Page 73 of For the Love of the Gods

Dominic grunted a curse. “Do we know who they were?”

Raiden nodded slowly, twisting his watch around his wrist. Belen had gotten him that watch and he tended to touch it when he needed to ground himself. “His name is Vincent. Max got a pretty good shot to the face so he was mumbling but said something about his cousin.”

I furrowed my brows together. “Who is his cousin?”

“I don’t know, some kid,” Raiden said, lifting a shoulder. “Apparently tried to pull an Orpheus and didn’t succeed.”

“Shocker,” Marcus said through a chuckle.

I had no such predilection for humor. It was the kid, that young man’s cousin, andIhad been the one to prevent his escape. Which meant I was officially the one responsible for the injury to our guards and the stressful night that was visibly plaguing my friends.

I opened my mouth in shock, unsure what was even going to come out, but Marcus beat me to speak. “The only person to blame is the idiot who thought to try something no one has ever accomplished.”

I dropped my head and shook it, my hair hiding my face. “Marcus…”

He cut me off, the confidence strong in his voice, offering the same advice he’d told me year after year. “Definition of insanity, Rose.”

There was a splintered groan from behind me as Dominic gripped the back of my chair hard enough to warp the wood. He clearly didn’t like to be left out of any conversation.

Marcus continued, speaking to the room this time. “The group had an accomplice. They had sage and gold in their pockets so they clearly knew what they were doing.”

“We find him first.” Dominic said, authority thick in his voice.

“That’s the one piece of good news,” Max responded. “We caught him waiting by the Athenian gates. On the Upperworld side, but we dragged him back down here.”

I couldn’t bring myself to look fully at Dominic, not when I was still convinced this was my fault. But I could see him nodding out of my peripheral vision. “So you have him?”

“In the dungeons,” Raiden confirmed.

Dominic was halfway out of his chair with simmering rage. “Let’s go then. I want answers from that motherfucker.”

“That’s the goal,” Marcus said, stopping my rise from my chair to stand next to Dominic. “But there’s something we need to discuss first.”

“We’ve done enough talking,” Dominic snapped back, crossing his corded arms over his chest. I shoved down the little flicker that lit through my chest at seeing the material of his t-shirt stretch across his biceps. “I’m talking to him.Now.”

Raiden rose quickly, his strong brow darkening his already serious expression. “Youare not talking to him.”

Dominic scoffed in his face.

Raiden turned his stare to me and said, “He’ll only talk to Rose.”

No.No.This was not happening.

Dread spread through my chest. There was only one person who would know to arm trespassers with herbs and money for the passage.

“It’s Odell,” Marcus said, confirming my fears.

I felt the blood drain out of my face. This would reveal too much, flay my sins out to Dominic and leave me exposed for him to feast like a vulture.

I tried to regain my composure, grappling for that armor of false confidence I wore when I was trying to hide tender spots.

“We…” I cleared my throat and started again. “We should go now, then.”

My limbs felt overly shaky, a sharp contrast to the sated, relaxed state they were in not twenty minutes ago. I got up quickly, almost tripping over my chair as I moved too quickly after Max and out the door.

If I took even a second too long to think about this, I’d back out or break down and curl into a ball.

As we walked, I could feel Dominic at my back. Some latent instinct made me think I should be scared. I was pretty sure he was still the predator and I was the prey.

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