Page 16 of A Crown of Hopes and Sorrows

Apollo ambled up, wrapping his arm around my waist. “So, what do we have left to do?”

“Would you come with me?”

His brow furrowed, but he bobbed his head, and I tangled our fingers together and led him into the palace and up the stairs and into my room. Once I closed the door, I pushed him against it, parting his lips with mine, yanking his hips against me.

He laughed against my mouth. “We have a couple hours left to get ready, and this is how you want to spend it?” He sunk his teeth into the dip where my neck met my shoulder, and I groaned. “Not that I’m complaining, but it intrigues me.”

I sighed and pressed my forehead against his. A bad feeling had draped over me that morning, and I needed some time alone where I felt safe, and soon that would be ripped away as well. “I hate that we have to pretend on this trip not to be together. It’s going to kill me, I’m sure of it.”

The veil over Apollo’s eyes slipped, and his irises glowed golden, his voice dropping low and husky. “It will only feel that way.”

“Also,” I whispered, tucking my face down against his neck, “I worry that I’ll lose you. If not with something else, then with your ascension.”

Apollo breathed against me, wrapping his arms around my waist, and kissed the edge of my jaw.

But he didn’t speak.

He didn’t offer false promises.

After all, he didn’t like to lie.

“I’m all yours at this moment, Prince,” he whispered, breaking the silence. “Have me now, and let the future worry about itself for the time being.”

I lifted my face and feathered my mouth over his. He pulled me to the bed, and we dropped together, our fingers peeling clothes away with reverence, like we unmasked the sacred, discovered the untouchable and clenched our greedy hands into it.

We made love the same way, not speaking, as if we never wished for the moment to end, like we’d hold each other into eternity in that manner, hide in the shadows and hope kings and gods forgot about our existence.

When I cried out, my head dropping back against the mattress, Apollo curled his arms around my waist and pulled me against him, resting his chin on my shoulder.

We lay there as the sun shifted over the panels of the wall, silhouettes of tree limbs growing smaller and dancing across the ceiling.

A clock chimed, and I sighed. “We need to get ready for lunch and say our goodbyes. We’ll leave soon.”

Apollo curled in tighter against me and kissed my neck.

And then he stood and tugged his clothes back on. The absence of his body next to mine sent a shock over my flesh, the cool air raising goosebumps along my skin.

I rose and dressed alongside him, but a bad feeling lingered like a chill I couldn’t shake.

7

Artemis

The horses clipped along, occasionally tossing their heads. Several of the guards sang a song together, the words lost in the wind, but the tune carried to where Valerian, Epiphany, and I trotted together. Epiphany’s cheeks held a touch of color, and she threw her head back, her dark curls swaying over the navy of her riding outfit.

“Excited?” I asked.

“Yes. But also… I don’t know… it’s more, I feel… free.” She sighed, and her lips parted into another smile. She turned to Valerian, who studied her. “What are you thinking?”

He hesitated for a moment, but then his expression fell back into the teasing one he sometimes donned. “I’m thinking free looks good on you.”

She bowed her head, her cheeks coloring again. And I fought an eye roll. I liked them both, but gods if they weren’t oblivious.

Gray clouds hovered over a shimmering lake. The rest of the world stretched flat and endless at the bottom of the valley. “Are there no more mountain ranges?”

“Ack,” Valerian said. “No. It will get flatter as we continue farther south. And warmer at that.”

“Those both sound like positive things to me.”