Page 78 of For the Love of the Gods

Odell grinned. “Won’t it?”

“No.” The word was nothing more than a forced grunt. Odell was crossing a fucking line.

“Regardless,” Odell said carefully. “They may blame this on you.”

“Even though this was rooted in stupidity?” Rose asked. No person in their right mind would attempt to pull an Orpheus. Unless you were young and rich, it seemed.

“Even then.”

Rose scoffed and nodded her head sarcastically. “Great.”

It was just one word, but it carried a resigned tone to it that I didn’t like.

Odell’s brows pinched together in paper-thin sympathy. “I am simply trying to offer the truth, my dear.”

“While you are feeling charitable, any information to share? You say this wasn’t a conspiracy, but do those exist?” Rose was only a few steps away from the cell bars now, my hands itching to pull her away from Odell’s slimy reach. The simple black dress she threw on this morning was turning gray under the harsh lighting. She still looked beautiful, even though I was regretting requesting she change out of my t-shirt.

“If there was,” Odell said, pulling my focus back to him begrudgingly. “They would be smart not to involve me in their plans.”

“Despite your reputation?”

“Becauseof my reputation. I am useful because of my ties to your family.”

“You had ties to my father,” Rose snapped, as if the clarification was of critical importance. Interesting. “If anything you should have a vendetta against me.”

The whole room perked up. No one, not even Rose, spoke so openly about the rumors she’d killed her father too.

Odell looked like a hyena, smiling like that. “Was that an admission of guilt?”

Rose laughed tersely. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

Odell nodded, a pleased smile, then voluntarily recentered the conversation. “Those young men gambled with my loyalty. It was just as likely that I turned around and told you their plans.”

“And why didn’t you?”

“They offered a higher price.” Odell shrugged as he said it. His moral code was disgusting.

“What price would have purchased your loyalty?” The only thing keeping me from snapping into a rage was that Rose was asking every question I would. And Odell was cooperating. I tried not to think about how much this exposed how similarly Rose and I worked through problems.

Odell’s mouth twisted into a smile. One that sent goosebumps raising on the bit of exposed flesh I could see on Rose’s neck and back.

I fucking hated how much he scared her, but was proud of her for hiding it behind a sharp, but somewhat hostile wit. The defensive tactic seemed natural for her, which made me want to re-evaluate if the hostility she threw my way was rooted in the same thing.

“I had one in mind, but it seems Dominic has ensured that is off the table.” Odell looked to me, and I wanted to wipe that stupid fucking grin off his face.

Rose sighed, like she’d weathered that proposition before. “The answer has been and will always be no, Odell.”

“Shame.”

My eyes went white with fury. This creepy old fucker, the same age if not older than her father, had come onto her like this before. And he said he hadn't seen her since she was eighteen.

“Is that all, Odell?” Rose asked, sounding beaten down and tired. That was the final straw where Odell was concerned. His days were now numbered. “You believe this to be an isolated incident and have no knowledge of a conspiracy against us?”

“The family came to me before the son pulled the Orpheus. I sent him some new herbs, a new method for sneaking in. You press them into your shoes, letting the Underworld suck the life out of them instead of you. Clearly it didn't work. Although, just out of curiosity, did it happen to kill some of the remaining wildlife?”

My lip curled. The flowers, the ones Rose had found the day after our wedding.

Rose’s shoulders visibly sagged, relieved. I had the strongest urge to lift more weight off them, to find out what burdened her and make it go away. “Sure did, Odell. Congratulations. Other than that and your outdated obsession with my last name, that’s it?”

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