Page 351 of Sins of the Heart
at her door.
Roxy took the front stairs two at a time, crossed the
wide porch and raised her hand to knock. Before her
knuckles could hit wood, the door swung open.
“That’s creepy.” She dropped her hand.
“I’d think you’d be used to it by now.” Calliope
pulled the door fully open and stepped back in invitation. “You disappeared for three days without checking in,” she said, her gaze intent.
“I’ve disappeared for longer than that before.”
“True. But right now there are—” Calliope paused, as
though weighing her choice of words “—circumstances
that made your disappearance a cause for concern.”
“But you won’t tell me what those circumstances
are.”
“No.”
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“See, that’s exactly the problem. You tell me nothing.
I have no tools to work with. I go in blind and unprepared.”
“It’s safer that way.”
“For who? Not for me—”
“Actually, yes. For you. You can’t be held accountable for things you don’t know. I’m protecting you.”
Roxy threw her hands up in frustration. “I need to
protectmyself.And if I don’t know what’s going on,
how am I supposed to do that?”
Her expression betraying none of her thoughts,
Calliope pulled the door open a little wider.
“There are huge chunks of information I don’t have
leave to reveal,” she said. “But I can tell you this.
There’s a meeting of the gods of the Underworld three
days hence. It’s a strategic and logistic nightmare involving the exchange of hostages as blood guarantors.
