Page 71 of The Gods Forbid

Persy clasped her hands in front of her body, turning to Rose and Dominic. “Are we done here?”

Dominic was busy sneering at my uncle—which I appreciated—leaving Rose to respond. “We are. I think Andrew understands what needs to be done or bye bye money, right?”

My uncle nodded, contempt all over his face. He could hate it, but it didn’t change.

“Great,” Persy said, her smile widening. There was something different about this one, though. A little more tense. “We will see you later.”

My eyebrows were on their way up when Persy stepped forward and grabbed my hand. I was too distracted by the fact that we were touching, really touching, for the first time to pay any mind to my surroundings until we stepped right through a portal into the main marketplace of Prometheus.

It was the lack of light that I noticed first, Prometheus already in the middle of a mild sunset even though it was mid-afternoon. At least it was a little later than it was last week.

When I recovered to the shift in my surroundings, I looked down to find Persy panting like she’d just gone for a run. “Am I missing something here?”

“Huh?” Oh, that sound was far too breathy for my comfort.

I bent down in search of her eyes. After a moment, she lifted her eyes to mine. “You have plans.”

I looked down at my watch. “In two hours.” I’d promised to meet Penn at three.

“Yeah, well, I was over it,” Persy said, snapping for the first time since I’d known her.

My confusion gave me the opportunity to pause and understand what she’d really said, stopping my instinct to bite when snapped at. “Was my uncle making you uncomfortable?” I gritted out, the words barely making it past my clenched jaw.

Persy rolled her shoulders back, crossing her arms over her chest. “No.”

“Don’t lie.”

“I’m not.”

I couldn’t help but smile. Not to mention the fact that my hand was still buzzing from where she’d held it. Once that door had been opened, my mind was running wild with opportunities.

None of which would ever be fulfilled. I’d sooner launch myself into the nearest dense forest from above than come onto her.

She was responsible for me. I wouldn’t make her job harder—or, fuck, more uncomfortable—by crossing that boundary.

There were certain thoughts that would be locked away forever. But she’d grabbed my hand. Maybe it was … alright, friendly even, to place my hands on her shoulders.

It was to prove a point after all. It was happening before I could stop it. I laid my hands on the curve of her shoulders, immediately assaulted by the soft texture of her skin, the heat of it. Luckily, my mouth had a habit of running even when my brain hadn’t commanded it to. “Persy, love, what just happened? We ran out of there with our tails on fire.”

Not that I wasn’t eager to get her away from my uncle, but…

Persy was eerily still, save for her mouth turning down in a frown. At even the barest chance that was about the fact I’d touched her, I released my hands from her shoulders, dropping back down between us.

Persy turned her frown down to follow them, the curve deepening for a second, before she looked back up. “I didn’t like the way he was speaking to you. He’s your family.”

I smiled ruefully. “You’ll learn to expect that with mine.”

“Were your…” Persy started again. “Were your parents like him?”

A sigh fell from my chest, deep and heavy. “Do you want the honest answer?”

“Always,” Persy said softly, yet she looked like she might have been lying.

“Worse.” My parents were cruel, there was no way around it. I had promised myself that I’d never end up like them, drawing the line at the physical violence that they doled out so easily.

Then a crossbow got involved and I hated myself more than any other moment in my life.

Persy’s face fell. “This isn’t pity, I swear. I’m just sad that your uncle would fold like that over money.”