Page 20 of The Gods Forbid

She sighed, blinking rapidly and hiding those gray eyes from me. “I’m going to anyway.”

And with a speed I had to respect, she ducked under my arm and left me alone to confront her graciousness and deal with the fact that I’d be living under the same fucking roof as her.

Chapter 7

Persy

Maybe I made a mistake.

I figured having Sebastian staying with me wouldn’t be a problem at all. It was logical and protected the other residents at Prometheus and was generally the right thing to do.

I’d run it by Nikolas, who expressed mild disagreement and a whole lot of concern, but agreed with me.

I didn’t say anything to Adrian, which was probably the first sign that I had made a mistake.

Because this didn’t feel right. I left Sebastian in the shed as quickly as I could, fleeing back to my office in the heart of Prometheus. Normally when I felt like this, I would go to the shed I’d left him in, but that clearly wasn’t an option.

Instead, I had to pace around my room and confront the fact that I had probably made a massive mistake. There were a lot of things in my life that I chose to make me feel more settled, to keep my nerves low and my mind sharp, my home being one of them.

And in a matter of minutes, Sebastian had turned that upside down. I didn’t know how I was possibly going to sleep with him one wall away, close enough to hear him moving around his room if I tried hard enough.

I’d felt fine around him for weeks, and now my body decided to develop a very noticeable fear of him, enough that my entire system felt affected.

As if in answer, a little spark flew from my hand, singeing the top of one of the pillows on my couch. This was probably payment for all the teasing I’d thrown at Adrian over the years for his lack of control.

A sharp crack of a portal startled me and I whipped around, almost losing my balance.

“Woah, there,” Emre said, his voice as confident as his posture. “All good?”

I nodded, doing my best to fake at least some level of composure. I was never that good at hiding my emotions and Emre was as perceptive as they came.

“What is it?” he asked, catching on.

Luckily, the organized mess on my desk provided an out instead of answering honestly—which was a problem in and of itself because I never lied. I waved my hand over the scattered papers and files. “Work. Sometimes it adds up, you know.”

Emre paused for a moment and I silently begged every Jupiter and Zeus in existence to let him believe me. I was already doubting my decision enough, I didn’t need him or Fates forbid my brother freaking out about it before I’d had time to decide it was a good idea.

“Well,” Emre said, and I let out a heavy breath. He wasn’t going to push it. “I wanted to check in. I know its Sebastian’s first day out.”

I smiled at the genuine care in his tone. I was grateful, really, that I had people like that around me. It was just difficult when those who cared about you didn’t always understand you and your decisions. “He’s fine. Antidote work starts tomorrow. Same with therapy. After about a week of that I’m going to start in on the loose ends from the conspiracy.”

Emre nodded along as I spoke, which made me feel an inch more confident. I knew what I was doing. I was good at this. Something about Sebastian just … unsettled me.

“Sounds like you have it handled.” Emre made a face at the mess on my desk. “Are you sure you can handle everything else?”

I straightened my spine on instinct. I knew it was a product of my own anxieties, but my first instinct was to feel caught red-handed. I asked Nikolas not to say anything about the incident in the cell yesterday until I could talk about it with Sebastian.

But Emre was still looking at my desk. Okay, that was what he was referring to. There was a system to the chaos, he just couldn’t see it. “Yes. Nikolas is taking on more responsibility, too.” And even though Emre was likely checking in as a friend, I added, “You can tell my brother I’m fine.”

Emre laughed, running his hand over his close-cropped hair. “Noted. He’ll want to get involved at some stage of the conspiracy talk, you know that right?”

“I do.” How I was going to get Sebastian and Adrian in the same room and acting civil towards one another was a problem for another day. There were other people I wanted him to reintegrate with before tackling that one. “You can also tell him I don’t appreciate him sending you on an errand. He can talk to me himself.”

Emre laughed, rich and deep. A little flicker of pride shot through my chest. He was so confident, so good with people, and the fact that I could make him laugh made me feel like I was doing something right. “It’s part of my job to check on everything, including you. Reyna was actually the one who asked me to check on you.”

Reyna was kinder than most, and she’d already asked if I needed any help. I had a plan for her to help, but that would come later. “Tell her I say thank you,” I said, with a genuine smile.

Emre nodded, taking another look around my office. “Looks like you have it under control.” I laughed, catching onto his sarcasm. “Which, by the way, reminds me. Where did you end up putting Sebastian? I assume he’s not living in a cell.”