As Apollo rode toward his stables, he saw Achilles strolling out of them.
He reined in Torment close to his cousin and swung off, leading the horse to his brethren.
Achilles looked beyond him, then back at Apollo.
"Maddie is not with you," he noted and Apollo felt his mouth tighten at the familiar name they called Ilsa.
He forced it to relax in order to say, "Indeed. She"s to stay at The Swan this eve. Dispatch fresh guards to relieve the ones at the inn."
Achilles nodded but watched him closely, his cousin"s eyes, Apollo knew, not missing anything.
"This is a change in plans," he remarked.
"As has been everything when it comes to Ilsa of the other world since her arrival," Apollo returned and lifted a brow. "Four months, Achilles?"
His cousin"s lips twitched.
Apollo found nothing amusing. "You know the dangers that lurk and thus the haste that should have been made."
"She"s difficult to deny," Achilles replied.
Apollo was already concerned about that. The steadfast Achilles falling to her charms made him more so.
"I"m sensing this," Apollo told him and then shared, "Derrik and I had words."
"I was afraid of that," Achilles murmured.
Yes. Achilles didn"t miss much.
"He will not be in her company for some time," Apollo stated.
Again, Achilles watched him closely, but he said nothing, only nodded.
"As you noted, plans have changed," Apollo told him. "She has some concerns about being around Christophe and elan. I"ve given her the choice to come with me to Bellebryn tomorrow or come here."
He ignored Achilles" look of surprise and carried on.
"She has until sunrise to make her decision. When I leave, if I don"t return, you"ll know she chose to come with me. You"re to stay here, as is Derrik. Dispatch Remi, Laures, Hans and Draven to follow us to Bellebryn. I"ll act as her guard on the journey. They"ll look after her in Bellebryn."
"Four months ago," Achilles started carefully, "you did not seem keen to spend time with her, cousin."
"She and I have had a discussion that has changed my mind."
Achilles blew out a breath and Apollo knew what that meant.
"It"s not that way," he a.s.sured him.
"It wasn"t that way for Derrik either, in the beginning. And you should know it wasn"t that way for Laures or Remi as well. For Derrik, it took about a week. Remi and Laures fell not long after. And I have suspicions about Hans and Gaston."
It was worse than he thought but not worse than he could imagine. Not after spending time with her, in the beginning and at the inn.
Still, he whispered an irritated, "b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l."
"The good news is, they"ll be an excellent guard. They"d lay down their lives for her," Achilles offered.
"They l.u.s.t after my wife," Apollo bit out and watched Achilles tilt his head to the side.
"Is she?" he asked quietly.
And the second time that day, Apollo found his mouth speaking for him before his mind engaged.
"She will be."
Achilles blinked and asked, "What?"
Warming to this thought, he explained, "The story being shared as people will see Ilsa and wonder is that she is a distant cousin of my Ilsa"s, widowed, and her parents have recently been lost. She"s come to Lunwyn for my protection. And it"s custom, is it not, for a widowed man to take to wife a widowed woman who is in the family, however removed, in order to provide her succor and protection?"
"By the G.o.ds, cousin," Achilles whispered. "It is, but it will be lost on no soul for miles around and throughout the Houses that Maddie is the image of your departed wife."
"A happenstance that will likely not be questioned considering I did not hide my feelings for my wife or the ones I held after she was lost. Therefore, it would not be a leap that I would be drawn to one who looks just like her."
"Too true, but this is mad, Lo." Achilles was still whispering. "Once the troubles are over and Maddie takes her place at your side, everyone will know she"s a replacement of the one you cared so deeply for and lost."
Having just made this decision, he"d obviously not thought of that and it caused not a small amount of unease.
But he had made this decision. And Apollo Ulfr was many things, one of them decisive.
Therefore, he asked his cousin, "Have I ever cared what people thought?"
"No, but has it occurred to you that Maddie might?" his cousin asked him.
It, of course, hadn"t, and this idea, too, troubled him.
But time never stopped and people accustomed themselves to a variety of things, given enough of it. They would accustom themselves to the new Ilsa. And if she was discomfited by it in the meantime, he"d just keep her close and not take her out in society.
He explained his decision by saying, "She"s been in the company of her guard for four months, Lees, and five have fallen. Derrik so deeply, he confronted me and asked to take her away."
"G.o.ds," Achilles muttered, shock on his face, but not surprise.
The shock was that Derrik would confront him. The lack of surprise was that Achilles knew it might happen.
"Precisely," Apollo said tersely. "She"s extremely spirited. She"s also exquisitely beautiful. And I know you have not missed there are other things about her which would pull at any man."
"Have they pulled at you?" Achilles asked quietly.
Apollo didn"t answer.
Instead, he stated, "For her protection, I must take her as wife."
Achilles remained silent.
Apollo did not.
"Therefore, if she chooses to stay here, I bid you to keep her protected from the attentions that might come at her, as well as see to my affairs and keep an eye on Christophe and elan. elan will have no issue with her. Christophe may have difficulties coping."
Achilles nodded.
Apollo continued. "If she is to stay here, when I deliver her in the morning, I will collect Derrik and take him with me."
Achilles nodded again.
Apollo went on. "Upon my return, we"ll see to a quiet wedding."
Achilles didn"t nod at that. He held Apollo"s gaze and said nothing.
Apollo ignored the reservations in his cousin"s eyes and kept speaking.
"If she comes with me, dispatch the guard as I instructed, however not the men I chose. You choose who to send but send four of them. I"ll wed her along the way."
Again, Apollo didn"t nod.
Instead, he advised, "I urge you to take some time to consider this, cousin."
"I have no choice but to sleep on it," Apollo replied.
He watched his cousin take in a breath and let it out.
Then he again watched his cousin nod. This did not surprise Apollo. They"d grown up together, alongside Laures, Draven and Derrik. Achilles knew when Apollo"s mind was made up, there was no changing it.
And Achilles would champion it, if not in word at that moment, when the time came, he"d do it in word and deed. For Apollo and, he was in no doubt, also for Ilsa.
Therefore, Apollo nodded back and ended the conversation by leading Torment into the stables.
His fist on his c.o.c.k pumping, his eyes closed, the vision of her running her tongue up the underside was in his brain.
Her face, he knew.
But he"d never had that tongue.
Or those eyes.
Eyes that were burning on him now, burning on him and through him even if only in his imagination.
Fathomless.
A mystery.
His mystery.
On this thought and the small enigmatic smile she gave him before she rolled her tongue around the tip, his head pressed back into the pillows and Apollo stifled his own groan as he spent himself on his stomach.
Slowly opening his eyes to the dark of his room, he milked the last beads from his shaft as she continued to steal his thoughts.
Then he reached to his nightstand, opened the drawer and pulled out a handkerchief. He wiped up his seed and tossed the cloth aside. He then yanked the covers over him and turned to his side, stretching out his arm to curl around the pillow and pull it to him.
Tonight, a pillow.
Tomorrow, something else entirely.
He"d lied to his cousin.
He didn"t intend to sleep on anything.
He intended to sleep with something.
Yes, he"d made a colossal mistake.
One he just no longer had any intention to rectify by sending her away.
On that thought, Apollo closed his eyes and faded to sleep.
At sunrise the next day, with his gloved hand on a lead to a horse that was. .h.i.tched to the sleigh prepared to take Ilsa forward or back, Apollo saw her standing on the steps of the inn.
She was wearing a fur cape, holding a fur cap in her hand, her auburn hair shining in the sun and her eyes were aimed at him.
He pulled back on Torment, halting close and looking down at her.
She looked up, and before he could speak, she snapped, "Bellebryn."
Then, without delay, she stomped through the snow to the sleigh.
Knowing he was cursed and not caring in the slightest, when she did, Apollo smiled.
Chapter Seven.
Away to Bed I was learning something new.