Chapter Three #2
“Yeah, we’ll be there,” Apollo called out before turning back to Geri. “Are you ready?” he asked, holding her face with his hands. “I have a feeling you’re going to become immortal.”
“Really?” she whispered.
“Yeah. Otherwise, Hades wouldn’t have been furious with our having sex here,” he wriggled his eyebrows. “If he had bad news, he would’ve left us alone.”
Apollo couldn’t stop grinning as he watched her laugh, her eyes glowing—the same eyes that had undone him from the start. She was his mate, his match, and through their bond, he felt the truth of it: she loved him completely, and the feeling burned bright enough to light up eternity.
“I love you,” she said, voice soft and certain.
“There it is,” he teased. “The eyes literally shining with love.” He gave a playful snap of his fingers, summoning their clothes back into place. “I love you, too.”
When she tiptoed up to kiss him, he met her halfway, savoring the softness of her lips.
“I’m ready, let’s go,” she murmured.
In the next instant, he flashed them both into Hades’ office. He glanced around, noting Grannie and Persephone, the queen of the underworld and Geri’s best friend, lounging on one of the big, overstuffed couches while Hades sat behind his towering wooden desk.
“Looks like you took my advice, Apollo.” The older woman winked. “I told you she needed a good distraction.”
“Oh yeah, I did,” he winked back. “It was a good, hard distracting–”
“You told him to do that?” Geri asked her grandmother.
“Well, hopefully, I didn’t have to tell him everything,” she shot back with a grin.
“Er, can we please find out what happened at the council meeting?” Persephone interjected, then looked at her husband.
Geri twined her fingers with his, and they turned to Hades.
“Well, Hades?” Apollo said. “Tell us what happened.”
The god of the underworld still looked pissed but took a breath before speaking, “Do you want the good news or bad news first?”
“Good,” Geri said before Apollo could say anything.
“Well, the good news is that the council voted in your favor. They’ve granted you permission to eat the golden apple.”
“Oh, thank fuck.” Geri sucked in the breath. “But if that’s the good news, what’s the bad?”
“There are certain conditions and rules you must follow, but most are the same ones we gods live with. But they also added one more requirement, which they have never asked anyone in all the millennia I’ve been on the council.”
“And what’s this requirement?” Apollo groaned.
“As you know, eating the golden apple of immortality will effectively turn Geri into one of us—a goddess, who will share in your power. She must shed her humanity and truly learn what it means to be immortal. So, they have stipulated one requirement from you: you must live in Olympus for an entire year, without leaving.”
“No…leaving?” Geri glanced over at Grannie. “But what about your realm? I can still visit, right?”
Hades shook his head. “No, you must live in Olympus for an entire year straight. You cannot leave for any reason, not even for emergencies, and you can’t just add a few extra days to make up for any time spent away.”
“But that’s not fair,” she protested. “They didn’t ask Persephone’s father to do that.”
“His case was special,” Hades pointed out. “He’d been unjustly trapped in that realm for thousands of years because of Zeus.”
“One year isn’t so bad,” Apollo said, squeezing her hand. “You’ll have everything you need back in Olympus, at my place. You’ll make some new friends, too.”
“And as a goddess, I can visit, and so can my mother,” Persephone pointed out.
“But what about Grannie?” She bit her lip. “I just got her back.”
“And I’ll be here for the rest of eternity,” her grandmother chuckled. “Geri, one year is nothing. And think about it: once you are an immortal, we’ll have all that time together.”
Geri pursed her lip. “I guess that’s fine.”
“It’s settled then.” Apollo gave her a kiss on the mouth. “When does the one-year start?”
“The moment you bring her to Olympus,” Hades said. “Once you bring her there, she can’t leave.”
“I’ll need some time,” Geri said.
“Of course, take all the time you need,” Apollo said. “Well, not all the time. I mean, the sooner we do it, the sooner we can have the year over.”
“I have so much to take care of, my apartment, my stuff, the shop–”
“I can help out some days,” Persephone offered. “And well, I’m sure Adonis will appreciate the extra hours.”
“My brother will want to have some kind of mating ceremony in front of the pack.”
“Mating ceremony?” Apollo asked. “Is that like. . .a wedding?”
“Kinda? It’s an informal thing, really, just a few words and vows exchanged to welcome you into the pack.”
Hades cleared his throat. “That’s the other requirement, by the way. You must be officially married in order for you to eat the apple.”
“Married?” Geri blinked. “Like, in front of a priest and all?”
“Or whatever type of ceremony you wish, as long as it’s binding and official,” the god of death said.
“What, you don’t want to be married?” Apollo said, and he couldn’t stop the pang of hurt that vibrated through him.
“What? Oh no, not at all.” She gripped his forearms. “I love you. Of course, I want to be married to you. But I don’t know if you want to, and you haven’t asked,” she said with a chuckle. “I didn’t want to assume—,”
He held up his hand and opened it to reveal a red velvet box, which snapped open to reveal a beautiful diamond ring.
“Apollo?”
“I was waiting for the right time,” he said sheepishly. “And I guess this is the rightest time. So, Geri, will you marry me?”
Apollo felt a surge of emotion rush up inside him, too big to hold back. It spilled across their bond, pouring into him—warmth, love, fierce devotion, all tangled together. He watched her eyes go soft, lips parting as if searching for words.
And then she whispered just one.
“Yes.”