Chapter 4

Apollo stared at me, all the color gone from his face. Then he leaned close enough that only I could hear him over the chaos of servants lifting the broken cups.

"Funny," he whispered. "That was not who you chose last time."

For a moment, the terrace became as cold as the Underworld.

Apollo remembered.

I didn’t let my face change. If he wanted fear, he would not get it from me. I turned to Cassian and kept my hand in his, letting all Olympus see the choice was real.

The whispers came first, then outrage.

"Cassian?"

"The Hadeion heir?"

"Persephone was supposed to choose Apollo. Everyone knew it."

Apollo forced a laugh. "Father of gods, there has been a mistake. Persephone is angry with me and using Cassian to punish me."

Zeus's eyes hardened. "Do not tell me what my daughter means."

"Ask her, then." Apollo looked at me as if command alone could drag love back into my body. "Tell them. You chose me."

"I chose Cassian," I said. "I said it clearly."

Cassian's fingers tightened around mine. He had expected pity, perhaps strategy, never this certainty. That small surprise in his eyes made my chest soften.

Apollo grabbed for my wrist. Cassian moved before the guards did, placing himself between us. His voice was quiet. "Do not touch her."

Apollo's face twisted. "And what will you do? Drag me into the dark? You are a broken relic from a dead throne."

A crack of thunder rolled above the terrace. Zeus lifted his staff just enough to silence the entire court.

"Apollo Olympion," he said, "you have forgotten yourself. From tonight, you will not enter the sun council, command the eastern guards, or speak for my house until I decide you have learned restraint."

Apollo stared as if he had never imagined consequence could reach him. "You would punish me for her temper?"

"I punish you for insulting my chosen heir at my own table."

Celeste tried to rise from her chair, pale and shaking. "Apollo only loves her too much. Please do not blame him."

I looked at her. "He is yours if you want him. I am done fighting for a man who runs wherever you cough."

Her tears stopped for half a breath.

Zeus waved his hand, and servants cleared the broken crystal. Music returned, stiff and nervous, but the night had changed. Courtiers who had spent years bowing toward Apollo now turned their smiles toward Cassian. I watched one priestess take a garland of golden laurel from Apollo's chair and send a page running after Cassian with it. Gifts meant for the sun heir were quietly redirected to the shadow wing before the feast ended.

Apollo noticed every shift. The more people stepped around the spilled nectar to congratulate Cassian, the more his pride cracked. He kept looking at me, not with love, but with the panic of a man watching a throne move out from under him.

Later, on the balcony, Cassian stood beside me while the cloud sea rolled under the rail.

"You heard what Apollo said," I murmured.

"About last time? I do not know what he meant," Cassian said. "But I know he frightened you."

"He didn’t frighten me. He reminded me."

Cassian studied me without pushing. "If you regret choosing me, I can ask Zeus to release you before the wedding."

"I do not regret it."

"You loved him once."

"I loved a version of him I invented. That man never existed."

The wind lifted the edge of Cassian's cloak. For one brief second, I saw the scarred base of a dark wing beneath it. He caught the fabric before I could look away, and shame crossed his face.

"Do not," I said softly. "I am not afraid of what they broke."

He was silent for a long moment. Then he took a sealed folder from inside his coat. "Zeus gives you the thunder vaults. I will give you what remains of Hades's estate. The lower temples, the black fields, the river rights, all of it. If I ever wrong you, take everything and leave me with nothing."

In my last life, Apollo had taken all I gave and called it his birthright.

I accepted the folder, then removed the small green pendant at my throat. It had belonged to my mother, a seed pearl carved with spring vines. I had once given it to Apollo. He later used it to decorate Celeste's comb.

This time, I placed it in Cassian's palm. "Then keep this for me."

He held it like a holy thing. "I will not let you regret choosing me."