Page 46 of Left Hand of the Divine
I blanched. “I didn’t tell you that.”
Her eyes went wide. “Oh, sorry. You projected that picture loud and clear. Normally, I don’t go looking around people’s heads, but I didn’t need to with that image.”
“Huh?”
Avery chuckled. “I have a mild telepathy ability. Comes in useful when detecting lies.”
“And images for your wank bank, apparently,” I sassed, but I was mildly impressed. It was rare to meet a shifter who could read minds. I leant across the table and lowered my voice. “But seriously, how amazing were those grey sweatpants?”
“Fucking fire.” Avery kissed the tips of her fingers in a chef’s kiss. “I am jealous, girl, and sweet Gods—”
“Enough,” Jefferson said before shuddering. “We don’t need to know. This isn’t a social gathering.”
“Oh, lighten up, Jeffrey baby,” Avery crooned.
“Don’t call me that,” he snapped.
There was definitely something going on between those two, and if there wasn’t, there should be. Those two were cute together. I’m not completely sure how a relationship with a ghost would work, with ghosts not being solid all the time, but I had heard stories of some ghosts having wonderful relationships with the living, so it must work. Maybe they put all their energyinto making their dick solid so they could have sex? But they didn’t have any blood, so how did they get an erection?
“What on earth are you thinking about, kitten?” Atticus whispered by my ear as Jefferson and Avery continued to squabble.
“Why?”
He leaned closer, and his lips brushed my earlobe. “Because you look like you’re constipated and turned on at the same time.”
A snort flew out my nose so fast that it turned into a sputtering cough. Atticus, the asshole, laughed at me, and everyone else in the room stared at me like I’d grown another head.
“Are you alright?” Thane asked, his brows pinched in concern.
“Yep,” I replied, slamming my fist on my chest to dislodge the air bubble I was choking on. “I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine,” Daire said as he leaned towards me over the table.
“Honestly, I’m good,” I finally managed to say without coughing up a lung. I shot Atticus a death stare, then turned back to Lazarra. “Look, I’m grateful that you’ve closed the investigation on Thane, really I am, but what are you going to do about the God Killer or the person creating it? Is it even possible?”
“Roux, we have access to the world's most important texts, artefacts and more, and we have no known source stating that the God Killer could, or does, exist.” Lazarra said, and my heart dropped. “Except one.”
Rory opened another file—seriously, where was he pulling these from?—and pulled out a high-resolution image of a scrap of paper. It was literally a fragment, with nothing on it but a few words.
I pulled the image closer towards me. “What is this?”
Lazarra sank back into her chair and crossed one leg over the other. “We believe that this is all that remains of the diary of the mortal who tried to create the God Killer for Hera during her last rebellion against Zeus.”
“Who was he?” Thane asked as he leaned closer.
“Who said it was a ‘he’?” Avery said, a smug grin on her face.
“You know, I don’t really remember much from back then,” Thane said, his voice soft and his eyes glazed as if he were trying to recall a memory. “I rarely left the Underworld, and I wasn’t interested in the Olympians. I heard about Hera’s little rebellion, of course, but I couldn’t find it in myself to care. Maybe I should have? I might know a bit more about this whole thing.”
“Don’t be too hard on yourself,” I said to Thane. “We can figure it out together.”
He nodded but it was half-hearted, and his eyes glazed over as he lost himself to memories. Knowing Thane, he’d be wandering in that cavernous mind of his for a while.
“Does he always do that?” Avery asked as she waved her hand in front of his face.
“Yep. Sometimes he gets lost in there for days,” I said as I returned my attention to the scrap of paper. “Is this in the Infernal Tongue?”
“It is,” Rory replied. “Can you read it, or do you need a translation?”
