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“I’m not stuck in shit.” I was done with witty retorts and graceful diversions. I wrenched my wrist out of his hold and side stepped around him.

“Come on, Daphne,” Renato said, snatching up my hand. “Let me show you what a real man can do for you.”

The onlyrealman I had any interest in was Lukas. Who in the span of a second, somehow appeared in front of me and was shoving Renato back, pushing him into the railing.

“Oh, here we go!” Renato laughed, just as Lukas’s hand grabbed his collar. “Wonder what the big, bad god is going to do with me?”

Lukas pushed him back further, enough to send ripples out in the water from the force of it. Renato didn’t seem even remotely fazed, too wasted to care.

“I don’t know how dumb you are,” Lukas growled. “But she was telling you to fuck off.”

“Lukas!” I gasped. Renato was being an ass, but he was a Romulus. The only family powerful enough to make a god tread lightly.

“She liked it,” Renato slurred right into Lukas’s face. “Let me go and you’ll see.”

Lukas let him go but stayed crowding him against the railing. “You have about thirty seconds to get out of here.”

“Or what?” Renato asked, hiccupping in the middle and taking away all of his credibility.

I could only see Lukas’s muscled back but could almost picture his face darkening as he said, “Or I’m going to mop the fucking floor with you.”

His tone was scary enough, but whatever was on his face sent Renato scurrying away in seconds.

I was still in a bit of shock from the whole thing, only able to mutter, “Lukas…”

Lukas turned and I sucked in a breath. He looked furious. “What, Daphne?”

“That might cause problems.” Renato had a big mouth, and I was sure he was going to run back to his skeevy friends and spin the whole thing to make me look like the one who approached him.

“I don’t really give a fuck,” Lukas said, his voice sounding thin. Like it was on the verge of snapping. “He touched you when you said no.”

My stomach dropped. Becauseofcourseit was just about honor and duty. Not jealousy, like I’d been foolishly hoping was the reason.

“We should go back inside,” I said, my voice cracking on the last syllable. Damnit.

Lukas didn’t miss it for a second, his brows pinching together. “Are you okay?”

“Fine,” I said, moving around him to walk toward the doors.

I could hear Lukas following me, but I refused to look back at him. The last thing I wanted to see on his face was concern. Lukas protecting me out of duty scorched my skin raw.

I walked through the doors to the small sitting room off the ballroom and almost fled when I saw Renato again. I didn’t have to, I realized, because he was slumping into a couch. I stepped forward to get a better view and saw a woman standing next to him, with her thumb pressed into the side of his neck.

Once he was fully sprawled out on the couch, she unfurled a small blanket and draped it across his form.

“Idiot,” she cursed under her breath, before straightening and righting her clothes. Smoothing out her bright orange dress.

I could do nothing but let out a breathy laugh at the scene. “Reyna.”

She turned and her face lit up with a smile. “To the rescue,” she said, bringing two fingers up to salute me.

I matched her smile, relief spreading through my chest at seeing her. “What are you doing here?”

Reyna cocked her head to the side, her lips breaking into a grin. “You invited me.”

Shit. Did I? Well the whole Romulus family was invited, but I didn’t personally tell her. “I…uh.”

“Well, you said any time. And when I found out Renato was coming, I figured this was any time.” Reyna had a way of speaking that was so light and quick it was like listening to the sound of a bird flapping its wings.