Page 23 of The Gods Forbid

Sebastian’s hand came up to grab his chest where I’d jabbed him, giving me a dramatically hurt expression. “You would do well to treat me like your other patients. Put me in the apartments with them.”

“For one,” I began, my voice raising to an uncomfortable level. The level Adrian had used when he barged in here. “You are not a resident. You—”

“A prisoner, then.”

“Not that either.” Sebastian’s raised eyebrow had the same effect on me of someone telling me to calm down when I was already perfectly calm in first place. “You are my responsibility. You don’t see me jumping around for joy because unlike some people—” I shot my brother a look over my shoulder “—I can understand that this is the best option for everyone involved.”

“Well, maybe if you were a bit more creative you could have come up with something that didn’t risk Adrian’s head exploding,” Sebastian returned, crossing his arms over his chest.

Adrian made some sort of odd sound, maybe like it was a laugh that he caught and smothered at the last second.

I took a step towards Sebastian, my head tilting back easily. I was getting used to that. “Are you attempting to insult me?”

Sebastian took a matching step towards me, the color in his eyes brightening. “Yes.”

His answer, so blunt and honest, gave me the strongest urge to lunge at him. I wasn’t prone to physical violence in the slightest, but the way he made me so … rattled was doing something to me. It kicked off an instinct I didn’t even know I had.

It took several seconds and two deep breaths to clear my anger enough to speak without the words scraping over my vocal chords. “Would you please give my brother and I a second alone?”

Sebastian’s eyebrow raised and my eyes widened, silently begging him not to respond the way I knew he wanted to—by telling me to stop saying please and thank you around him. I didn’t know if it was a small bit of grace or if he was just tired, but I could see him choose not to shoot back with that. “Fine. Keep it short, would you? I didn’t cook just for it to get cold because Adrian likes to hear himself speak.”

Thank the Fates I was faced away from Adrian, because a laugh was on its way out of my throat before I curled my lips in to catch it. It only gave way for another evil, though, because Sebastian’s eyes went off like fireworks, bursting with bright color, when he saw it.

I wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or not that we were communicating through expression only. I had no time to dedicate to sorting that out, though. Not with my brother seething like a bull behind me.

Sebastian nodded once at Adrian, not even attempting to hide his grin as he walked out of the kitchen and onto the back porch. I watched in silence as he took the chair on the left, the one that had previously only been there for symmetry.

I turned to face Adrian, my core twisting tighter than normal at the move.

“No yelling,” I said, before he could kick off again.

“I’m not trying to yell at you, Persy,” Adrian said, sounding tired and defeated. Guilt started to build again. He had just gotten married, he should be happier than he’d ever been. But there was still so much stress and anguish.

I straightened my back, choosing my words carefully to make sure my explanation was clear. “I only have five more months. If any of this is going to work, I need him to trust me. To be at least somewhat comfortable around me. Let alone the fact that leaving him to his own devices opens up the door for him to get his plan up and running again.”

Adrian ran both his hands down his face, and for a second, he looked like we did as teens, exacerbated by his younger sister. “I trust you, I do. But I won’t apologize for being worried.”

I shook my head quickly. “I don’t expect you to. I appreciate that you’re worried. I’d really like to be able to talk to you about this, but I won’t if it will add to your stress. You’ve had enough of it.”

Adrian let out a quick breath of laughter. “My fear and stress is my problem. I want you to talk to me.”

This time, it was my turn to laugh. “And force Reyna to listen to you about it, I assume?”

Adrian smiled, like he could do nothing but when she was brought up. “Oh, don’t worry, she already tried to physically stop me from coming here.”

“Yeah, and how’d she do that?” I asked through a smile.

Adrian crossed his arms over his chest. “You don’t want to know.”

I snapped my eyes shut. I was happy for him and Reyna but I did not need to know about any of the inner workings of their relationship. “Please stop talking.”

Adrian laughed, fuller this time. The lights in the house stopped pulsing, which meant he’d gotten a handle on his fear and anger. “Can I at least request a daily I’m alive Iris letter or something? I don’t trust him not to pull something.”

“Oh, he wouldn’t. He already had the chance to and he didn’t—” My words broke off when Adrian’s eyes went so wide I was convinced they were on their way out of his head.

“That’s it. He’s—”

“Before you decide to take my head off, would you allow me the grace to speak for a second?” I turned to find Sebastian leaning against the frame of the door leading outside, arms crossed and stance lazy.