Chapter 26
Sebastian
There was an odd muffle outside the house, like someone was slapping a tree while groaning that it was hurting their hand. It was concerning enough that I peeled my thoughts away from Persy—nothing particular, just a passing thought about the sundress she’d left the house in—and went to go check it out.
I wish I hadn’t. I really wished I hadn’t, because I found three grown men, gods to be specific, wrestling each other, while a fourth grown-ass man stood by and watched.
“Hey, what the fuck?” I said, arms crossed over my chest. They hadn’t even heard me open the door.
Caught like school children, Dominic, Lukas, and Adrian, snapped up from their wrestling match—and yes, Adrian was doing it in a suit—and looked at Nikolas, like he had anything to say about why they were here.
“You do this?” I asked him.
“Oh, yes I did,” Nikolas shot back with a grin on his face. “No way in hell I’m missing this shit.”
“What shit?” I said, dragging my gaze over to my guests.
Lukas was the one to take the lead on answering, crossing his arms over his massive, amphibian chest. “We need to talk to you.”
“Is this an interrogation or something?” The timing was far off if that was the case. I’d expected their presence early in this torture.
“Kind of,” Dominic grunted out, legs in a wide, threatening stance. “You going to let us in?”
“Seeing as this is Persy’s house, she gets to decide who gets let in or not,” I snapped back. I expected grunts or smirks or a fuck you, but I didn’t expect their backs to grow straighter and for them to start looking at each other.
“That is confirming we needed to be here,” Lukas said, pointing at me in accusation. Adrian looked like he was about to light off like a firework, there was so much tension in his body.
They were just going to stand outside all day if I didn’t invite them in.
I grumbled something that surely would have caused an elderly woman to blush and dragged my hands over my face in frustration. These fuckers weren’t going to let me off, weren”t they? “Come in.”
Nikolas laughed, pushing through the door first, while I watched three gods decide which order to invade my home in. They settled on Dominic first, with Adrian trailing, still looking like he was about to kill me.
I had a very, very bad feeling I knew what this was about.
As they arranged themselves around the kitchen counter, they looked horribly satisfied with themselves. Persy would absolutely kill me if I treated them any different than other guests, so I waved my hand around the counter aimlessly. “Can I get you all anything?” Given the greeting that question garnered, I had to add, “Alright, what the fuck? Normally you say thank you when someone offers you something.”
When no one made any move to answer me, clearly satisfied with just staring at me. I looked to Nikolas, begging him to help me. We were friends again, this was his responsibility.
He caught my drift, because he pointed at where Dominic, Lukas, and Adrian were all leaning against the counter. “They have something they want to know.”
Right as I was about to yell at Nikolas for being vague, Lukas decided to jump in. He thought he was hilarious, and unfortunately, he often was. But on this day, I wanted to punch that grin right off his mouth. “Just so you know, I wanted to know from pure curiosity.” He pointed at Dominic, who was doing his best version of stereotypical god of death, glaring at me with his arms crossed. “He said that he cared because his wife would care—great answer, by the way.” Yeah, they were in love with their wives, we got that part.
Then he pointed at Adrian, who looked like he was about to start sparking, “And he wanted to make sure you weren’t full of shit with his own eyes.” Then he pointed at his own brother, who was failing to hide a grin. “He, well, he was very excited by the prospect of you getting punched, so he came. Can’t blame him.”
Nikolas clapped a hand over his chest dramatically, looking at his brother with clear affection. “I appreciate the brotherly support.”
Lukas’s answering nod told me everything I needed to know about where they stood. If I didn’t want to kill Nikolas, I would be happy for him. “Can you dickheads stop being vague and weird and just tell me why you are here?” They were giving me a fucking headache.
“We can’t hang out?” Dominic said, pushing his lower lip out in an expression I’d never seen him make before.
“Dominic, what the fuck is that look? Are you pouting?”
“Stop staring at my lips, asshole,” he shot back, though his grin went nowhere.
“What do you want?” I was seconds away from going to get the bow stashed in my closet to threaten them, but in light of past events, I didn’t think that was the best idea.
They all looked around, like they were silently begging the others to bring it up first. Nikolas looked at them skeptically, then threw his hands up dramatically. “They are all under the impression you have a thing for Persy.”
Thing was the understatement of the fucking century, but sure, they were right. Did I let my face show it? No, no fucking way.
“What makes you think that?” I said, carefully keeping my voice level to not give myself away. I’d gotten good at hiding how gravely obsessed I was with her, and I wasn’t going to give it up for these dickwads.
“I knew at that art gallery,” Dominic said, speaking with a tone far too casual for this situation. “He practically had her pressed to the wall.”
“I do not want to hear that!” Adrian yelled, sounding more like an upset child than a god.
Lukas smothered a laugh under his hand, then said, “I knew when Daphne told me about the baking.”
“What baking?” Dominic said, looking at Lukas like he’d sprouted a second head.
“Persy doesn’t bake,” Lukas answered.
“Huh?” Dominic gasped, looking so confused I had to hide a laugh if I had any care for my life.
“No, and shut up,” Adrian snapped, and this time, I saw a spark shoot from his hand.
“You knew?” I said, crossing my arms over my chest. Persy told me she had everyone fooled.
“She’s my fucking sister,” Adrian shot back. “I grew up with her and she knows fuck all about cooking.”
“She’s perfectly capable in the kitchen.” The words were out with surprising speed and force.
“See!” Lukas said, coming off the counter with the force of the word. “That right there. What the fuck is that?”
That was a rather unhealthy obsession with the little sister of the god I tried to kill and the most wonderful, kind person who had ever crossed my path.
Before I could respond, Dominic decided to chime in. “You’re all … protective. It’s weird. It’s like you have a soul or something.”
I flipped him off, choosing to let that speak for itself. It was really rich being confronted about protectiveness by three people—four, now that Nikolas had gotten with Kostas—who would try to fight the wind if it blew on their partners the wrong way.
While Dominic cursed at me under his breath, I turned to Adrian instinctively. I cared about earning his respect. “Do you have something to ask me?”
Adrian studied me, crossing his arms over his chest. After a moment, he said, “You told me that you had no intention of harming Persy. Is that still true?”
I’d sooner cut off my own arm than harm a single hair on her head, but I chose to answer simply. “Yes.”
Adrian nodded, seemingly satisfied.
“Really?” Nikolas said, his voice exacerbated. “You’re just going to leave it at that?”
“Yes,” Adrian responded. Oh, he definitely knew something I didn’t. A stupidly hopeful part of me wanted to believe that Persy had said something to him.
In my darkest moments, I imagined she felt the same. That she felt half of the anguish that constantly lived in my chest at the mere sight of her.
Instead of focusing on that, and there was a large part of me that wanted to, I spoke. “Anything else you need while you’re here? Want to take a look around my room and further invade my privacy?”
Lukas snorted, then tried to hide it. Poorly, I might add. But it was Adrian who spoke. “I heard that your cousin said something concerning.”
I was so focused on the other events of that day, I almost forgot what he was talking about. “Yes. She mentioned my aunt.”
Adrian nodded, considering. “I think you need to do something bigger. We never talked about whether you were still doing the Apollo honoring.”
Every god had one. A day to honor their contribution to the world, a holiday of sorts, with each god commanding a certain month of the year. Apollo happened to be June. Fitting, as that month contained the day with the most sunlight of the year.
For the past five years, I’d thrown a party that was commonly considered to be the most exclusive invite of the year. I had little desire this year. “Is this you asking me to do it?”
The small bit of guilt that entered Adrian’s expression told me everything I needed to know. I ran both hands down my face, already frustrated by the contents of this conversation, let alone the prospect of going to a schmooze-fest in my honor.
Right as I was going to answer, Nikolas decided to add, “I’m sure Persy would go.”
Unfortunately, that statement was poorly timed with my hands leaving my face, creating the perfect moment where I failed to hide my answering expression on time.
I didn’t have to look in the mirror to know that my expression had turned pleasant, hopeful even.
Adrian pushed away from the counter, lunging toward me before I could stop him. I backed away, hands in the air. “I thought you didn’t want to punch me.”
“I never said that,” he snapped, looking incredibly close to ending my life, a fact which seemed all the more likely when Dominic and Lukas started laughing.
I raised my hands further, trying to stave off an even greater reaction. “I’ll do it. I’ll plan the fucking party.” What I really meant was I was going to ask Jason Dionysus to do it, letting him plan until his god-of-wine’s heart was content, and would simply provide the funds and show up. “If only to put the nail in this coffin once and for all. I’m done having my family keep this going when I could care less.”
Adrian believed me. I could see it in the way his back straightened. I was pretty sure my own command over truth had added credibility to the statement, making him believe me.
It wasn’t a lie. I was over it.
“Alright,” he said, smoothing a hand down the lapel of his suit. “I’ve decided not to kill you, and that includes after you instate heirs, which I assume you’ll be doing shortly?”
“By the honoring day, it will be done.” It was time, anyway. And by the time that stupid party rolled around, I’d only have two more weeks left of this sentence. It was the final piece of this.
“Well,” Adrian said, clapping his hands together with such force it sounded like thunder. “I’m content with that.” He turned to Lukas and Dominic. “You get everything you need?”
Dominic nodded his chin once, his lower lip pushing out in an impressed expression.
“My wife will be happy,” Lukas said, clearly planning on giving Daphne an incredibly detailed retelling of this incident.
“I think that settles it then,” Adrian said, his voice seemingly unable to resist falling into an authoritative tone.
Without further goodbye, the three of them stepped back through portals.
“I could kill you,” I said to Nikolas. He was clearly the one who’d organized this debacle.
“I saved your ass,” he shot back, his voice thick with laughter. “They were all under the impression you and Persy have had something going for a while. I was able to inform them that its nothing more than you slobbering after her like a dog.”
“Fuck off,” I snapped, though I had an awful desire to ask him if he was just fucking with me or if there was truth to that statement and Persy hadn’t shown him any reason to believe the feeling was mutual.
Nikolas laughed, the sound a twin to his brother’s. “The party will be fine, man. I’ll probably be there. I’m working on transitioning into events with substances.”
Nikolas hadn’t touched a single drink or drug since coming here, but that didn’t mean he was to abandon his social life. I nodded, clapping a hand down on his shoulder. “Your payment for this fucking debacle will be saving me from any conversation I don’t want to be in.”
Nikolas laughed again, shrugging off my hand. “Fine. I’m bringing Kostas though.”
“Please do,” I grumbled. “It’ll add to the list of people I like there.”
Nikolas ended up forcing me to make him a cup of coffee and burdened me with his presence for another hour or so, which I would never tell him was appreciated. He left moments before Persy returned, bringing the sun with her. Though she’d worked well after normal working hours, the sun was just falling, painting the sky a rich swath of color.
Though Persy’s eyes lingered outside as she walked in, appreciating the beauty, I wasn’t sure she fully realized how late the sun was setting. Especially in comparison to Prometheus’ norm.
“Hi,” she greeted with a smile that made my heart clench. “How was your day?”
I wasn’t about to tell her that her brother had interrogated me about her, so I kept it at, “It was good. I spoke to your brother and he wants me to throw a party for the Apollo honoring day. It’ll draw out any disgruntled members of my family, Ariana included.”
Persy didn’t blink, simply nodding her head. “I think that’s a good idea.” A slight smile grew on her lips. “You’re not excited, are you?”
“No.” Fuck, I hated how much she knew me. Only because nothing could ever come of it. “You want to come with me?”
Persy stiffened slightly, then her breath stilled in the way I knew meant she was about to speak quickly. Good, I tended to like when she did that. “I’d love to. I guess I’m technically invited to most of those events, but I never go. I like to be around people and they are always at places I’d love to go to, but it’s just that it can feel like so much when there are so many humans there. Especially when they think I can introduce them to Adrian, but I never understood why people thought that would work.”
I opened my mouth to change my mind and tell her no, that there was no way on Jupiter’s green earth I was letting her dive into a pit of snakes like that, but the words died in my throat.
She was still talking, but I had no idea what she was saying.
The dimple was back.
Fuck. Fuck.
There was no way I was going to say no to her. When her lips stopped moving, I simply said, “I’m going to ask Jason to plan it. All you have to do is show up.”
Persy’s smile widened, and I felt like I’d done something right. “What’s the attire?”
“Likely formal.” I hated suits, but I’d wear one for this. Actually, the thought of Persy in a formal dress made me want to politely break something. This party actually sounded like a wonderful idea.
Especially when Persy got a wistful look in her eyes. “I need to go shopping.”
“Take Nikolas,” I suggested. “He and Kostas will probably come.”
The second Persy clapped her hands together in excitement, I decided this was a good idea. By then, I’d have heirs set up. I could make sure my family knew that this was fucking over. I’d get to see Persy in a dress.
Seemed great to me.
Though after Persy and I spoke for a little longer and she’d slipped out to her studio, all the confidence behind that decision faded, leaving a pit in my stomach.
Because this wasn’t funny anymore.
I could find humor in most things in my life.
Hell, that was how I’d continued leading a conspiracy I didn’t truly care about for so long. I’d turned it into some sort of game, one where I found manipulation and planning humorous.
The teasing and sly comments to see that maddening blush rise to Persy’s cheeks had once been entertaining. Not in the way of making fun of her, not in the slightest. But I got some type of joy from knowing I got to her.
I used to have to fight a smile thinking about it.
That wouldn’t be a problem anymore.
Because none of this shit is funny, not when time was slipping away and I’d be forced to leave her, when every ounce of my body and power was joining her here.