Page 79 of For the Gods' Sake

Then, Sebastian stepped back through a portal into a dark room. I squinted, but failed to grab any details to expose his own secrets.

Antonio grabbed my arm the second we were alone. I twisted out of his hold, shooting him a deadly glare. “Just because I can’t fire you, doesnotgive you the right to touch me. Back the fuck up.”

Antonio wisely listened, raising his hands insurrender and taking a step away. Then he turned on his heel, beckoning me to follow him. I did, only to keep the peace.

Heavy, grating silence blanketed the entire ride home. I kept my gaze out the window, worried I’d try to strangle Antonio if I looked at him in the driver’s seat of my car, searching for the moon to no avail.

The weather had been awful all day, which made my stomach feel sour with concern.

Antonio pulled around to my front door, then moved to get out to open my door.

I cut him off. “I’ll be taking myself inside, thank you very much. You’ve done enough for one day.”

“You’re the boss,” he said, looking at me in the rear view window with a provoking expression.Sebastianwas his boss and we both knew it.

“Have a horrible night,” I said with a bright smile, then got out of the car and slammed the door as hard as I could.

I stood on my front porch and refused to open my door, staring Antonio down until he got the message and drove away. The cold air sent a rough shiver through me.

They’d stolen my coat during their little kidnapping show. I loved that fucking coat. And now I was standing in a thin dress in the chill of late November, watching someone who was supposed to protect me drive away.

Once I was alone, my hand immediately went to the bracelet on my wrist, pressing down on one of the opals and bracing myself for the stomach drop as I was pulled from my home to the peaks of Olympus.

Only the drop never came. It felt like I’d simply jumped forward a step into total darkness. I had to blinkto try to adjust to the lighting, only to realize that I hadn’t moved more than a few feet.

I was in the open space between my living room and kitchen, standing right in front of the little breakfast nook.

Staring at Adrian sitting in the dark, forearms resting on his knees. And the second he saw me, a clap of thunder shook the entire house.

Chapter 18

Adrian

Reyna jumped when the thunder shook the house, her shock written all over her face. “What are you doing here? Why are you in the dark?”

I had to look away from her. I was having a hard enough time leashing my fury, preventing lightning from shooting out of my hands and burning down her house. “You know damn well why I’m here.”

“No, I don’t, Adrian.” Reyna took a careful step towards me, her boot clicking loud against her wood floors. Why wasn’t she wearing more clothes? She looked as beautiful and tempting as always, like she’d chosen that specific shade of red and that exact cut to test my control. For all I knew, she’d worn it to distract me.

I tightened my grips on my hands, trapping sparks between my palms. “Where were you?”

Reyna’s eyes went wide and she jerked back. “What?”

For fuck’s sake, she was a beautiful little liar.

I stood, stepping towards her. “Do us both a favorand don’t play dumb.” I couldn’t handle more of her lies. My fury was strong enough as it was. I didn’t need to think about how each moment I’d been convinced she was honest and open with me was likely all for show. “You walked into a storefront and disappeared only to reappear three hours later. And I’m going to venture to say you weren’t shopping the entire time.”

Of course, I’d had someone follow her. They were instructed to only report any suspicious activity, only there to protect her. Not to invade her privacy. I just hadn’t prepared for how betrayed I’d feel when they’d actually had something to share.

Reyna jerked back, like she was scared to get close to me. Or maybe she was just scaredofme.

Shame tried to cut through the anger. I shoved it away. “I’ll ask again. Where. Were. You?”

Reyna sputtered, opening her mouth and closing it again. But no sound came out. She just stayed silent. Refusing to answer me, to verbalize the betrayal.

Fuck.

I took another step towards her. I didn’t want to acknowledge the spark of relief that shot through my body when she didn’t retreat. “Where were you? Helping your father?”

---