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“You’re in serious danger, and I’m here to bring you to Seth’s temple. It’s important to him that you’re protected.”

“Now.”

“Yes.”

“I mean why now? It’s only important to him that I’m protected now? Where was he twenty years ago when kids were beating me up after school because I had weird eyes? They used to say my mom must have fucked a white guy because why else would I have such light eyes? Where was Seth then, huh? Might have been nice to be able to tell them my daddy was a god instead. Fuck.” He shrugged my hand off. “Or when we had no money for food and I was taking care of myself so the people who raised me could work double shifts at shit jobs to pay our rent. No, you don’t get to come here now and tell me my real father is a god. Fuck you, and fuck him, and fuck this.”

Yeah, playing therapist totally wasn’t a job I was equipped for.

“Leo, I really don’t know what to say. My parents dumped me at Seth’s temple on my seventh birthday because I was born with his mark. I haven’t seen them since. I have…” I stopped myself short. His emotional outburst had pushed me to a point where I almost said more than I meant to. “I don’t have a family. I don’t have friends. Not normal friends anyway. So I don’t know how to make this better.”

“As if you could fix it with a couple nice words? Lady, you are fucked in the head.”

“Yeah, and you’re kind of an asshole when you’re emotional.”

He pulled himself up to his whole height, projecting menace from every pore. It took him one big step to stand in front of me and look down on me with a menacing glare. His anger was like a weight trying to force me down, but as of this moment I was done being pushed around by outsiders. I had enough of that from Seth, and I wasn’t going to lie down and take it.

“Get out,” he snarled.

“No.”

“Get out, or I will throw you off the fucking balcony.”

This guy was a big fan of the physical-violence threats, wasn’t he? Like I was so imposing he needed to resort to convincing me how tough he was. I was totally quaking in my boots.

“I’m not going anywhere without you. Someone wants to kill you, and it’s my duty to make sure that doesn’t happen. Your hurt feelings don’t factor into my job performance. Seth doesn’t care, he just wants you safe.”

“Safe.” He snorted. “Like that matters to him.”

I was already missing the nice guy from the bathroom. That Leo had been a lot more reasonable.

“You’re an idiot. The goddess of death herself wants you dead, and you’re going to cry about your daddy issues. I should let her have you.”

Leo eyed me warily, seeming to weigh the merit of my words. For the first time since I’d mentioned the night road in the bathroom, he looked rightly nervous. “You’re not a very nice person.” The deep, intimidating bass of his voice was gone, and the soft, charming accent had returned.

“No, I’m not. Didn’t you hear the part where I said I don’t have any friends?”

“Not all that surprising if this is your approach to socializing.”

“Are you going to let me help you?” I asked.

“I haven’t decided yet.”

“Then can you at least take me for beignets while you mull it over?”

Chapter Seventeen

My fingers were so coated with icing sugar it looked like I’d gone on a cocaine bender with Pablo Escobar.

Leo, for his part, was somewhere between impressed and appalled while watching me eat.

I got that a lot.

“I’ve seen linebackers who eat less than you. Like…NFL linebackers.”

“I doubt any linebackers you know made a three-hundred-and-fifty-mile trip in five minutes flat. Don’t food shame me.” I licked the film of sugar off my fingers and pushed away my second plate of traditional beignets. After taking a sip of my chicory coffee, I let out a small, contented sigh.

At least now I wouldn’t slap him upside the head without really good cause.

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