Free Swept Away: A Krinar Story by Anna Zaires Page B

human blood once before, and the experience had been sublime. He had a feeling that with this girl, it would be even better.
    It seemed that his decision was already made.
    “Where are you taking me?” the girl asked again, her voice shaking. She didn’t seem the least bit soothed by Arus’s reassurance.
    “I’m taking you someplace you’ll be warm and safe.” Surely she would appreciate that. He could feel her shivering; the rough rag that served as her dress was soaked and had to be chilling her. “You shouldn’t be out in this storm,” he added when jagged lightning cut across the sky for the third time in as many seconds.
    “I’ll be fine if you let me go.” Pushing at his chest again, the girl tried to twist out of his hold. “Please, let me down.”
    Arus sighed and picked up his pace, ignoring her puny struggles. Once he got her warm and dry, he’ll work on calming her down.
    He didn’t want her frightened in his bed.

Chapter Three
    D elia had never been so frightened in her life. The god—and she was now sure he was a god—was carrying her without any sign of tiring, his arms like iron bands around her back and knees. Neither rain nor wind seemed to slow him down; holding her against his chest, he was walking faster than a mortal man could run.
    “Please, let me down,” she begged again, pushing at his broad chest. It was useless, like trying to move a mountain. “Please, I’ll sacrifice a goat in your honor if you let me go.”
    That seemed to get his attention. “A goat?” He looked down at her as he kept walking. “Why would I want that?”
    Delia’s breath hitched at the intensity of his gaze. “Because you’re a god?” Despite her certainty, her words came out as a question, and she silently berated herself for sounding foolish. “I mean, because you’re a god and deserve to be respected,” she said in a firmer tone.
    There, that was better. Surely he would accept one goat. Her family couldn’t spare more—even one would leave them without enough cheese for trading.
    To her surprise, the stranger laughed, the sound deep and genuinely amused. “A god?” His dark eyes gleamed as another bolt of lightning split the sky above them. “You think I’m a god?”
    Delia blinked the rain out of her eyes. “Are you saying you’re not?”
    He laughed again, the sound blending with a boom of thunder, and she felt his pace accelerate from a walk to a run. He was moving so fast the ground looked like a blur under his feet. Delia began to feel nauseated but didn’t dare close her eyes.
    She had to see where he was taking her.
    After a few minutes, she realized he was heading for the hills to the east of her village. There was a forest there. Maybe he hoped to find shelter under the trees? She knew trees were dangerous during lightning storms, but maybe they weren’t dangerous for him.
    Maybe he was as impervious to Zeus’s fury as he was to the waves in the sea.
    What did he intend with her? Delia’s stomach churned, and she knew it was as much from her anxiety as her captor’s running speed. The god had said she would be warm and safe, but he was taking her away from her village—away from her family and people who could help her. Delia’s sisters had to be worried already. Eugenia, the oldest, had noticed the darkening sky this morning and told her not to go searching for mussels, but Delia had been determined to gather extra food for their dinner tonight. With five daughters to feed, her family was always struggling, and Delia tried to help as much as she could.
    Well, as much as she could without marrying the blacksmith, who’d begun courting her after his wife’s death last month.
    “You should accept Phanias,” Delia’s mother had told her two weeks ago. “I know you don’t like the man, but he’s a good provider.”
    He was also old, fat, and had beaten his last wife, but Delia hadn’t bothered pointing that out. Her mother didn’t care about such minor things. Her