Chapter 15
Persy
I blinked and a month went by.
Time was slipping through my fingers like water, completely unable to stop it no matter what I did. The fact that it felt like that at all was a problem.
I should have been ecstatic. A lot had changed in a month.
Andrew had caved, walking away with a sizable chunk of money to do what he wanted with after he proved that he was spreading the word to Sebastian’s remaining family that this was over.
Sebastian had stopped freezing up when Penelope was brought up, and seemed marginally more inclined to reinstate heirs. The last time we’d talked about it, he’d said “I’m figuring out who is worthy,” with a handsome grin on his face instead of his usual, “Not happening.”
Two huge accomplishments based on the tasks I’d been assigned—cut off loose ends and bring back his heirs.
The problem was that I didn’t quite care about that. I was far more focused on the fact that Sebastian had privately upped his sessions with Calpurnia to twice a week. One time, he’d returned looking like he’d just been assaulted by pollen, his eyes were so red.
Or the fact that he spent long stretches of time with Penn, and that he was happier than I’d ever seen him since he arrived at Prometheus, finally finding something to help settle his mind.
Or that Nikolas and Kostas had come over for dinner twice. That there were days when I’d have no idea where Sebastian went for hours at a time, only to learn that he’d been doing something with Nikolas. A few days, Daphne had even joined in, stopping by my office or whatever part of Prometheus I was in to invite me to take a moment in the gardens or the marketplace with them.
I still didn’t think it was a very good idea to involve my brother at this stage. It seemed too raw.
And all that wasn’t even including how we were—well, we still spent a lot of time alone together. We’d made it through three books. We had dinner together every night. Breakfast most days, if he made it back from his morning session in the studio in time to catch me before I left for the day.
The problem was, I hadn’t realized how much time had slipped away until I’d made a passing comment to Nikolas about having five months left. He had to correct me that there were four, damn near three months left before Sebastian went back out into the world and left me—and I continued on here.
I still had so much left I wanted to do with him. There were so many aspects of his power that he needed to reconnect with, which was why I was standing in front of one of Apollo’s largest hospitals with a grumbling Sebastian in tow.
He squinted into the sunlight, dramatically covering his eyes with his hands. “It’s too fucking bright.”
“Oh, come on,” I said, tone light. “You love it. The sun already set in Prometheus.”
It was early afternoon, the time the sun should have been gone and away in my little corner of the world. I actually hadn’t noticed a sunset when we’d left, but I’d also dedicated most of my energy into trying not to shiver when his hand had settled over my lower back when we’d stepped through a portal.
Ever since that day with his uncle—who I had developed quite the visceral dislike for—where I’d accidentally grabbed his hand, we’d crossed the line into small touches. Nothing more than our hands brushing on the same thing or a tap on the shoulder or a hand on my back, but each one burned.
Fuck, did they burn.
I’d also internally started swearing, which was not a habit I engaged in often. I didn’t like the way it felt to say those words, often hard and crass on the tongue. I was learning there were certain situations where it was necessary to set aside that conviction.
Including, but not limited to now, when someone in a rush got a little too close on the street outside the hospital and Sebastian placed his hand on the base of my neck to help steady me.
The undeniable attraction I felt had shifted from inconvenient to unbearable. No matter how painful it got, there was nothing I could or would do about it.
“Let’s go inside,” Sebastian said, his hand remaining on my neck. “Before someone tramples both of us.”
I didn’t think that was physically possible, giving how imposing Sebastian was, but we did need to go inside. We were going in a side door, directly to hallways and offices reserved for doctors, nurses, and other staff. If we walked in the front door, we’d probably start a stampede of people rushing up to Sebastian for a moment of his time.
Sebastian held the door open for me, gesturing for me to go inside first. The narrow hallways made us walk so close together, I could feel the heat of his skin with every step.
I pretty much blacked out until we found the office we were going to—a doctor who had helped my mother’s friend through an illness. She was already outside waiting for us with a kind smile on her face, the apples of her cheeks pushing up the round frames of her glasses. “Persy, it’s lovely to see you.”
“You as well, Dr. Sophia.” She insisted I use her first name.
She turned to Sebastian then. I knew they’d likely met, if not were familiar with each other. What I did not expect for her to say was, “Sebastian, it’s nice to see you too. It’s been almost three months since your last visit. Long for you, don’t you think?”
Sebastian’s smile had taken on a new quality. No, no that couldn’t have been embarrassment I was seeing. “Happy to be back, regardless. How is everything?”
Dr. Sophia sighed, waving her hand in the air. “Same old. Everything is running well, but we could use your help on a few things.”
Adrian and I had talked about Sebastian stepping back into the public eye, reminding people that he was still very much their Apollo, and I’d come up with this meeting to manage both. I didn’t realize that had been redundant.
“I’m glad to hear my power is healthy,” Sebastian said as Dr. Sophia took off in a confident stride down the hallway.
With healing, Sebastian’s power fueled technologies and medicines that made treatments more effective and quicker, but there were always some injuries that were just too severe. As much as Apollo could heal, Pluto and Hades came for everyone eventually.
The only thing he could do was try to prevent an accident or a curable illness taking someone too soon.
“Very much so,” Dr. Sophia said, and I had to smother a smile when she waved a crowd of gaping doctors away from Sebastian. I really hadn’t realized how many people openly gawked at him. He was really handsome, but that didn’t mean other people needed to notice it. “I’m glad you came today. There’s a young girl, she was in a very bad accident, and our medicines aren’t working. It’s like trying to catch up to an animal sprinting away from you.”
I didn’t think I’d have to tell Sebastian that he would be helping, but there was a little jolt of shock that rang through my stomach regardless at his response. “Glad I could be here. Anything different?”
Dr. Sophia shook her head. “No. Nothing different. Though, again, I’m curious why you took this long of a break. You’re normally here every month.”
Wait, I didn’t know he came every month. I would have worked that into his schedule if I’d known. Oh no, if he’d missed the opportunity to heal someone because of me...
My thoughts were cut off when Sebastian’s hand descended on my back. Far lower than normal. Far closer to curling over my hip than normal. I didn’t know if he was aware of the spectacular spiral I was going down, but it made me stop thinking long enough to listen to what he was saying. “You know how to contact me if something is needed. Coy isn’t your normal style, Doctor.”
The breath I released was so heavy, it made me sway into Sebastian’s side. I reset myself immediately, remembering my place. Now that I was noticing it, the hallway was really crowded. He was probably just trying to move me out of the way.
That was just respectful, not anything about me.
I shook my head, resetting my smile.
Dr. Sophia crossed her arms over her chest, all business. “She’s in here.” Before I could ask, she looked at me. “You are welcome to come in as well, Persy.”
I nodded politely, following Sebastian and keeping a respectful distance. Once we were inside, the young girl’s mother shot up from the bed, her face going white when she realized there was a god in her midst. Then her eyes slid to me and went wild. “I swear she didn’t do anything. Someone hit her car, she had nothing to do with it. Please, please don’t take her.”
I forgot there were still people who thought Prometheus was nothing more than a prison, and that they associated me with it. I smiled gently. “I’m not here to take your daughter. She did nothing wrong. Lord Apollo wanted to see if he can help her.”
She settled, barely though. “Then why are you here?”
“She’s with me,” Sebastian said, voice hard and leaving no room for disagreement. The mother blinked at him, returning to her seat in a hunched over position.
Dr. Sophia was fiddling with a few tubes and monitors, making sure that the girl, far too young to be in this position, was okay. She looked really beaten up, limbs swollen and face bloody.
I thought Sebastian would go right to her, but he walked around the bed to the mother. “Do you mind if I touch you?” he asked her.
She looked up, brows drawn together in confusion. “No.”
Sebastian nodded once. Then he settled his hand on her shoulder and pressed down slightly. After a moment, the mother snapped straight, her hands flying to her lower back. “I—”
“You’ve been hunched over for too long,” Sebastian said, barely giving her a moment to get out a rushed thank you before he turned to the girl laying on the bed. The room was eerily silent as he leaned over her, passing his hand down her body a few inches off her form.
It was wrong, so, so wrong of me, but I wasn’t actually all that focused on what he was doing. I knew he’d heal her. I trusted him.
Apparently, that gave me leave to stare at his back, and the strength of his arms, as he tapped into one of the rawest parts of his power—the ability to heal. The muscles in his back flexed, shifting under the fabric of his shirt. He was steady, on strong legs that anchored him.
As he worked, the girl’s injuries started to fade away, drawing relieved cries from her mother. Even Dr. Sophia looked like her eyes were getting a little misty.
I wished I was getting teary-eyed. That would be better than realizing that I definitely, unavoidably, had feelings that were not just pleasant companionship towards Sebastian. Let alone the realization that it wasn’t this show of empathy that did it.
They’d been there, brewing all along. This situation just made them aggressively apparent.
After about a minute, Sebastian straightened, giving everyone a full view of the young girl, now looking like she was just sleeping peacefully in a hospital bed. Her mother folded herself over the bed, her sobs loud and relieved. She briefly turned her head to give Sebastian a tearful thank you.
Sebastian turned around, eyes going wide when he looked at me. I didn’t know what I looked like, but my cheeks felt hot. I turned to Dr. Sophia, but all that did was turn his gaze into a hot brand on my cheek.
She ushered us out to the hall, leaving the mother and daughter alone. “Let’s give them some privacy,” she said. “You’re quite intimidating, Lord Apollo. In case you forgot.”
Sebastian straightened immediately, his grin showing up a moment too late.
Oh, oh.
All the sudden, a large piece of Sebastian clicked into place. An experience I’d had most of my life, and his seemed exaggerated by multiple degrees.
It was very lonely to feel like you intimidated others around you. To have that thought confirmed, poised as a compliment and said with awe.
“Goodness, you’re intimidating,” was arguably well-intentioned. Positive, even. But it put a lot of distance between people, made you feel like you couldn’t quite connect, when people all but said they were scared of you.
“Never could,” Sebastian said, his grin fully cemented. Well, I wasn’t a fan of the thin tone in his voice at all.
I was feeling so muddled, I barely registered half of what he and Dr. Sophia talked about as we made our way back outside of the main wing of the hospital and back to the offices. It was a quick trip, especially because I had to be back to Prometheus for someone’s arrival later this afternoon.
We made it through polite goodbyes and a promise from Sebastian to come back next week, leaving Dr. Sophia to run back into the hospital to answer someone’s call.
The second we were alone, Sebastian said, “I don’t want to hear anything about the monthly visits.”
I laughed, a smile breaking out over my face. Sebastian’s face went momentarily serious, something I was learning happened when I laughed in front of him. I wasn’t sure what that was about. “I am most certainly going to be saying something, but I’ll save you from it for the time being.”
Sebastian laughed, and I felt like the muscles in my face had gone molten and I had to fight to keep them in a smile. “Keeping me in suspense. How wicked of you.”
“I’ll just pop out from behind a corner before I do it so it won’t scare you as much,” I said, barely noticing the portal opening and closing around us, or the walls of my home materializing.
“Like I said, wicked.” Sebastian leaned down, placing the words into the minimal space between our mouths. I had a hard time when his lips got that close. Normally, I just made myself keep my focus on his eyes, which was just a marginally lesser evil, but when he did this thing where his chin dipped down and he took hold of my eyes, it was really, really hard to ignore.
I smiled through the agony twisting my stomach, dropping my eyes to my hands. My watch, too, which made me realize the time.
“Oh, I am so late.” I was supposed to be at our arrivals office twenty minutes ago.
“What do you have today?” Sebastian said, walking over to the fridge and pulling out a glass container filled with chilled coffee.
“An arrival,” I said, taking the coffee from his outstretched hand. “Thank you,” I added quickly, feeling proud of the little smile that drew to his lips.
“Good or bad one?” Sebastian knew my opinions on it, one of the many conversations we’d had while I’d been perched on the counter while he cooked something on the stove.
“Bad one,” I said, with a deep sigh. This was by far the hardest part of my job, dealing with people who had shown time and time again they had no shame for their violent actions.
Sebastian winced, something I would have told him meant he was empathizing with me if I didn’t think it would ruin his day. “It’ll be quick, I hope.”
I nodded, hoping for the same. “I’ll be back for dinner,” I said, then fought a wince of my own. That sounded far too hopeful.
“Good,” Sebastian said, making my heart clench. “If we don’t finish that book tonight, I’m going to lose it. Too many loose ends.”
I laughed again, understanding him completely. “I would never leave you in pain like that.”
Sebastian’s grin made me hesitate, something in my body telling me to stay. But I had responsibilities, something Sebastian knew, because he planted his hands on my shoulders and turned me around, lightly shoving me toward the door.
I let myself be pushed, only because his hands were burning, lightning erupting in my veins. I left him with a quick goodbye and hurried quickly to the old cells of Prometheus, chugging the coffee he’d made me on the way.
I probably shouldn’t have been drinking it. My limbs felt jittery and there was a horrible feeling in my stomach. Normally, my instincts were pretty good, but there was always the chance that I was in my own head and nerves were getting to me.
No matter my feelings toward the situation, this was necessary.
Quickly dropping the cup off in my office, I made it to the old cells to find several staff members hanging against the wall furthest from the cell, while a man who looked to be about in his forties thrashed against the iron bars.
When he saw me, his lip curled in disgust. “Ah, so you’re the bitch everyone has been telling me to wait for.” His words made my back straighten, that uneasy feeling in my stomach growing. “I guess I should be thanking them. You’re a delicious little treat. I was always a fan of blonde hair.”
“In your victims,” someone snapped from behind me, horror in their tone. I knew all of this. This man was a serial killer, favoring young, blonde women and brutalizing them beyond recognition.
He’d be staying here for the rest of his life, unless he decided to change, but that didn’t mean we were going to torture him. I looked over my shoulder and flagged over someone who had a tray of food prepared for him. As they stepped forward to push it through the cell, I went with them, stepping closer to this horrid man. “This food is for you. It’s fresh.”
He looked at it like it disgusted him. “Why don’t you come a little closer, sweetie? Let me get a taste of you, instead.”
Disgust curled through my stomach, low and horrid. “No,” I said firmly. “I’m only here to inform you that you will be given three fresh meals a day. If you’re hungry, please tell one of the guards and we will bring you more. Someone will be by once a week to talk with you, and should they decide that your interest in redemption is genuine, we may discuss altering your sentence.”
The prisoner scoffed, so forcefully spit flew from his mouth. “Fuck off.”
Well, that was expected, at least. “Alright,” I said, turning to leave right as he crouched to pick up his food. This was all we could do for him now.
I didn’t think he’d change. The type of evil required to systematically take innocent life wasn’t one I understood, nor knew to be redeemable.
“Hey!” he yelled at me, just as I took a step away from him. I turned, the motion obscuring my vision just enough to miss his arm reeling back. Just enough to miss my opportunity to duck, so that the plate of food he threw at me nailed me straight in the face, sending hard plastic slamming into my nose, my forehead, my chin, and food splattering down my front.
The last thing I heard before my mind decided to shut off was someone’s distant cry for help.