Page 3 of Charmed By Apollo

“This all looks great,” Persephone said when she came back.

“Where’s your host, by the way?” Adonis inquired. “I’ve yet to meet this generous sponsor of yours.”

“He’ll be by soon.” Persephone glanced around them. “I think…oh!”

Geri narrowed her gaze toward where Persephone was squinting. There was someone standing by the palace entrance that had caught the goddess of spring’s eye, but he was too far away, even for her own enhanced senses.

Persephone waved the person over, and in a shimmer of light, a figure materialized in front of them. While Geri would not normally be caught off guard, she stumbled back as her personal space was invaded.

“Hey, P! Great work on the street fair and the garden. Thanks for inviting me!”

Geri grumbled as she quickly found her balance. However, the ground seemed to shift under her feet again as her gaze crashed into bright blue eyes. Blue eyes that were found on a devastatingly handsome face. While she was no stranger to good-looking males, the man before her was on a different level altogether. Tall and lean, he embodied the epitome of masculine beauty, with chiseled features that seemed sculpted from the very essence of sunlight itself. His golden locks cascaded in waves of luminescence, shimmering like molten gold under the celestial gaze. His eyes, gleamed with wisdom and insight, but at the same time, there was mirth and amusement behind them.

“Hey, Apollo! Perfect timing.” Persephone’s voice interrupted her ogling, and Geri quickly averted her gaze before the stranger caught her.

Ah, so this was another god—Apollo, apparently, the god of the sun.

“We could use an extra hand. How about you team up with Geri to set up the lights?”

The handsome man turned his gaze to Geri, his blue eyes perusing her curiously. “Sure, I can handle lights. But, uh, don’t you have some divine minions for this kind of thing?”

“I can do just fine on my own, thanks,” Geri said brusquely. Did he think she didn’t know how to put lights up just because she was a girl?

Persephone chuckled lightly, which Geri knew was her way of diffusing the tension. With her sunshiny and sweet vibes, it really was easy for her to just smile and make everything go away. “Great! Apollo, you’ll see, working with Geri is a breeze. Just follow her lead.”

“Sure, lights it is,” the god replied. “Though, isn’t this a bit low-key for the goddess of spring? Where’s the grandeur?”

“We don’t need grandeur,” Geri interjected. She didn’t know why, but she was annoyed that he didn’t address her directly. “We need things to work.”

“So…” Blue eyes once again turned to her, finally acknowledging her presence. This time,though, they were more than curious. His gaze swept over her before locking eyes with her. Geri felt her throat go dry under the scrutiny.

“Geri, huh?” His firm lips curled up into a smile, and he cocked his head to the side. “You’re not a soul. Or a human, for that matter. What are you?”

Ignoring his question, she pointed to the pile of lights on the ground. “We need to get these up all around the courtyard so we can make it brighter here.”

“Hmm.” Apollo scratched at his chin. “Are you a nymph? But then again, most nymphs don’t leave their immediate area. I’ve known a lot of nymphs in my time.”

“We should have the bigger lamps up there.” She pointed to the line of trees at the edge. “We’ll need a ladder.”

Apollo snapped his fingers. “Ah, a siren, maybe?” He shook his head. “You certainly don’t sound like one. You know, I once went out with a siren, but she cut the date short because her song wouldn’t work on me. I think she just wanted to test if it would work on a god.”

She walked over to the lion’s head fountain affixed to the south wall. “We’ll need something here too. Maybe we can have one of those standing lamp posts.”

“A lamia? Nah.” He clucked his tongue. “Not scaley enough.”

She spun around to face him. “Look, I don’t really want to hear about your love life right now. I just wanna get these damned lights up,” she snapped. “If you can’t lend me a hand, then at least stay out of my way.”

Apollo snapped his fingers, and in an instant, the lights magically went into place, just as Geri had described them. He smirked at her. “There you go, Geri. Just as you envisioned.”

Geri huffed. “Fine, but you could’ve mentioned that trick earlier. Would’ve saved us both the hassle.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” His eyes twinkled with amusement, which only irritated her more. “Besides, I wanted to see if we could manually pull off some divine brilliance.”

Persephone shot her an apologetic look, and Geri blew out a breath. “Alright, Apollo, I have to admit you did a decent job.”

“Decent? I’ll take it. You know, divine light manipulation is an art, and I’m a maestro.”

She rolled her eyes but couldn’t suppress a small smile. “You’re insufferable, but I suppose I should thank you for the divine touch.”

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