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Adrian stayed silent, but his hand flexed on my leg.I followed suit, content to sit in peace with him for the rest of the night, if we could. Somewhere along the way, though, we’d started talking. About everything and nothing at all, that familiar itch to tease him, to try whatever I could to make him laugh ever present.

I counted three full grins, a laugh caught in the back of his throat, and a half smile. And when he finished telling me a story about him and Persy almost singeing off their father’s eyebrows when they were younger and my head tipped back with a surprised laugh, I was sure I’d get a full, rare smile.

Until I heard a loud crash from somewhere to our left and that smile slammed down into a hard line, his mask slipping back into place.

He looked over first, and whatever he saw had his hand tightening around my leg, a dull pulse of electricity shooting up it. I followed his stare and sucked in a gasp, which didn’t seem to do anything but make the waves of power rolling off Adrian darken.

Damon had clearly descended into a stumbling state of drunkenness since we’d come over to this corner and something had snapped in him, sending him walking towards us on angry, but unsteady legs. Emre came out of the shadows, walking straight toward him, and I saw Titus fly out from behind a column after him. But they were too late.

My brother tried to stop him with a hand planted in the middle of his chest, but he brushed it off roughly, restarting his pursuit.

Adrian had gone stiff-backed, and I was thankful for his steady control this time, clinging onto him to weather whatever Damon was about to do. I could only hope it would embarrass him and leave me relativelyunscathed.

It was wishful thinking, clearly.

“Are you happy?” Damon sneered as he approached, alcohol sloshing over the rim of his glass.

“What?” I snapped.

Damon narrowed his eyes at me. Eyes I’d once—stupidly—found attractive. “Are. You. Happy? You waltz in here withhim,” he said, shooting Adrian a look of disdain that immediately made my hackles rise. “Flaunting whatever this is in front of me. Are you trying to make me jealous?”

I clenched my jawhard. “That would require me to have thought about you at all.”

Damon scoffed, moving his hand toward me. The one holding his glass, which made droplets of alcohol fly in my direction. I braced myself for the impact, expecting wet droplets to land on my face, but Adrian intercepted them, misting them into air before they could reach me.

It only served to redden Damon’s face further, his fury crawling over his collar. “You know what, I don’t care.” His leering gaze slid to Adrian, who was staring at him silently, like he wasn’t even affected by his presence. I could feel the tension in him, though.

I opened my mouth to saygood, but Damon cut me off. “You can have her,” he said to Adrian, like I was a piece of meat that could be passed between them. “It’s not like I would want her anyway.”

I tensed, bracing myself for what was likely coming next. The same words he’d slung at me when I’d ended our relationship. The same words he’d told anyone who would listen in the weeks following.

“What did you just say?” Adrian asked, his voice adeadly calm.

Damon, in his drunken state, seemed to miss the low threat in his tone. “You can have her for all I care,” he repeated and the lights in the room pulsed. I held on tighter to Adrian, feeling his power reverberate around us. “You can deal with her.”

Another pulse, a low hum of electricity coming with it.

Damon’s lip curled with disgust, giving me one last glare before he finished his verbal assault. “She has too many damn problems. And Zeus knows she’s not hot enough to deal with it.”

I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to ignore the pained clench of my heart. I knew it shouldn’t affect me, but he’dknownme.

My eyes flew open a second later, though, when Adrian’s hand slipped out of my hold.

“No,” I said low, even though it would do nothing. Adrian’s ever-strong control had already snapped.

His foot lifted and he kicked Damon right in the stomach, making him fall back on his ass with an appropriately terrified expression. Adrian stood from his chair, slowly buttoning his suit before stepping towards Damon. He tried to get up and scramble away, but Adrian’s dress shoe came down on his chest, pinning him to the floor.

Damon’s head snapped back with a sickening slap against the wood, already looking green in the gills.

I stood, stepping toward Adrian and reaching my hand out, only to pull it back to my side when a spark shot up my hand.

Damon’s father pushed through the crowd that had gathered then, stopping short when he saw thesituation.

“Damon,” he snapped at his son.

Adrian looked at the older man. “You’re his father?”

Damon’s father nodded quickly.