Page 72 of The Gods Forbid

“It’s an incredibly powerful motivator.” I hadn’t expected much more from Andrew.

“Still,” Persy said, but didn’t finish her sentence, because Nikolas was approaching us, eyes on us like he caught us making out in a closet.

Not sure where that image came from, but it was rather hard to forget about once it materialized. Persy’s face would be all flushed, her forehead falling to my chest to cover her embarrassment at being caught, all while I reached up to cradle the back of her head, turning my shoulder to hide her.

Fuck.

Well, one way to kill that image was Nikolas bounding up to us. “You were gone all morning.”

“That a problem?” I bit out before I could restrain it. There was no denying it anymore. I was fucking jealous. It burned like hell, especially since I had no right to be.

Persy smiled at him. “And?”

Oh, so she could be cheeky when she wanted. Good to know.

Nikolas’s eyes swung to me and back to Persy. “No problem,” he said, raising his hands. “What were you all up to?”

“Wrapping up a loose end,” I said vaguely.

Nikolas nodded, his lower lip curling outwards, demonstrating how thoroughly impressed he was. Asshole. “Nice. Heard you’re with Penn in a few.”

I nodded slowly. It was true. “I am.”

“Good kid,” Nikolas said. Then he crossed his arms, looking me up and down with a smirk on his face. “Who knows, maybe I’ll swing by.”

“What a treat that would be,” I said, voice thin. Although, I hated him a little less knowing that he and Persy weren’t together. I was well aware that made me an asshole.

Didn’t stop me, though.

“Oh,” he said through a laugh. “Now I’m definitely coming.” That shit-stirring attitude was exactly the reason I appreciated his friendship when we were younger. There was a little trickle of familiarity that made me think that idea wasn’t the absolute worst thing I’d ever heard.

But I had more pressing matters, starting with why Persy was still visibly irritated. She was so steady, so calm, that when she tensed up it was hard to miss. To me, at least.

I paid Nikolas no mind, barely restraining the urge to flip him off, as I turned back to Persy. “We good?”

Persy blinked up at me, though this time she didn’t jerk back when she realized how close we were. “Yeah,” she said, more of a breath than anything. “Thank you for helping. I’m sorry that it involved your family like that. If I’d known, I would have…”

“Saved me from it?” I said, intending it to be a light-hearted jab.

“Yes,” Persy responded, deadly serious.

Fates almighty. The only way to deal with that was to ignore it. Not completely. Her dark expression would be haunting me for a long, long time. “Happy to give you something to report to Adrian.” It felt easier to convince myself that I was helping shut down the conspiracy because it helped Persy.

Better than accepting that I didn’t exactly hate any of what I was doing.

That just sounded awful.

Persy saw right through me. I could tell, just by looking into her eyes. I could often tell what someone was thinking just by looking at them, noticing their small expressions before they could clamp down on them. This felt different, more understanding than observation.

And I could tell that Persy was letting this slide. For now, as it always was with her. She smiled, and for a second I thought it was my shoulder that did it, but then I realized that she was looking over my shoulder.

I turned, finding Penn standing outside one of the outer buildings , waving over at us. “Hi!” he yelled, his voice carrying easily over the lush gardens.

Wait, that was where I told him I was meeting him. Was he twohours early?

Shit, I really needed to make sure I was nice to this kid. I waved back, just one raise of my hand. When I turned around, Persy looked like she was about to burst out of her skin.

That was an expression that would easily make me spiral into an obsession trying to replicate.