Daughter of Sparta Series, Book 1 by Claire Andrews

Author:Claire Andrews [ANDREWS, CLAIRE M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Published: 2021-06-08T00:00:00+00:00

The hand slapping over my mouth is a rude awakening. Almost as disturbing as the other pawing beneath my cloak.

My first reaction is to free the dagger strapped to my thigh and press it against my assailant’s throat. It’s effective. He gives a sharp hiss. I punch his abdomen and a familiar grunt echoes in the darkness.

Theseus collapses to the ground, clutching his stomach. I leap from the hammock. The swing of the ship threatens to buckle my legs. I open my mouth to scream for Lykou when Theseus springs on me. We tumble to the deck in a tangle of limbs. My knife clatters across the boards.

The sailors continue to snore. I try to scream again, but Theseus snuffs the sound with a slap of his palm over my mouth. He pins me down, his forearm shoved across my chest. Panic rises as his knees dig into my thighs. My elbow finds his ribs.

Theseus makes not a single sound. He redoubles his attack, leaping across the space between us.

I use his momentum to flip him over, pinning him to the deck. A thud echoes in the dark, a shimmer of gold in the corner of my eyes. The kerykeion flung away. He’d taken it. Pulling another knife from a sheath on my thigh and leveling it above his chest. A wild, insatiable rage courses through my veins, begging for me to shove the blade into his heart.

Sweat beads and slides down Theseus’s temples, the whites of his eyes gleaming even in the shadows. “The weapon, I need it.”

“Then why not just ask for it?” I snarl, barely restraining myself from stabbing him.

Not a single sailor shifts in their sleep, their snores continuing through the night. Lykou and Apollo appear beside me. The wolf’s fangs shine in the dim torchlight, and he snaps them above Theseus’s throat.

“Give me the weapon, Daphne.” Theseus’s lower lip trembles. “Or she’ll kill us all.”

My rage stutters, stopping in time with my heart. Her pale face, haloed by dark hair, and her piercing ruby eyes fill my vision. “She?”

“She’s here,” he hisses. A cold sweat slides down my spine. “Right behind you.”

Unthinking, I spin around, knife aloft.

Apollo catches my wrist. “Stop your nonsense, Theseus. Daphne is the only woman aboard this ship.”

“No,” I say, acutely aware of my heart thundering in my chest. “He means the woman from my dreams. The one who made me kill… you.”

Apollo’s nostrils flare. He glares iron pokers at Theseus. “You serve her?”

“Serve her?” Theseus bares his teeth. “She is all I see, all I feel on this damned ship. She will kill me if I don’t give her that weapon.”

My fingers curl tighter around the dagger’s hilt. “You swore an oath not to betray me!”

“I cannot help myself, Daphne.” Theseus’s voice is pleading. “She’s here, whenever I close my eyes.”

I take another step forward. “And you’re only telling us this now?”

Apollo’s voice cuts through the air, stilling me. “The would-be king speaks true. He has no control once she invades his mind.

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