
She decided to follow. Her horse whined as she turned it around, and she was soon at Layel's side. "And if the human and the girl are not found? What will we do then, mighty vampire king?"
"We will fight Darius as planned."
"Fight him without the slave at my side?"
"
You were perfectly willing to fight Valerian without the slave."
"He is a nymph. He knows how to fuck, nothing more."
Layel stopped and glared up at her. Her green scales were vivid and disgusting in the light. Puffs of smoke and sulfur constantly curled out her nose. "Have you just arrived in Atlantis, woman? Is that why you know nothing of the creatures here?"
"He could be harboring my slave inside those walls."
"He is not." Layel kicked back into motion. "Valerian is many things, but he is not a liar."
"How do you know?" she demanded, keeping pace beside him. "Why do you like him so?"
Their armies followed behind them, and they soon reentered the forest. Limbs stretched long fingers toward them, and twigs snapped under his feet. "If he had her, he would have paraded her across the parapet, showing her to us and laughing. The man has a twisted sense of humor."
"We wasted our time coming here." An irritated statement, not a question.
"We learned the human and the slave have not left Atlantis. They have not passed through a portal, so they are here, waiting to be found and captured." Perhaps a lie, perhaps not. But she did not question his "logic."
No, she smiled.
Soon, he reminded himself.
CHAPTER TWELVE
GRAY AND JEWEL SHOPPED for several hours, buying clothing, weapons, trinkets and food. After devouring three meat pies, or whatever they were, Gray felt stronger than he had in days. And he needed his strength. His backpack probably weighed a hundred pounds, stuffed as it was with Jewel's purchases.
He'd watched her skip and laugh from booth to booth like an eager child, simply enjoying her, loving the way her eyes sparkled, the way her cheeks glowed from peaches to strawberries.
So many times he'd come close to jerking her aside and ravishing her mouth, desperate to taste her. One taste, that's all he wanted. One taste, that's all he needed. Just one taste--
Would never be enough.
The words slammed into his head, but he shoved them out with iron-edged determination. Denied them. One taste would have to be enough because that's all he could allow himself. He simply couldn't risk more. Soon, they would part.
"I want this, and this, and this," she sang. "Oh, look at this. I want it."
I want you. Only once did he deny her something she wanted. She asked to return to the first table, the one with the jeweled armband. He didn't want her to buy it for herself; he wanted to buy it for her. He wanted to surprise her with it. With her mind-reading ability, he doubted anyone had ever managed to surprise her. He would be the first, he vowed.
"We shouldn't go back to that area," he said, the excuse lame but all he could come up with in his excitement.
She accepted his refusal with an adorable pout before racing to a stall overflowing with silks and lace. He scanned the crowd around her and found no hint of their enemies.
"I'll be right back," he said.
Her only reply was a slight nod. He shook his head and grinned wryly. If the woman had to choose between shopping and him, he had no doubt which would emerge the winner. And it wasn't him.
While she haggled over the price of a sexy gold-and-white robe, he snuck off and bought her the armband, burying it at the bottom of his pack so she wouldn't see it.
If she realized what he'd done, she gave no indication as he approached her side. She had moved from the clothes to a table piled high with large, painted rocks. The rocks appeared to be ordinary pebbles found on the ground, but the brilliantly colored scenes painted on their surfaces gave them a breathtaking beauty.
The seller, a female with the face of a bull and the body of a human--God, he might never get used to looking at these bull creatures--wore a dirty robe and paint stained her very human fingers. She didn't try to talk them into buying, just let them look at their leisure.
"I want one," Jewel said.
"They're amazing." Gray was still surprised at the ease with which he spoke the Atlantean language.
"Thank you," the woman muttered demurely.
"You did them yourself?"
She nodded. "I take great joy in my art."
As she spoke, Gray encountered the oddest sensation. Suddenly and shockingly, he smelled her blood. Actually smelled the sweetness of her blood--and he wanted to taste it. Not in a sexual way. His mouth watered like he needed water. His gaze flicked to the woman's neck, at the pulse thumping there.
He ran his tongue over his teeth, repulsed by the desire and trying fervently to squelch it. But her sweet scent remained strong in his nostrils and the need for a taste, a single taste, intensified. What the hell was wrong with him?
He whipped to Jewel, intending to tell her he'd wait for her at a distance. Then he caught a whiff of her blood. She smelled of goodness and innocence, too, but also of power and passion. Hunger ate at him, consumed him, this need holding an undercurrent of sexuality and making it all the more intense.
That quickly, he almost attacked her. Almost leapt on her and sank his teeth into her neck, filling his senses with her essence. Sweat poured from him as he purposefully locked his muscles in place, holding himself in check.
His wounds were responsible for this craving. Throughout the week he'd lost a lot of blood, therefore his body wanted to replenish. That's all there was to it. Still...
Get the fuck out of here, his mind screamed.
"I'll be right over there," he said, the words a mere croak. "Scream if you need me." He slammed several drachmas on the tabletop and stalked away.
Confused, Jewel stared over at him. He stood a good distance from her, but remained within sight, keeping guard over her as always. His silver gaze now churned a stormy gray, fierce and hard. Taut lines formed around his eyes, and his body vibrated with some kind of pent-up energy.
Had she angered him?
"Your man--tell him I cannot accept so much money," the seller said.
Jewel tore her attention from Gray and met the woman's warm, worried gaze. Unbidden, she smiled. Hearing Gray referred to as her man was...heady. "I've never seen such beautiful work as these. You deserve every bit of money he gave you. Please--what is your name?"
"Erwin."
"Please, Erwin, take it with a happy heart."
Her thin lips grew into a smile as she placed the drachmas in her pocket. "Take as many rocks as you'd like."
Jewel nodded. She studied the rocks. Some had waterfalls, some had forests. Some had creatures painted on the surface. Each scene appeared to be alive, as if it were actually happening, as if the creatures were truly moving.
One had two sapphires painted in the center, and they caught Jewel's eye. She lifted the stone and gasped, realizing it was her face she was seeing. In the portrait, her eyes held sadness and her mouth dipped in a wistful frown. She looked alone and vulnerable.
"Do you like it?" Erwin asked hesitantly.
"Why--why did you paint this woman?" She held up the rock, showing the minotaur the features decorating the surface.
"Look at her. She represents the suffering of all of us, desperate to escape the life she was born to."
How true. Except for these last few days with Gray, Jewel couldn't recall a time when she'd been happy with her life. She'd always prayed for a day, a single day, where she could be as normal and unaware as everyone else.
"Maybe one day the woman and I will find our escape," the minotaur added. She reached out and drew a finger over the surface, and as she did, her fingertip brushed Jewel's palm.
Jewel jerked as a vision raked her mind.
A little boy, a minotaur, was ripped from a woman's arms. This woman's arms. The seller's. Night had fallen and shadows danced all around a small hut that had been built under a tree. Both mother and child were crying and screaming, but the demon army carted them both away, seeing them merely as a food source.
Jewel blinked her eyes and shook her head, clearing her thoughts. Her heart was slamming inside her chest, and a cold sweat had broken out all over her body.
"You live nearby," she said.
Erwin's furry bull-face became pallid. "That is none of your concern."
"You have built a shelter under a tree for you and your son."
She gasped and stumbled backward, her hand fluttering over her heart. "How did you--"
"Very soon, the demon queen will march her army past your home. They will take you and your son and both of you will die."
"What? How can you--"
Jewel knew the woman would never believe her, not without proof. Not knowing what else to do, she reached up and pushed back her hood, letting the light shove away the shadows and reveal her features. Erwin gasped again, this time shock and horror dripping from the sound.
"You!" she breathed, both hands cupping her mouth.
"Please," Jewel said, replacing her hood. "You wish to escape your life, as did I. I have done so. Do not take it away from me by yelling out now."
The woman nodded, her eyes wide.
"You know now that I'm telling the truth. You know that if you do not move out of the forest, you will lose your life and your son."
She nodded again. With shaky fingers, she began gathering her things and closing her table. "I will take us both to safety," she whispered, horror coating every word. "Now. Right now."
Jewel's hands relaxed at her sides. "All will be well for you," she assured her. "I know it. And I thank you for the rock."
With that, she went to Gray, craving his nearness, his heat. The daylight was beginning to thin, the air to cool. Darkness would soon fall. It would be best if they were ensconced inside a rented room and not wandering the streets. Or had he wanted to return to the forest?
She didn't want him to know what she was doing, so she threw her arms around him, and while he was distracted, dropped the rock inside his bag. "Thank you for everything."
He hugged her back, lingering a moment, before pulling from her. "What were you two talking about?" He no longer appeared angry. His expression was relaxed, his body at ease. "The woman looked sick and ready to faint."
"She realized her son was in danger and went to remove him from harm's way."
"Is that so?" There was a wealth of meaning in that one sentence, and Gray was able to deduce the entire story. Jewel had a vision of danger and had told the woman. The woman had rushed to save her child.
Jewel...amazed him.
He'd seen her lower her hood slightly and had almost run to her and dragged her back to the forest. But he had remained in place, curious about what she was doing. She'd put herself in danger, risked being seen and stolen by God knows what, to help a woman she didn't know. Such kindness was as wonderful as it was foolish.