Page 77 of Aïdes the Unseen
Wearing modern skin, yes. But stillher. Huntress. Guardian. And right now? Watchful. Unimpressed.
Her gaze said everything I already knew.
Don’t fail her. Or I will end you.
She didn’t slow again. Just ran on, leaving the warning etched behind like claw marks in fog.
I inhaled once—steady. The dark inside me bristled, then stood down.
“Graven?” Irina’s voice cut through the sudden tension.
I turned.
She’d stepped closer. Her brows drawn in concern, one hand resting lightly on my forearm. “You okay?” The question wasn’t about politeness. It wasgenuine. Concern poured from her like warmth from the sun—real and effortless, not something she even thought to question.
The weight of it undid something in me.
“I’m fine,” I said quietly. “Just… distracted.”
She didn’t press.
We crossed the street and turned onto the final stretch of sidewalk that bordered the park. The fence line ran ahead of us like an open invitation, trees just starting to leaf out with summer green.
And there, nestled into the corner beneath a canopy of ivy-covered trellis, stood the café.
The Grove.
Small, quiet, half-sunk into the earth like it had grown there instead of being built. Tables clustered around it like mushrooms. Painted signs hand-lettered in gold. The door hung open, and the air smelled like cinnamon and citrus peel.
Irina lit up as they approached, the stiffness in her shoulders easing.
From behind the counter stepped the man who must’ve heard her footfalls before the door even creaked.
Golden skin. Gleaming teeth. Hair like honey spun through sunlight. And when he saw her?—
“Irina!” His grin blazed.
She laughed, warm and open. “You’re actually here this morning.”
“Only for you,” he said, leaning over the counter. “The sky doesn’t shine half so bright without your face beneath it.”
I stopped cold. The man’s eyes flicked to me. And that grin—flawless, lazy,challenging—grew wider.
Apollo.
Of course.
The god of light and truth and smug, unbearable charisma. Playing human, again. He had the glow, even muted in flesh. And now he wassmilingat Irina like they shared something I hadn’t even been offered yet.
My temper coiled. Heat rolled up my spine like fire under skin.
He reached for a mug without looking. “The usual?” he asked her.
“Please,” she said.
“Anything for the queen of chlorophyll,” he teased.
Irina just shook her head with obvious affection.
