(Apollo)
Adelaide did not stir as he moved around her. Not yet. But the bond tightened all the same, faint and instinctive, as if some deeper part of her knew exactly who was watching.
Apollo stood before her in stillness that was anything but calm. The storm inside him did not howl. It compressed. Every thought sharpened, each one circling the same truth from different angles: someone had interfered. Someone had stepped into a space that was not theirs.
Jealousy was not the absence of control. It was the need to prove it had never been lost. Every inch of him vibrated with it. With rage, jealousy, hunger, and obsession. A storm of emotion coiled so tightly inside his chest it felt carved into his ribs.
She looked smaller when she slept. Not weak. He would never mistake her for that. B
