Page 59 of The Gods Forbid

“I’m full,” she returned, her voice completely lacking emotion. It was obvious she wasn’t entirely present, more in her head than in this room with me.

I’d made her that way. I’d done that.

Fuck.

She closed the book we’d been reading, setting it down in the center of her kitchen island. My mouth opened and closed twice, searching for some excuse to get her to stay.

Persy fiddled with the ends of her hair, which only served to make me think launching myself off of a cliff was an appropriate post-dinner activity.

She was slipping away, not that I ever had the right to hold her in the first place. She was retreating back into herself and her mind, clearly wrestling with something internally.

Probably deciding whether or not to kick me out and throw me to the wolves.

I’d walk out myself before she ever got to it, I felt that much like an asshole. I didn’t deserve to reap her kindness anymore.

“Good night, Sebastian,” she said, her voice still distant and cold.

“Good night,” I managed, my voice hoarse. Something flashed in Persy’s eyes at that, a small beam of light punching through one of the clouds.

I had no idea what that meant, which was new for me. People were easy to read, easy to understand.

There was no figuring it out, trying to pry whatever emotion that was out of her because she was walking away from me. Persy left, giving me nothing but another small smile over her shoulder before she retreated into her bedroom on quick legs.

If I’d made her scared of me … more than she already should have been …

That thought made guilt like nothing I’d ever known slither through my chest. There was no ignoring it, no writing it off as a sickness or something else.

I fucked up. I did something wrong, and I felt remorse.

I would never apologize for trying to keep Persy away from me, but the way I went about it needed to change. I could be … kind to her, respectful at the very least, while still maintaining my distance.

I could help her achieve her goals. Hell, it should have been my goal too.

To return as Apollo. Be the god of the only things that had ever given me peace.

Help people, when I’d only ever manipulated them in the past.

Chapter 13

Persy

I realized I’d probably messed up about halfway through the night.

I was still learning, and sometimes I caught myself letting my own experiences affect a situation without realizing it.

And I was pretty sure my attempts to clamp down on my hope and the awful realization that I was attracted to Sebastian made him believe that I was furious with him.

Furious wasn’t the right word. I was a little mad and a little disappointed that he’d reverted back to the version of himself that lashed out as a means to distance himself.

But I’d also seen the way his eyes went wild with panic when he realized what he did. And he’d apologized.

Verbally.

Saying the words—I am sorry.

I thought I’d have to wait until at least the third month of this arrangement for that, but no.

Sebastian had apologized.