Read Online Red Mortal by Deidre Knight - Free Book Online

Jax laughed and slugged him on the shoulder. “You’ll be with us, leading us, for ages to come. Just as you’ve always been.”
    Leo cocked an eyebrow. “Almost sounds like you’re trying to convince yourself of that fact, adelphos .” Brother.
    “You aren’t going anywhere,” Jax repeated, his Greek accent becoming thicker, always a sign of his strong emotions. Then in their ancient tongue, added, “Yes, you are my adelphos , brother of the heart. I won’t let you leave us.”
    The expression in Jax’s eyes changed, too, becoming less certain. It also seemed that his gaze roved about Leo’s face, studying it curiously, searching for something.
    Or maybe noticing the changes that Ares had promised.
    Leo touched his beard self-consciously. “Jax, friend, what do you see?”
    “My king. My commander. My dearest friend.” Ajax kept his gaze steady, but it appeared to require some effort, and after a moment, he reached for the wine bottle.
    Leo sat upright. “Bring me a looking glass. A mirror of any sort.”
    Ajax blinked back at him, seeming confused by such an extraordinary request from his commander.
    “Surely you have something,” Leo pressed sharply. “A well-polished pot, anything which will capture my reflection.”
    “My lord, I’m not sure that’s the best idea.”
    So Ajax did know; the transformation was already becoming apparent.
    Leo rose wordlessly, not waiting or arguing further, and hurried toward the long hall, feeling weightless. The guest bathroom held a massive floor-length mirror, one that would not lie or distort the truth. The familiar photographs and paintings on the walls were nothing more than a blur of color and nonsensical imagery as he forced himself to move along the wood-floored corridor. He held the target in his sights, knowing that once he entered that bathroom, he might never view himself the same way again.
    What would he see in the room’s colossal mirror? Would his visage be shocking, revealed as the true reason Daphne had fled in such frenzy, and that Ajax had refused to supply him with a looking glass? Or would it somehow be soothing to discover himself finally mortal again, after so many eons?
    “Leonidas, wait!” Ajax called out from behind him in the hallway. His steps were hurried, as if he hoped to keep Leonidas from a grave mistake. “What are you . . . ?”
    Leo entered the bathroom, slamming and locking the door decisively behind him. Flicking on the light, he slowly pivoted and faced himself in the mirror.
    The reflection that greeted him, however, took several much longer moments to comprehend fully. At last, with reality staring him starkly in the eye, Leonidas squared his shoulders. Bending over the sink, he went about his regular life, the mundane sort of daily rituals that made him feel as if he might never die.
    He methodically washed his hands, and then methodically dried them. He straightened the hand towel, making it appear untouched. Strength and stoicism under duress were his hallmark qualities. Now, if only he could summon a pithy joke or two, then he could open the damn bathroom door and face his men. His friends. And maybe, crazy long shot that it was, the woman he loved. If she ever returned, that was.
    Bracing his hands along the marble edge of the sink, he leaned forward and looked himself square in the eyes again. The same dark, almost black irises stared back, but they appeared different because of the fine lines at the edge of his eyes, the slight shadowing underneath. Or perhaps it was his beard, now shot through with silver, that caused his eyes to seem so much darker. Almost the color of midnight.
    Old Man. How true the warriors’ nickname for him had turned out to be. He wasn’t that much older, not yet, but he no longer appeared his perpetual thirty-five. No wonder Ajax had stared at him so strangely; no wonder Daphne had fled him.
    He tilted his chin upward, and braced his shoulders back. Perhaps she would come to think of his