Tempted Read Free Page A

“contrary to what you may think.”
    “You don’t want to know what I think, human.”
    Casey crossed her arms. She wasn’t entirely human. She was Misos—half human, half Argolean. And his prejudices were wearing on her already-frayed nerves, especially since all Argoleans—including him—were descendants of the great Greek heroes who had established this realm in the first place. “You seem to forget that some small part of you is human too.”
    “Don’t bet on it.”
    He was trying to intimidate her. But it wouldn’t work. “You don’t scare me.”
    His gaze narrowed. “I should.”
    “Demetrius,” Theron cut in, “enough.”
    At the sound of footfalls out in the hall, they all looked to the door again. Callia, Zander’s mate, hesitated in the opening, her auburn hair tousled around her shoulders, her eyes wild.
    Zander instantly read the alarm in her eyes and moved toward her. “ Thea , what?
    “I…” Callia curled into Zander’s touch. Showed no resistance when he slipped his arm around her and pulled her close. And their connection was touching to watch, especially when Casey remembered that only hours ago they’d both been resigned to the fact the king was going to hold Zander to his agreement to marry Isadora. Thank God Casey’s father had come to his senses. Anyone within a mile could tell these two were meant for each other. Callia tipped her face up to Zander’s. “I felt something. A—”
    “A tingle,” Casey finished from across the room. When Callia and Zander both looked her way, she added, “I felt it too.”
    Theron glanced from one female to the other. Then to Zander. He could sense anytime Callia was hurt or in danger, but that didn’t extend to her sisters and their connection as the modern-day Horae.
    “I didn’t feel anything,” Zander said. “I’m linked to her”—he nodded at Callia—“not the other two.”
    Theron’s growing frustration was evident in his eyes as he rubbed his forehead. “No, that’d be too much to ask, now, wouldn’t it?”
    Voices kicked up in the room, speculation about where Isadora had gone and how they were going to find her. Theron ran a hand down his face as he listened to varying theories, rested his palms on his hips, and looked like he had a headache the size of Mount Rushmore.
    The marking on Casey’s lower back, the one that looked like an omega with wings and was identical to what Callia had on her neck and Isadora had on her leg, started to pulse. She caught her half sister’s gaze across the room and knew Callia’s marking was pulsing as well.
    She put herself between Theron and Demetrius. “Stop it, right now. She didn’t run off.”
    Demetrius glared down at her. “I ask again, human, what makes you so sure?”
    “Knock off the ‘human’ shit, Demetrius,” Theron warned.
    Warmth spread through Casey’s chest at Theron’s protectiveness, but on this she didn’t need his help. She hadn’t lied. She, unlike Isadora, wasn’t scared of Demetrius. “Because there’s no point to it.”
    “She’s done this before,” Demetrius pointed out. “When the king betrothed her to Theron, she—”
    “She came to find me. Yeah, I know. But this is different. She wouldn’t run now because there’s no point. She can’t hide in Argolea—”
    “She can in the human realm,” Demetrius cut in.
    “—and she wouldn’t be dumb enough to go to the human realm alone.”
    “And why not?” Demetrius sneered. “She seems to like it there. In fact, she likes causing trouble in general, getting us all stirred up so we have to drop whatever we’re doing and go look for her.”
    Casey could barely believe what she was hearing. “Do you honestly think that’s what she’s after? Attention?”
    “I think that’s exactly what she wants.”
    Casey’s temper flared. “For your information, Demetrius, she wouldn’t go to the human realm now unless someone forced her.”
    “And why is that?”
    “Because she knows