Page 109 of For the Love of the Gods

I shook my head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“How often does this happen?” Dominic asked. Daring me to tell him it had happened more than once.

“This is the first time it's ever escalated.”

Dominic looked at me like his patience was about to break in half. “Now is not the time to be vague, Rose. Details.”

I ran my tongue over my teeth to calm my anger, then, “This is the first time it's ever come to physical harm. But basically my entire staff quit when I first took the throne. I haven’t been able to hire that many people since. A good chunk of your staff quit after we got married. And yes, I get amurdererorbitchon a couple street corners.”

Dominic dipped his chin down once, as if that was all the movement his body would allow if he didn't want to snap. “Are. You.Kidding. Me.”

“No, I don’t think jokes are appropriate right now.” Oh, yep, sarcasm was not wise. Dominic was mentally wringing my neck.

“This is too fucking far. Lucan—and Mary—need to know you are off fucking limits.”

My skin started to tingle. I couldn’t let him do that. “They will just use that to hate me even more.”

“You need to get over your fear of pissing anyone off,” Dominic said in response. It was half true. I did fear pissing people off. But the missing word wasmore. Pissing people offmore.

“Are you kidding?” I threw his words back at him, instead of copping to the real answer.

The real answer was too revealing.

Because sometimes, admitting that you want something and having it be so far out of your reach is embarrassing. The humiliation, the shame of other people knowing you want something and have them watch as it escapes you.

I wanted love. Friendly love I had. But I wanted the love of an acquaintance. Someone who meets you and is willing to learn you because they’ve heard nothing but good things.

I wanted romantic love too, but that wish was even more terrifying to acknowledge. The consequences more damning.

“It’s true, Rose,” Dominic said, doubling down. It’s not like he spared an insult before anyway. “Who cares if someone is reminded that they can’t fuck with a god.”

“Are you saying I caused this?” I asked, my own voice turning tight at my disbelief.

“No!” Dominic said quickly, reaching for me. I moved away at the last second and his defeated hand fell onto his knee. “I’m saying that people have gotten really fucking mad since Adrian was born and I’m fucking terrified they are going to turn on you. In a way you won’t come back from.”

Oh.

I knew what I hoped that meant. But he could just as well mean the health of our realm. So I moved forward. “Well violence isn’t the answer. You can’t—”

“If you are going to sayfight fire with fireI’m going to throttle you,” Dominic said, cutting me off. “You’ve been dousing the situation with little useless water droplets. I’m just suggesting we get a fucking bucket this time.”

“I don’t think I can get behind this,” I said honestly. Erasing memories just made it so much cleaner. The threat of violence made me uncomfortable.

“That’s something for you to work through,” Dominic returned. “But I won’t stand by and let you risk your own safety because of a reputation.”

“Stop treating it like it's something trivial!” I snapped. It wasn’t, not when it was still affecting me. “Thereputationwas clearly bad enough for people to try to hurt me!”

“I know this isn’t fucking trivial!” Dominic yelled, his eyes dark with a crazed sort of fury. “You are not fucking trivial. You are not replaceable.”

You are not replaceable.

The words rang through my head and my chest. An evil little seed of doubt tried to attribute that to me needing to be physically alive to support the Underworld. But the way Dominic was gripping my leg like it was the only thing attaching him to this plane of existence made me think otherwise.

“Now please tell me this is everything,” Dominic begged, speaking into the space somewhere between Marcus and I, completely unfocused other than the tight grip on my thigh.

“Um, Odell has been badgering Raiden for an audience with Rose,” Marcus said. I knew he was trying to be helpful but it did not work.

Dominic was up and out of his chair so fast, it almost fell over. He steadied before the legs could kick up in my direction.

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