Page 56 of For the Love of the Gods

Dominic’s eyes went daring, and I almost took the bait. His self-restraint kicked in at the last second, though, and he left there standing in the middle of my room, thanking the Fates for the black fabric of my shirt.

†

I met Dominic downstairs at a quarter to twelve just to avoid any quips. He actually had a habit of rolling in at the last possible second, but apparently his punctuality only kicked in when it involved me.

No one was expected to show up in formal attire to Council meetings, so it mainly came down to personal style. I was in a comfortable dress, a staple in my closet. Dominic was in that same tight black long sleeve and pants that made his dark blonde hair and rich eyes stand out.

Let alone the peak of a tattoo on the underside of his collar. I’d seen the full tattoo, the few times I’d gotten a glimpse of him in an undershirt. It was a wide cypress tree over his left pectoral, with branches and leaves covering the entirety of his chest. And rather than feeling disgust, something goddamn normal in association with hate, all I wanted was to see more of it.

I shook off the image of Dominic and all the parts of his body I hadn’t seen yet, instead focusing on the one in front of me.

“Funny seeing you down here, Dominic. I figured you’d be hiding in my closet and watching me change,” I said as I descended the stairs into our entryway.

“If I wanted to see you naked, I have other ways of achieving that goal,” Dominic said, letting his eyes dart over my face and body casually.

“That is assuming I’d let you, you narcissistic toad.” Even though I had the sadistic urge to learn more about those methods.

Dominic chuckled darkly, then beckoned me closer to him with a flick of his hand. “You know, if you weren’t so fucking annoying, I’d consider you witty.”

I huffed a little before stepping closer, just barely catching Max’s amused expression as they leaned against the door frame.

Guess Raiden didn’t want another disappearing act like the beginning of the weekend.

“Like I care what you consider me,” I retorted, weakly. I’d normally have something much sharper on the tip of my tongue, but the spice and wood floating off of Dominic was dumbing me down.

“Alright, you two,” Max interrupted. “Out the door.”

In seconds, we stepped through a portal into the entryway of the throne room. The halls looked the exact same, they hadn’t changed for a millennium. But something about walking in with another person made it feel different.

The first time I walked in, I was alone, grieving, and numb. I wasn’t even sure who I talked to or what I said. Just splotches of memory, marred by the visceral anger radiating from Adrian and Dominic. It was a spark of lightning from Adrian’s fingers that almost snapped me out of it. In all the times I’d spied on my brother and his friends sparring, I’d never seen Adrian lose control, even when Dominic and Pine ganged up on him.

Only when he was restraining rage towards the goddess who killed one of his best friends did the iron fist he kept wrapped around his power loosen.

And Dominic, god Dominic looked so betrayed. Itwasthe ultimate betrayal. It was years after he’d lost his parents, but I knew it must have felt like a few days.

Brightest, most painful of all, was the late Lady Bacchus sayingI didn’t know you had it in you. And the reactions that followed—a few impressed laughs and snickers, some shocked whispers.

But not a single, outward show of surprise. I barely knew any of them, but somehow they all just accepted the fact that I was a cold-blooded killer without a word from my mouth. That, combined with the two people who knew Pine the best, knew who our father was, blaming me was enough to pull out a snarky, cruel side of myself I didn’t know existed before then.

I remembered the words and the looks every time I walked into this part of Adrian’s home. Even as the younger gods took over, displacing their predecessors, I remembered it.

It was only next to Dominic, who stole most of my focus, did the memory drift to the back of my mind.

Max ushered us through to the throne room, since updated into a large meeting table with grand, high-backed chairs from the original layout filled with oversized thrones.

The thrones were moved to a temple on the far end of Olympus, reserved only for the most sacred, important of meetings. Or when it was necessary to remind humans of the power of the gods that kept their world alive.

It was far away from this hall, however. Olympus, Adrian’s home as much as the gods, was a city in and of itself. Nestled in the Dolomites, it spanned an entire mountainside, serving as a grand display of the power of the skies.

Due to Adrian’s parentage and his power, it was also accessible from its namesake and original mountain in Greece. It never concerned us, however, seeing as we just popped right into the foyer before the throne room.

Dominic and I took a step towards the large oak doors at the same time, before colliding. Max jumped around us to signal to Adrian’s guards who we were and to gain access. While he did, Dominic placed a hand around my back and down to my hip, steadying me after our crash.

He leaned down to my ear, brushing my hair behind my back so that I would hear him clearly. “You go first.”

I turned my head towards him, our faces inches apart. “Really? I thought you’d trip me just to get in the room before me.”

Dominic gifted—burdened—me with his grin, his dimple appearing. “I considered it for a moment. But that’s too small a punishment for what you deserve.”

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