Page 45

My own glass was a dry red, with grapes from a Greek vineyard I favored. A true appreciation—not one crafted to show deference to my Greek heritage.

At the reminder, I passively twisted my signet ring around my finger, then took a sip of my wine. “Thank you, Dionysus,” I said to Jason. “Excellent as always.”

Jason nodded at me in respect, but the distractionwas clearly not enough to get me off the hook. “You never answered. Does that mean we get to ask you questions?”

I raised my finger in the air. “One. From the lot of you. Choose wisely.”

I was private as it was. It was only natural that I’d be cagey about a relationship this fresh. But there was an undercurrent of harsh, torrid protectiveness underscoring it. Shielding Reyna from any fallout.

Which was the responsible thing to do. Which wasnotan emotional response. A logical one. Very logical.

There were a few scattered glances, everyone silently communicating with one another. After a moment and a pointed nod from Dominic, it seemed they’d chosen Lia Vulcan as their spokesperson.

Fucker.

He knew I owed Lia and wouldn’t dare her revealing all the favors she’d done for me by slighting her question.

Lia though for a moment, sliding her hand over her close-cropped hair. Then, “What was your first date?”

That’s none of your businesswas on the tip of my tongue. I shut it down, taking another sip of wine. “I took her to dinner.”

I clocked three different frowns at the brevity of my answer.

Then Corrina and Sebastian collectively decided to make my life a living hell.

“Well, since he’s being nonchalant about it,” Corinna said with a pointed look at me, “I’mhappy to tell you how adorable they were last night.”

“Spectacular, really. They commanded the whole evening,” Sebastian said, with an odd note to his voice.

I didn’t have time to unpack it, seeing as Corinna launched into a five minute monologue about how perfectly we matched and how sweet we looked holding hands.

Sweetwasn’t even on my mind while Reyna’s hand was in mine.

I let her go on, giving everyone a moment of distraction or happiness, until she said, “AndReyna got all cute and jeal—"

“Alright,” I said, a distant clap of thunder cutting her off. Corinna seemed to come back in her body, shooting me an apologetic look. I shook my head, letting her know it was okay.

I wouldn’t have allowed anyone to tell an entire room how jealous Reyna had been, even if it sent a lash of heat whipping through my stomach.

“Now,” I said, feeling a punch in my stomach to protect Reyna. “If I hear about evenoneof you bothering Reyna about this, I will scorch you so thoroughly even your mother won’t be able to recognize you.”

I let the threat stew, keeping a grin on my face to lighten the mood the best I could. An irrational, violent part of me wanted to grab them all by the back of the neck and make sure they understood that Reyna was off fucking limits.

“Let’s start with updates,” I said, slipping into the natural course of these meetings to regain some composure. I picked up a stack of files, straightening them and laying them back down. I nodded to the table, letting people jump in.

Sebastian started, leaning back in his chair with a leg thrown gracefully over the arm of it. “Borghese gala went well. Hospitals are well stocked. Everything on myend is perfect, really.”

Of fucking course it was. Apollo had made it out of the merge mercilessly unscathed, the chance solidarity in his line protecting him.

But I moved on, letting the roll of my shoulders cut the tension in my chest.

Lukas cut in, sitting up straight in his chair. “I would venture to say things are perfect on my end as well. We’ve had a rich fall and…” he said, trailing off and nodding at Daphne.

Shit. I was planning on doing this at the beginning. “Right,” I said, clearing my throat. “Let’s formally welcome Lady Poseidon.”

Sabina Minerva just about jumped out of her chair, she was clapping so hard for her, the sound complimented by the rest of the light applause. That was another loss. Even though Lukas would probably kill me for thinking of it as such, especially when the alternative would have prevented Daphne from marrying him, but the Athena line was another death on my hands.

“Thank you,” Daphne said, smiling brightly. She’d settled into her role seamlessly. “Like Lukas said, winter prep should go smoothly.” She moved us effortlessly right back to business. I’d be thanking her for that one.