Page 40 of For the Gods' Sake

Adrian eyed me like he didn’t quite believe me, but ultimately settled back into the couch. No one but Lukas reached for any food, everyone else settling on coffee or tea or nothing at all. Which made me think this was going to shake out to be a far tenser conversation than I imagined.

“Okay,” Adrian said, the word more of a long exhale than anything else. “I was hoping that this arrangement between me and Reyna would improve my reputation.” Okay, so we weren’t acting in love in private company.

Sowhycould I feel Adrian’s fingers slip through my hair? “But I never quite explained the reality of the unrest we are dealing with. The article that was published this morning pushes things over the edge.”

Everyone clearly wanted to chime in. But there was a skeptical air to the room, like people—these gods—weren’t quite sure they could trust me. I got the message.

“I’m not involved in whatever this is,” I said, proud of how steady my voice came out. I was used to speaking to rooms full of people and if everything went according to plan, I would be running a dozen businesses in the future, but speaking to the five most powerful beings onthe planet was a different game. “I can understand why you think my father may be.”

A few brows rose, borderline impressed that I’d come to that conclusion myself. Of course, there was suspicion on my father. It wasn’t a long jump. If there was unrest, a group resisting the gods, it would make sense that the richest man in the Mediterranean would have either something to do with it or something to say about it.

“But as I told Adrian,” I continued, “I doubt he has anything to do with a conspiracy or cultivating unrest. The resentment he carries is a personal gripe.”

“And you don’t think that resentment could have pushed him to take drastic measures?” Dominic asked. He was the hyper-logical one, always doubting people’s motivations. That much was clear.

“No,” I said. “He’s not leading this—I can tell you that. I could see a situation where he accidentally got wrapped up in something, but he wouldn’t be heading up an entire conspiracy.”

Dominic looked at me for a loaded second, then sat back against the couch.

He believed me.

Okay.

I turned to Adrian next, even though my words were for the entire room. “But I assume you plan to fill me in on what, exactly, this conspiracy is?”

Adrian nodded, rolling his tongue into his cheek. “The attack orchestrated on Rose.” The room noticeably dropped a degree colder, and based on the brutal expression on Dominic’s face when I snuck a glance, he was the cause. “And Daphne…”

I whipped my head around to face my friend. “Whathappened?” I asked quickly, panic in my voice.

Daphne sat up straighter on the couch, right as Lukas pulled her closer into his side. Like he was protecting her even now, with his size and strength. “Someone was poisoning me for the last few months.”

Fucking hell.

“That’s what caused the rip in the barrier,” she said, matching the nod I gave her to confirm that I knew what she was referring to. “And what was making the fish stocks drop over the summer.”

“Who did it?” I asked. I didn’t have an ounce of power to compare to the room, but I’d just ask kindly for Adrian to do something to whoever hurt my friend.

“Someone who I’d still like dead,” Lukas grumbled, followed shortly by Daphne saying, “Do you remember Piper?”

“I remember she was a pretentious bitch.” Rose snorted at the threat in my tone, making it clear the sentiment was shared.

“Excellent memory,” Daphne said, restraining a laugh. “She was given something that prevented her from speaking. But in combination with one of our guards who was involved, we gathered that there is a man at the head of the conspiracy and that he’d asked her to stop the poison a few weeks ago.”

“One of your guards?” I couldn’t imagine how violating that would feel—to have someone you trusted with your safety use that very trust against you.

Daphne nodded, but my focus was pulled by the hard set of Lukas’s jaw. It was almost scarier than someone who had a normally stony disposition, seeing all the humor that was normally on his face drop right off at the mention of his wife getting hurt. “He was more orless swindled into it. He needed money and someone approached him at his old job.”

“Pretty sure it was someone involved in my attack,” Rose added.

“We got lucky with him, though,” Lukas said, his hand curling over the arm of the couch.

Daphne sat up a little straighter. “Everyone who is involved, at least that we know of, has a tattoo of a circle on their arm. If they are captured or try to reveal anything, it starts to poison them.”

I shivered involuntarily at the image, the last licks of it smoothed by Adrian’s hand on my shoulder.

“We were able to catch the tattoo before it tried killed him,” Daphne continued. “We had to give him a prosthetic, but it saved his life.”

It took a second for the full weight of her words to hit me. “He’s lost his arm?”

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