Read Laws of the Blood 4: Deceptions: Deceptions for Free Online

else?” she asked Maggie.
    “There’s a party in a couple of nights that Olympias will want to get to. A lot of needy program heads will be wining and dining and whining to a lot of appropriations people. There’s a few black ops types who’ll be begging there. Might be a good place for her to read some dirty military minds.”
    “I’ll mention it to her,” Sara said.
    “I know a congresswoman on an appropriations committee. I’ll make sure she gets an invitation to Olympias,” Maggie said.
    They all got up and checked their watches. “Time to go,” Maggie said.
    Sara and Gerry let Maggie leave the cathedral before them. When she was gone, Sara said, “Let’s go have a talk with this companion from Alexandria.” She wasn’t looking forward to it, but a slave had to do what a slave had to do. Besides, all she and Gerry had to do was deliver the bad news. It was up to Olympias, Enforcer of the City, to enforce it.

Chapter 3
     
    “ Y OU ARE DEAD.”
    “I make it a habit not to stay that way.”
    She looked away from the thick-bodied man, with his scarred face and its one mocking eye. She noticed that she wore a dress of dark red wool; heavy gold jewelry hung from her neck and her ears, while gold snake bracelets wrapped her arms. Though the wool of her clothing was finely woven, its texture was rough and barbaric against her skin. The colored tiles of a mosaic floor pressed against her bare feet. The chill of mountain air pricked her skin. She shivered and recognized that she was in her bedchamber, though the walls were made of mist.
    “You are a barbarian,” the man, her enemy, said. “Don’t you remember?”
    “I’ve never denied it.” She held her head up proudly, graying curls tumbling around the chiseled planes of her face. She never showed him fear, not even when he beat her. Especially when he beat her.
    He was drunk, she could smell the sour wine, and saw it in the evil glint in his one good eye. He was alwaysat his worst in his cups. That ran in his blood, the love of drink and the viciousness that came with it. He’d passed that on to their son. That, and a genius for killing. She blessed the gift of war and cursed him for giving any weakness to her strong, beautiful boy.
    He touched her, his callused thumbs tracing her cheeks. He was still a hard man, muscle and gristle beneath a layer of middle-aged fat. His hair was thin, his teeth going rotten. “I heard you were taking a new wife,” she said. “I pity her.”
    His thumbs continued to caress. “You’re still beautiful,” he said. His hands settled at the base of her throat. “If I stop your heart right now, you’ll always be beautiful.”
    “You’d rather see me a shriveled hag.”
    “I want you to live with the knowledge that I bed beautiful girls and that they give me sons. The more sons I have—”
    “You have only one son that counts.”
    “I’ll kill him before your eyes. Then I’ll kill you.” He laughed, and his hands tightened on her throat. “But why should I wait?”
    He had threatened her before. “You won’t do it yourself,” she said. “Not yet. You haven’t worked up the courage to do it yourself.”
    “Someday I will.” He laughed. He dropped his hands to his side. “Why should I do it myself?”
    They had played out this scene so many times before that even the hatred and fear were stale. She knew that it was a dream even as they went through the motions. Knowing it didn’t make it less real, less painful. She hated hating him so much, it showed that he still held some control over her.
    “You are dust and bones,” she said, bringing something new into the dream. “You have no power over me.”
    He smiled, a deadly, dangerous smile that sent a shaft of fear straight through her heart. “Oh, I have my little ways,” he said mildly. Stepping back, he gestured, andshe was suddenly encircled by a wall of swords.
    In the dream all the blades were made of iron, and they surrounded her in an