The Sun Revolves Around Apollo (The Gods Are Back In Town Book 2)

by Serena Akeroyd

  “Of course,” he replied gruffly.

  I processed that, processed the words and his tone. “Okay, so why the attitude?”

  He shrugged. “Never have liked it when the Gods meddle in our affairs.”

  Which, to be fair, made sense. I mean, the guy had been killed by Apollo, and had watched countless brothers be slain in battles that began because of a God’s ego.

  “You need to get over it if you’re going to be happy with her. You do want to be happy, don’t you?”

  “If I wanted to speak with a shrink, Tor, then I’d speak with one on staff.”

  “Why go to all that trouble when I’m trained too?” I mocked and laughed when he flipped the bird at me. Before I could say another word though, he pushed me over the threshold into the stables.

  The minute he did, I sighed as the scents of home washed over me.

  No matter what I did, where I went, my past, present, and future swirled together in the stables until the sense of ease and contentment that filled me was impossible to replicate.

  My favorite horses had passed millennia ago, and though that still saddened me, I had been blessed with so many wonderful equine friends over the years that I couldn’t be too upset.

  “I had to move Thor,” Achilles told me, and I tilted my head to the side in a query.

  “Why?”

  “Because he’d taken a liking to Rager, and Rager does not like cock.”

  I laughed. “Have you and Lux been fucking too much around him? Been giving him ideas?”

  “I’ll have you know we usually do that in the tack room.” I watched, curious, when he rubbed his nose.

  “What aren’t you telling me?”

  “That’s how Ella met Castor and me.”

  “What?” I quirked a brow at his grimace. “She saw your fuckfest?” Shaking my head, I asked, “How many times have I told you not to do that in the stables?”

  He heaved a sigh. “We’d closed the door.”

  “Like that matters. These are humans. You know how weird they are where sex is concerned. They’re either exhibitionists or prudes.”

  “It was after hours,” he ground out. “I mean, there’s a timetable on the door, for fuck’s sake. We weren’t in the wrong, Tor, so don’t act like we were.”

  I rolled my eyes again but conceded, “Go on, what happened?”

  “She was listening in. By the scent of her, she was getting off on it too.”

  That had me jerking to a halt as I made my way to Thor’s stall when he pointed it out. “She was?”

  “Yeah.” He inhaled deeply, and the way his eyes shuttered, it was like the scent of her was still ripe in his nostrils. “Definitely.”

  “Well, that’s useful, that’s for sure.”

  “Useful?” He laughed. “If you say so.”

  “I do. There’s no way you and Lux will be able to keep your cocks away from one another.”

  He grunted. “Shut up. You make us sound like pussies.”

  “More like cocks,” I retorted, laughing when he flipped me the bird.

  Lux and Chill always had been partial to one another. I couldn’t say I hadn’t fucked Achilles a time or ten. Nor could I say Apollo hadn’t had all of us at one point. We were Greek. Gay sex wasn’t gay; it was what we did.

  If Ella liked hearing it though, then that was handy. I was half-sure that Lux and Chill were in love with each other. That is if they’d ever admitted to anything as pussy as that, of course.

  Refraining from rolling my eyes for the third time in less than three minutes, I found Thor and ran my hand over his nose. When I did, those beautiful amber orbs of his widened, the lashes fluttering a second before he neighed at me and bustled back.

  Wincing because he was pouting, I jolted when Achilles managed to get the jump on me and slapped me on the back, hard enough to jerk me forward.

  “Dick,” I grated out.

  “He’s mad at you.”

  “I’m not surprised. It’s been too long since I was here last.” I sighed. “I missed him as well.” I reached into my pocket and grabbed some carrots and sugar cubes that I’d stored there.

  It took a good ten minutes for him to move toward me to gain access to the treat—Thor lived up to his name. He sure as shit knew how to make someone sweat.

  When his thick, rubbery lips smacked into my palm, I laughed and dropped my haul onto the ground. It was that or have him bite my fingers.

  Soon, the sound of chomping echoed around the area as he ate from the ground.

  “He’ll be okay with you tomorrow.”

  “He’d have been okay with me today if I’d come in yesterday,” I stated sadly.

  “You knew he’d be mad?”

  “Yeah.” I shrugged, knowing what I was saying was stupid, but it was true nonetheless. “He’s more than a horse, Achilles.”

  “Some are, brother. I know.” He clapped me on the back, softer this time. Achilles had fought most of the wars he’d been in on foot in his first life, but after? He’d been a part of every major army in the western world. He’d spent almost as much time on a horse as I had.

  “You’re quiet,” he spoke softly, rubbing my shoulder.

  “I’m tired,” I admitted. “Apollo’s schedule has been grueling.”

  “He’s running you both ragged?”

  “In a sense. He’s been miserable.”

  “Why? Because he was due to marry Cindy?”

  “I thought so.” I shrugged. “Maybe not. He’s been making odd decisions.”

  “Like?”

  I cut him a look. “Why do you want to know?” The second Achilles’ duties as a guardian were over, he hightailed it out of the city and returned here. Usually as another incantation of himself.

  It helped that our duties lasted a lifetime’s rotation, so that the grandson of the previous owner of the estate could come and take over with little to no surprise. Just a new name, a different wardrobe, and a haircut. Humans were surprisingly simple-minded sometimes.

  “He’s right. We’re going to have to work together to keep her,” he commented, and I knew the admission had to pain him.

  “She has a name.”

  He huffed. “She has three.”

  I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. “This is true. But she identifies with one.” A shrug jostled his shoulders, and I inquired, “You do want her, don’t you?”

  The look he shot me was dry. “Yes, Tor, I want her. You keep on asking that, and I’m going to start thinking you can’t read me as well as you could,” he mocked.

  Bastard. I had never been able to read him, and he knew it. “Then what’s wrong?”

  He tugged at his collar. “I’m going to have to share a bed with a man who’s been my enemy for a long ass time. I’m going to have to share a wife with said enemy. Going to have to sleep with the enemy…”

  “That’s a short list,” I joked. “Anyway, Apollo isn’t your enemy. How many times, Chill? It was a war.”

  “He killed me!” the soldier hissed. “You can’t expect me to be happy about that?”

  Though I felt his outrage, I just huffed. “For God’s sake.”

  He froze at that. “For God’s sake, what?”

  “You. And him. I don’t know how Lux and I haven’t slammed your goddamn heads together to make you both see sense.” I pointed my finger at him and jabbed him in the chest. “You know what your problem is?”

  “No, but I’m sure you’re about to tell me,” he snapped.

  “You’re both too damn similar. Yeah, you heard me,” I stated when he groaned. “You’re both stubborn. The strong and silent types that drive everyone around you insane because we can’t figure out what the hell is going on with you. You’re haunted by shit that went down in the past. You both hold grudges better than old crones, and—”

  He glowered at me and spat, “That’s enough, Tor.”

  “No. It isn’t. Look, we’ve dealt well with one another for all these years, but that’s no longer enoug
h.”

  “I just said that didn’t I?” he snarled. “Why do you think I’m trying to figure out the lay of the land?”

  Narrowing my eyes at him, I asked, “You really want to know?”

  “Have you ever known me to waste time on shit that isn’t relevant to my current situation?” he snapped, and because that was no word of a lie, I stopped prevaricating.

  “Okay, well, yeah. He’s been moody and bossy and thank God, he allowed Hades into New York, but he refused Athena before him.”

  “What the fuck? Why didn’t you tell us?” Achilles snapped, his shoulders straightening in response—aware that wars had been started for lesser deeds.

  “It was okay. You didn’t hear of any diplomatic disasters starting in the news, did you? I managed to calm things down with her guardians.”

  He rubbed the back of his neck. “What the hell was he thinking?”

  When a God entered another’s territory, they had to ask permission. It was the polite thing to do, but it was just a ceremony. Something they did to appear to be on good terms. They never actually expected to be refused—not without good reason, at any rate.

  “I don’t know. To be honest, I don’t know where his head’s at. Since James’ death, he’s been different.”

  “I never understood why he liked that bastard.”

  “You know how he feels about the orphans.”

  Achilles winced. “I was glad when he closed that fucking place down.”

  “They weren’t.” I reached up and pinched the bridge of my nose as I thought about the large orphanage Apollo had owned once upon a time. He’d had several, was the patron of thousands, but had only been involved with the one. “He did a lot of good there.”

  “Yeah, and caused a lot of shit too. How many issues have come from the alumnus of that prestigious place?”

  “Too many,” I admitted, and thinking about it made me cringe too. “Apollo’s just unlucky.”

  “I’ll agree with that,” Chill grumbled. “Whatever he touches turns to shit.”

  “Apart from bay leaves apparently,” I inserted dryly, leaning on the stall door now that Thor had been sated with sugar cubes and carrots and didn’t look set to attack.

  “That was some crazy shit, wasn’t it?” Achilles whispered. “I’ve never seen him do that before.”

  “Me either.” Pressing my chin to my forearms, I asked, “Do you think he expects her to wear it all the time?”

  He grinned. “I’d like to see him make her. Not sure the wreath would help her fit in in Southampton.”

  That had my lips twitching. “There’s a reason he made it for her,” I said softly, my tone sobering.

  “Yeah. Is it a ward?”

  “Could be.” I ran my chin over my forearm, rasping the stubble I hadn’t shaved off this morning against the flannel sleeve of the shirt I wore. “I was at his side when he spoke with Zeus. There’s little he didn’t tell her yesterday. There’s no reason he’d need to ward her. Unless,” I started, musing on the words that had kept me from sleep last night, “he’s had a prophecy.”

  Achilles stilled at my side. “Fuck.”

  I blew out a breath. “That about sums it up, yeah.”

  ❖

  Pollux

  Miracles didn’t happen all that often, even though I lived with a God. You’d think they’d occur every damn day, but they didn’t. And yet, one had occurred yesterday because Achilles had agreed with Apollo and the earth hadn’t turned to stone.

  Getting those two to agree was like getting a Queen Bee to fuck another Queen Bee. Yup, just wasn’t going to happen.

  At least, I didn’t think bees could be lesbians.

  Who the fuck knew where nature was concerned?

  As I squatted outside Ella’s door the following morning, I leaned back against the wall and pulled out my cell phone.

  According to the dining logs, she usually breakfasted after eleven, and it was ten to. I had time to spare if she intended to rush out earlier to avoid us, and I wouldn’t put it past her.

  As I opened up one of the games I liked to play on my cell, I tuned in to the room behind me. I couldn’t hear any sounds, but that didn’t mean anything. She might still be sleeping, or she might already have left. I hadn’t seen her around though, which meant she must have been sneaking about the place.

  Achill was one of the top rehabilitation centers in the nation. Not just the North East Coast. It was renowned for its relaxing scenery, its luxuriously appointed rooms that were a true home away from home, but also the fact there was no pressure here. No pressure at all. Not even when it came to treatment.

  Whether you stayed a month, three months, or a year, there was only one rule: attend one counseling session a day. That was it—nothing more, nothing less.

  I’d raided her file yesterday for information on her, and I hadn’t picked up that much. According to the one counselor she liked—i.e., whose sessions she attended more than once—Ella was quiet, timid, and self-effacing. I’d been with the woman for less than a half-hour and I knew she was none of those things.

  Bullshitters were usually outed before now though. Some part of the therapy got through to them, but I guess if there was nothing wrong with her, then there was nothing to ‘fix.’ Which technically made sense.

  Dolly, Cindy’s mother, had dumped her here because she wasn’t responding like her daughter had before the crash. Cindy was supposed to be traumatized by the car crash, supposed to be dealing with a form of memory loss, but that wasn’t true, was it?

  There was nothing wrong with Cindy aside from the fact that she was dead, and another woman had taken possession of her body. Which, to be fair, sounded like one whole heap of wrong. But this was my world. Weird shit happened all the time.

  One day, a God decided he was going to meddle with your world, and you had no say in it whatsoever.

  One day, you were fucking a fellow guardian because he had an ass better than most women’s, and the next? You had a hard-on for a chick who looked like she gargled with nails and yet had crystals and frou-frou shit all over her apartment.

  Scratchhhh.

  The slight noise had my head tilting to the side. Trying to discern what it was, I realized she’d opened a drawer. Was she getting dressed?

  Trying not to drool at the prospect of her standing naked in her room—I know, I know, she wasn’t the only one who was a pervert—I got to my feet and waited for her to open the door.

  It didn’t take long. She was opening the large white door with its gold moldings within five minutes, and when she came across me, she glowered at me before she wrapped her overlarge cardigan around herself.

  “Don’t worry. The sight of your tits isn’t about to send me into a killing spree.” I tapped my chin. “Have you told any of the therapists you’re obsessed with serial killers?”

  She huffed out a breath that had a lock of hair springboarding up and away from her brow. “What are you doing here?”

  “I’m here to see you. What do you think? I don’t get a kick out of loitering in corridors. Especially when I own said corridors.”

  She tilted her head to the side. “You own this place?”

  “With the others, yes.” I studied her, realizing what Apollo had said was correct. There were still gaps to her knowledge banks on us.

  That relieved me, to be honest. I didn’t want her to know everything. Especially not if she was going to learn it all in the blink of an eye. That just sucked because there was no way Apollo could transfer the nuances of every situation that we’d endured through our extraordinarily long lives.

  “The others? All three of them?”

  Why that surprised her, I wasn’t sure. Cocking a brow at her, I asked, “Yes? Why?”

  “It’s unusual, isn’t it?”

  “Which part of us isn’t unusual?” I countered with a smirk. “I mean, you know what we are now. This is very, very normal.”

  Her brow puckered and she stared down at her feet. “Sorry
, yeah.” I watched as she reached up and rubbed her brow. “I’m still processing what he showed me.”

  “You are?”

  “Yeah.”

  “How?”

  “It’s like there’s one half of me that’s just me, and then there’s the other half that saw what he showed me.”

  That had me frowning. “That’s unusual.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  “I wonder if it’s because you’re still getting used to this side of yourself.” I cleared my throat. “Cinder— and –Ella haven’t come together properly yet.”

  Though she glowered at me, I sensed her confusion. “What do you mean?”

  “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not exactly au fait about possessions, but I’d think if you were both on the same page then you’d be at ease with her memories and your own. They’d rub alongside each other.” I hummed under my breath. “Maybe we should talk to the king of possessions.”

  Her eyes widened. “Who’s that?”

  “Hades.”

  She scowled again and reached up to rub her temple. “I know that name.”

  “Of course, you do. He’s the God of the Dead.” I snickered. “I mean, it’s pretty memorable.”

  “I know that,” she snapped. “I mean, I know it on a personal level.”

  “Well, that’s far more interesting,” I mused, tapping my chin as I studied her. “Which part of you knew him do you think?”

  “Cinder or Ella, you mean?”

  I mock-gasped. “Was that a joke?”

  “I am capable of amusement,” she grumbled, but rubbed at her temple again and the constant massage concerned me.

  Enough to ask, “Are you in pain?”

  “I’ve had a headache since you left me yesterday.”

  “Really? Why didn’t you say? Apollo would have cured it for you.” I grabbed her arm and started to drag her along the corridor. When she tried to stop me, I huffed, paused, then before she could argue, swept her off her feet.

  A cry of pain escaped her, otherwise she’d have argued. When she pressed her head to mine, as though she was trying to stabilize herself, I felt the link surge between us like it was a live wire. It crackled and hissed and she moaned again, making me speed up.