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“And that was when they got goats?” Zoe asked.
“Indeed it was. All of Demergos and Chera’s children brought gifts for the women. Eriphon, the cheerful shepherd, gave them a herd of goats so they could have milk and cheese.”
“And friendship,” said Zoe.
“The most loyal of friendships,” Apollon agreed.
Zoe was quiet for a moment. “But where did men come from, Papa?”
“That is another story.”
Cassia rounded the corner of a large slab of marble. A number of the statue covers draped several chairs and another worktable. Inside the makeshift shelter, the light of a stained glass lantern revealed Apollon in an undyed work robe, sitting on the floor with Zoe on his lap. Beside them, her two small goat kids drowsed amid a pile of storybooks. The lion had gone back to sleep with his tail draped over the end of Apollon’s long, curly blond braid.
Cassia knelt down and peered inside. Apollon winked at her.
Zoe’s little nose flared, and her head came up off her father’s shoulder. “Cassia!”
“Zoe! I’m so sorry I’m late.”
But the child beamed with her baby fangs and missing front tooth. “Would you like to come inside our cave?”
There didn’t seem to be room inside the cramped space, Apollon’s presence was so big. Only the look of delight on Zoe’s face, and the image of it changing into an expression of disappointment, gave Cassia the strength to accept the child’s invitation.
Cassia gathered her skirts and scrambled inside. The black-and-white goat, Midnight Moonbeam, stirred and bleated in disapproval while her sister, Rainbow Aurora, continued her nap, her brown-and-white side gently rising and falling. Knight crawled in after Cassia on his belly and settled down on the opposite side of the “cave” from the lion.
Apollon petted the lion as one might a house cat. “Don’t worry about my familiar. He is too content with his situation to pick fights, even with dogs.”
Zoe crawled over, all knobby knees and skinny ankles and soft cotton play robe, and climbed into Cassia’s lap. A bracelet just like the one she had given Cassia dangled from her wrist. “Your dress is so beautiful.”
“Thank you. I like to wear it because it reminds me of the red roses Hespera made to protect us.”
Shyly, Zoe touched Cassia’s bracelet. “You got my gift.”
“Lio made sure. It’s a beautiful present, and it cheered me up so much when I had to be at the guest house. I love how the pattern matches your mantle.” Cassia cuddled Zoe close and looked at her as an excuse not to meet Apollon’s gaze. From the corner of her eye, she saw the goats crawl in his lap.
“Papa helped me make a cave,” Zoe enthused.
Her favorite silk mantle lay to one side, a sure sign Apollon’s creation had assuaged her fear of open spaces so she did not feel the urge to cover her head. The beauty of her long hair was completely unhidden. Her twin braids shone, the color of creamed coffee.
“You must be having so much fun,” said Cassia. “It sounds like he tells wonderful stories, too.”
Zoe nodded. “Papa knows all the old stories, and Lio knows the new ones, and Mama knows all the facts.”
Apollon chuckled. “Zoe knows our family.”
Cassia smiled into Zoe’s hair. “I heard your father’s story as I came in, and I enjoyed it very much. No one had ever told it to me before, either.”
“You must have heard the way they tell it in Tenebra,” Apollon guessed.
“As always, I like the Hesperine way much better.” Cassia held Zoe close and tried looking at Apollon.
A blond man loomed above her. His power loomed even larger. She met eyes the same dark blue as Lio’s but saw only the icy, sky blue gaze of the man who had sired her.
She glanced away quickly, studying the title of one of Zoe’s story books as if she were not filled with shame and fear. How could she have such thoughts about Lio’s father? How could the king have followed her to Orthros?
“I think we have time for the story of how men came to be,” Apollon said.
Zoe settled down in Cassia’s lap and looked attentively at her father.
