Dream Warrior by Sherrilyn Kenyon Page A

“Mo, long time no see.”
    â€œYeah, you looked better last time, too. I told you not to piss off Noir. One day you’re going to listen to me.”
    â€œWhy start now?” Jaden asked.
    Asmodeus nodded. “Ah, you’re right. Bled so much now, it doesn’t really matter, does it?”
    Deimos curled his lip. “You all sicken me.” He jerked at his chains as if trying to break them.
    Jaden ignored him as he pinned those mismatched eyes on Jericho. “By the way, your infant lived.”
    Jericho had no idea what the man was talking about. He didn’t have a baby. “What?”
    â€œThe child you saved all those centuries ago. I just wanted you to know that you never suffered in vain. The baby lived and grew up healthy.”
    Bully for the brat. “Do you think I care?”
    Jaden shrugged. “You gave up your godhood for her. I thought you might.”
    Jericho’s frown deepened. “Her?” Unbelievably enough, he hadn’t bothered to check the infant’s gender before he handed it over. It hadn’t mattered to him back then. All he’d seen was the baby’s smile and its warm eyes.
    Jaden nodded. “The Oneroi Delphine is the baby you saved.”
    Jericho was floored by the news. The air left his body as those words seared him. He shook his head in disbelief.
    It couldn’t be.
    â€œYou know it’s true,” Jaden said, his voice deep and sure. “The moment you saw her, you recognized how much she looked like her mother.”
    Still, he refused to believe it. What were the odds? “You’re lying to me.”
    â€œWhy would I?”
    â€œEveryone lies.”
    â€œI don’t.”
    Jericho winced as he felt even more betrayed by this. And yet as he considered it, he knew Jaden wasn’t lying. Somehow he’d known it instinctively.
    He’d saved Delphine.…
    The woman waiting in his room was the same person he’d given all but his life for.
    Fury tore through him. Oh, this was rich irony.
    And she owed him a debt he more than intended to collect on. Before this day was over, he was going to get satisfaction from her hide.

CHAPTER 5
    His fury riding him hard, Jericho stormed back into his room. Then fell instantly still as he found Delphine asleep on his bed, beneath his blood cloak. Her features pale, her blond hair cascaded around her in a soft, tangled mess that made his hand itch to touch it.
    She had the faintest of snores that strangely teased his ears and warmed him.
    So instead of yelling at her for something that wasn’t her fault, he crossed the room to kneel beside her. It was hard to reconcile her with that sweet, happy baby who had wrapped its little fingers around his and held on so tight that it touched him when nothing ever had before.
    Now he knew why her eyes had given him pause.
    They had touched him then as they touched him now. But why? What was it about her that quieted him? Who in his right mind would destroy his entire life and future to save a stranger?
    Granted, he’d known her mother, but not well. They had been passing strangers, really. He’d known Leta’s name. That she was a dream god. But honestly, he’d never cared beyond that. Since Leta had never upset Zeus and hadn’t run in the same circles he had, there had been no reason for them to be friendly.
    Yet that one night when their worlds had violently collided, they had both lost everything.
    Zeus, furious over a dream one of the Oneroi had given him, had demanded all the dream gods be rounded up for punishment. Those like Leta, who were married to humans, were to have their spouses and any progeny they’d produced killed. Zeus had wanted no one to survive who could ever harm him again.
    Then the Oneroi had been tortured and stripped of their emotions for eternity. Zeus figured if they had no emotions, they wouldn’t feel compelled for whatever reason to play in anyone’s dreams