Page 82 of The Deeper Game
Odin came in on the other side of me, grabbed the back of my head, and kissed me on the cheek. “Goddess,” he said, cramming halfway into Zeus. “I’m so sorry,” he said when our gazes locked. “We were suchfucking-gfools, hypnotized by the jewels and vengeance.”
“But you came,” I said.
“We should’ve never left,” Odin said, eyeing my chin. “There is sofucking-gmuch we should’ve seen.”
“Forgive us.” Zeus slid a gentle palm over my shoulder, his expression a strange mixture of joy and grief. “You are more precious than anything in that bank,” he said. “And we almost lost you. Do you know what that would’ve done? Do you know how much we love you, goddess?”
For once I was speechless.
Thor took my hand. “We love you. We realized we’d never even told you that while we were racing over here.”
My heart nearly flew out of my chest.
“We love you. I love you,” Thor said.
“Ifucking-glove you beyond anything,” Odin said.
“I love you, too,” I said, looking from Thor to Zeus to Odin. “I love all of you and each of you. Like wildfire.”
Odin’s voice sounded gravelly, serious. “We don’t deserve that love right now—”
“You’re wrong,” I said. “You always do.”
“No, Odin’s right,” Zeus said. “We don’t deserve it right now. But we are going to spend however long it takes making this up to you.”
“Because you are everything precious to us,” Odin said.
My eyes went to the rock pile. “Manning—”
“He’s dead,” Zeus said.
“Good,” I whispered.
“We ripped him apart. Literally,” Zeus growled. “Odin ripped his guts out.”
I shifted my eyes to Odin and I knew from his expression that it was true. Also, his black shirt was wet with blood. Zeus’s clothes were bloody, too.
“You want to see his body?” Zeus asked.
“Umm…that’s okay,” I said. “I’m just going to believe you.”
He looked disappointed. “But it might be good, psychologically, to have seen his corpse with your own eyes so you know deep down that he can’t hurt you again.”
It was sweet, but also a little bit morbid. “That’s okay.”
Zeus’s expression hardened. “Nobody fucks with the God Pack.”
“Right,” I said, feeling a sudden hopelessness at the reminder of their lust for vengeance.
“No, it’s different now,” Odin said. “Vengeance needs to be a choice, not a compulsion.”
“Except for killing Manning,” Zeus said. “That was kind of a compulsion for me, but now that he’s dead, vengeance can be a choice.”
“So we’re going to the island?” I teased. “To retire in splendor?”
“No,” Zeus said. “That still sounds just sad. The point is, we’re not the bitches of vengeance anymore.”
“Never again,” Thor said.
