Page 39 of The Gods Only Know

“Yes, of course. Of course, you’re welcome any time.” I ran up to her and gave her a quick hug. “I’m sorry, I’m just so glad to see you.”

“I'm glad,” Reyna said, that familiar air of Romulus confidence slipping into her voice. “You must have a lot to catch me up on.”

“So much,” I practically gasped out. I hadn’t seen her since a few weeks before I was summoned back here.

Reyna looked over my shoulder and her eyes went slightly wide. “Ah, and there’s our lovely host.”

Right, Lukas had been following me.

“Reyna,” Lukas greeted, bowing at the waist.

Reyna smiled at him, full and bright and making her amber eyes spark against her skin. Her father was from the Italian peninsula, but her mother from the Southern Mediterranean, deepening her skin to a soft, warm brown.“Nice to see you again.”

“Likewise.” Lukas was well-acquainted. Reyna and I were the youngest in our class by a few years, so we naturally clung to each other.She'd been around at regular intervals ever since I moved in.

And Reyna…well Reyna had heard everything. Including why I’d left.

You wouldn’t have been able to tell though, in light of how smoothly Reyna was handling this conversation. She was grace and charm personified.

As the second child of Lorenzo Romulus, the patriarch of the family, she had spent her entire life in the spotlight. It only ever left her to focus on her father, her older brother Riccardo, or her drunken cousin Renato’s escapades.

She handled it so well, better than anyone would. Used the fame for good, to fuel her work with charities and stay as far out of politics as her father would let her.

“Apologies for my cousin.” Reyna looked over her shoulder. And sure enough, Renato was passed out, his tongue hanging out of his mouth.

“You took him down a little too easily,” I noted.

Reyna waved a hand dismissively. “Just a bit of self-defense training. Can’t be too careful, you know?”

“Ares not doing her job?” Lukas asked, stepping up next to me. I hated the settled feeling that spread through my chest.

“Oh no, Lilah’s team is amazing,” Reyna said. House Ares ran the security for her family and countless others. “But can never be too safe.”

“Just promise to never teach Daphne that. I have to be on watch enough as it is,” Lukas said. The words fell into the room heavily, mainly because I had stopped breathing next to him.

“DAPHNE!” Lukas yelled and I burst out laughing. Which only gave away my hiding place. Footsteps rang out in the hallway and a moment later, Lukas burst through the door.

Tears sprang to my eyes as I doubled over in laughter. His hair had come loose from his bun and his cheeks were bright red. The trip wire worked better than I could have hoped.

Reyna pinned me with an interested look. Meanwhile I was trying to breathe through the stinging blush coating my cheeks that Lukas’s statement evoked. When we were children, we used to get pretty creative with the pranks we’d pull, just to get a rise out of each other.

I understood it now. Why getting under Lukas’s skin felt so good. I’d take any proof that I affected him. Even if it was red-faced anger after spilling water on him.

“I promise,” Reyna said, smiling brightly. “Daphne’s a little devil when she sets her mind to something.”

Lukas made a sound in the back of his throat but didn’t make a move to respond.

“How has the night been so far?” I asked Reyna. I cared regardless, but yes, we needed to make sure the Romulus family was well-treated. Especially after Lukas almost took Renato’s head off.

Reyna smiled brightly. “Excellent. It’s beautiful here.”

My nerves calmed. “Good. I’m sorry I’ve been so caught up.”

Reyna laughed, airy and light. “I saw. You’d think they were wolves and you were a discarded piece of meat.”

I breathed a short laugh. That was exactly how it felt. “Well, I’m sure you’re used to it.”

Reyna waved a hand in the air dismissively. “That’s why I like coming here. Everyone’s too distracted by the gods to pay me any attention.”

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