CHAPTER 11
Jericho watched the shock and panic play across Delphine's face. He knew the look of someone having been caught red-handed and it disgusted him that he'd been so easily duped. How could he have ever believed in her?
"So it is true." Curling his lip, he jerked his hand away from her grasp. "I should have known."
As he started to get up, she shoved him back onto the bed almost roughly. He'd never seen her really fired up before, but right now her eyes smoldered. "Don't you dare take that sanctimonious high road and leave, you stubborn man. Yes, Zeus told me to seduce you. I won't deny it. And so did your sister, for that matter. But when have I ever listened to them? Zeus also told me to capture Arik, and I didn't do that, either, as you have seen."
"You did seduce me." He hated the note of pain in his voice that he couldn't suppress. Most of all, he hated the fact that he cared enough about her to be hurt. After all these centuries of trying to protect himself, she'd wormed her way past his defenses and had struck a blow to his heart that he wanted to hurt her over.
She looked aghast. "How? By being nice to you? Is that all it took? For some reason, I thought seduction was a lot harder than that."
That ignited his own wrath. "Don't you dare patronize me."
"I'm not the one patronizing you, Jericho. You are if you think I've seduced you. All I've done is treat you like a human."
"Then how pathetic am I that that's all it took?"
She hit his stomach. Not hard; it was more like she wanted to get his attention. But it was enough to ignite his anger.
"You're not pathetic," she growled. "You're not worthless. But you are hurt. Maybe even a little confused and probably a lot of deranged, but not pathetic."
"Deranged?"
"Well, you did barge into hell to save a woman who was dumb enough to get caught. . . how many times now? Personally I wouldn't have saved me after the first time. That to me says you're deranged."
Jericho wanted to yell at her. He wanted to deny her and be angry. To hurt and curse her very existence. Yet as he looked at her, all he saw was a perfect mouth that needed kissing and a beautiful smile that warmed his heart. He saw green eyes with flecks of gold set into a face that haunted him.
How did she do it? How could he want to strangle her one minute and then be fine the next? But her words cut straight through his anger, diminishing it until he was lost.
For the first time in centuries he didn't feel pathetic or worthless, and it wasn't because he had his powers restored. It was because she saw him as something more than that.
Most of all, he wanted to be the man she saw him
as.
And before he could stop himself, he kissed her.
Delphine was stunned by his actions. How could he go from being so surly in one heartbeat to this?
"You're not right in the head, are you?" she asked as he nibbled his way to her ear.
"No. There's definitely something wrong with me." He pulled back to stare at her. "I want to hate you, but I can't even stay mad at you."
She narrowed her gaze at him. "You know, I think you're more in need of lessons on how to seduce than I am. Why don't you call me fat and ugly while you're at it?"
He laughed.
The sound caught her completely off guard. Deep and from the heart, it wasn't mocking or sarcastic. It was real. "What? Was that a laugh?"
He tried to sober. "No."
"Yes, it was. I heard it. Holy cow," she teased, "call Hermes to spread the news. I think I just started the end of the world... it has to be a sign of the apocalypse." Her teasing died as she caught a look of hurt that he quickly concealed. "Jericho, I was teasing you. I would never hurt you intentionally."
"Good, 'cause you live in a place inside me where only you can do me harm."
Delphine froze at the barely audible words.
His gaze locked with hers. "I hate you for that."
"You don't have to hate me. You know I'd sooner kill myself than hurt you."
He narrowed his gaze. "No, I don't know that. And you're asking me to trust in you when everyone I've ever known has betrayed me?"
"Nike hasn't betrayed you."
He scoffed. "Nike was the one who told Noir how to kill me."
Delphine was stunned. "What?"
"He projected the images of her telling him to me as he stabbed me."
She gave him a chiding glare. "Azura also told you that I was Zeus's favorite, which is absolutely not true. They're liars, Jericho. They wouldn't know the truth if it bit them in their privates. Believe me, if their lips are moving, they are lying. Guaranteed. Your sister loves you. She was adamant that you not be hurt. Why would she turn around and then tell him how to kill you?"
"Then who did?"