(Apollo & Adelaide)
“You’re not what I thought,” Adelaide whispered.
The confession slipped between them like a secret escaped. She sounded almost angry at herself for saying it.
Apollo stared at her. Steam curled around her head, turning her hair into a dark halo. The golden glow from the water below lit her face from beneath, casting soft shadows under her jaw and across her mouth.
Not what she thought.
He wasn’t sure what she’d expected. A monster that never stopped biting. A tyrant that never loosened his grip. A god that only took.
He was all of those things.
And yet—here he was. In a bath. Thumb brushing the cheek of a girl who should have been broken and wasn’t.
His chest tightened further. The sensation felt unfamiliar enough to be almost alien.
He m
