Page 80 of The New Gods

The worry slid from Pollux’s face, but the lines around his eyes were tight. Wiping my fingers on my napkin, I gave him a small smile. “Hector cares about you. He could tell something happened between you and me. He just wanted me to know you’re important to him. That’s all.”

My explanation did the opposite of what I hoped. Frowning deeply, he pulled his chair closer to the table. “Why would he need to tell you that?”

“He doesn’t know me.” This wasn’t me putting myself down. Nor was it setting myself up to be a martyr, or drive any kind of wedge between the two friends. But I wasn’t going to lie to Pollux, not after what happened this morning. “Pollux.” I grasped his hand, turning it to sandwich between my palms. “Think about what I did yesterday. He’s right to put me on blast. I don’t like it, but I would like a friend like that.”

“You’ll have me.”

Sucking in a breath, I shot back in my chair. “What?”

He reached for me, like I had done to him. “I’ll be that for you. The person who has your back.” A small smile tugged the corner of his mouth. “You may not believe this, but I’ve had it since that first day in your class.”

I did believe it.

But he didn’t know what he was offering. No one was my backup. No one. I wanted to argue with him about it being too soon for him to feel anything for me—I mean—I didn’t know what I meant.

“That’s…”What?Amazing? Too soon? Overwhelming? Undeserved?

He touched the pad of his index finger to my forehead. “I can read your face like a book.” He dragged his finger from my forehead, over to my temple, and across my cheek. “I know myself well enough to know this is how I feel. You don’t have to feel the same.” He grinned, both edges of his lips lifting. He’d shaved while I’d worked, and deep lines bracketed his mouth. It was a pure smile, hiding nothing. “Yet.”

“I do.” Flipping our hands, I gripped his back. “I’m not good at this, though. People don’t stay with me, once they get to know me. So if you change your mind…”

“For a brilliant woman, Dr. Leonora Ophidia, you can be pretty dumb. I know my own mind. Trust me.”

There it was again. Trust.

What he was asking me to do was way scarier than traveling across the world by myself. It was scarier than ordering around a group of people years older than me, who spoke a different language. It was even scarier than facing down Diana Regan.

But like all those scary things, I knew there would be a payoff. And maybe it would be better than anything I’d ever had before.

Nodding, I watched his smile grow and grow until the corners of his eyes crinkled. “Yeah?”

I nodded again. “Yeah. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

And he did the most beautiful thing. He laughed. Head back, Adam’s apple jumping, full-bellied laughed.

“Finish your toast. You need to eat, and you’re too pale. When you’re done. We’ll go for a walk on the moors.”

Gracelessly, I nodded and shoved the last piece of toast in my mouth. Swallowing hard, I nearly choked on the bread. Pollux shoved a cup of tea in front of me, and I took a huge sip. “I’m ready.”

Achilles

If anyone said I was sneaking when I quietly climbed the stairs to Hector’s office, I would punch them in the face. Truth be told, though, I was being extra quiet. I wanted a minute with the seal, and I didn’t want any of my friends to know about it.

The front door had opened and closed, and as I’d passed by the living room, I caught Orestes staring out the window looking like a kicked puppy.

“Don’t look so sad,” I called on my way upstairs. “Maybe she’ll do you both.” I chuckled, but the thought of Leo, looking as flushed and lip-swollen as when we’d come upon her and Pollux in the living room made my dick swell.

Paris was in his room on the second floor, emo-ing out, brooding, and doing his best Lord Byron impression. He was probably writing poetry. Odes to Leo. Unrequited love. Not that he’d admit it. I’d have to annoy him into action, because no one was more in denial than that mother fucker. Except maybe his brother. Hector was in the basement, claiming there was a leak he was shoring up, but he was probably bending steel bars to get out his aggression.

Little Dr. Ophidia had everyone tied in knots.

“What have you done, Dr. Ophidia?” I whispered as I studied the tools on her desk.

She’d made a lot of progress, but it still wasn’t evident just how much of the seal was hidden by this piece of stone. I laughed low. All this time, it was only a few hours away. For thousands of years, here it had been.

We should have been searching for the seal the whole time we were here, instead, what have we done? Nothing.

And what did we have for a future? If we didn’t drop this into the ocean, then the answer was also nothing.

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