Harlequin Nocturne May 2016 Box Set (21 page)

A tall, imposing Opir met her as the others helped her dismount, his black hair swept behind his shoulders. She felt the force of his will immediately, a fierce and dangerous determination, and realized who he was even before she recognized his features.

“Ares!” she said, her voice still a little hoarse. “But they said you had been killed.”

“They say many things about me,” the Bloodmaster said, supporting her on one arm.

“But what are you doing here?” she asked, her gaze sweeping the camp again. “Who are these Opiri?”

“Anu's army,” he said, hatred glittering in his pale eyes. “I am its commander.”

“I don't understand.”

“You were never meant to.” He guided her in among the tents and to a field chair. “I sent men to follow you once you left Tanis. I'd heard that someone in the city wished you ill enough to threaten your life.”

“You
heard
? But how—” She looked more carefully into his eyes and gave a brief laugh of astonishment. “You are the one who warned me that Anu meant ill for the humans of Tanis. You were in the city all along.”

“Only when Anu and the others called for me to attend them,” Ares said. “I couldn't let myself be seen talking to you.”

“But why did you—” She broke off, remembering that she had more urgent concerns. “If you followed me, you saw the exiles. Did you observe what became of them?”

“I had men follow them, as well,” Ares said. “They should be here very soon.”

“But why would you bring them here?” She got to her feet, swayed, and sat down again. “What do you intend to do with them?”

“Help them find a safe place,” Ares said, “before what almost happened to you happens to them.”

“You mean that someone is out to kill them?”

“They have all been deemed troublemakers, have they not?”

A sudden thought crossed her mind, and she exhaled sharply. “One of them—Daniel—was looking for you. He seemed very anxious to find you, and even when he was told that you had left the city—”

“I know,” Ares said, his expression very serious. “I learned that he was in Tanis only after his arrest. He should never have mentioned my name.”

“He said you had been his master in Erebus, and that he was concerned for your well-being.”

“The young fool,” Ares said, shaking his head. “If he came to Tanis to look for
me
—”

A commotion from the rear of the camp cut off his words. Dozens of Opiri soldiers turned to look. The human exiles walked into camp and made their way between the tents toward Ares, Daniel in the lead and Opir scouts around them.

Daniel came to a dead halt when he saw Ares. Ares rose to face him.

“You're here,” Daniel said, in a voice almost too soft to hear.

Isis witnessed a very peculiar thing then. All the brooding ferocity seemed to go out of Ares, and for a moment his expression softened to one of affection and relief.

“My son,” he said.

CHAPTER 22

D
aniel found it difficult to speak. Ares looked the same as he always had, as of course he would; the years hadn't touched him, and he exuded as much power and regal authority as ever.

And he was alive.

“Ares,” he said, swallowing. “Father.”

They came together, gripping each other's shoulders. Ares's brief smile quickly turned into the kind of frown that had always terrified his serfs; not because they feared he would hurt them, but because he had so seldom turned it on them.

Now Daniel bore the brunt of it. Still holding his shoulders, Ares set him back and looked him over critically.

“It is fortunate that you are still alive,” Ares said. “Did Avalon send you to complete my mission?”

“I volunteered,” Daniel said, holding his father's gaze. “I suspected soon after I got here that you hadn't left Tanis.”

Ares made a sound of disgust and opened his mouth to speak again, but Daniel looked past his shoulder and saw Isis walking toward them, a little unsteady on her feet. He squeezed Ares's arm and ran to meet her, catching her and holding her against him.

“Are you all right?” he asked, turning her face up to his with his fingertips. “What are you doing here? Have you been sick?” He looked at Ares as the Bloodmaster came up behind him. “Where did you find her? What was—”

“Your father?” Isis said faintly. She straightened and pushed against him. “Your
father
?”

“I am certain his failure to tell you is not because of any lack of trust, Lady Isis,” Ares said in a wry tone. “I was under the impression, from my brief observations in the city, that the two of you enjoy an unusually close relationship.”

Daniel's face heated, though he had no reason to feel any embarrassment...except for concealing such an important fact from Isis. “I thought it was best that you didn't know,” he said to her.

“Know that you aren't human at all?” she demanded, pulling away from him. She included Ares in her challenge. “Or is there some other essential fact I am missing?”

Ares glanced at Daniel with grim amusement. “Tell her, Daniel,” he said.

“I am half human,” Daniel said. “Most of the rest of what I told you is true. My mother was impregnated before the War began. It was a consensual relationship.”

“But my old enemy Palemon frightened her away,” Ares said. “Daniel neglects to mention that by failing to find her, I was responsible for what happened to her and our child in the twenty years before I obtained Daniel from Palemon.”

There was an awkward, painful silence. “Your son does not seem to hate you, Lord Ares,” she said.

“He has forgiven much,” Ares said.

“It's in the past,” Daniel said.

“But your enemies remain,” Isis said. She looked at Ares. “Whatever the purpose of this army, it cannot be a good one. You warned me of Anu's ill intentions, and now we know what those intentions are. If you work for him, you work against your son and all who support the cause of equality in Tanis. Why did you bother to save these people if—”

“I work for Anu,” Ares interrupted, “only because I have no other choice.” He included both Isis and Daniel in his gaze. “He forced me to recruit Freebloods from within and without Tanis to form this army, and to train them to fight at my command.”

“Disciplined Freebloods?” Daniel asked. “That's an oxymoron.”

“Not with
my
troops,” Ares said, though he spoke with far more bitterness than satisfaction.

“What does Anu intend for this army?”

“I don't know,” Ares admitted. “He hasn't seen a reason to tell me.”

“And why did you agree to do this?”

“Trinity,” Ares said. “Anu has her prisoner somewhere in the towers. He made clear that if I did not obey him, or if I attempted to challenge him, she would die.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Let me inform my troops that they are to make our other guests comfortable, and we will discuss this at greater length.” He smiled at Isis, a rare glimpse of softer emotion. “You will need blood—”

“She'll have it,” Daniel said.

“Good.” He pointed out what appeared to be an officer's tent. “You may rest there for the time being.”

He gave Daniel one more stern, relieved glance and started for Daniel's fellow exiles, who looked more bewildered than frightened. Daniel and Isis entered the tent Ares had indicated.

“What happened?” he and Isis said at nearly the same moment.

Daniel guided her to the cot and crouched beside it. “We were heading west, to one of the human colonies I passed on the way to Tanis. Early on I had the sense that we were being followed, so we lay low for a while. Around noon today we were ambushed...or so we thought. The Freeblood soldiers who found us claimed they meant us no harm, but that there were others nearby who did. We didn't have much choice but to go with the soldiers.” He glanced toward the tent flap. “I had no idea Ares had sent them.”

Still clearly shaken by the day's events, Isis relayed her own story. “On the way back to Tanis I was given poisoned blood and left to burn in the sun.”

“Anu,” Daniel said, thinking very black thoughts. “There's no question now of you returning to Tanis.” She looked down at her hands, and he took them between his. “Isis, I should have told you of my relationship to Ares as soon as I knew I could trust you. The moment I saw Hannibal, I realized that he could expose me, because he was in Erebus when Ares acknowledged me as his son. But he didn't, for reasons I can't fathom, and I hoped to maintain the fiction that I was fully human, in part so that Opiri like Anu would underestimate me.”

“This explains how you were able to fight Opiri and defeat them,” she said, her hands tense and resisting his touch. “Even so, you are like no dhampir I have ever seen.”

“I'm a freak,” he said, “a mutation. No one knows why I look as I do, though I've heard speculation that it's because an Elder was my father.” He touched his mouth, with their unremarkable cuspids. “I don't need blood, but I have the speed, strength, night vision and reflexes of Opiri. The best of both worlds.”

“And the means to masquerade as human.” She sighed. “You would have given yourself away soon enough, if you had continued to fight. Someone would have realized the truth.”

“I know. But I'd hoped to collect more information and find Ares before that happened.”

“And so you have.” She withdrew her hand. “Your father is a powerful Bloodmaster. He is also one of the ancient gods. But now Anu has power over him, and he could be a great threat to us if Anu chooses to turn Ares and these Freebloods against those who defy him.”

“If that's Anu's intention,” Daniel said. “But I guarantee that Anu won't use Ares lightly. He's a deadly weapon that could easily turn in Anu's hand.”

“But Ares will do anything to protect his mate.”

“Yes,” Daniel said. He rose and paced across the tent. “When was the last time you saw Trinity?”

“When Ares was preparing to leave Tanis,” Isis said. “I have no idea where Anu could be holding her.” She began to rise. “I must return to Tanis and find her.”

Ares walked into the tent while Daniel tried to make Isis sit again. “You do not condemn me for refusing to sacrifice my wife?” the Bloodmaster asked, letting the tent flap fall.

“No,” she said, relaxing under the firm pressure of Daniel's hand on her shoulder. “I...” She glanced sideways at Daniel. “I understand. Better than I could have believed.”

Daniel released Isis, half afraid that she would feel the intensity of his emotions. He realized that he was with the two people in the world he most cared about; two people who could easily become opponents in a terrible game.

“You're not going anywhere,” he said to Isis, and then addressed his father. “How much control do you have over this army?”

“Complete,” Ares said. “I have the loyalty of all my soldiers, and they know of the blackmail.” His voice simmered with anger. “They would die for me, if I let them.”

“So if we can free Trinity, they will still obey any order you give them?”

Ares nodded, anguish in his eyes. “I cannot free her if I can't find her,” he said.

“Isis showed me another way into the city,” Daniel said. “Where is Tanis relative to this camp?”

“Ten miles to the southeast,” Ares said. “But it's a moot point, because—”

“I'll go back in and find Trinity.”

“Daniel—” Isis began.

“No,” Ares said. “Trinity will be surrounded by Opiri, and you would have no way of getting near her. I won't lose you, as well. We will find another way.”

“
I
can still get into the towers,” Isis said. “If Anu failed to kill me once, he will hesitate to—”

“Enough!” Ares growled. “Neither of you is going back into Tanis, even if I must hold you prisoner here.”

The tent flap rustled, and a uniformed Freeblood poked his head through the opening. “Sir,” he said to Ares. “There is a matter requiring your urgent attention.”

With a grunt of annoyance, Ares got up and left the tent. Isis and Daniel sat in tense silence for several minutes, Daniel listening to the voices outside. After a moment, Ares reentered the tent. His expression was grim.

“You cannot remain here indefinitely,” he said. “You will rest here for a day, and then we will find you another place to hide.” Both Daniel and Isis began to object, and he raised his hand to silence them. “We will not discuss this any further tonight. I have set aside another tent for the two of you, if that is acceptable. If you require separate lodgings—”

“We do,” Isis said. She glanced at Daniel, her face expressionless. “It would be best.”

“Whatever the lady wants,” Daniel said, wondering if she was still angry with him because he had lied to her about his origins and true nature. Or was it because she knew he'd do everything in his power to keep her from going back to Tanis?

“I'll see to it,” Ares said. “You may have this tent, Lady Isis.”

Ares left the tent. Daniel lingered by the tent flap.

“Are you trying to punish me?” he asked Isis.

“Punish you?” She shook her head sharply. “No.”

“Then why do you want separate tents?”

Color surged into her cheeks. “I...feel the need to be alone for a while. It has nothing to do with you.”

Daniel knew she was lying. She was afraid of renewing their intimacy, even though the reason for keeping it secret had passed. Was it because she believed she could no longer trust her own judgment, especially about him?

Could he trust his own?

“You need clean blood,” he said.

“I will ask Ares for what I require,” she said. Her fists clenched on the sheets stretched across the cot. “Please, Daniel. Do not ask more of me now.”

Daniel pushed at the tent flap, torn between insisting on answers and leaving Isis to recover in peace. After another long moment of silence, he walked out of the tent.

He moved among the Freeblood soldiers, noting again how disciplined they were...the complete opposite of the ones he had dealt with when he'd lived in Avalon and Delos.

Not even all Freebloods are alike
, he reminded himself. Under a strong leader fighting for the good, these Opiri would be a formidable force.

But Anu would not be fighting for the good.

Near midnight, a respectful Freeblood soldier found Daniel, saluted and led him to a small tent that had obviously been recently occupied. Daniel began to protest that he could sleep anywhere, but the Freeblood insisted that this was Ares's wish. An orderly arrived with fresh bedding and hot food.

After he ate, Daniel wondered if Isis had requested blood from the army supply. He thought again of having it out with her, but in the end he gave way to exhaustion and lay back on the cot. When he woke, it was still dark.

Moving to roll off the cot, he found that one of his arms was caught on something and tried to jerk it free. Metal pressed against his wrist. He twisted around to find that he had been cuffed to the cot in a way that made it impossible for him to get up.

He cursed and fought the restraint, first working to break it and then to force his hand through the cuff. The panic of remembered confinement and bondage turned him half-mad, and he continued to struggle until his wrist was bloody and his thumb almost dislocated.

The tent flap opened, and Ares stepped inside.

“Stop,” he said, catching Daniel's arm in an iron grip. “Doing yourself harm will change nothing.”

Daniel flailed at his father with his other fist, making contact with Ares's jaw. Ares didn't release his grip, though he jerked back out of Daniel's reach.

“Gone back to your old ways, Ares?” Daniel spat.

“This is for your own protection.”

“You haven't let Isis leave?”

“No. And I will not let you go, either.”

Daniel pulled his bloody wrist from Ares's grip. “I'm not your serf anymore... Father.”

“No,” Ares said, crouching beside the cot. “But you are precious to me, and I will not throw your life away.”

“And how do you plan to hold Isis here? Chain
her
up, as well?”

“She will not be going anywhere,” Ares said. “She has had a relapse. One of my soldiers found her nearly unconscious. She has developed the Opir equivalent of a fever.”

“What?” Daniel struggled again, but he realized that he was only hurting himself. “What's wrong with her?”

“Apparently the tainted blood she drank is still affecting her. She will have the best care and as much fresh blood as she needs.”

“For God's sake, let me go to her!”

“Later, when I know you've come to your senses.” Ares rose to leave. “I will send someone to look after your wrist.”