“No, of course not. That’s not what I’m—”
“You’re safe from him here. You’ll be safe from what’s happening here with my men. Then you’ll be home with the children and you can settle.”
Oh shit.
“Maybe we can talk about that,” I hurried to say.
“We shall. I’ll meet your sleigh in the village outside my estate and we’ll have a discussion before you meet the children.”
My sleigh?
“Now, I’m away,” he murmured, turning to leave, his cape swinging out behind him and it was cool, that cape and how it moved with him, and weirdly hot at the same time.
But I couldn’t think about how cool and hot his cape was because I was beginning to lose my temper.
“Apollo!” I cried, taking two more steps toward him.
But he turned back, his cape wrapping around him, his eyes leveling on me.
When I saw what was in his eyes, I quit moving, quit talking and stared.
He didn’t stare.
He spoke.
And when he did, his voice was a low, angry rumble that felt like it shook the room.
“You know of her and yet you seem not to understand how difficult this is for me.”
I was following, but I wasn’t.
I mean, he was the one who brought me here.
“Of course I understand,” I said quietly, “but that doesn’t mean—”
Again, he didn’t let me finish.
“Just gazing on you, it feels like brands searing into my eyes.”
Oh God.
That sucked. Seriously sucked. That had to kill and I felt for him. I really, really did.
But still.
“I understand that,” I kept my tone low and gentle, “but—”
“You look like her. You sound like her. You even smell like her.”
That sucked too.
Big time.
I pressed my lips together.
“But you are not her,” he finished.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “But you brought me here and you knew I wouldn’t be her. And right now, it seems urgent things are happening. Things I don’t understand in a world I don’t understand and you’re responsible for bringing me into this world. Now you’re leaving me alone in it without even giving me time to ask questions, the answers to which might help me to know how to conduct myself, what I’m dealing with, both giving me a hint of peace of mind.”