Page 100 of The Gods Forbid

This time, I brought my elbow to the right height, but slightly wide. When Sebastian pushed my elbow in with soft pressure from his palm, I had to clench my abdomen to restrain a shiver.

I failed when Sebastian stepped closer once more, lighting a fire across my entire back. He bent down, and this time, I was sure his nose was nestling into the curtain of my hair.“Now, stop trying to let me win and shoot, love.”

I released my hand on a startled gasp, but of course, the arrow found the bullseye. I didn’t care, though, not when I was whirling on Sebastian. He thought he was so smart, didn’t he. “Game on,” I said, tilting my chin up competitively.

Sebastian matched me, coming an inch closer. “Best of five? Furthest target.”

I smiled, letting that be my answer. Five shots later, Sebastian won when one of mine slightly edged into the outer ring surrounding the bullseye. I made Sebastian run out and go check, and watching him jog back several hundred meters with an I got you look on his face made me laugh so hard, I didn’t even care that I’d just given him a favor without any restrictions.

I could only hope he didn’t use it against me.

Chapter 20

Persy

The fateful day had come.

Rose had bugged me about it for four months, and today is when I finally caved.

Things had felt a little too intense for a while after the visit to the Oracle and the … other events in that span of days.

I knew this would bring up grudges and snappy comments and I didn’t want this to follow something that raw.

But after multiple weekends of dodging Rose, it was time to bring Sebastian to Saturday brunch. Probably the most mundane thing any of the gods took part in. If humans knew that multiple gods gathered in the Underworld every Saturday to eat pancakes together, they probably wouldn’t believe it.

Despite their power, the gods still had a life to live. So, pancakes it was.

I’d sent an Iris letter to each person I knew was coming, politely asking them to keep the comments to a minimum and try to remember that Sebastian was once their friend.

The one I sent to my brother was a bit more strongly worded. The only thing he’d said in response was an Iris letter in return that read—Did you write this? Since when do you say fuckhead?

I did. Especially when I really, really needed my brother to restrain himself from being a protective fuckhead and give Sebastian a chance.

Sebastian would never admit it, but he was a little nervous. I heard him leave for the studio at five in the morning. I followed him out thirty minutes later, feeling similarly high strung, but snuck in the back door. I could kiss Quinn Hephaestus for helping me soundproof this room, his inventions forever saving lives.

I would tell Sebastian soon, especially since I could see his patience waning. It wasn’t that he wanted to invade my privacy. If he did, he had ample opportunity to do so over the past four months.

It was more that he was curious, wanting to know what was my saving grace, the way that painting was his. I almost wanted him to just barge in one day, especially so that I wouldn’t have to deal with the little trickle of fear of showing him, the god of so much art and beauty, what was behind that door.

It wasn’t misplaced doubt in my own abilities. No, I’d actually been more or less chastised by multiple people over the years for choosing a different path.

It was more that I … something that his power sustained had saved my life, giving me an outlet and a safety net and I wanted him to know that I honored that gift.

It wouldn’t be the worst thing to have him just watch when I didn’t know he was there.

I couldn’t dedicate any more thought to it, not when we had a massive hill to climb today.

I was sitting in my usual place on the countertop while Sebastian was taking far more care with a cup of coffee than I’d ever seen him use. For him, it was normally the quickest path to caffeine, he didn’t much care for the art of it. He’d actually started slowing down a bit, integrating some of the methods I used to make sure the coffee tasted as good as possible.

“Are you nervous?” I asked, right as he walked over to me with a cup of coffee in hand.

As I took it from him, placing it in between my legs and settling my thighs a little wider, he said, “Yes,” plainly.

“Why?” I asked, finding no trickle of surprise accompanying the question. I’d grown to expect honesty from him.

Sebastian’s head cocked slightly, settling his hands on either side of my thighs as he studied me. “We were friends,” he said, clearly referring to Adrian, Lukas, and Dominic, specifically. “But it was a friendship built on trying to strangle each other and pressing on sore spots.” That was how the three of them still were, but I let Sebastian keep speaking. “I do not want that dynamic to be confused with a problem on your end.”

It took me a second to fully process what he was saying. “You think if you start bickering with them it will make it look like I’ve just let you laze around in this house instead of helping?” I said, keeping my question light, something I’d learned opened the door for a more honest conversation with him. “You’ve helped plenty. The antidote, the list of high-ranking members, your uncle.” I could feel myself getting a bit worked up with defensiveness and protectiveness, but felt no desire to fight it.