Page 6 of For the Love of the Gods

I went through the next minutes of my life in a haze. It felt like I was watching my body go through the customary motions of thanking the Fates before I turned around and made my way back to the flimsy gate so I could return home.

As I did, there was a voice beckoning in the back of my mind that was trying to pull my attention to the list of things I needed to do to prepare my entire realm to merge with Dominic’s. But all I could do was wonder what type of debt the Fates owed Dominic for him to be considered “platinum.” Because the one I had built was damn near unpayable.

The only thing that would satisfy it in full would be another’s soul.

Or maybe they just liked him. Most people did despite his gruff exterior. And I was about to get intimately aware of why.

Chapter 3

Dominic

I was intelligent, I knew that. Quick-witted, sharp, smart, whatever the fuck you wanted to call it—I was worthy of the title.

But I’d never,nevermade a more idiotic decision than I had in proposing to RosefuckingHades.

I’d left her palace in the early hours of the morning, barely able to string a thought together other than: you idiot.

There were so many things wrong with the situation I’d gotten myself into, blinded by a need for revenge. It was my family’s fatal flaw, never able to let go of grudges against the people who had wronged us. Leading to revenge killings, revenge torture, revenge life-ruining. All of it.

That was the difference between Rose and I, I reminded myself. The one and only person I’d outright killed had murdered my parents in cold blood in a ruthless grab for power. My uncle deserved what he got.

Rose did the same, killing her brother and then keeping it a secret for a fucking week. I would never forget the cold, emotionless expression she carried when she walked into a Council meeting to inform us that Pine was dead.

Butmarriage. Man and wife. That was the necessary arrangement to dole out the punishment she deserved?

It wasn’t inconvenient. In fact it solved a number of problems. That must have been the intelligent sector of my brain, the one functioning in the background while the angry, irrational part stole the show whenever Rose was around.

I was never going to marry for anything other than convenience, certainly not for love. It was the sacrifice for this role, this power. It was too dangerous to bring anyone into that hadn’t grown up in the world of godly power struggles and ego.

Rose knew. That was one point in the favor of this fucking insane arrangement.

Rose was used to the dance for power and it gave me the proximity I needed to plan the most cutting revenge. Much easier to uncover what she loved and rip it away from her while we were living under the same roof.

It also solved the problem of our powerlines, of how long we could hold out until the Roman and Greek lines were forced to completely merge.

Adrian would probably love this. It would quell a number of his fears. Not to mention the endless enjoyment he would get out of this. He would have a host of—

“Hey, lover boy!” As if summoned by my thoughts (and knowing the extent of his power, that wasn’t far off), Adrian’s voice boomed down the hallway to my office.

“Office!” I yelled back, steeling myself for the shit-eating grin surely plastered on his face.

Adrian Zeus Jupiter waltzed into my office like he owned it. It was one of the few places he technically didn’t.

As the king of the gods and god of the skies, nearly everything was tied in with his power. His life source sustained everything above ground, save the seas. Every step he took was a careful balance between making sure you knew how powerful he was and trying not to provoke anyone. His birth had done enough of that as it was.

Adrian stopped in the doorway and dropped into a dramatic bow. “I supposed my felicitations are in order, Dominic. You’ve found yourself a blushing bride.”

Andtherewas the shit-eating grin. Adrian was built like a brute, with a tall, strong build. Outside of that, he looked anything but, always clad in a perfectly pressed suit, fresh off a clean shave, and back straight.

His eyes were gray like a storm. You could literally see streaks of lightning in them, a fact he just loved to tell any woman he was trying to flirt with.

“How the fuck did you find out this quickly?” I asked, voice biting and tired. It was barely midday. The reach of his spies still shocked me at times.

Adrian shrugged like it was nothing. Maybe it wasn’t. It took a lot to ruffle him, even now, he didn’t have a hair out of place in a gray three-piece suit. “Temple Orcus was instructed to prepare celebrations for a wedding and a priest called in to help with the power shift.”

“That’smytemple,” I said, leaning back in my chair. “They aren’t supposed to tell you shit.”

Adrian sat on the other side of the desk, and said, “Well, I’m their king. Yours too, in case you forgot.”

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