Page 118 of For the Love of the Gods

“Don’t finish that fucking sentence.”

Adrian laughed again, but this time a genuine chuckle. “That was a test, and you failed. You’re fucked, man.”

He was right about that one. It was borderline comical how gone I was for her. The hate had twisted, changed into something else just as strong. There was a name for it, for the jolt I got every time I saw her, the punch to the gut every time she smiled at me. I just hadn’t admitted to it yet.

“If she didn’t kill him,” Adrian continued, “Or there’s more to the story like you said, I’d like to apologize.”

“Let’s hold on for a second,” Lukas said, moving into a sitting position and pinning me with a stare. “What did she tell you?”

“She doesn’t talk about Pine like she killed him in cold blood,” I said through clenched teeth.

“So youthinkthere’s more to the story?” Lukas looked entirely unconvinced.

“Isn’t there? You’re clearly over it.”

“How do you know that?” Lukas shot back. “I only became friends with her because of Daphne. And clearly I’m a shit judge of character in that regard. What I know now was purely coincidence, and happened far later.”

I wasn’t touching that landmine in the slightest. Lukas would tell Adrian or I when he was ready. “She just…I don’t know, Lukas. I think her father had something to do with it. Forced her to kill him or tricked her or something. Her father’s guard went on and on about histraining methodsand Rose is clearly still working through it.”

“How. Do. You. Know. That?” Lukas repeated, punctuating every word.

“I—”

“Let me ask you something. Because I think you have this image in your head that she is entirely innocent here. Maybe that’s true.”

My jaw clenched so hard that I could hear Rose’s voice in my head warning me I was about to crack a tooth.

“But, maybe it’s not.” Lukas continued. “Say she did it on purpose. Say she killed him in cold blood, planned his murder for weeks and did it without hesitation? What then? Would you forgive her?”

I breathed in, searching for the conviction and rage that had me storming into her room not three months ago ready to kill her in revenge. That had me slapping a ring on her finger. But it was nowhere to be found.

“Already done,” I said, the words exposing everything Lukas, or Adrian, needed to know about how I felt about her.

“Well, shit,” Adrian said, laughing. “Dom is in love.”

I grumbled instead of throwing something at him. Lukas laughed too, the little shit.

“May your Rose never lose her thorns,” Adrian toasted dramatically, lifting his tumbler before tossing it back. He was one cheeky fucker. Even if he was right. Rose’s sarcasm and quips were one of the reasons I loved her.

Lukas seems settled by my explanation and relaxed back into conversation. I steered the topic to Adrian’s romantic escapades in an attempt to pull any information about Daphne from Lukas, but he casually evaded it and kept the conversation focused away from him.

We talked for another hour or so, but I couldn’t quite tell how much time passed, because the longer we sat there the more restless I got. Restless wasn’t a word I’d ever use to describe my state, but something tight was building in my stomach.

I tried to shove it away, attributing it to residual panic from yesterday and the lack of Rose in my day. That excuse worked until I heard footsteps slamming against the floor in the hallway.

Raiden burst through the door seconds later, his normally calm demeanor disheveled and my mind immediately went to Rose.

My stomach dropped out in terror, the worst already running through my mind.

“Where is she?” I ground out, already out of my chair and stalking toward him. Or the door. Or whatever path got me closer to Rose.

“The Temple in Corinth,” Raiden said, breath heaving like he ran here. “There was an attack and she got—”

I disappeared. I didn’t need to hear anymore. All that mattered was doing something with the hopeless feeling building in my chest, the all-consuming need to find her. The nausea curdling in my stomach at the state I’d find her in.

I popped into being right inside the temple, finding Max standing there, looking haunted.

No.

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