Page 69 of The Gods Forbid

Ah, so this was a test then. I’d probably score enough brownie points to finance a bakery with Adrian if I helped with this. It wasn’t even the barest lift on my part.

It was easy, and yet I had the urge to say no.

It was so ingrained in me, so much so that I’d likely have just said it without a second thought. Now, there was something stopping me. A slight hesitation where I paused to consider whether that was what I really wanted to say.

And, unfortunately, I didn’t care for the image of Persy having to report to her brother and say that I’d refused to help tell an uncle I’d never liked to fuck right off into the sunset.

Actually, now that sounded rather appealing.

I inhaled deeply, a bit of Persy’s sweet perfume assaulting me, and turned back to Rose and Dominic. Rose looked as curious as ever, but now Dominic was donning a fascinated look that made me want to punch him.

It was one of those oh, I see looks that made people look pedantic and annoying.

He didn’t know shit about being locked in a house with a little torture device in the form of a beautiful woman.

“Where is he?” I asked, rolling my shoulders back to get over the tightness building in my chest.

“Dragged him down to Purgatory,” Dominic said, smiling like it was a fond memory. Probably was, the fucking psychopath that he was.

It said nothing about my character that I also found that image worthy of a chuckle. Maybe even a laugh.

“I can deal with him,” I said. “Now, I assume? Since you barged in here.”

“We interrupting something?” Dominic asked, raising an eyebrow doubtfully.

I was halfway to telling him yes asshole when Persy responded, “I was hoping to have a few more hours here, but this is important.”

She wanted to spend more time in front of my art and with me?

Yeah, Dominic was fucking interrupting.

“Again, we’re thankful,” Rose said, gathering a portal behind her. “If you’ll come with us.”

Moments later, we stepped into some distant house in Purgatory—the Underworld’s only city, straddling both the land of the living and the dead. The house was well kept, but simple, mostly dilapidated grays save for my uncle sitting on the worn couch in a bright yellow suit.

He looked like he was attempting an impression of a flattened banana.

“Ah, see I knew you would come for me,” my uncle said when he saw me, standing and throwing his arms wide.

I stood in front of him, arms crossed over my chest and refusing to greet him. “You really thought I would come bail you out?”

My uncle’s face fell in confusion. “Is that not what you’re doing?”

I laughed incredulously, “Oh, no, no, no. Not to save you.”

“Go ahead and sit back down, Andrew,” Dominic said, his god voice on full display. My uncle wisely plopped back down. Shit, I hadn’t heard that in a while. It was chilling.

I’d chosen the right side. If he was in charge of my torture for the rest of eternity, that would have been … well, he would have certainly enjoyed it.

My uncle looked at me, brows drawn together. “You are with them?” He was really trying to audition for a leading role in a play with that level of drama.

I stepped forward, slightly to my left. Right in Persy’s line of sight. He didn’t need to look at her. “I am,” I said. I was only acting confident and reformed because I really didn’t want to have to work this asshole into my estate. Not one ounce of Apollo deserved to be in his hands. If I could convince him I was all goody goody now, maybe he’d fuck off into oblivion on his own.

Andrew’s eyes narrowed, like he was trying to figure out whether I was full of shit.

“You won’t find me pretending,” I said, snapping that line of thought clear off. “This whole thing is over. You’d do well to listen.”

Andrew slid a sneer in Dominic and Rose’s direction, unclear which one of them he was particularly disgusted with. Dominic lunged at him while Rose smiled cruelly, both reacting like they would kill him for disrespecting the other.