Page 124 of For the Love of the Gods

“So, the tattoos come from a power source. What a relief,” I said. This was just great. If another god was involved or the group had access to power-filled objects, this was an entirely different discussion.

Max nodded tightly, their blue eyes cold with worry. “Not a dead end, though.”

“Who’s talking?” I asked, leaning forward in my chair.

“You’re not going to like it,” Raiden said, rising to the door to go retrieve whoever it was.

“If it’s Odell I’m breaking his nose again,” I said to no one in particular.

“You broke his nose?” Rose said, looking at me under pinched brows.

I just shrugged and to my surprise, she laughed and held onto my hand a little tighter.

“Don’t be weird,” Raiden said from right outside the door, before ushering in a woman who looked like she was about to shit rainbows through the door.

She was dressed in a black and red Thanatos society t-shirt, a rare look given they normally wore ghoulish robes, and was bouncing up and down so excitedly her light red hair was shaking all around her. “Oh, wow. It’s really you guys. I love you both so much. Well, maybe I love Rose a little more, but Dominic you’re great, too. Wow, this is just such an honor. Everyone back at the society is going to be so jealous.”

Rose and I both blinked at her dumbly. The Thanatos society were over-excited fans the majority of the time, and now this girl was getting a glimpse of our palace and a free trip to the Underworld. It was probably the best day of her fucking life.

Rose smiled brightly at her, and I forced myself to give her a crooked half smile. The girl’s mouth dropped open.

“What’s your name?” Rose asked, far too sweet.

“Alyssa!” she practically screamed.

“Well, Alyssa, welcome to the Underworld,” Rose said, rising to shake her hand. I reluctantly did the same. After we both took our seats again, Raiden pushed her into the free chair around the coffee table as if that would do anything to subdue her fidgeting. When she couldn’t bounce with her whole body, she did with just her legs.

“Alyssa here has some information that you might find very helpful,” Raiden said, looking sideways at her. I had to restrain a grin. Raiden didn’t fidget because it was apparently a waste of energy.

“First off, I’m so sorry for what happened, that’s horrible!” Alyssa exclaimed, her eyes welling up with tears as she looked at Rose.

“I’m alright, but I appreciate your concern,” Rose returned sweetly. How had anyone ever doubted she was anything but kind?

“If I had known it was a real thing, I would have said something sooner,” Alyssa continued.

“What does that mean?” I asked as nicely as I could manage.

“There was this guy in the Thanatos Society—I hope he’s dead now, by the way—who would always go on and on about how much the gods suck and are out of touch.”

I couldn’t help the snort I let out.

Alyssa paled. “I didn’t mean—”

I waved a hand to cut her off. “We might be, given we don’t actually interact with the living that often, but the other gods are much better with people.”

Rose chuckled lightly under her breath. Alyssa regained some color then said, “I know that! I just saw Lady Aphrodite and Lord Apollo on the news at some charity gala at a museum. Not sure which one though, could have been Corinth or Naples for all I know.”

That checked out for them. Where beauty went, they followed. Or the other way around, really.

“Alyssa,” Rose said kindly, keeping her on track.

“Right! His name was Johnathan, and he was honestly the worst, but he would talk about how there were these people who thought the gods needed to change. It picked up after you guys got married and he kept saying that you guys needed to pay.”

I hoped he was dead in the dungeons.

“I didn’t think anything of it because he was literally the only person I’d ever heard talk about it. I mean not just in the Thanatos Society. Everyone loves the gods. If it was some weird, organized thing, I can’t imagine it’s that large.”

They were certainly large enough.

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