Page 102 of The Duplicity of Thieves

“Are you sure you want them to stay?” I ask warily.

“Another,” she shouts, ignoring me and raising a glass up above her. Hermes immediately obliges, pouring something unlabeled into it. She scoots up and drinks it, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. “Thank you, sir.”

“You’re welcome, madam.” Hermes bows, but he topples over her instead and they descend into another fit of laughter.

I love the sound of it. I might be angry, but there is no denying that she fits in. Minos lifts himself from the couch and approaches me.

“They’ve been like that all night.” He shakes his head. “I like her. Hermes adores her. She’s perfect for a jackass like you.”

Josie’s head pops up over the couch. “I smell food.”

I raise the bag, and she ambles over the couch. I catch her before she spills onto the floor. “Eat something, love. Soak up whatever concoction they’ve been feeding you.”

“I will eat, but I will not be sober. Neither will you.” She takes the bag from my hand and replaces it with a drink. I don’t even know where it came from.

I try to protest but Minos holds the cup up to my lips and tilts it, forcing me to swallow the entire thing. Josie tears into the food, heaping some of the rice and half of the chicken onto a plate and handing it to Hermes. I’m not the only one who needed her. She’s crazy, but she’s also loyal. The type of person that takes care of her own. I shouldn’t be surprised. She's been taking care of Vivian all these years.

“Stop brooding. Come eat,” she commands.

Minos declines a drink, handing it to me instead. He has silently volunteered to keep watch. He must know something is up. Between the promise of guards, Sam, and Minos, I feel like I can let myself go a little.

Josie shovels the food in her mouth just like she did at The Alibi that night several moons ago. When she’s finished, she declares that we are going to play a game. I watch as she and Hermes make up some nonsense rules and run around like children. The drunker we get, the less sense we make. By the end of the night, Hermes is face down on the floor, Minos is seated in the armchair, and I’m on the couch with Josie curled in my lap.

“Married, huh?” Minos asks.

“Married.” I look down at Josie, her chest rising and falling with each breath.

“Who would have thought?” He shoves a foot into Hermes, but he doesn’t react, just snores.

“Certainly not I.” Definitely not. It wasn’t even a dream of mine. “How did it go with her sister?” I venture to ask.

He gives me a wary look.

“I presume it did not go well?”

“She’ll be here.”

“Good.”

“But it did look like they were packing things in a hurry, as if they were moving.”

This is bad fucking news.

“She has no one,” I tell him in confidence.

“I gathered that.” He’s quiet for a moment. “I see why you’re obsessed with her.”

“What makes you say that?”

“She’s…” Minos trails off in thought. He has spent the entire day with Josie, and his opinion is about to be laid out on the table.

I keep my voice even. “She’s what?”

“She is someone to be feared. Meant to be a queen.” I relax a little. “Her scars match yours.” My body goes rigid. I got the tattoos before Minos and I met. Before I met anyone.

“You’ve noticed them?”

He snorts like a bull. “We’re brothers, Aedonaeus. We’ve noticed them. We just had enough sense not to say a word.”

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