Page 140 of For the Love of the Gods

“Okay.” I wanted her back to. Fates knew I had a lot to fill her in on.

“I hope she enjoyed her little vacation,” Lukas said through a bitter laugh. “Tell her that when you see her.”

I balked. “You want me to play messenger between you and Daphne?”

“No.” Lukas scarped a hand over his jaw. “I want you to play messenger between Lord Poseidon and Lady Athena.”

Using honorifics was a paper thin attempt to reduce the relationship between them.

“I won’t tell her anything other than when to meet you,” I said, to which Lukas nodded in agreement.

And with that, Lukas turned and jogged back down to the bay, diving under and disappearing, leaving nothing but ripples behind. Dominic settled me with a swipe on the arm and I tried to relax.

Until tomorrow, when Daphne Athena would leave the shade of an olive tree for the blistering sun of the sea.

Again.

Curious what happened between Lukas and Daphne? Keep reading for a sneak peak of For the Gods' Sake.

≈

Tempt the Gods is a series of interconnected books, each following a different couple but a continued plot.

Want more of Rose and Dominic?

Read the bonus epilogues here

For the Gods' Sake releases October 13, 2023.

Pre-order on Amazon!

For the Gods' Sake - Chapter 1

Daphne

There is an art to hiding your divinity.

I'd learned that over the years. I'd figured out how to lessen the shock that rang through a human's body when they were confronted with the power of a god.

To let it gradually hit them instead. Or not at all.

It’s what I’d done the last year, simply removing the realization that I was a god from the minds of those I came across. Took work, but it was necessary.

But even without that, there were ways you could alter it, make it a little less imposing. More stealthy.

Rose thought she was being stealthy, she really did. But while she was making an effort to sneak up on me, carefully placing her steps so that I wouldn’t hear the click of her heels against the marble floor, I noticed her the second she walked in the building.

Rose didn’t know that you had to consciously hide your power. Set aside the way we were raised, all grace and power and perfection, and embrace humanity. It was in your steps, your tone, the way you looked at people. The little tendrils of black smoke that chased her around, like dogs of smoke finding their home in her as Death.

That change—and, okay, the fact that I was simply preventing anyone from realizing who I was—was how I was standing here, staring at one of the most beautiful sculptures I’d ever seen, waiting for Rose to appear to my…left, if the distinct smell of narcissus flowers collecting there was to be believed.

Rose’s graceful form stepped up to my left a moment later, her long limbs and flowing hair visible from the corner of my eye. I kept my gaze trained on the sculpture in front of me, telling myself the smooth curves of the snakes’ bodies weaving through the man’s arms were just simply too captivating. It was easier to stomach than the alternative.

She took a second, too. I could sense her eyes flitting over the marble, taking in the incredible definition in the muscles, the painstakingly immaculate details in the hair. Rose gave me a grand total of thirty seconds of blissful peace, pretending to be too entranced by the sculpture before she broke the silence with one word, “Daphne.”

“Rose,” I greeted, finally turning to look at her. The familiarity in her form struck some closed off part of my heart for a moment, almost strong enough to crash through the wall I’d built around my guilt and shame. Her hair was the same shade of rich, dark brown, styled in the same long waves, and she was donned in the same clothes I had seen her in countless times before. Simple black dress, gold jewelry, perfect makeup.

It was her, and yet it wasn’t. Because the Rose I knew always had the faintest glimmer of pain behind her green eyes, and she never wore more than three rings on her hands. But now, there was something akin to peace floating in her gaze, and she had an egregiously large ring on her left hand.

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