Adonis clears his throat. When Pandora looks at him, he gives her his best charming smile. I’m faintly amused to see her blink against the force of it. She shakes her head. “Hello again, Adonis. You would be as handsome in the morning when you’ve just rolled out of bed as you are when you’re dressed to the nines. Glad to see you’ve been well in the weeks since I’ve seen you. I’m assuming you have a request?”
“If I can impose on you to make another plate, I would be endlessly grateful and forever in your debt.”
She laughs softly. “No need for the theatrics. I’m happy to cook for you.” She slants a glance at Hephaestus. “All of you.”
“What he said. Endlessly grateful.” On my husband’s lips, the words sound almost like a threat.
“Right. Sure.” Pandora rolls her eyes. “Sit down and stop lurking. It’s distracting.”
“I’m good at lurking.” He winks and ambles around the island to take the stool on Adonis’s other side.
I don’t know what to do with this side of Hephaestus. I’ve seen him dangerous and furious and vicious. But in the last twenty-four hours, I’ve also seen him gentle and playful and dominating in a really sexy way. He was borderline cruel last night, but I can’t deny that his motivations were pure. Or close enough to pure to count.
It complicates things in a way I’m not comfortable with. Hating him was so much easier before he took care with my body…and then my heart. Before I saw the tenderness in the way he touched Adonis and the comfortable amusement inherent in his interactions with Pandora.
I drink my coffee and let the moment wash over me. Pandora teasing Hephaestus. Adonis slipping in a comment here and there, his attitude warming as his coffee cup empties.
It’s…nice.
It makes me want to stay here in this strange little world forever. I can’t, though. I need to get ready, get my head on straight, and go off to the war meeting with my brother.
I turn to Adonis. “I have to go.”
“I know.” He squeezes my knee and lifts his voice. “Dinner tonight.”
It’s not a question, but I still find myself shifting sideways to look at my husband. He’s more relaxed than I’ve ever seen him and he nods easily. “Sure, dinner.”
Adonis glances at Pandora. Her brows wing up in response. “I get the feeling the three of you will forget to eat if I’m not around. I’ll be here.”
I want you here for more than food.
Gods, what’s happening to me?
I should be the one to take a wrecking ball to this moment, to remind them that none of us are actually allies, and this little group will fall apart at the first hit from the world outside my apartment.
Instead I stand and round the island to hug her. “Thank you for breakfast.”
She catches my elbows and looks up at me, her expression going fierce. “Stay safe today, Eris.”
My throat goes tight. “I will. I promise.”
I hope to the gods I’m not lying to her.
27
PANDORA
Eris disappears to get ready. I wait until I’ve slipped plates of food in front of both the men to lean against the counter and say, “So, who had the brilliant idea to fuck the traumatized woman?”
Adonis chokes, spitting out coffee. “What?”
“It was me.” Theseus meets my gaze steadily. “It seemed like a good idea at the time, and she’s steadier on her feet now. It wasn’t a bad idea.”
I roll my eyes. “You would think that, wouldn’t you?” He’s not entirely wrong, though. She must have been in a bad state to make him so panicked last night, but I’m not sure I want to address that right now.
Theseus cares about her. I can’t tell if he knows it yet, but if he didn’t care at least a little bit, last night he would have turned around and walked out of her apartment and never looked back.
That should comfort me—I care about Eris—but I know him too well. He won’t let something as small as caring get in the way of following orders. Minos has his claws in too deep. If he tells Theseus to murder Eris, Theseus might feel a little bad about it, but he’ll do it.
It feels like we’re on a runaway train heading straight for a blown-out bridge. I don’t know how to slow us down, don’t know how to get off the tracks.
The only option is to ride it directly to our ruin.
I shift to look at Adonis. “I expected such nonsense from him. What’s your excuse?”
“I don’t have one. It just kind of happened.” He ducks his head in a really charming way. I understand what they see in him. There’s something about Adonis that draws everyone around him. It was evident at Minos’s house party, to the point where not even Theseus was unaffected. He’s certainly affected now.