Page 54 of Queen of Tempests and Sin

‘Shenanigans?’ Si coughed a laugh, but a crease formed between his brows. ‘Please… Enlighten me.’

‘Gladly.’ She leaned forward, eyes narrowing. ‘The gods are renowned for creating unhealthy power dynamics. They thrive on control. In a relationship, this would probably lead to manipulation, dependency, and subservience. Textbook toxic.’ She pointed at me. ‘That would be detrimental to your well-being, Cordie.’ And there’s the fifty-year-old Guinn.

‘You’re trusting a possessive god you literally just tried to assassinate,’ she finished with exasperation as she threw up her hands. I hated losing arguments to hormonal teenagers who thought they knew everything… but she did sort of have a point. Si’s brows were now almost lost in his hairline.

‘You clearly have a low opinion of the gods, Guinn,’ Si said, his smirk nowhere to be found.

‘You’re a load of self-important jackasses. Well… some of you,’ she amended with a shrug. ‘Jury’s out on you… But you circle her like some lovesick vulture.’ She nodded at me. ‘Which is weird. But I’m watching you.’ She jabbed her finger at him, then turned to me. ‘Don’t let a man’s dick rule you, Cordie. You rule you.’

‘Any more words of wisdom, oh wise one?’ I rolled my eyes, but her words jabbed at my conscience. Was I really letting Si dictate too much?

No... Not dictate. But gods, every time he looked at me like I belonged to him, my body went rogue. I didn’t want to be subservient. It wasn’t in my nature, but with him? Hell, I sure as hell wanted him to take control. It was getting harder not to give in.

‘Wow. Looks like someone came down with a case of assholes this morning,’ Si muttered, taking a sip of his coffee.

‘You came down with a case of assholery topped with a hint of dickface,’ Guinn said under her breath.

I gave her a chastising look and pointed a finger. ‘No. Swearing!’

‘Omg, you swear all the time.’ Her cheeks stained red.

‘That’s because I’m a surly adult. I’ve earned it. And don’t be disrespectful to Poseidon.’

She gave a theatrical “ugh”and folded her arms.

‘I’d listen to her,’ Si whispered to Guinn with a playful smirk. ‘She scares the shit out of me.’

Guinn released a dramatic sigh and turned to him. ‘Are you whipped?’ The smile dripped off his face, but his eyes worryingly darkened, the flicker of ancient storms churning behind them. She snatched a pastry and jumped up, stalking by with balled fists.

‘She has a colourful personality,’ I said with a wince, shooting him an apologetic half-shrug, feeling concerned about his volatile temper and Guinn’s safety.

‘Much like her sister,’ he replied, grabbing another pastry, looking somewhere between pissed off and slightly amused.

‘You okay?’ I asked softly as Guinn slammed her door.

He didn’t answer right away. His gaze was unreadable. ‘She’s not wrong about everything.’

‘Which part?’

‘The part where I’m circling you.’

My pulse skipped. ‘Creep.’

‘Claimed,’ he corrected softly as he looked down. ‘But sure. Let’s go with creep, if it makes you feel better.’ Si’s eyes met mine over his steaming cup of coffee, and something in my stomach flipped. ‘So… what are your plans today?’

‘I think we’re doing some training with Persephone, then I’m taking Guinn to meet Simmy at the library. She still needs to study, and he said he’d help.’

‘You said she’s training in IT?’

‘Yes. Drakos had her working for him in her spare time. She was designing and building as well as learning to manage the network infrastructure and security. She’s smart as a whip.’

‘Do you think she’d like to spend time with Theseus? He’s an IT whizz. She’d learn a lot.’

I grinned. ‘I’m pretty sure she’d love that!’

‘He’ll pop by later. I’d best be going.’ He stood, piled the breakfast dishes onto a large tray, winked at me, and disappeared in a flash of seafoam and mist.

Si Thalassa was a contradiction in every way. One minute, he was laughing over pastries with my sister. The next, his eyes were cold storms from a forgotten age.