Page 104 of For the Love of the Gods

And now, now there was too much evidence to support the second option—that there was more to the story. That I’d been wrong about her.

Seeing her fight Lukas drove the nail in the coffin.

I’d gone down to the training room to tell her that I was going to meet Adrian. I got to the door at the same moment that Lukas stumbled slightly over his steps and dropped his hands, leaving Rose a wide open opportunity to clock him in the face.

Instead of hitting him and relishing in the victory like I would have, she pulled back at the last second, giving Lukas the chance to grab her elbow and land her flat on her back.

And then I had to watch him hurt her again. The next time, Lukas put too much weight in his left leg, leaving him vulnerable and in less than a second, Rose softened a kick.

I knew she was well trained, but being able to recognize the opening, pull back, and make it look like a natural mistake was an entirely different level. The whole time they were sparring, she absolutely refused to hurt Lukas and was able to make it look like he was just on his game.

And then theknives. On the fifth throw that Rose landed in the dead center of the target’s chest, I left. I couldn't stand to watch anything else that gave color to Odell's statement about her father's training.

I walked down that hallway hearing nothing but the beat of my heart as it slammed against my chest and spurned guilt in its wake.

And in the past day, it hadn’t disappeared. I'd avoided her the rest of the night.

I needed to avoid her today too, because even though I knew the relief I felt when she sat on the couch in my office and read or did work or just existed in my space, I didn’t want to have to explain what today was.

I would just lock myself in my office and hope no one came to bother me or that she didn’t come looking for me.

It was a pipe dream, I got at least five knocks a day, and with my luck there would be one now.

But instead of a knock, there was Rose’s voice, muffled behind the wood.

“Don’t go in there,” she said to whoever was on the other side of the door. It sounded like she was whisper-yelling across the hallway.

“What?” Raiden responded, his voice clearer.

There were footsteps across the hall. Rose’s footsteps. “Today is the fifteenth.”

I dropped my head onto my folded hands.Holy Shit.

Raiden must have given her a confused look because she continued, “August 15th. Ring a bell?”

“Shit,” Raiden cursed.

“Just…give him the day. I’ll take whatever that is.”

My heart lurched into my throat. I was a fucking coward, because I was not moving from this chair. If I got into Rose’s space right now, I’d do something horrendous like tell her I loved her.

Most people just kind of dealt with me on the days where the grief got bad. Rose was giving me the space I needed. She was considerate and caring andnice. She was making sure I was given space on the worst day of my year.

She was someone who remembered the fucking date.

And I was the asshole who shoved what was a probably an isolated mistake down her throat every second I got.

Or maybe I was just looking for reasons to forgive her.

I fell back in my chair and stared at the ceiling and took the rest of the day to drown in my grief and my guilt. Missing my parents and beating myself up for lying to Rose and trapping her in marriage.

The Fates would come for me, for stealing her.

But she didn’t seem unhappy. I didn’t think Imadeher unhappy. And I sure as shit wasn’t going to start now. The rest of my life would be dedicated to repenting.

I barely noticed the sun setting, lost in thought. It was only when my stomach started punching against my abs in a call for hunger that I rose from my chair and went down to the kitchen.

I knew she was in there the second I stepped into the hallway, her sweet vanilla rose perfume giving her away. Not that she could hide from me.

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