Dream Warrior by Sherrilyn Kenyon Page B

it’s worth saving?”
    Delphine wanted to shake him for his obstinacy. She’d never met anyone so dense and so unforgiving. What had they done to him to make him like this? “You would kill or enslave everyone? There is so much beauty in the world that they’d destroy. How do you not see it?”
    He scoffed at her as if she were a child. “Spoken like someone who has only lived in the cushioned world of dreams. You have no idea what the real world is like. What people will do to you when they know they can get away with it. People are absolutely cruel and I say more power to Noir for tearing it down.”
    â€œThey can be cruel at times,” she admitted. “But I’ve seen the best in people. Their hopes and dreams.” That was why she fought so hard for mankind.
    â€œAnd I’ve lived through their worst.” The pain in his eye scorched her.
    It also explained a lot about him and his reasoning. But that didn’t make it right. “So anything you do is justified, is that it? They were mean to you so it’s okay for you to be mean back?”
    He shrugged nonchalantly. “Sounds justifiable to me.”
    She let out a long breath. What would it take to get through to him? To make him understand and most of all care about what he was doing? “Were you always this bitter?”
    Jericho paused at her unexpected question. No one had ever asked him that before. No one. And it forced him to take a hard look inward.
    He’d never really liked himself. Not when he served Zeus and definitely not after his banishment. From the moment of his birth, he’d been a god with a destiny that had been forced on him.
    Balance your siblings. Serve your master. Do as you’re told. No questions. No life …
    And so he’d existed until that one moment when he couldn’t blindly obey anymore.
    All things ended. Birth, destruction, death and rebirth. It was the law of the universe. The code of the Source. Who was he to fight against it?
    But the truth was still harsh. “Yes,” he said, his tone cold. “I’ve always been this bitter.”
    She let out a tired breath. “Then I’m very sorry for you.”
    â€œDon’t be. I don’t need pity from someone who knows so little about living.”
    Delphine shook her head. “That’s not true. Every time I’ve stepped into a dream, I’ve seen life. I’ve seen love and joy in its purest forms. They’re beautiful to behold even if they are muted by the dream state.”
    He made a rude noise of disagreement. “You live like a by-product.”
    That set her ire off to a level of rage she’d never experienced before. “And you don’t? I saw you, too, you know. You didn’t interact with anyone. Not even to say good-bye to them when you left. What kind of living is that?”
    His nostrils flaring with anger, he sucked his breath in sharply as he advanced on her with a fury so potent, she tried to flee only to have him trap her in a corner. She had to crane her neck to look up at him. He was so incredibly large. So fierce. And that one eye glowed with absolute hatred.
    Jericho wanted to tell her exactly why he couldn’t interact with people. He wanted to lash out and make her pay for what Zeus had done to him. But as he stood there and the scent of her hit him, it paralyzed his entire body.
    Worst of all, it evaporated his fury and it made his cock so hard, he was sure he could use it as a hammer. She became the focus of his reasoning, not his hatred.
    She and that soft skin and delicate body that he wanted to taste so desperately …
    His gaze focused on her lips, which were parted by her rapid breathing. Were they as soft as they appeared? Would they give him the pleasure he hadn’t known since he’d been damned and cursed?
    He hadn’t kissed a woman in centuries.… Could he even remember how?
    Kill the bitch and get on