But he was no coward to surrender to his own fears. When Ba’al raked his shoulder with his fangs, Daniel fell with the attack, rolled and catapulted Ba’al over his shoulders.
Ba’al scrambled to his feet with a roar of rage and charged Daniel, muscles rippling under glossy skin. He barreled headfirst into Daniel’s stomach, carrying Daniel several yards before forcing him to the ground.
It was all Isis could do not to leap into the fray. But to do so would forfeit the fight to Ba’al. She held her breath and bit her lip and mourned in her heart when Daniel failed to rise, lying still as Ba’al pummeled him with fists and raking fingers. Then he swooped down like a hunting hawk and sank his teeth into Daniel’s neck, not to take blood but to rip out Daniel’s throat.
In a moment Daniel would be dead.
But then something remarkable happened. Daniel’s arms shot up, his hands catching Ba’al around the throat and squeezing hard. Ba’al reared back, eyes wide in surprise, but Daniel continued to bear down on the god’s throat with greater and greater force. Ba’al began to wheeze, his hands battering at Daniel wildly, his fingers digging into Daniel’s wounds, his feet scrabbling on the tiles.
An instant later their positions were reversed, and Daniel was knocking Ba’al’s head against the floor, muscles straining. Isis knew he was no longer himself, but truly the son of the god of war, expert in the art of death.
Ba’al’s struggles began to weaken. He gasped and flailed; two of his guards began to descend from the dais, but a trio of Ares’s soldiers surged forward to hold them back. Daniel positioned himself to snap Ba’al’s neck.
Isis almost cried out. Ba’al could not remain alive; the threat he posed was too great. But she didn’t want his blood on Daniel’s hands.
Too late, she moved to intervene. Ba’al’s body jerked once and went still. Daniel straightened, his hands still around Ba’al’s neck, and drew in a deep, shuddering breath.
As Daniel got up, one of the priests knelt beside Ba’al’s body and touched his neck. He let out a wailing cry, and the other priests took it up.
No one spoke, but Isis was aware of movement throughout the throne room, courtiers and humans stirring as if they had just wakened from a dream. Ares practically leaped up on the dais. Daniel took an uneven step toward Isis and then suddenly stopped, his breath ragged. He stared at her for a moment and then looked down at Ba’al’s body. Four priests were already lifting it in their arms, chanting in an ancient tongue as they ascended the dais again.
“Is he dead?” Daniel asked hoarsely, stepping back.
“You don’t remember?”
“No.”
Isis tried to take his hand, but he flinched and tried to pull his newly torn shirt up over his shoulders.
“You did what you had to do,” she said, feeling that he was slipping away from her.
He met her gaze briefly and then looked over the astonished audience. Ares’s soldiers had disarmed Ba’al’s guards. Ereshkigal had fled; Bes and Hera stared almost fearfully at Daniel and Isis. Isis could understand their wariness of Daniel; he seemed to have grown in victory, sweeping his gaze around the room as if he owned it.
The humans were in disarray, some on their feet, others still kneeling, shaking their heads and murmuring in shock. Ares and Trinity were embracing with all the passion and relief of long-separated lovers.
“Ba’al’s influence is broken,” Isis said. She raised her voice. “Are there any others who would challenge the victor?”
Bes was the one who answered. He approached Isis and Daniel with wary meekness, as if he expected to be torn apart himself.
“You have defeated Ba’al,” he said. “We did not believe it was possible.”
“That is clear,” Isis said.
“I am sorry,” Bes said, bowing his head. “I was afraid when he killed Anu and Ishtar.”
“Ishtar is dead?”
“Among other courtiers who would not bow to him.” He lifted his head. “Now all must bow to you, Daniel.”
“There will be no need for bowing if you do what I tell you,” Daniel said.
“What do you wish us to do?”
“Hermes,” Daniel said.
The red-haired Opir was not nearly as resigned as Bes. His movements were sharp, almost defiant as he came to Daniel. Isis could barely stand to look at him.
“The Lawkeepers are your responsibility,” Daniel said coldly. “You’ve used them against the interests of this city, especially its human citizens.”
“Hanni—Ba’al threatened me,” Hermes said, “just as Anu threatened Ares. He promised to kill all the half-bloods if I did not do as he commanded.”
“They won’t be taken into custody if you do what I say,” Daniel said. “Find them wherever they are and restrain them. No human in the city will trust them now. Keep them out of the way.”
“Yes,” Hermes said. He darted off. Daniel beckoned to the soldiers who had come with him to Ba’al’s suite and disarmed the guards. Ares’s troops gathered around Daniel expectantly.
“We must move quickly to get things under control, or there will be further chaos,” Daniel said. “The humans in this room can leave. Hold the guards, the Opiri and Hera until I or Ares give you further orders. Some of you go look for the priests who took Ba’al, and recover his body.” He glanced at Ares and Trinity as they descended the dais, Trinity free of her chains but still wearing her collar. “Ares,” he said, “send orders to secure the towers and tell your soldiers to free any serfs and arrest the Opiri who’ve been keeping them. Tomorrow morning, I want every citizen of Tanis we can find gathered at the main plaza.”
“Many will be in hiding,” Ares said, deferring to Daniel without resentment. “There will be resistance from the humans, who will have no reason to trust my Freebloods.”
“Then we get as many as we can persuade to come without using force. Our prisoners, of course, will have no choice.”
“The Nine still have the power of their influence,” Isis said.
“Then some may escape. I don’t plan to hunt them down. Their time of power is over.”
“What will you do with the prisoners?” Isis asked, touching his arm.
He looked at her through shuttered eyes. He was a leader now, focused on the many things that must be done to bring Tanis under the rule of law again. He would bring peace, though he could have set himself up as absolute ruler of Tanis without facing objection from anyone in the room.
“That will be for the people to decide,” Daniel said distantly. “Tanis as they knew it has fallen. The human citizens and the Opiri who helped and supported them have a decision to make.”
Isis’s chest tightened. Along with the gratitude she felt that Daniel had won without suffering a major injury, she was almost frightened by his ruthlessness. If he left the fates of the prisoners to the humans, they might face worse than exile.
And do they not deserve it? she asked herself. Would she not choose the same fate for them?
But what of the Opiri who had not kept serfs but had declined to stand against Anu or Ba’al? They could not entirely be blamed; they would have become victims themselves if Ares had been driven to give the order to kill them.
Could any of them ever be trusted again?
There must be a way. There must be.
“I will need your help, Isis,” Daniel said, seemingly unaware of her distress. “You can walk among the people and try to persuade them to accept that the violence is over. The Opiri behind the troubles are dead.”
“Perhaps they will not listen to me.”
“Find Hugh. He’ll help you spread the word.”
So Daniel was sending her away. To do important work, yes, but he had moved so far from her that she felt as if they existed on different planes.
He had changed af
ter he had been taken and tortured. Now he had changed again.
It didn’t matter. She had to reach him before he moved beyond her grasp.
“You said that Tanis, as the people know it, has fallen,” she said, demanding his attention. “You said they have a decision to make. But you have saved Tanis, Daniel. Because of your faith and courage, it has not been destroyed.”
“Not my faith,” he said, still very far away. “And it hasn’t been saved. Its end has only been delayed.”
“And what if the people decide differently?”
“Tanis would never have succeeded,” Daniel said. “Ares and I have the answer to the question we came here to find. All we can do now is protect the innocent and give them the means to seek their own way in the world.”
“Their own way?” Isis asked. “Returning to the dangers they faced when they were the prey of any rogue Freeblood or Citadel patrol in search of serfs?”
Daniel shook his head. “I’m sorry, Isis. The dream you nurtured is gone.”
Stunned by his dismissal, Isis retreated until she found herself outside in the elevator lobby, surrounded on all sides by bewildered humans and Opiri attempting to flee. Even as she watched, Ares’s soldiers seized the courtiers and dragged them back into the suite. She pushed her way past them toward the door to the stairs.
Ares caught up with her just as she reached the stairwell.
“Isis,” he said, grasping her arm. “You can’t leave him now.”
She jerked her arm free. “He does not need me,” she said. “He needs your army to complete his conquest.”
“Conquest?” Ares said with a harsh laugh. “And you pretend to know him?”
“He has already determined that Tanis is dead,” she said.
“Isn’t it?”
“What do you care for this city or the people here now that you have your mate again?”
“I’ll assist Daniel in any way I can.” His stare was unforgiving. “Do you realize what he suffered here while you and I were unable to help him? How he was forced to relive the life he endured in Erebus, before I found him? How much pain and humiliation must a man endure before he strikes back?”
“I have not given up,” she said, “even if he has.”
“Does he love you?”
She turned her head away. “If he ever did, it is gone now.”
Ares’s lip curled, but she didn’t wait to hear his response. She flung herself into the stairwell and descended, breathless, to the ground floor. Freeblood soldiers ran this way and that along the causeway, and she could see figures milling about the bases of the two nearest towers and along the central avenue.
Isis descended the ramp, sank down against the wall—out of sight of most passersby—and looked at her hands. They were stained with Daniel’s blood. The blood he had given to stop Ba’al, the blood of punishment he had endured for her sake.
How much pain and humiliation must a man endure before he strikes back? How could Daniel see anything but the bad, when he had met so few Opiri who supported the dream upon which she and the Nine had founded Tanis?
The Nine, she thought. Daniel had seen them betray their own ideals. Athena had worked to help him and Isis, but, in the end, Bes and Hermes had turned their backs on all they claimed to have believed in. The others had either been too afraid to challenge Ba’al, or they had wanted the human serfs he would have allotted to them.
And some of them had surely known of Anu’s intentions, as well. They had simply exchanged one tyrant for another.
After a while, composed again, Isis let her thoughts return to Daniel. To what Ares had said.
Does he love you? he had asked. Clearly Ares had believed it possible—more than merely possible—but Daniel had never told her.
Did it matter? Were her feelings for him dependent upon his for her, or upon what path he chose to take to help the people of Tanis? Could she be such a coward, when he had set aside his own pain to restore peace to the city?
Slowly she rose, climbed the ramp, and pressed the button for the elevator. When it reached the bottom, two more soldiers and three Opiri prisoners spilled out: two of Ba’al’s courtiers and Hera. It was clear from their appearance that they had fought their captors; Isis knew that Hera, like the other “gods,” would have tried to use her influence against them. Either her will hadn’t been strong enough, or she had simply been outnumbered. It remained to be seen what had become of the other conspirators.
At least Daniel would not keep the prisoners in the cells where Anu and Ba’al had imprisoned him. He had not lost all his compassion.
She entered the elevator and rode it to the top.. Daniel’s suite now, if he chose to claim it. Which he would never do.
Half expecting to find the rooms still seething with soldiers and blank-faced humans, she was surprised to find it nearly empty. None of the Opiri remained, and the humans had either left of their own accord or been escorted to a safe place.
One man stood in the center of the reception room, his blood-caked hands at his sides, his expression empty. It was as if he had used up all his energy giving orders to those who needed direction, and had nothing left for himself.
Isis crept into the room, approaching him as if he were a stranger. “Daniel?” she said.
He turned his head toward her without meeting her eyes. “Isis?” he said in a tone of dazed exhaustion.
She continued toward him, waiting for him to come alive again. He was still in a state of shock when she took his hand and led him toward the rear of the suite. All Households had been built on much the same plan, and she knew where to find the bath.
The small, dark room was eerily silent, echoing with her and Daniel’s footsteps. The bathing pool was rectangular, with a slightly sloping bottom, and filled with warm, clear water.
“Let me help you,” she said. While he stood at the edge of the pool, unresisting, she carefully removed his torn shirt and trousers, close to weeping again at the sight of his scarred body. He seemed utterly unaware of her touch, even when she led him to the stairs descending into the water and helped him enter the pool.
He slid down into the water automatically, as if his body understood what he needed better than his mind did. Isis found the cleaning oil and cloths, shed her clothes and slipped into the pool beside him.
For a while she did nothing but lie by his side. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. Little trails of blood meandered away from his body.
“I am going to touch you now,” Isis said. She gathered a handful of oil and gently spread it across his chest. He inhaled sharply, and she thought he might bolt from the pool. But he settled again, staring straight ahead, enduring the sweep of her palm as she worked the oil into his skin and brushed carefully over recently healed wounds. His heartbeat slowed, and she began to work on other parts of his body: legs and arms, neck—so terribly abused—and shoulders. He resisted a little when she turned him over, but he relented and let her bathe his back with all its layers of scars, washing the dried blood from the most recent lashing.
When she had finished, she urged him to turn over again. With even more care, she began to wash his face, dabbing at the scrapes and cuts, working the cleanser into his stiffened hair. She rinsed him off with a basin at the pool’s edge and thought of leaving him there to recover, believing that he would come back to himself when he had a chance to rest.
But as she moved to go, his hand clasped her wrist. She looked at his face and closed eyes, holding very still.
“You haven’t finished,” he said, his voice a rasp.
CHAPTER 27
Isis felt a flood of moisture between her thighs that had nothing to do with the warm water’s caress. Still watching Daniel’s expression, she slid her hand down into the water and took his half-erect shaft into her hand. Immediately it came to full a
ttention. She massaged the oil into his skin, heard his breath catch, felt gentle waves slap against her as he shifted. She took her time, and he seemed suspended between relaxation and tension, pleasure and pain.
She knew then that he would take everything she could give. She moved to straddle him, welcoming him inside as easily as a lock accepting a key. Erotic sensation burst through her. She eased up and down, her hands spread across his chest where the skin was least marked. He made a sound low in his throat and caught her waist in his hands, thrusting up to impale her again and again. Then he cupped her breasts in his hands, drew her down and kissed her mouth, probing urgently with his tongue. She opened to him, always aware of her teeth, and he bent his knees to hold her astride him while he speared his fingers in her hair.
The kiss ended at last, and she grazed her lips over his brows and cheekbones and chin, thinking only of healing, of restoring some small pleasure to his world. He continued to stroke her hair, wordless, giving in return. He took another long, deep breath, and she was certain, as his hand dropped from her head, that he would sleep.
She was wrong. He opened his eyes, his gaze searching her face. She offered her breasts to him, and he suckled her, kissing and licking her nipples until she was gasping with delight. He lifted her in his arms with easy strength and turned her over, placing her on her hands and knees at the foot of the stairs.
Isis shuddered. Daniel braced his hands on her hips and thrust into her, gently rocking her forward, driving so deep that she thought it impossible that they should ever separate. She moaned as he caressed the most sensitive area between her legs in time to his thrusts, and she knew she would soon lose control over her body’s desire for completion.
But he showed no mercy. He withdrew and turned her over again to pick her up in his arms, carrying her up the steps and setting her on her feet. He found a pile of feather-soft towels, tossed them on the tiled floor and laid her down on top of them.
Then they were face-to-face, Daniel braced on his arms over her, his hips cradled between her thighs, his blue eyes no longer distant but deeply tender. She wrapped her legs around his waist at the moment he entered her, preparing herself for the full force of his passion.
Harlequin Nocturne May 2016 Box Set Page 26
