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Bellona cut him off. "No way. I'm not taking you to another property you own. They will know how to find you too easily there."
Rafael grabbed the dash as she zoomed past a truck. "Then where are you taking me?"
Bellona knew there was only one place that would be safe for him, where she could guarantee to keep him that way and calm her ratcheting anxiety. "I'm taking you home."
6
Rafael didn't know what to expect from a war goddess's apartment. A part of him hoped that she would take him to some ancient temple that had somehow remained hidden in the middle of Rome for centuries. He voiced the comment to Bellona, and she made an unladylike snort that could have been amusement or annoyance.
"No temple. No Bellonari to tend to it," she replied, her eyes not leaving the road.
"If you get me through this in one piece, I'll build you one," Rafael said. He wasn't kidding either.
He had hoped that the bounty Cino and Tirone put out on him was to frighten him, that the heavies would come and make threats. It wasn't until he was hiding behind Bellona that the reality of the situation hit him. It hurt. Cino and Tirone had been like uncles to him. Never in a million years did Rafael believe they would want to kill him.
Bellona drove through the streets of Trastevere that Rafael knew well.
"You live here?" he asked when she pulled up in front of an elegant, white apartment block.
"Yes, why? Is there a problem?" Bellona demanded. "Why are you smiling?"
"My place is three streets that way," Rafael pointed. "We've practically been neighbors for years."
"Fucking Fates," Bellona grumbled and drove under the building.
If she was surprised, she wasn't showing it. Rafael supposed she hadn't been thinking of him over the years the same way he had been thinking of her. How many people did she save from bad guys every week? It was just another day for her.
Bellona took the stairs, and Rafael followed without complaint. He got to look at her lush, perfect peach of an ass all the way up. Bellona opened the door to her apartment and pushed a bag out of the way.
"Watch your step," she said, turning on the warm lights in the black wrought iron chandeliers.
"Were you going somewhere?" Rafael asked, looking at the tags on the battered bag.
"Coming back. I'd just arrived from Tangier when you called," Bellona said. She looked over her shoulder at him. "Don't touch anything."
It was a warning Rafael didn't need, but when he reached the central part of the apartment, his hands itched to touch everything. Part museum, part gallery, the walls and bookshelves were full of weapons and artifacts from different periods. Amongst them were portraits of Bellona ranging from a mosaic floor piece that had somehow been set and become a hanging piece of art to oil paintings, large daguerreotypes, sculptures, and a modern snapshot of her and Persephone Acheron with two babies.
"You know the Acherons?" he asked, staring at the smiling women.
"Yes. Us old gods tend to stick together. No one understands what we have seen and been through."
Rafael leaned in to look closer at a photo of Bellona in army camo, a huge brown man with his arm around her shoulders. There was a thick jungle behind them and mud staining their combat boots.
"Big boyfriend of yours?" Rafael asked, trying to hide his disappointment at the prospect.
Bellona smiled. "No, my best friend. That's Set. God of war and protection. He's from the Egyptian side of the family."
"Ah, 'Call Set.' That makes more sense now." Rafael took a moment to stare at the photo again. They were in the middle of a war zone and looked happy. He supposed for war gods, that would be the place they were most comfortable.
"Have you eaten?" Bellona asked, making Rafael look up.
"I haven't gotten that far tonight," he replied.
"Neither have I. Pasta okay?" Bellona headed into a kitchen, and Rafael followed.
"Pasta would be perfect. Can I do anything to help?"
"No, I have it. The guest room is that way if you want to shower."
