Chapter 7
Persy
Maybe I made a mistake.
I figured having Sebastian staying with me wouldn’t be a problem at all. It was logical and protected the other residents at Prometheus and was generally the right thing to do.
I’d run it by Nikolas, who expressed mild disagreement and a whole lot of concern, but agreed with me.
I didn’t say anything to Adrian, which was probably the first sign that I had made a mistake.
Because this didn’t feel right. I left Sebastian in the shed as quickly as I could, fleeing back to my office in the heart of Prometheus. Normally when I felt like this, I would go to the shed I’d left him in, but that clearly wasn’t an option.
Instead, I had to pace around my room and confront the fact that I had probably made a massive mistake. There were a lot of things in my life that I chose to make me feel more settled, to keep my nerves low and my mind sharp, my home being one of them.
And in a matter of minutes, Sebastian had turned that upside down. I didn’t know how I was possibly going to sleep with him one wall away, close enough to hear him moving around his room if I tried hard enough.
I’d felt fine around him for weeks, and now my body decided to develop a very noticeable fear of him, enough that my entire system felt affected.
As if in answer, a little spark flew from my hand, singeing the top of one of the pillows on my couch. This was probably payment for all the teasing I’d thrown at Adrian over the years for his lack of control.
A sharp crack of a portal startled me and I whipped around, almost losing my balance.
“Woah, there,” Emre said, his voice as confident as his posture. “All good?”
I nodded, doing my best to fake at least some level of composure. I was never that good at hiding my emotions and Emre was as perceptive as they came.
“What is it?” he asked, catching on.
Luckily, the organized mess on my desk provided an out instead of answering honestly—which was a problem in and of itself because I never lied. I waved my hand over the scattered papers and files. “Work. Sometimes it adds up, you know.”
Emre paused for a moment and I silently begged every Jupiter and Zeus in existence to let him believe me. I was already doubting my decision enough, I didn’t need him or Fates forbid my brother freaking out about it before I’d had time to decide it was a good idea.
“Well,” Emre said, and I let out a heavy breath. He wasn’t going to push it. “I wanted to check in. I know its Sebastian’s first day out.”
I smiled at the genuine care in his tone. I was grateful, really, that I had people like that around me. It was just difficult when those who cared about you didn’t always understand you and your decisions. “He’s fine. Antidote work starts tomorrow. Same with therapy. After about a week of that I’m going to start in on the loose ends from the conspiracy.”
Emre nodded along as I spoke, which made me feel an inch more confident. I knew what I was doing. I was good at this. Something about Sebastian just … unsettled me.
“Sounds like you have it handled.” Emre made a face at the mess on my desk. “Are you sure you can handle everything else?”
I straightened my spine on instinct. I knew it was a product of my own anxieties, but my first instinct was to feel caught red-handed. I asked Nikolas not to say anything about the incident in the cell yesterday until I could talk about it with Sebastian.
But Emre was still looking at my desk. Okay, that was what he was referring to. There was a system to the chaos, he just couldn’t see it. “Yes. Nikolas is taking on more responsibility, too.” And even though Emre was likely checking in as a friend, I added, “You can tell my brother I’m fine.”
Emre laughed, running his hand over his close-cropped hair. “Noted. He’ll want to get involved at some stage of the conspiracy talk, you know that right?”
“I do.” How I was going to get Sebastian and Adrian in the same room and acting civil towards one another was a problem for another day. There were other people I wanted him to reintegrate with before tackling that one. “You can also tell him I don’t appreciate him sending you on an errand. He can talk to me himself.”
Emre laughed, rich and deep. A little flicker of pride shot through my chest. He was so confident, so good with people, and the fact that I could make him laugh made me feel like I was doing something right. “It’s part of my job to check on everything, including you. Reyna was actually the one who asked me to check on you.”
Reyna was kinder than most, and she’d already asked if I needed any help. I had a plan for her to help, but that would come later. “Tell her I say thank you,” I said, with a genuine smile.
Emre nodded, taking another look around my office. “Looks like you have it under control.” I laughed, catching onto his sarcasm. “Which, by the way, reminds me. Where did you end up putting Sebastian? I assume he’s not living in a cell.”
I should have known he’d ask. Any other person might have been able to deflect, but I was always a horrible liar. “He’s … um …”
That was all it took for Emre to know what I’d done. He sighed deeply, running his hands over his face. “You do realize I’m going to have to tell Adrian about this, right?”
I looked to the ceiling, hoping that would have answers. Of course, it left me floundering. “Can you at least wait until tonight? I have some work I’d like to do before he yells at me.”
Emre gave me a small nod, just one dip of his chin. “Pretty sure he and Reyna are seeing your parents tonight. He’ll be in a good mood.”
“Tell him before.” I knew my brother. He’d be angrier if I ruined a good mood. If he had something pressing, he could only yell at me for so long. And he’d get over it quicker if he had dinner with his wife to look forward to.
“Good luck,” Emre said, using those as his parting words before disappearing through a portal and leaving me to my day.
?
I managed to make it through work unscathed. I was grateful for a day stuffed full of paperwork, anything from setting up stipends for those about to leave Prometheus to sending out inquiries for job openings to hiring a new doctor to help with the influx of residents over recent weeks.
I didn’t have to do my least favorite part of my job—that was a blessing. As much as I loved seeing people grow and change and could handle seeing people in the thick of their suffering, I had a hard time with the residents in the old cells.
Those who clung so tightly to their thirst for violence they were unable to be helped. We tried, but there were some who just couldn’t be saved. The last person who had really shook me had recently died.
He had spent his life killing and maiming young women and showed not an ounce of remorse. I shook off the memory, feeling all the more grateful for the mundane paperwork.
Especially when I was standing on my front porch, trying to gather a breath before I stepped inside and confronted Sebastian. It took two until I placed my hand on my door knob and pushed, revealing Sebastian standing at the stove, shirt pulled taut across his muscled back.
And there was that fear again.
Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to give him free reign of the knives. But then again, I didn’t think he had a penchant for violence. Just attempts to overthrow people.
“Good evening,” I said, trying to get his attention.
Sebastian turned, lazily leaning against the counter and cocking his head as his eyes made two swift passes over my form. Warmth spread over my body and I prayed it didn’t appear on my cheeks.
Who blushed in front of someone they were scared of? Crazy people, that’s who.
When Sebastian failed to respond, I proceeded as I normally did when he chose that path. “I see. It’s a no talking day. Alright.” I couldn’t see what he was doing over his massive shoulders, which was quite new and not at all a bad thing. “I had a good day—not too much work and Niky stopped by for afternoon tea, which was nice.” Something in that sentence caught his attention. I really ought to correct him that Niky wasn’t my boyfriend, but I was trying to remind myself that I didn’t owe him any information about me. It just happened to slip out while I was talking to fill the silence. “Did you make dinner?”
Sebastian’s grunt was my only answer. It did smell amazing.
I waited for him to supply more information, which was a losing game. Before I could remind myself that I shouldn’t get drawn into him, that I should be holding strong to my conviction to remain steady, I was walking towards him.
“What did you make?” I asked, intentionally getting in his space and leaning one hip on the counter next to him.
Sebastian didn’t even look at me, stirring the spoon in the pot pointedly. “Soup.”
Well yes, that was very obvious. “What kind of soup?”
A full three seconds went by before he answered, “Tuscan soup.”
“There are lots of different kinds,” I said, leaning into the banter even though I knew it was a bad idea. I understood those who chased adrenaline more now. It was hard to resist once you knew the rush you got from pushing through fear. “What type?”
“It has beans in it.” Sebastian stopped stirring, bringing a bit of soup up to his lips to taste it. He hummed lightly in the back of his throat, clearly impressed with his own cooking, and the sound sent a small spike of anger—or something close to it—shoot up my spine.
“Impressed with yourself, are you?”
Sebastian turned to me then, just as my mouth was dropping open to apologize. I wasn’t snippy. He was supposed to be matching my demeanor. I wasn’t supposed to be stooping down to his level.
He set the spoon down, turning to fully face me. He was much more imposing facing me full on. And combined with his confident stance, clearly bolstered by the fact I was sparring with him, that familiar trickle of fear was building in my stomach. “Seeing as you left me alone with no instructions as to what I was supposed to do with my newfound freedom, I took it upon myself to head to the main square and buy a few ingredients. You have a market there, in case you needed the reminder.”
“I assume that’s the first time you’ve done so? How human you must feel.” What was wrong with me? I never spoke without thinking, but had done so twice in as many minutes.
It wouldn’t be something I started doing often, seeing as it made Sebastian smile like a wolf stumbling upon a herd of deer. “Quite the opposite, love. Hard to feel human when everyone here looks at me like I could kill them with the snap of my fingers.”
I felt one of my eyebrows raise on its own accord, my eyes narrowing. “You were nice to them, I hope.”
Sebastian’s tongue poked into his cheek, which only made his jaw look sharper. “I thought we discussed that I’m not a very nice man.”
“You can treat me however you like, but I draw the line at—”
Before I could finish telling him that I wouldn’t tolerate him being rude to residents, a loud boom of thunder shook the house.
“Right, okay,” I said, rolling my shoulders back. I was just hoping Adrian’s big brother mode took the calmer route today.
Sebastian bent down, taking hold of my eyes, the move as forceful as if he’d lifted my chin with his hand. “What’s going on?”
I answered honestly because I promised I’d be honest with him, not because of the force of his gaze. “You’re going to hear some things. I wouldn’t recommend interfering.”
He stepped impossibly closer, bringing our chests flush together. Well, my chest and his upper abdomen. “Is someone about to hurt you?”
“Oh, no,” I said, shaking my head quickly. “He’d never.” He might yell a little bit and ask me what I was thinking, but he would never hurt me.
“Who is he?” Sebastian asked, the words harsh like a curse.
The he in question made his presence clear moments later, yelling “PERSY!” in his booming god voice. The lights in the house pulsed, drawing a long groan out of Sebastian.
Adrian appeared on my doorstep a moment later. I didn’t realize I’d even left the door open. The second he saw Sebastian standing next to me, his anger went off like a volcano.
He halfway lunged over the threshold, his attention on Sebastian. “Pack your shit.”
I jumped in front of Sebastian before he could say anything that would get us both electrocuted. “He’s not going anywhere.”
Adrian’s nostrils flared, and he looked at me like I’d gone insane. I still wasn’t sure I hadn’t. “Then you’re coming with me.”
I shook my head. His god voice might have worked on everyone else in the world, but not me. “No.”
Adrian’s eyebrows slammed together, his mouth dropping open in shock. “No?”
“It’s quite a simple word, Adrian,” I returned calmly. This was how it always was when people yelled around me. Whether it was my family’s boisterous nature or a resident screaming their head off at me, I never faltered from the even disposition. I didn’t think I’d ever yelled back at someone. “This is my house. If you need it more complicated to get through your thick head, try this—I am not going to listen to you.”
He couldn’t argue with that, so he took another route. “You think Mom and Dad are going to be okay with this?”
Mom would ask me if I lost my mind and Dad would go full protective mode, but I settled on, “Probably not.”
“I assume you have no plans to listen to them, either?” Adrian asked through a disbelieving laugh. Good, he was catching on.
“If all of you are not going to listen to reason, then yes.”
Adrian’s eyes bounced in between me and the very large god standing at my back—and still pressed close enough that I could feel his chest brush my back with a breath every so often—with an expression on his face that was so baffled I had to repress a laugh. “And what logic could have possibly made you think this was a good idea?”
I took one step away from Sebastian, closer to my brother, but stayed on our side of the kitchen island. “You entrusted me to handle this, for one. I am not putting him in another cell and I am not putting him in the apartments with the residents. Would you rather me build him an entire house for himself?”
Adrian straightened. “Well, no.”
“Good,” I said, smiling with a resolute nod. “Glad you agree. Now, do you—”
“Wait, that was not me agreeing,” Adrian shot back, coming up to the kitchen island. “I’m not leaving you here with him.”
Before I could defend the situation further, Sebastian’s voice cut in, smooth and even. “It might do you well to listen to your brother, Persephone.”
It took that one sentence to launch my anger off like a rocket. I whipped around to face Sebastian, my finger rising to poke him in his uncomfortably hard chest. “You don’t get to have an opinion.”
Sebastian’s hand came up to grab his chest where I’d jabbed him, giving me a dramatically hurt expression. “You would do well to treat me like your other patients. Put me in the apartments with them.”
“For one,” I began, my voice raising to an uncomfortable level. The level Adrian had used when he barged in here. “You are not a resident. You—”
“A prisoner, then.”
“Not that either.” Sebastian’s raised eyebrow had the same effect on me of someone telling me to calm down when I was already perfectly calm in first place. “You are my responsibility. You don’t see me jumping around for joy because unlike some people—” I shot my brother a look over my shoulder “—I can understand that this is the best option for everyone involved.”
“Well, maybe if you were a bit more creative you could have come up with something that didn’t risk Adrian’s head exploding,” Sebastian returned, crossing his arms over his chest.
Adrian made some sort of odd sound, maybe like it was a laugh that he caught and smothered at the last second.
I took a step towards Sebastian, my head tilting back easily. I was getting used to that. “Are you attempting to insult me?”
Sebastian took a matching step towards me, the color in his eyes brightening. “Yes.”
His answer, so blunt and honest, gave me the strongest urge to lunge at him. I wasn’t prone to physical violence in the slightest, but the way he made me so … rattled was doing something to me. It kicked off an instinct I didn’t even know I had.
It took several seconds and two deep breaths to clear my anger enough to speak without the words scraping over my vocal chords. “Would you please give my brother and I a second alone?”
Sebastian’s eyebrow raised and my eyes widened, silently begging him not to respond the way I knew he wanted to—by telling me to stop saying please and thank you around him. I didn’t know if it was a small bit of grace or if he was just tired, but I could see him choose not to shoot back with that. “Fine. Keep it short, would you? I didn’t cook just for it to get cold because Adrian likes to hear himself speak.”
Thank the Fates I was faced away from Adrian, because a laugh was on its way out of my throat before I curled my lips in to catch it. It only gave way for another evil, though, because Sebastian’s eyes went off like fireworks, bursting with bright color, when he saw it.
I wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or not that we were communicating through expression only. I had no time to dedicate to sorting that out, though. Not with my brother seething like a bull behind me.
Sebastian nodded once at Adrian, not even attempting to hide his grin as he walked out of the kitchen and onto the back porch. I watched in silence as he took the chair on the left, the one that had previously only been there for symmetry.
I turned to face Adrian, my core twisting tighter than normal at the move.
“No yelling,” I said, before he could kick off again.
“I’m not trying to yell at you, Persy,” Adrian said, sounding tired and defeated. Guilt started to build again. He had just gotten married, he should be happier than he’d ever been. But there was still so much stress and anguish.
I straightened my back, choosing my words carefully to make sure my explanation was clear. “I only have five more months. If any of this is going to work, I need him to trust me. To be at least somewhat comfortable around me. Let alone the fact that leaving him to his own devices opens up the door for him to get his plan up and running again.”
Adrian ran both his hands down his face, and for a second, he looked like we did as teens, exacerbated by his younger sister. “I trust you, I do. But I won’t apologize for being worried.”
I shook my head quickly. “I don’t expect you to. I appreciate that you’re worried. I’d really like to be able to talk to you about this, but I won’t if it will add to your stress. You’ve had enough of it.”
Adrian let out a quick breath of laughter. “My fear and stress is my problem. I want you to talk to me.”
This time, it was my turn to laugh. “And force Reyna to listen to you about it, I assume?”
Adrian smiled, like he could do nothing but when she was brought up. “Oh, don’t worry, she already tried to physically stop me from coming here.”
“Yeah, and how’d she do that?” I asked through a smile.
Adrian crossed his arms over his chest. “You don’t want to know.”
I snapped my eyes shut. I was happy for him and Reyna but I did not need to know about any of the inner workings of their relationship. “Please stop talking.”
Adrian laughed, fuller this time. The lights in the house stopped pulsing, which meant he’d gotten a handle on his fear and anger. “Can I at least request a daily I’m alive Iris letter or something? I don’t trust him not to pull something.”
“Oh, he wouldn’t. He already had the chance to and he didn’t—” My words broke off when Adrian’s eyes went so wide I was convinced they were on their way out of his head.
“That’s it. He’s—”
“Before you decide to take my head off, would you allow me the grace to speak for a second?” I turned to find Sebastian leaning against the frame of the door leading outside, arms crossed and stance lazy.
“Sebastian!” I gasped out, ready to start in on him for eavesdropping.
“Easy, Persephone. You can yell at me over dinner.” Well, that did nothing but make my heart beat faster which was … odd. He looked at Adrian, his stare hard. “I have no plans to hurt Persephone. Keep your head screwed on.”
“And I’m supposed to trust you?” Adrian quipped, his god voice strong and firm.
“Do what you want,” Sebastian returned, shrugging one shoulder in a way that still managed to look smooth. “Doesn’t change the fact that she won’t get hurt.”
I didn’t know if that conviction had come before or after the incident in his cell, but regardless of what Sebastian did, I felt like I could trust him. Even when he was trying to intimidate me, that had only ended with freshly healed skin covering my arms.
Adrian reached up and pinched the skin in between his eyes, muttering something under his breath that I was sure was a plea to our ancestors to bring him patience.
Then he did something that shocked me. He conceded. “Alright.”
I could see Sebastian straighten, the same thing I did, out of the corner of my eye.
“I promised Reyna dinner, and I’m sure as shit not missing that,” he said, speaking mostly to me. I felt Sebastian tense, more so than saw it, which I couldn’t dedicate any mental energy to figuring out right now.
I needed to figure out his guilt surrounding Reyna first. Whatever I was feeling was a second priority.
“Are you sure you don’t want to come?” Adrian’s eyes widened, which was brother-speak for you really should come. “You can stay on Olympus for the night.”
In other words, get some space from Sebastian.
I shook my head. “No. Thank you though.”
I would forever be grateful Reyna and Adrian had each other, but there were times when I was tired and stressed—right now, included—where the exhaustion made the admiration twist into something tinged with envy.
The jealousy was natural, only expected seeing so many people around me in relationships with their soulmates. They had full lives on their own, but with their spouse…
It was something I wanted. That honest, steadying companionship that could turn something as simple as dinner into this romantic, comforting moment.
I just wasn’t quite sure I’d ever get it. In my darkest moments, I considered stomping down to the Underworld and begging Rose to make the Fates tell her if there was even anyone in their plan for me.
“—I’m serious, okay?” Adrian finished on a heavy exhale.
I smiled and nodded quickly, trying to hide the fact that I’d zoned out. I assumed he was talking about keeping him informed or updating him, so I had no choice but to agree anyways.
Adrian walked over to me, shooting Sebastian a clearly threatening look and gave me a brotherly hug. With another slightly more violent look at the god living with me, Adrian stepped back into a portal to return to Olympus and Reyna.
“Don’t you dare,” I said, the words jumping out without a thought to say them.
When I turned, Sebastian already had his hands raised in surrender, a wicked grin on his lips. “I was just going to say I thought that went quite well. Are you going to make a habit of defending me, love?”
My heart was slamming against my rib cage again, the force returning with alarming speed. “Care to remind me where in that conversation I defended you?”
Sebastian’s grin went nowhere, if anything it widened as he stepped towards me. “I believe it was when you claimed I would never harm you.”
I was composed. Settled. Not at all feeling jittery as I asked, “When I asked you to give us a moment, did you think that meant you could eavesdrop?”
“I wasn’t trying to, but Adrian’s voice carries.”
“So you just decided to interfere?” I shot back quickly, forcing myself to speak so I wouldn’t smile. Sebastian would have no problem reconnecting with his power. Charm oozed out of him when he wasn’t even trying.
Sebastian took another step forward, crossing his arms over his chest and tilting his head in a way that made me feel like he could see right through me. “It got him off your back, didn’t it?”
“Fine,” I gritted out. He’d done something to help me. The natural response should have been to thank him but I could barely form a coherent thought when he was standing close enough for his cologne to eclipse the pleasant smell of rosemary and spices from the soup. At the reminder, I turned toward the stove, feeling the hot brand of his attention slip over to my cheek. “Am I allowed to eat some of that?”
“I made it for you,” Sebastian said. I was clearly going crazy because it sounded like his voice dropped lower, almost sounding like a threat.
I turned toward my cabinets in search of bowls, which had the lucky side effect of covering up the heat marring my cheeks, formed by a fresh wave of that pesky little fear. “You made it for both of us, unless you were planning on starving yourself again.”
I was just about to reach up on my toes to grab bowls when I felt heat at my back.
“Those days are over,” Sebastian said, reaching over me to grab the bowls himself. My fingertips dug into the marble counter, holding on for dear life as I tried to restrain the urge to flee like a cornered animal. Sebastian leaned down slightly, speaking close to my ear. “Since you asked so nicely.”
I ducked under his arm and backed toward the stove. No one in their right mind would willingly stay that close to the object of their fear. I needed to manage it, now, if I had any hope of following through on my promises.
Sebastian kept a fairly neutral expression as I reached a hand out, silently asking for him to pass over the bowls. For him, that apparently meant a slight smile that made it look like he was restraining a full, taunting grin.
I filled both the bowls with soup, proud of myself for maintaining steady hands, then turned back with every intention off passing of Sebastian’s food and fleeing.
“I’m just going to eat this in my room,” I explained, when Sebastian looked at me expectantly.
“Oh, no you don’t,” he said, blocking my escape route with his arm. I was thankful for my reflexes, because without them, I would have barreled straight into his arm, which I imagined would feel like hot iron across my midsection. “Didn’t anyone tell you it’s rude not to eat with the chef?”
“I don’t believe I’ve heard that expression before,” I said, my head turning up to meet his eyes as I spoke.
“True nonetheless,” Sebastian said, his grin splitting wide. He nodded toward the far end of the counter towards the stools nestled under the marble. “Sit down on that chair and eat with me or not at all.”
I followed his gaze to the chair on the far left. The one with the best view of the sunsets we got earlier than most other places in our world or of the flashes of brilliant color that danced across the night sky on occasion. The one with the slightly worn wood and fabric. The one that was my favorite.
“I’ll sit on whatever chair I want,” I grumbled, feeling exposed and vulnerable. I knew he was observant, but how much of me was he seeing in that artist’s stare of his?
“Sure,” Sebastian said, leaning close. It was only through years of practice shoving away my fear that I was able to stay still, to let his face come mere inches from mine. “But that one’s your favorite.”
“Whatever.” My voice really wasn’t made to grumble at someone. I hated that he threw me so off-kilter that was what I’d resorted to. The thought had my resolve kicking back in, unwilling to bow to anyone, let alone a god. No matter how terrifying. “I’m reading, though. I’m tired.”
And it would give me some much needed solace from his presence.
“Fine by me,” Sebastian said, shrugging a shoulder. He jerked his chin over to the bookshelves at the far end of my living room. “Care to share a title from your library?”
“Go ahead,” I said slowly. “I told you, what’s mine is yours.” If I got more comfortable around him, the fear would go away. I just needed to know him.
“Except for that room behind the studio,” Sebastian said over his shoulder, walking over to the shelves.
I sighed deeply. I knew he would be like a moth to a flame with that. I could only hope he was able to resist the urge to peek inside. It wasn’t anything particularly private, but it was my space. “Yes.”
As Sebastian sauntered back to the kitchen, a worn book in his hands, he was sporting a grin that told me he was actively restraining the urge to ask me about it. I focused my energy on my food and my book, trying to ignore the fact that I could still feel him sitting right next to me.
I curled my legs up to my chest, resting my book against my thighs so I could alternate between supporting the book while reading and keeping my place when I stopped to eat. Once settled, I leaned over and took a bite of the soup.
A shocked sound dropped from my lips before I could catch it.
“If you say thank you, I’m walking right into that room to see what you’re hiding,” Sebastian threatened, not even sparing me a glance.
“I wasn’t going to say thank you,” I shot back. If anything, I was going to ask him where on Jupiter’s green earth he’d learned to cook like this, but decided against it. He got volatile when I complimented him, which risked me responding and descending into madness right alongside him.
Sebastian hummed in disagreement, a low vibration that felt like it moved right from his chest to mine, but remained silent otherwise.
I wasn’t sure either of us spoke a word aloud for the rest of the night. I also wasn’t quite sure how long we’d sat next to each other, slowly alternating between eating and reading.
It was odd for me to lose track of time like that, but there was something in the feeling of someone else in the room with me, no matter how unsteady he made me, that tricked my brain into turning off for a second. To twist a normally mundane part of my day into something … something I couldn’t quite name.