Free Harlequin Nocturne May 2016 Box Set by Susan Krinard Page B

his best to ignore the rush of desire that came with the contact. “You weren’t faking in my room, either, were you?”
    She trembled. “Perhaps, as you suggested, I wished to learn something about you that I couldn’t get any other way.”
    â€œYou must have had a thousand lovers when you were a goddess. Ordinary men would have fallen at your feet without your lifting a finger.”
    Her hand covered his. “I do not think there is anything ordinary about you, Daniel.”
    He wondered if she had guessed what he really was.
    â€œThere’s nothing unusual about me,” he said gruffly, withdrawing his hand.
    â€œMaybe you cannot see it. But I know your past was a difficult one and that you survived it. Not all humans can say the same.”
    For a moment he thought she was going to ask him about his life as a serf. A chill enveloped his body.
    Then his sense returned to him and he smiled. Isis stood very still for a long moment, barely breathing, her skin flushed. He was half-tempted to take her in his arms and finish what they’d begun yesterday.
    But physical attraction wasn’t enough. Neither was mutual admiration, though he wasn’t sure how he’d earned hers. She was still a Bloodmistress—a goddess—and he still had his work to do.
    â€œWho are they, Isis?” he asked. “The rest of the Nine?”
    She clasped her hands in her lap. “You will probably recognize their names,” she said, her voice a little unsteady. “Athena, Anu, Ereshkigal, Hephaestus, and Hermes.”
    â€œGreek and Babylonian,” he said. “Anu, I don’t know.”
    â€œAncient Sumer,” Isis said. “He is the eldest and wisest among us, and he leads the Nine.” She seemed about to go on and changed her mind. “Anu, Hephaestus and Ereshkigal are the guardians of our Opiri.”
    â€œEreshkigal,” Daniel said. “Goddess of the Underworld. Appropriate enough.”
    â€œDo you think Opiri belong in such a place?”
    The words were spoken half in jest, but Daniel took them seriously. “Certainly not the Opir I’m looking at right now,” he said.
    He took his seat and leaned forward, his elbows on his knees.
    â€œWere there any others?” he asked. “Some of the old gods who came with you to Tanis?”
    She frowned, a delicate crease forming between her brows. “There were a few others. When we came to Tartaros, one left us to make his way alone. There were a few who wished to rule by the old customs. We did not welcome them among us. And there was one other who came to us for a very brief time, not long ago. His name was Ares.”
    â€œThe Greek god of war,” Daniel said softly.
    â€œYes. I never met him in the past, and saw him only twice while he was here. He said he had come to find out if Tanis was what he had heard it to be, as you did. But he left soon after he arrived.” She searched Daniel’s eyes. “Why do you ask?”
    He left soon after , Daniel thought. But where would he have gone?
    â€œI saw Ares once, in Vikos,” he said. “He was one of the few Opiri who treated serfs decently. I didn’t realize then that he might actually have been a ‘god.’”
    â€œStrange. Ares spoke of coming from the region of Erebus, far to the west.”
    Immediately Daniel was on his guard. “We heard he was traveling, but the rulers of Vikos would not have let him stay to challenge them. Rumors among the serfs suggested that he was seeking a place like this after leaving his Citadel.”
    â€œWe know that the rulers of Vikos are aggressive and greedy for power. Ares might have been lucky to escape with his life.”
    But of course Ares had almost certainly never been there at all. It was all part of Daniel’s invented backstory.
    â€œHe seemed wise and controlled when he came here,” Isis said, as if she hadn’t noticed