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Yes. Please. I begged silently.

“Oh my…” Daphne gasped out, trailing off. She knew. Thank the Fates, she knew. “He’s—”

And then Adrian’s hands tightened around my shoulders at the same time the electricity in the room flickered. “I’m going to fucking kill him.” Then louder, like a booming clap of thunder. “Sebastian is fucking dead.”

And so did Adrian.

He stood with me in his arms, dropping me carefully on a couch. His body was vibrating with tension, and lightning started striking somewhere close to the water, sending a low buzz through the room.

Once I was settled, he turned with a clear mission in mind.

Daphne jumped over the table to stand in between him and the door, blocking him with two hands raised. “Before we do anything rash—”

“Sebastian fucking kidnapped her!” Adrian yelled, his booming voice loud enough to rattle the windows.

“And,” Daphne said pointedly, like he needed the reminder. “He’s conspiring to overthrow you.”

Adrian’s steps halted for a second. Just a second, before a new wave of fury hit. “All the more reason to kill him.” His voice was loud, carrying the same shock and force as a clap of thunder.

His fury was palpable, thick electricity hanging in the room. He was leering at Daphne, clearly debating whether or not it was appropriate to physically moveher so he could get through the door.

Daphne, both true to her nature as a confident woman and to her godly predisposition to walk straight into battle, didn’t flinch. She stared Adrian down.

“Get the fuck away from her,” A dark voice yelled. It took me a second to realize it was Lukas. His voice was deep, but it carried a humorous lilt that had been completely chased away by fury. He stormed through the door, shoving Daphne behind him and putting himself in between her and Adrian.

And then he shoved him. He placed two hands on his chest andshovedhim like he wasn’t the most powerful god in the room.

“I have no problem going through you,” Adrian said darkly, his hands curling into fists to cage in lightning.

“You hurt him and I will fucking kill you. I don’t care what you’re the god of!” Daphne yelled, her own protectiveness over Lukas flying out. She slipped under his arm with the grace of a cat, putting herself in between the two of them.

Lukas was already reaching for her again, looking two seconds away from throwing her over his shoulder to get her to safety.

But then Daphne did the one thing that could possibly cut through the fury. She picked up a pillow off the chair she was standing next to and hit Adrian with it.

The shock of it made him stumble back a step. Enough that I could jump up and reach for him. That dull, comforting pulse of electricity shot up my hands when our skin connected, and it seemed to reverberate through Adrian too, his shoulders pitching forward.

“Adrian, sit down,” I said softly, glad the requestwasn’t seized from my throat by the poison Sebastian gave me. “Please.”

Adrian looked over his shoulder at me, his features dark and haunted. His eyes closed with a heavy sigh. But then he listened, sitting down on the couch and taking me with him. He pulled me close, almost onto his lap, like he couldn’t stand even an inch of space between us.

I looked up to find Lukas still staring at Adrian with a heaving chest. Daphne turned around, placing her hands right over his heart then smoothing them around to his back. Lukas crushed her to him, taking a deep inhale of her hair while his lips settled over her scalp.

Everyone took a breather for a minute, gathering themselves enough to have this conversation. Daphne and Lukas settled on the couch opposite us, right after Daphne bent and picked up Sebastian’s tonic.

I spent that minute trailing a hand down Adrian’s back in soft swipes, while my other hand was clasped tightly between both of his. The tension in his limbs wasn’t fading, not in the slightest. And it made me nervous.

Eventually Daphne spoke. “I should have known.”

Adrian shook his head roughly. “No.Ishould have known.”

“Midén,” Daphne said, the ancient Greek rolling off her tongue. “Zero often means neutral. Steady. Unchanging.”

“The one god who never had a counterpart,” Adrian finished. Still looking at the floor.

Lukas shook his head, pressing his jaw into his hand. He seemed to be rendered speechless by disgust.

Daphne was blinking rapidly, as if her body wasstruggling to keep up with the pace of her mind. “There’s so much,” she said softly. “He tookforeverto get me that tonic. For Zeus’s sake, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen him in anything other than long sleeves.