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“He told me downstairs he loves you.”
“He did?” Was he only telling her that so she wouldn’t kill me? “A lot has happened since we’ve arrived at Olympus,” I confess. “It’s complicated.”
“Complicated defines us perfectly,” Athena says with a smirk and then opens the door. “If you even so much as dare try to betray my family again, I will kill you in the most tortuous of ways. If you hurt my brother, or you don’t raise that baby to the best of your ability, I will make you scream for mercy.” She pauses, smiling wickedly. “But if you are ready to really be part of this family, then… Welcome.”
ChapterThirty-Seven
Apollo
I enter the room without knocking in fear Daphne wouldn’t let me inside anyway. I resist the urge to march over to her and take her in my arms. But I know that as much as I want to fix this, and make it right, I’m not sure I can.
“You just missed your sister,” she says.
“I know.”
She fidgets with her hands in front of her and continues to reposition her weight from one foot to the other. “I guess you were right about getting me pregnant.” She looks around the bedroom, then back to her hands. “Your sister told me it’s the only reason she didn’t kill me herself.”
“I know.”
Her eyes connect with mine, and I take a few tentative steps toward her.
“Having this baby has now officially made me a Godwin,” she informs. “But I guess you knew that too.”
I nod. “One thing I understand is the twisted vines of this family tree. Extending the bloodline goes far with the Godwins.”
Whatever my sister must have said seems to have calmed Daphne down from when I last saw her. She’s no longer shaking. She’s no longer looking at me as if I’m the devil.
“I came up here because I realized that you wanted something from me when we were downstairs. You kept expecting an apology that I wouldn’t give.” I inhale sharply. “That was wrong. I should have. I’m sorry. You are owed that and more. I am sorry.”
“Godwins don’t apologize,” she replies with a smirk.
“We do if we seriously fucked up and hurt someone. And if our intent was to never actually cause pain. I’m sorry, Daphne. You didn’t deserve to be lied to.”
“Even when the reason you had to lie in order to not go to jail was because of me?” she asks. “Because I understand why you decided to become Apollo. I do. I get it, and frankly it was smart. Why should Apollo die and you go to prison forever? If everyone mistook your identity and… It was really good luck. It’s almost as if Apollo was looking down on you and turning the fates around.” She chuckles. “If anyone could do it, it was him.”
“I’ve never told anyone this,” I begin. “But I think Apollo saved my life.”
Her eyes widen but she doesn’t say anything.
“I don’t remember the crash,” I continue. “And based on the wound on my head, I think I was knocked unconscious. There’s no way I could have undone my seat belt and got out of that helicopter before it sank all the way down. I think Apollo sacrificed himself and unfastened me just in time for me to get out and get to the surface. I think he gave his life for me.”
“Just as you were willing to give your life for him,” she adds.
“I hope I didn’t betray him by doing what I did with you. It eats at me.”
“Our marriage was dead. There wasn’t any love there, and there wasn’t anything between us until…well until the accident,” she confesses.
“I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but—”
“You’re forgiven,” she cuts in. “I understand why you did what you did. I forgive you just as you forgave me.”
“A betrayal for a betrayal,” I say with a grin and a wink. “What all healthy marriages are built on.”
“Are you ever going to let anyone know about you?” she asks. “The real you? If Athena knew, she didn’t let on to me she did.”
I chuckle. “If she knew, you’d be the last to know. That woman holds secrets and information until she can use them to her advantage. But no, I don’t think she knows.”
“I won’t tell her. I won’t tell anyone. I haven’t told you that, and well… after what I did to Apollo and you, I at least owe you this. Your secret is safe with me.”
