Page 25 of Where A Goddess Belongs

Three days later, Den had had enough.

Kari avoided him. Jacoby had healed completely but was withdrawn and preoccupied. Only his mom seemed to be on the mend and in good spirits.

She’d been meeting with the scientist who’d cured her son of the same disease killing his mom. She already looked a hundred percent better.

He still had no idea what the lucani planned to do with them so that’s where he was headed now. To talk to the lucani king.

He’d walked down the stairs to the office Cole kept in the community center, which was also where he and Jacoby continued to stay. It wasn’t a prison but he knew if they’d wanted to go exploring, someone would’ve been on their asses immediately.

Knocking on the door, he wasn’t surprised when Cole’s personal guard, Dorian, opened it and waved him in.

The woman didn’t say a lot and she didn’t look at all threatening. But Den figured if she was guarding the king, she probably had a few tricks up her sleeve and he did not want to find out what those were.

“Den. Thanks for meeting with me. There are a few things we need to go over.”

Cole didn’t smile much, either, but Den didn’t think that was because the guy didn’t like him. He thought Cole was drowning in details. The guy obviously had a lot on his mind.

“No problem.” He took the seat Cole waved at, even though he felt like he needed to stand at attention. He had a pretty good idea Cole got saluted on a regular basis but Den wasn’t lucani. He was Etruscan, however, and those ties ran deep. They worshipped the same gods and shared the same magic in their blood. Den just wasn’t sure that was enough to earn him and Jacoby a place here.

“So.” Cole leaned back in his chair, tapping the pen in his hand against the desktop. “Guess we should start with the obvious question first. Do you want to stay?”

Den’s eyes widened as shock hit him. “I wasn’t sure that was going to be an option.”

“I wasn’t either. But I’ve talked to Kari and I talked to your mom. Your mom’s great, by the way. Glad to see she’s doing better.”

“Uh, thanks. I appreciate you letting Grace work with her.”

Cole’s lips twisted in a wry grin. “Yeah, I don’t let Grace do anything. Grace does whatever the hell she wants and tells me to go to hell if I even attempt to tell her no.”

Having met Grace Bellasario, Den understood Cole’s amusement. The woman was a force of nature.

“So,” Cole continued. “Are you planning to stay? Kari vouched for you but we’re not the Mal. We don’t conscript soldiers. If you want to stay, you pledge your loyalty and then you prove it. You don’t...” He shrugged. “There are consequences.”

Which Den figured included pain and death.

“I need to talk to Jacoby.”

“So you two are a package deal?”

He thought for a few seconds before he answered that question. Then he nodded. “Yeah, we are.”

Cole shrugged. “We can deal with that.”

Then he stood and Den did, too, taking the hand Cole held across the desk. “Let me know by the end of the week.”

Den nodded then headed for the door.

“Hey, Den?”

He turned, hand on the knob. “Yeah?”

“A little unsolicited advice?” Cole lifted an eyebrow and his grin now had a smart-ass curve to it. “When a goddess vouches for you, I’d make sure you properly thank her. They tend to get a little testy when they think you don’t appreciate them.”

He didn’t bother to answer Cole, but he figured that didn’t require a response.

What Cole didn’t know was that he’d been trying to properly thank his goddess for the past three days but she’d been avoiding him like he had the plague.

She’d been to see Jacoby several times but he was being a dick. There was something up with him, and Den had yet to figure out what.

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