Read Online Ravaged: An Eternal Guardians Novella (1001 Dark Nights) by Elisabeth Naughton - Free Book Online

double glass doors. The nymph stood at the railing looking out over the dark valley, snow already collecting in her thick locks. Her feet were bare, and dressed in nothing but the T-shirt and baggy sweats she had to have gotten from Silas, she was already shivering, though he doubted she even noticed.
    “Come inside,” he said.
    She didn’t move. Thinking she might not have heard him, he stepped out into the snow, the cold immediately penetrating his own bare feet. “Come inside before you freeze to death.”
    For a long moment she didn’t answer. Then softly, so softly he barely heard her, she said, “Were you there?”
    She was talking about the village. Her village.
    Skata. This is not your concern. You don’t have to answer. “No.”
    “It was the middle of June. So hot I could barely breathe. I asked my mother if I could run to the creek to cool off. She didn’t want to let me go, but I persisted. Finally, she agreed, but only if I took Argus with me.”
    Dammit, he’d been right. Though he wanted nothing more than to run now as she had then, his feet wouldn’t let him. “Argus was your dog?”
    She nodded as she continued to stare out at the darkness. “I lost track of time. When I realized how late it was, we ran back as fast as we could. I knew my mother was going to be so mad that I’d stayed late.” Her eyes drifted closed, and pain etched her features. “I heard the screams first. By the time I cleared the trees, everything was in flames. I was seven.”
    Ari knew what it was like to lose everything—your hopes, your dreams, your future. And as much as he wanted to stay indifferent to the nymph, now he couldn’t. “I’m sorry.”
    It was a feeble thing to say. His Argonaut brothers had all told him they were sorry when his soul mate had died, and it hadn’t changed a thing. He watched as she stared out at the black swirling storm. Her face was as stony as the rocks in the cliff below them. Except for the tears that slid down her cheeks in silence.
    “And you’re sure it was Sirens?” she asked quietly.
    “Yes.”
    “But you weren’t there. You can’t know for certain.”
    Her protest didn’t surprise him. As a nymph, she’d probably been taught that the Sirens kept the gods’ peace. Denial was the hardest hurdle to clear. He knew that better than most. “There was one survivor, besides you. A boy. Eton, I think was his name. He was gathering firewood at the time of the attack. He saw what happened from the ridgeline and ran. After, he sought refuge in a Misos colony in Eastern Europe. He confirmed it was Sirens.”
    “I knew him.” Daphne’s eyes slid closed. “He was a few years older than me.”
    She stood still several long minutes, the wind whipping her hair, snow collecting on her dark locks, her clothes, her face, her arms and legs. And as much as Ari knew she needed this time to deal with her grief, the inch of snow that had collected near her ankles since she’d come out here told him it was time he got her inside. “Daphne—”
    Abruptly, she turned back for the hold. “I have to go.”
    Thankful she was heading back in, Ari moved into the great room and shut the door at his back. But instead of heading for the stairs and the solitude of her room as he expected, she rushed for the entry to the hold.
    She shoved her feet into the first pair of boots she found, then reached for the massive door handle. It took only two seconds to realize what she was doing.
    Ari slapped his hand against the hard wood before she could pull the door open.
    “You’re not leaving like this.”
    “Get out of my way.” She pushed his hand away from the door and yanked. “You wanted me gone, so consider me gone.”
    Cold air swept into the hold. But before she could get two steps outside, he captured her around the waist, pulled her back against him, then shoved the door closed with his foot. “I said you’re not leaving.”
    She dug her fingers into his forearms and struggled against