I began to ache at the mention. My family...
"None of it was real?" I asked.
"The childhood you remember in this century was a fabrication," he said. "Everything before meeting Apollo, or Aidan, was made up. Memories given to you and your family for his ruse. Your childhood was as real to them as it was to you."
A sadness settled in me. "Will they forget me?"
He took my hand and kissed my knuckles. "We can talk to Zeus and find a way for them to continue remembering you, use glamour when we see them so that they see you growing older as they are."
"I'd like that," I said, thinking of the father I'd known in this life. I wasn't ready to let him go or forget him. Those memories had molded me, no matter the hardships that had come with them. I wanted to thank the god responsible for seeing what I had gone through and giving me a life worth remembering.
His thumb brushed my cheek, the warm shower continuing to pour over us. "I was scared I had lost you again," he whispered. "The fear on your face when you said Apollo’s name..."
I remembered it. I remembered the terror swimming through my bones upon seeing Aidan, upon realizing who he was. I still felt it, but one look at Gavin, and I knew I never had to feel that fear again.
His lips landed on my forehead, my cheek, and my jaw, and then he pulled back to look at me. “It doesn’t matter how many times they try to keep us apart. We will always find each other,” he said as he took my hands. “I will always find you.”
My heart skipped. I could almost see our souls entwining, the faint glow trickling over his skin and mine.
“And I will always fight for you,” I whispered.
EPILOGUE - GAVIN
AN EASTERN BREEZE brushed through my hair as I stood at the edge of the mountain cliff. The sun was setting, cascading an amber glow upon the high tops.
I shifted nervously in my suit. My hands were clammy, and it was all I could do to not fidget or stretch my fingers in and out. A singular wedding band sat in my pocket, waiting to be slipped onto her finger.
Just Chloe and I—and Lana, who had had herself ordained just for this occasion, insisting that there was no way her best friend was getting married without her being a part of it.
Even if it was technically a vow renewal.
I turned my back as Lana saw Chloe coming our way. Ares had volunteered to carry her up so that she wouldn't have to hike the entire mountain in her dress.
My body continued to ache, knuckles still bruised from the fight.
I think I had lost my mind that day.
I only remembered pieces of it, mainly the smell of Apollo’s blood and my own burning flesh.
And the horrified look on Chloe’s face when she’d uttered that fateful word.
Arrow.
I heard Lana sniff at my side, and I crossed my hands in front of me.
“How does she look?” I asked.
“Fucking stunning,” she managed.
I started to turn, but Lana pushed my face forward.
“Nope, not yet,” she said.
I sighed as I continued staring forward, my heart skipping every time Lana made any noise.
It was another two minutes before I felt a hand on my shoulder.
I stilled, every hair standing on my neck, and I slowly pivoted around.
