Page 12 of The Gods Only Know

That got a soft smile from Rose and the dissolution of Dominic’s stare. Guess I hadn’t lost my game entirely. My sense of humor felt like it got shredded to pieces when Daph—when Daphne left.

“There’s no other way to say it. A very,” Rose looked at Dominic and something passed between them, “Let’s say a very involved member of the Thanatos society came forward with some information.”

“And?” Daphne’s voice sounded strained, like it took work to push that one syllable out.

“She told us that she overheard one of the attackers on the phone a few days prior to the attack.” When Rose said the wordattack, Dominic’s hand curled into a fist on the table.

Daphne’s hands were in her lap, and for a second, I wished I could see them. To see if she was just sitting casually or clenching her hands so tight the whites of her knuckles showed.

“She said that he’d hang up the phone with what sounded like the wordmaiden,” Rose said. “And that she’d seen his tattoo a few days before the attack.”

Daphne’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly. “Wait, what tattoo?”

Rose blew out a little laugh under her breath. “Right. Got ahead of myself there.”

“It’s alright.” The words were out in a second and Daphne looked like she wanted to suck them back in. There was intimacy in that statement, an acknowledgment of her and Rose’s friendship that I wasn’t sure she’d made yet.

Rose paused for just a second, then, “All of the attackers had a tattoo of a circle on their forearm.”

“Around the arm or just a circle?” Daphne asked.

“Just a circle.” Rose didn’t need to say it. The whole table was wondering why Daphne was asking.

With a look around at our faces, Daphne realized how that seemed. “Trying to get the whole picture,” she explained.

“It's a black circle on the forearm. Pretty thin line,” Dominic said, jumping in. “Everyone who had it who was captured looked like they’d been poisoned by it. Black streaks coming from it that killed them within the hour.”

Daphne nodded and I could practically see the wheels in her head turning. “What did the Head Priest say?”

Rose grimaced a little, remembering the encounter. “He said that I’d abandoned the Hades line without consideration for anyone. That the gods have no care for human life.”

Daphne laughed low. I shared the opinion. Everything we did, everything we were, was to care for human life. We were the makeup of their world.

Especially now, most of their pain came from internal conflict and people grasping for power.

“Okay so the wordmaidenand a circle tattoo?” Daphne asked and Rose nodded. Daphne considered for a moment, shuffling through the information in her head. I used to hate that look, because it meant that she was retreating into her mind and away from me. Seeing it now, the only thing I could think was that I missed it. “Maiden could be a connection to Hera or Juno in some way. Circles generally represent consistency. Those together could represent the circle of life, even new beginnings. Maybe it’s a call for new leadership?”

Andthatwas why we needed Daphne.

“Adrian.” Dominic grumbled the name when no one else wanted to. This all came back to him.

“We don’t know that,” Daphne said. “Adrian has been a good leader. He’s charmed half the Mediterranean at this point.”

“But it's a possibility,” I said, drawing Daphne’s hazel eyes back to me. I turned to Dominic and Rose to avoid it. “You said that guard said something about Adrian?”

Rose spoke for the two of them, seeing how Dominic didn’t look like he could move his jaw he was clenching it so hard. “He said that people were upset that we’d lost the Zeus and Hades line.”

The bricks were building a house that looked an awful lot like a conspiracy.

“If it is a conspiracy,” Daphne said carefully. “They’d need money and access.”

“Which families have that?” Dominic asked, half in sarcasm. Everyone knew who the wealthy families were. They made themselves very known, thriving off fame and the backs of people who's labor they profited off to build up their own fortunes.

Daphne shifted a little in her seat. “You should really be asking Sabina these questions.”

“No.” I fought a wince at the volume of my voice. Especially because it made Daphne flinch. I tried to soften it when I spoke again. “We need to keep this between the three of us.”

Everyone at that table knew that meant the Underworld, seas, and skies.

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