Ravaged: An Eternal Guardians Novella (1001 Dark Nights) Read Online Free PDF Page A

pulled his gaze from Daphne, grunted, then wrapped his arms around his belly and doubled over.
    The other male stood upright and turned toward the stairs with a surprised expression. “Ah, you’re awake. We expected you’d sleep at least another day.”
    We. Daphne had no idea who he was or what that meant, and she wanted to ask, but her gaze darted right back to the Argonaut. Aristokles shot the male a hard look, then stood upright and crossed to the far side of the room. After swiping a towel over his face, he reached for a shirt from a bench near the wall, tugged it on, and muttered, “You know what to do.”
    The second male looked Aristokles’s way, but the Argonaut didn’t meet his gaze. Didn’t even turn to look at Daphne again. Just disappeared through a doorway on the far side of the room and was gone.
    The heat in Daphne’s belly slowly cooled, and a shiver rushed down her spine.
    “Sorry about that.” The male turned toward her and grimaced. “He lacks basic social skills.”
    His words seemed to snap her out of the trance she’d fallen into. Daphne cleared her throat and gripped the banister at her side. “I...” No, that wasn’t how she wanted to start this. She needed to play it cool. Whoever this guy was, hopefully he could help her. “Where am I?”
    The male crossed to the bench and pulled on his own T-shirt. “Stonehill Hold. Don’t worry. You’re safe here. No daemons can get to us. And if they did”—he nodded toward the door Aristokles had exited through—“he’d sense them.”
    Sense them. Right. Argonauts could do that. One of their many awesome hunting skills, ironically bestowed on them by the very god who wanted Aristokles dead.
    Remembering she needed to play the damsel in distress, Daphne brushed the hair out of her eyes. “Stonehill Hold? I’ve never heard of it.”
    “Not many have.” He moved to the base of the stairs and looked up at her five steps above. “How do you feel?”
    “Fine,” she answered hesitantly. “Tired.” When his gaze dropped to her side, she remembered her wounds. “Sore.”
    “I’m sure you are.”
    Daphne couldn’t help but notice the angled scars that ran across his features. A series of thin, white lines that stretched from one cheek, across his nose, to the opposite jaw. Claw marks, she realized.
    She wanted to ask about them but decided now wasn’t the time. Instead, she tried to figure out who he was. He wasn’t an Argonaut like Aristokles. She would have picked up on that. As an otherworldly creature, she had the power to sense a being’s race, and she already knew he wasn’t a god or a nymph like her. But to be here with the psycho Argonaut and not be intimidated meant he had to be someone important.
    Her eyes widened when his lineage finally registered. “You’re a half breed.”
    He moved up the steps toward her. “We prefer the term Misos.”
    Misos. The race of half-human, half-Argolean beings. Argolea was the realm established for the descendants of the ancient Greek heroes, a utopia of sorts, one Daphne had studied during her time with the Sirens. But many Argoleans didn’t remain there. They often traveled back and forth between the human realm and their own, and whether they’d intended to or not, they’d created an entirely new race. The Misos. Because of their link to Argolea and the heroes, each Misos was born with a special gift, and their lifespans were longer than those of mortal beings, but they weren’t immortal in any sense of the word. As far as Daphne knew, they weren’t even that special.
    “I...” Words faltered on her tongue. If anyone knew what it was like to face a daemon, surely he would. Half breeds had been hunted by daemons for years simply because they were different, and to daemons that meant weak. “I didn’t mean any disrespect.”
    “Don’t worry. Where you come from, I’m sure Misos are few and far between.”
    That was true. He was the first Misos she’d ever met. But that