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Stress, in its full, honest form, churned through my stomach at the thought. I wasn't in the business of willingly placing people in danger.

But Sebastian was our only option to keep the world full of art and light and healing. I had no other choice.

That certainly did not mean I would be happy about it.

Before I could spiral too much, Rose spoke up again. "Are you going to tell the other gods?"

Sabina Minerva already knew, having helped Daphne with the antidote. The Roman goddess of wisdom was the last piece we needed to make sure that it worked.

"They deserve to know," I said. "Especially when they have suffered as a result of his manipulations."

"It'll make it harder for him to reintegrate," Daphne said.

I scoffed at the image of Sebastian walking back into a Council meeting after this. Well, that was his payment for almost killing my wife.

Soon-to-be-wife, anyway.

"I find that I don't care." I leaned back on my ruineddesk, crossing my arms over my chest. "No one else questions my power, not unless I do something to fuck up."

"Are you even capable of that?" Lukas asked sarcastically.

I shot him my middle finger. "The Fates themselves created me. It's my job to live up to the honor. But no one else gets to question it."

"Do you want me to make sure everyone knows that?" Dominic asked.

Every head in the room whipped towards him.

"Do you have some hidden favors I don't know about?" Rose asked, narrowing her eyes on her husband.

Dominic barked a rare laugh. "No. But I'm scarier than you, sweetheart. And it's about time they learned that they can't just hide in their cave and control the world. They make a decision like this," he said, nodding at me. "They have to learn how to own it."

I nodded once in thanks, letting my friend know that I appreciated it. He had his own history with the Fates, having avoided them since they took his parents too young, so I appreciated his willingness to confront them even more.

"Well," Lukas said, drawing out the word. "Hopefully this is the end of the strife for a while."

Chuckles scattered through the room. Leave it to Lukas to break the tension.

"The strife, maybe," Daphne said, smiling. "But the second you and Reyna get married, the world is going to explode."

A grin pulled to my lips before I could stop it.

But the mention of my impending wedding reminded me that I had something to do while Reynawas still asleep.

I walked out of my office with everyone, shutting the damage away for now.

And with goodbyes, promises for updates soon, and another mild round of threats about attending brunch at Rose's house, I left Olympus for Rome.

I had to go see Reyna's parents. The only person's permission I needed to propose to Reyna was her own, but I knew she'd appreciate me filling in her family.

And it gave me an excuse to ensure that they were safe and sound in the aftermath of Sebastian's threats.

Hopefully, they'd agree to have my own security join their's.

Anything to keep them healthy. Anything to keep Reyna happy.

I appeared through a portal outside their front gates in an attempt to respect their security's desire to check visitors before entering, then was knocking on their front door moments later.

Ravenna, Reyna's mother, answered the door, smiling brightly at me. "Adrian, to what do I owe the honor?"