Page 122 of The Gods Forbid

Adrian believed me. I could see it in the way his back straightened. I was pretty sure my own command over truth had added credibility to the statement, making him believe me.

It wasn’t a lie. I was over it.

“Alright,” he said, smoothing a hand down the lapel of his suit. “I’ve decided not to kill you, and that includes after you instate heirs, which I assume you’ll be doing shortly?”

“By the honoring day, it will be done.” It was time, anyway. And by the time that stupid party rolled around, I’d only have two more weeks left of this sentence. It was the final piece of this.

“Well,” Adrian said, clapping his hands together with such force it sounded like thunder. “I’m content with that.” He turned to Lukas and Dominic. “You get everything you need?”

Dominic nodded his chin once, his lower lip pushing out in an impressed expression.

“My wife will be happy,” Lukas said, clearly planning on giving Daphne an incredibly detailed retelling of this incident.

“I think that settles it then,” Adrian said, his voice seemingly unable to resist falling into an authoritative tone.

Without further goodbye, the three of them stepped back through portals.

“I could kill you,” I said to Nikolas. He was clearly the one who’d organized this debacle.

“I saved your ass,” he shot back, his voice thick with laughter. “They were all under the impression you and Persy have had something going for a while. I was able to inform them that its nothing more than you slobbering after her like a dog.”

“Fuck off,” I snapped, though I had an awful desire to ask him if he was just fucking with me or if there was truth to that statement and Persy hadn’t shown him any reason to believe the feeling was mutual.

Nikolas laughed, the sound a twin to his brother’s. “The party will be fine, man. I’ll probably be there. I’m working on transitioning into events with substances.”

Nikolas hadn’t touched a single drink or drug since coming here, but that didn’t mean he was to abandon his social life. I nodded, clapping a hand down on his shoulder. “Your payment for this fucking debacle will be saving me from any conversation I don’t want to be in.”

Nikolas laughed again, shrugging off my hand. “Fine. I’m bringing Kostas though.”

“Please do,” I grumbled. “It’ll add to the list of people I like there.”

Nikolas ended up forcing me to make him a cup of coffee and burdened me with his presence for another hour or so, which I would never tell him was appreciated. He left moments before Persy returned, bringing the sun with her. Though she’d worked well after normal working hours, the sun was just falling, painting the sky a rich swath of color.

Though Persy’s eyes lingered outside as she walked in, appreciating the beauty, I wasn’t sure she fully realized how late the sun was setting. Especially in comparison to Prometheus’ norm.

“Hi,” she greeted with a smile that made my heart clench. “How was your day?”

I wasn’t about to tell her that her brother had interrogated me about her, so I kept it at, “It was good. I spoke to your brother and he wants me to throw a party for the Apollo honoring day. It’ll draw out any disgruntled members of my family, Ariana included.”

Persy didn’t blink, simply nodding her head. “I think that’s a good idea.” A slight smile grew on her lips. “You’re not excited, are you?”

“No.” Fuck, I hated how much she knew me. Only because nothing could ever come of it. “You want to come with me?”

Persy stiffened slightly, then her breath stilled in the way I knew meant she was about to speak quickly. Good, I tended to like when she did that. “I’d love to. I guess I’m technically invited to most of those events, but I never go. I like to be around people and they are always at places I’d love to go to, but it’s just that it can feel like so much when there are so many humans there. Especially when they think I can introduce them to Adrian, but I never understood why people thought that would work.”

I opened my mouth to change my mind and tell her no, that there was no way on Jupiter’s green earth I was letting her dive into a pit of snakes like that, but the words died in my throat.

She was still talking, but I had no idea what she was saying.

The dimple was back.

Fuck. Fuck.

There was no way I was going to say no to her. When her lips stopped moving, I simply said, “I’m going to ask Jason to plan it. All you have to do is show up.”

Persy’s smile widened, and I felt like I’d done something right. “What’s the attire?”

“Likely formal.” I hated suits, but I’d wear one for this. Actually, the thought of Persy in a formal dress made me want to politely break something. This party actually sounded like a wonderful idea.