Page 30 of For the Love of the Gods

“Um, why?”

Dominic barked out a laugh. Not too loud, though, and carrying an easy lilt of humor. “It would be good to show a united front. And we could see for ourselves if the information in those registrations reflect reality.”

I nodded a little uneasily. I avoided Purgatory as much as I could. Every time I was there, it felt like walking along the mouth of a volcano while it was steaming and rumbling with lava that would erupt right into your face.

“Unless you have a reason against it,” Dominic said, catching onto my hesitation.

“No, I think that’s a good plan,” I said quickly. I would rather shove down my nerves than give Dominic more reason to believe I was spinning a web of lies.

I was still thinking about what Lukas had asked me. I could tell Dominic what really happened, but I didn’t think he deserved that truth. He had been so quick to believe that I was capable of that, even though we’d barely known each other.

More than that, he had been one of the biggest enablers of my sordid reputation. When Lord Death himself thinks you’ve done something inexcusable, people tended to follow. With the Upperworld’s love of drama and infatuation with the politics of the gods, I’d become the goddess everyone loved to hate.

But I could set aside the pit of fear in my stomach for a moment. If shit went wrong with the merging of our houses, it would be pinned on me. Explaining it was the Fates’ idea would come far too late.

“Let’s go now?” I asked Dominic, stepping around my desk.

Dominic nodded then moved aside, gesturing for me to walk past him. “After you, sweetheart.”

I looked up at him, having to tilt my head back more than I was used to. “You’re hilarious.”

Dominic smirked. “Glad you’re finally figuring that out.”

“Walk?” I asked Dominic as we went down the main staircase, the ghost of his hand at the small of my back. It was a short walk, maybe ten minutes to the edge of the marketplace, but we had the ability to get there in a second, stepping through a hole in space.

Dominic nodded, opening up the grand door for me. It seemed it would just be the two of us. No one to cut the tension.

It was the height of June, the weather artificially warm to match the climate of the Upperworld. But having been raised in the Underworld, the dim sun felt as strong as the warm caress of the real one.

I tipped my face up on instinct as we began walking, letting my eyes close for a second.

When I opened up my eyes, Dominic was looking at me weird.

“Yes?” I asked, feeling itchy under his scrutiny.

“Nothing,” he said quickly. A little too quickly.

I let it go. Acknowledging that he was looking at me with something other than disdain would force me to admit to doing the same and that would be…unwise.

We walked in silence to the gates. On our side, the gates were thin, black wires, sparsely decorated with skeletons and bones. A big, screaming warning not to step through them unless you wanted to die.

Because Purgatory was not fully dead nor alive.

The silence seemed comfortable for Dominic, a man of few words or whatever, but I was about to burst out of my skin. I enjoyed silence, but not when I felt it was awkward. And this—us—was awkward.

I forced myself to keep a lid on it though, all the way through the gates, where two guards nearly tripped over themselves at the sight of us. We made it to the main marketplace soon after. When we did, Dominic broke the silence. “What did Lukas want?”

“What?” I asked passively, too busy smiling at a young girl who looked terrified.

“You said you had totalk,” Dominic gritted out.

Oh. Right. “He needed to work off some stress,” I said truthfully. Lukas might say something to him and I didn’t want to be caught in a lie. “And I’m the best person to do it.”

“Excuse me?” Dominic looked like his eyes were going to burst out of his head.

I tried to swallow my laugh. He obviously thought that meant Lukas and I were sleeping together. I wanted to let him sit in his horror for a little before calming whatever boiling emotion caused him to react that way, but before I could, we were interrupted by a gasp so loud it sounded like a scream.

“My goodness!” A shrill voice of an older woman pulled Dominic and I apart from where we were standing chest to chest. The woman rushed up to us from the door of her store. She was middle aged and wearing an apron that had to be as old as she was. A very familiar apron.

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