Chapter 8

8

L averna spotted Eris sitting at their favorite café on the Viale Vaticano and people watching. It was a short distance to the entrance of the Vatican Museum, and the lines were already stretching down and around the corner.

Eris liked to languish in the chaos of tourists, but mostly, she liked to seduce the young and handsome priests who also frequented the café.

She had always told Laverna she loved corrupting them the most because so many were left in such turmoil afterward. It was sex and a power charge all at once.

Eris didn't seem to have seduction on her mind because she was dressed toned down in black trousers, a button-up shirt of purple silk, and a leather blazer. She was still stunning though. Her long raven hair piled up effortlessly, and her dark eyes lined like those of a sexy Egyptian pharaoh.

"Behaving yourself today, sister?" Laverna greeted her and bent down to kiss both her cheeks.

Eris smirked. "As much as I can." Her curse meant that she caused chaos wherever she went, whether she wanted to or not.

Laverna looked around at the busy but relatively calm café. "You are doing a good job of it."

"It's why I was in Egypt. Isis has been looking into the curse for me, and I've managed to build up my control of it for two hours before fights break out around me," Eris replied, her eyes brightening.

Laverna reached across the table and squeezed her hand. "That's great news! I'm so glad you are trying to find an answer for it again."

Eris let out a sigh. "Well, I started talking to people again, didn't I? Hades has been letting me stay in Elysium whenever I need to have a break because my curse doesn't work in his realm. Hermes can't resist a challenge, and he's already working on Dionysus's curse, so he's studying mine too. Thoth and Isis got involved, and now I'm having to work on my issues whether I want them to or not."

" La nostra famiglia. " Laverna laughed loud enough to make heads turn. "You have to love their enthusiasm."

They ordered Spritz and pasta, and it wasn't until they had their drinks that Eris's expression turned serious. "Okay, Laverna, tell me about Rom and the witches."

"Both are trouble." Laverna recapped the past few days, starting with finding the bodies of her murdered people and ending with the update that Romulus had given her. She left out the part about him going wolfy because she felt like that loss of control was told to her in confidence, and she didn't think he would want anyone to know about his weakness. It was a miracle he had told her.

Eris ordered another round of drinks. "It's nice to see you and Rom playing nice with each other for once, despite the circumstances."

"I don't know if what we are doing is what I would consider playing nice," Laverna said vaguely, poking at the piece of orange in her drink. Heat burned on her neck at the space where he had kissed the day before.

Eris snorted. "I've said it more than once, but you two really need to fuck and get it over with. You both would feel a lot better."

"Yeah, never going to happen," Laverna said a little too quickly. "My standards are too high, and I'm the only woman he's never wanted."

"Ah, huh. If you two would stop bitching at each other for five seconds, you might see how much you are alike," Eris replied with a roll of her pretty eyes.

"You are such a liar." Laverna laughed. "Stop trying to cause chaos and eat your fucking ravioli."

They ate and turned the topic to Eris's work with Isis on controlling her curse. Laverna's mind was still on what she had said about her and Romulus being alike.

Preposterous . If that were the case, they wouldn't have been at each other's throats since the moment they met.

Stop thinking about throats . The sooner she forgot what had happened in the mud the day before, the better. Romulus getting dirty played havoc with a part of her she wasn't going to acknowledge.

"I'll put out my feelers and see what I can find out about witch activity, but I won't stay in the city. Rome can't handle my curse and witches right now. Not to mention whatever is happening between you and Rom," Eris said as Laverna walked her back to her car. Eris hugged her tight. "Don't get caught by the witches. I've seen what the humans did to Medea, and I couldn't handle anything like that happening to you or Rom."

"Don't worry. We will have each other's backs on this, just like last time," Laverna assured her and grinned. "If anyone is going to take Romulus apart, it's going to be me."

"I bet he will enjoy every minute of it too." Eris's smile was so wicked a cyclist crashed into a pedestrian beside them. The chaos wasn't Eris's fault, but it still made Laverna laugh every time.

"Get out of here before you make the traffic in the city worse than what it already is," she said and waved her goodbye.

Laverna's phone buzzed, and she fumbled for it in her pockets. She huffed out an annoyed breath when she saw it was Rom again.

Did the Vatican survive you two?

"How does he know where we are?" Laverna grumbled.

Better than fine. We are about to teach two hot priests about my favorite deadly sin , she shot back.

I'm pretty sure they already know about greed, little thief.

Oh, it's not greed.

Better not be lust.

None of your business if it is.

Rome doesn't need you corrupting the clergy right now.

Why are you so determined to ruin all my fun? Laverna really didn't have the energy to be seducing priests, but she was curious as to why he would care.

Somehow, I don't think virgins would be up to the challenge of you.

Laverna snorted back her laughter even as her insides heated. He wasn't wrong after all. I go by quantity to make up for it.

Romulus just sent her back an eye-rolling emoji that made Laverna cackle more. Maybe she would get him to move the stick out of his ass just a bit by the time they were through with the witches. Maybe .

Laverna's good mood lasted until she got back to her reception area in the catacombs and saw the pile of paperwork that had been assembled by Roberto. She grimaced, but she wasn't about to complain. It turned out that a lot of people had seen weird shit happening around Rome.

Laverna sent a minion to get her coffee and sat down at the table. Only weeks ago, she had drunk wine there with a very pissed-off Bellona. She wished she could call on her to come and help deal with the witches, but she wouldn't. Bellona had been through enough, almost losing Rafael, and it was better for her to stay with him and not get involved in another fight.

Laverna opened the folder and started going through the scraps of paper with hand-scrawled notes of sightings, a few typed letters, three posters for missing children, and photos taken on phones and printed off by Roberto.

She scanned through the information, her stomach churning the more she read about pets found mutilated and family graves desecrated. It had been happening for months under their noses, and neither she nor Romulus had noticed.

Laverna shuffled through the photos until one caught her eye, and she let out a feral hiss. She had cut her long, copper hair to her shoulders and was dressed in a fashionable navy-blue jumpsuit, but there was no mistaking her—Canidia. Romulus and the wolves hadn't been wrong about the origin of the magic they smelled. Laverna's secret hope that the witch was dead, and they were dealing with followers of her, shriveled up under the evidence.

Laverna grabbed her phone, took a copy of the photo, and sent it to Romulus.

Your girlfriend is back.

Romulus's response was almost instantaneous: For the last time, she was never my girlfriend. I refused to fuck her and join forces to rule the city, and that's why she caused so many problems last time. I'll send this image out to the wolves and my contacts in the police .

You do that. I'll find out where the picture was taken.

Laverna texted the picture out to all her people who carried a phone and told them to keep a lookout for her. She was starting to believe that Romulus might never have fucked the witch. She didn't know why she even cared. Stupid witches. Stupid Romulus messing with her head. The sooner the both of them were out of her life, the better.

Laverna frowned at the uneasiness that filled her. The feeling turned to horror, and she leaned back in her chair and covered her face with her hands.

"Oh, no. You actually like him. No, no, no. No being friends with assholes," she muttered under her breath.

This was the worst thing that could happen to her because Romulus would only throw her friendship back in her face. He had always made it clear that she was beneath him. Whatever madness he was suffering from wouldn't last, and he would go back to despising her.

"You are just lonely. It will pass. It always does," she reassured herself and buried herself back in the reports.