Page 82 of Muzzled

“Third,” Bo corrected, snatching his towel away and whipping it across the back of his thighs. “Maybe fourth. Dio deserves to know before you, since he was actually useful in bringing her back. Unlike your rabid ass. I’m second, because it was me who called in an old gambling debt to get Dio to agree to even do this. Atropos deserves third place for being the kick-ass Fate she is. Then you and Alex.”

His own thread took root early that morning, a discovery he made when he awoke buck-naked and curled at the foot of Micah’s bed.

Micah, however, continued to sleep for hours on end, waking long enough to eat, walk the length of her room, and fall asleep in a new place without a word.

She was currently curled up on a chaise in the other room, and the inability to keep an eye on her progress chafed him while he scrubbed the week-old dried blood from his skin.

“When are you two heading topside again?” he asked, kneeling at Micah’s side and checking her pulse.

Again.

Bo shrugged and dropped onto the unoccupied bed, fluffing the pillows behind his head. “When we know shit here has settled and you aren’t going to go berserk again.” He grinned and rolled onto his side. “Sage is going to be so fucking revved by the time I get back, I’m taking an extra week off work just to get her caught up.”

Alex scoffed and helped him hang the pile of towels littered around the room. “Hades wants a sit-down negotiation with the three of us once Micah’s up and mobile.”

Hades and Persephone had been conspicuously absent from their wing since Dio had brought Micah back to her room four days earlier, a barking hellhound tight on his heels. Alex and Bo kept the couple updated, but neither his boss nor his mistress had made any move to force a confrontation with him while Micah remained in her weakened stasis.

He wasn’t sure he was ready to face them.

Taking up residence on the floor beside her, he linked his fingers with hers. “Any idea what he’s negotiating for?”

Wrinkling his nose, Alex collapsed into a chaise across the room. “With my luck? A wedding so Seph can play dress-up since she missed the last one.”

Both he and Alex looked at Bo, who merely rolled onto his back with a smile and flipped them off.

*

Micah pushed herselfup onto her elbows and blinked to focus her eyes, smirking when she caught sight of Ryan standing in front of an ornately carved armoire, dressed in a white tunic tied at the hips by a rope. “Nice legs.”

The neatly folded fabric in his hands was tossed aside as he bolted to her bed and bent over her, his brows furrowed while he checked her pulse. “How do you feel? Still dizzy? Any weakness?” He pressed his wrist to her forehead. “I don’t know how warm you should be.”

Grabbing his hand, she lowered it from her head. “I feel hungry. And kind of gross.”

He arched his neck toward the doorway. “Bo? You still there?”

“Where the fuck else would I be? Kentucky?” came the response and she grinned.

Ryan didn’t appear to find it as amusing. “I need Dio in here now,” he growled. “And after that, make yourself useful and raid the banquet hall.”

Bo glanced into the room, his long hair pulled back in a ponytail. “Heeeyyyyy!” he greeted her. “Welcome back to reality, fucked up as it is down here.”

As he jogged off, yelling for Alex and Dio, Ryan crouched beside her. “Once Dio checks you over, we’ll get you fed, okay?”

Scrunching her nose as she ran her hand through her hair, she shook her head. “No deal. I’m showering.”

“That’s a plumbing advancement Hades hasn’t approved down here,” he replied, his thumb drawing circles on the back of her hand. “The bath water is fresh, though. Once Dio approv—”

She swung her legs over the edge of the bed, stood, then dropped back down with a thud.

“I’ll help you once Dio makes sure everything checks out,” he reassured her, the concern on his face inspiring little confidence.

Glaring at the marble pool across the room, she stood again and made it eight steps before his arms were the only thing keeping her upright. “What’s going on?”

The door swung open, clattering off of the marble walls as Dionysus strode in with a smile. Persephone slipped in before the door closed again. “Testing out the new lifeline, I see,” he announced, grabbing a chair and sliding it across the floor for her. “No sense in pushing it, girl. You have centuries to walk, so enjoy the break while you can.”

Ryan squeezed her hand as Dio knelt in front of her, pointedly ignoring the goddess smoothing her skirts in the corner. “Well?”

“Just walked in, boy,” the god muttered, squinting while he checked out her eyes and poked her cheek. “I guess she’s alive. What more do you want me to confirm?” He sat back on his heels and crossed his arms. “Yes, you are definitely alive.”

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