Daphne turned. Sappheire sipped her coffee, and looked right at Silas with that same silly, mischievous grin. His gaze held hers, and he smiled too, then went back to chopping. “Yes it was. A very nice surprise.”
They were flirting. Daphne looked between the two, amused and, yes, surprised herself. Ari’s caretaker and Daphne’s mentor. Who would have guessed? In all the years Daphne had known Sappheire, she’d never known the Siren to flirt. Sappheire didn’t even use seduction on her victims, like the other Sirens in her Order. Just arrows.
Silas’s grin faded, and he turned toward Daphne. “Sappheire filled me in on what you discovered about Zeus’s secret Sirens. It makes a lot of sense. Makes a shit ton of sense.”
The secret Sirens. Right. Daphne needed to remember why she’d come in here, not get caught up in someone else’s romance.
“The question is what are we going to do about it?” Sappheire asked. “No one’s ever confirmed the Sirenum Scorpoli actually exist. That tells me right there that anyone who knows about them is dead. Which means we’re at the top of Zeus’s shit list. It’s only a matter of time before he finds this place.”
“I was thinking the same thing.” Daphne bit her lip then looked toward Silas. “Ari’s not safe here. The only place where Zeus can’t get to him is Argolea.”
“But his Sirens can,” Sappheire pointed out. “That won’t protect you or me from Athena’s retaliation, or any of us from Zeus’s evil bitches.”
“No.” Silas braced his hands on the counter. “It won’t. And if Zeus sends his assassins into Argolea, it’d turn into a blood bath. Thousands of innocents would die.”
Silence settled over the room as each of them considered. Finally, Daphne said, “We could contact the Argonauts. Ari’s son serves with them. I know they would send help if they knew he was still alive.”
“No one’s contacting the Argonauts.” Ari’s voice echoed from the archway to the hall.
He’d pulled on loose-fitting jeans and a black T-shirt that stretched seductively across his broad shoulders, and as Daphne took in the sight of him, her skin warmed and all the delicious things they’d done to each other last night rolled through her memory. But there was a hardness to his mismatched eyes she hadn’t seen last night, and remembering their conversation about his son, something in the back of her mind whispered not to push him too hard too fast. “It’s the smartest option we have, Ari. I know you’re not ready to go back to Argolea yet, but if Zeus comes here—”
“Then I’ll deal with him.” His gaze didn’t waver from hers. “The same way I’ve dealt with his secret sect all these years. But you’re right. The three of you need to leave.” He looked toward Sappheire. “Take her back to Athena. If you tell her what happened, I’m sure Athena will protect her.”
Oh no. He wasn’t sending her away. Not now. Not after everything that had happened between them. He’d tried that once before and this time she wasn’t leaving.
She set her mug on the counter, moved behind Silas, and crossed to stand in front of Ari, still in the doorway. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily. If you’re staying, I’m staying.”
“This isn’t up for discu—”
His words died as he lifted his head. Every muscle in his body went rigid. Before Daphne could ask what was going on, his eyes shifted from their mismatched blue and green to deathly black.
“Oh shit.” Her stomach clenched with fear. For him. “Ari?”
He darted to the window and looked out at the early morning light.
“What’s going on?” Sappheire slipped off the barstool. “Do you sense something?”
Ari darted to the next window, his gaze scanning the cliff beside them, then shifting to the valley far below. A low growl built in his throat. “Sirens.”
Silas and Sappheire exchanged worried glances, but Daphne was too focused on Ari to care what they were thinking. Rushing to his side, she reached for his hand. “Ari, stay with me.”
He rounded on her so fast she gasped, and when he looked down at her with those crazed eyes, his features twisted with fury, fear shot through her chest. But in her heart she knew this was the same male who’d touched her and loved her so thoroughly last night. And she wasn’t about to let him forget.
She gripped his hand tighter. Forced him to look at her. “Stay with me. You can fight it. You fought it yesterday. Focus.”
He squeezed her hand so hard, pain shot up her arm. But she didn’t pull away. Instead, she watched his eyes for her cue. Held on. Said his name over and over. His eyes flickered between black and blue and green. Then slowly they shifted to the familiar colors she knew so well.
“Yes,” she whispered, squeezing his hand, knowing she had him back. “I’m right here.”
Before she could wrap her arms around him, he pulled his hand from hers and looked toward Sappheire. “Take her back to Athena now.”