Page 40 of For the Love of the Gods

“What the hell?” Thea’s concerned voice rose behind me.

My vision was slightly blurry from shock and residual pain, but I blinked a few times and caught myself in the mirror. My breath got caught in my throat and my eyes burned.

My body was covered in an ugly, red rash from my shoulders down to my stomach. Thea’s hand hovered over my shoulder, hesitant to touch me.

“What happened?” Thea asked, urgently.

I blinked back tears. “Probably a bad reaction to the dye.”

“I use that dye all the time.”

“Weird.” I knew what this was. It was fine.

“Rose…”

“Let’s just try another dress,” I said, trying to move past the pain and prevent tears from falling. “You can tell Max and Marcus what happened and they will figure it out.”

Thea wasn’t happy with that. “But this has only been in my room and yours. That means someone broke into one of them.”

I knew I should be scared, but I knew this was coming. Yes, everyone’s hatred of me had been fairly contained, limited to rude quips and distasteful looks. But tarnishing their blameless, perfect god through marriage might have been the motivation they needed to finally do something with their hatred.

Hell, for all I knew it was Dominic, finally deciding to punish me for what I’d done to his best friend.

“We don’t know that,” I told Thea, my voice regaining some of its strength. “I will tell Max and Marcus. I’m sure Dominic has cameras to check.”

“Okay,” Thea said, resigned. She always disagreed with how easily I dismissed the hatred. Maybe she was right, maybe I should have put my foot down years ago. But I knew that any retaliation would only dig my grave deeper, wider. Easier to push me in and bury me under my sins.

I grabbed Thea’s hand, squeezing once in silent confirmation that I was okay. Even though my chest and stomach was burning like a bitch. “Besides, now I get to break out that black dress you are always begging me to wear.”

The doubt didn't leave Thea’s eyes, but it softened. I was still frustrated, and she thankfully let the subject go.

“I’ll take it down to Max and Raiden after you leave.” Thea went into my closet and returned a minute later carrying the black dress in question.

It was long-sleeved and form fitting, the fabric starting at my collarbones and flowing down to gather in a rich midnight pool on the floor. It was gorgeous from the front, but my favorite part was the back. It was completely backless, the hem trailing the line from the edge of my shoulder down to my lower back.

It would hide the burns but still show some skin, and it really was a dress I loved. After applying a soothing balm to the burns, Thea helped me into it and nothing scorched my skin this time. She stayed as I finished my makeup and threaded my earrings through my ears. The last touch was a necklace that looked like a simple chain pressed to the base of my neck, but fell over my shoulders and connected in the middle of my back.

“Beautiful,” Thea said as I took in the finished product in the mirror. I felt good, despite the nerves from earlier. It was skilled repression, to not let the reminder of my crimes get to me. But I needed to put on a brave face tonight.

I felt even better after Thea almost threw a shoe at my head when we couldn’t agree on which pair of heels to wear, finally settling on a pair of strappy black ones that tied up my leg. And after she refused to let me apologize for not wearing the dress she’d made and crushed me into a hug.

Dressed with a few minutes to spare, she ushered me out of the room and split off in search of Marcus and Max with the dress in hand after a quick hug.

I continued down the steps by myself, finding Dominic and Raiden waiting at the bottom of the stairs. Dominic’s eyes went black as he swept them over my body, dragging a path of heat through every point they touched.

“You look…” Dominic trailed off, seemingly trying to find a synonym for not horrible.

“I think great might be the word you are looking for.”

“Great. You look great,” Dominic finally got out, taking a step towards me.

“I do hope you didn’t just say that so I would tell you that you look great too,” I said as I traced my eyes over Dominic’s black suit and up to his pushed back hair.

He never wore suits. His normal t-shirt was traded in for a crisp white button down that deepened his skin a shade and made him look even more handsome. His suit was tailored perfectly, straining just enough over his arms and thick thighs to define them.

“You think I am that calculated?” Dominic asked, fingers flexing over his thigh.

“Depends on the day,” I shrugged, and then, “You do look good, though.”

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