AN: FYI, the Greek gods in this story are not Canon to the mythology; I only really used the name and what they were the god of cause it's recognisable. I didn't properly research because I didn't want to be influenced too much and made an oopsie with Artemis and Apollo because of this!

Apollo adamantly refused to speak until Tamer and the girl were completely out of sight. The roses around them swayed in the wind that was rising from an audible whisper to a mounting screech. The cinder shedding from the petals spiraled in her direction like acoiled serpent ready to strike.

Golden waves tumbled as Apollo stood with his head hung, hand dragging downhis face.

"Is this some kind of joke?" he muttered.

She'd never heard him speak in such a quiet tone before. She narrowed her eyes in the time it took her to figure out how to proceed, but with such a wildcard like a pissed-off god, she felt her heart rise upwithin her throat.

"What do you mean?" She kept her composure, not wanting to show any weakness in front of this person, but something was wrong – it was like the environment around her was warning her of some on-coming clamity.

A tremour began running through the earth as wind blasted and carried his hair like a flickering flame. Apollo stepped forward. The rose stems gave such a gruesome crunch beneath his feet.

"Look at me," he demanded. "I'll know for sure if you are lying"

She didn't immediately look up, recalling the last time she'd looked into his eyes. However, no such hesitation was permitted; Apollo tilted her gaze toward him by slowly raking the back of his finger under her chin. It was barely a ghost of a touch yet she winced, smothering a. noise of distress with clench of her teeth. Someone inclined to the cold like her wasn't well suited too getting close to the sun – it was like there was now literal fire coursing through her veins.

If eyes were truly windows to the soul, then she found herself instantly diving into an abyss of a stare, windows to something her mortal eyes shouldn't have ever been laying eyes upon. It was petrifying, mind scattering even. Brown eyelashes framed them like the splayed edges of sunlight. The speckled ring of amber around the pupil transfixed her like a nebula scattered across the iris. She could have swore the amount of moonlight twinkling within them was growing. The deeper she plunged, the greater a strange warmth inside her chest grew.

As if drowning in a sea of stars inside and out, sparks of silver light ignited her own iris. She didn't even sense it herself; all she saw was his visceral reaction – in intake of breath as he staggered a step backwards.

She tumbled back to reality as he snatched his gaze away from hers.

Apollo grimaced, chewing on his knucles before giving a heavy breath. "Of all the coincidences in the world, how could it be that you would stare at me with both her eyes and her dress," he whispered hoarsley.

"Whose?" she demanded, struggling to keep her stance on the trembling earth,"Diana's?"

If possible, her answer seemed to aggravate him further

"I can assure you that dress did not belong to anyone named Diana," he growled.

"Then who?" She was becoming irked by his behavior. What did it matter if she was wearing the dress of someone he hated or whatever the hell it was?

Before, he had seemed too proud to break eye contact, but now, for the first time, she saw sadness in his eyes as they averted her stare – that powerful posture that radiated authority; it wilted like a dying rose.

"Artemis," he whispered.

The Earth grew still. Winter went silent at the name. Apollo's attention drifted to one of the roses as she watched him, running his fingers over its petals.

"You knew Artemis?"

He toyed with the flower for a few more moments. He looked up at Winter and gazed intently at her, although, at the same time, his eyes were distant, as if he wasn't really seeing her at all.

"I knew Artemis," Apollo said quietly. He plucked the petal from the rose in the most delicate decapitation. "In fact, I married her whilst she was wearing that dress."

It couldn't have suddenly gone so dark. But only now she noticed it. It took her a moment to realise it wasn't anything to do with the skybut Apollo himself. He lacked the godly radiance that he usually emitted. Still, he held the faint aura of a dying flame, he could have been perceived as almost mortal.

"You... were married to Artemis?"

His eyes were icy, yet deep sorrow left them empty as if behind a plane of glass. "Yes, I was."

Well, that would explain why he was so upset. She'd turned up wearing his dead wife's wedding dress.

"Are you... are you still married to Artemis?"

She couldn't exactly come out and ask him if she was dead for Lorelei'snsafety. But she had to know.

"I don't think I like what you appear to be insinuating," he warned.

She took a step backward as he moved in on her. She couldn't look away from him and ended up snagging her foot on a vine. She knew she was about to fall but there was nothing she could do about it; before she even had a chance to figure out how he got there so quick, Apollo captured her with her back dipped, her neck exposed.

He didn't exactly immediately pull her to her feet, instead staying frozen like some move from a dance. It was odd how such heat from a man could freeze her to the core. His blond hair tickled her neck as he leaned in to breathe in her ear, "Who told you she was dead?"

No matter how intense he was, his voice remained rhapsodic -- the audio equivalent of honey. But the edge was unmistakable. It tickled her insides but breathed nervous goosebumps over her skin, sharp like a blade hovering at her neck.

She shuddered as the heat of his body ate at her skin. "I didn't know she was dead!" she shouted, "I just asked you if you were still married, I didn't know it was her dress - now let me go!"

He gave her a stare that made her sweat. She was certain he knew she was lying.

"I really shouldn't let people live knowing such a thing," Apollo said. There wasn't any emotion in his voice. He pulled her up with his hand sliding under her back, but remained close, whispering, "who is it that thinks it's okay to whisper rumours of a god's death? Such words could create anarchy and really shouldbe silenced at their cause."

Yet, Winter freed herself and he didn't deny her it. Breaking free of his hot grip felt like she'd had arefreshing bucket of water poured over her head; she couldn't help but give a sigh of relief.

She eyed him carefully, folding her arms – she couldn't really explain it, but despite knowing she should be, she wasn't afraid of this person. "What do you mean really should? Are you not going too?"

He paused, expression blank, but the calculating look hadn't yet passed his eyes. "Well, caring is how I know I should feel as a god, but... the truth is, I just can no longer bring myself to. Being worshipped..." Apollo scowled. "It's something I've always hated."

A god who hates being worshipped.

"Then if not for worship, then what exactly does a god live for?"

The wind gently tugged on his hair.

"A very good question," he said quietly.

There was a long silence in which he blandly uttered, "You will die if you do not swear to secrecy for me right now."

She rolled her eyes. He'd told her and now she was supposed to reap the consequences?

"I swear I won't tell anyone," she said. "I swear on my life."

"I'm surprised to hear you swear on your own life, Winter," Apollo said with a raise of his eyebrows. "Why not swear on someone elses?"

She gnashed her teeth as a torrent of emotions boiled inside her. Guiltily tearing her gaze away, she looked down at the lacey dress fluttering by her knees.

I wonder.

"All right, I didn't come here to be 'punished' by you again," Winter spat. "Me and Tamer – we'll think of something. Besides. If I am truly the first Maiden in this country, but there is apparently no record of such a thing happening, how could people here even know about villages being slaughtered in the first place? Has anyone ever actually had the balls to defy him to confirm such a thing?"

Apollo smiled. "It amazes me how destructive love can make a person," he said, tearing yet at another petal from a rose. "How selfless and selfish they can become at the same time. I would know; Artemis always has been, and even in her death, she remains my only
weakness."

He held the withered petal to the moonlight. It appeared a moment of nostalgia overcame him as he examined it. Warmth clouded his eyes and his smile was fond.

"You wouldn't have cared if it was the entire world that had to die. So long as you could have lived in that world with Tamer alone."

She felt her eyes sting. "Stop it... Please. I never asked for this destiny, all I wanted was a normal life where I could love Tamer. Why do other people get that luxury and not me?"

His hand touched her wrist. He pulled her hand away from her face and she stared at him with wide eyes. She cast a confounded glance; he appeared very warm. Just like a ray of sunshine.

"I can't say I agree with it," he said quietly. "As a god I'm supposed to punish these behaviours. But your vitality, your will to live even at such a morally wrong cost. For an immortal being such as I who does not experience the desire to live..." His eyes trailed down her, the moonlight reflected in his stare like had materilised psychically in his aura. "It is such  a beautiful sight to behold. Revitalising to even be around." Gazing up at the moon with such longing, he made his way to the top of the cliffs edge, as if to be as close to the sky as possible. "I too had a loved one I'd give the world for. I'd trade all the souls in the world just to have her back again. Even in death, I can't escape her heart."

She couldn't explain it, but she could feel his emotions in a similar way she could feel Tamer's, only this time it was the lone howl of the wind that echoed his loneliness, like his sadness was carrying through nature itself.

"Apollo..."

As he turned, the halo of moonlight caressing him flashed as it mingled with his own golden hue. His gaze softened. The fondness as he stared at her caught her off guard; she was seeing something human in him. The idea that this infinitely powerful being was just as human as she was one of the most unnerving qualities she'd realised yet.

He extended an arm to her.

"Why don't you come sit with me?" he asked. "I'd like to have alittle chat."

She didn't see much wrong with that particular request.

After a moment of walking, she heard a tear. She froze. Apollo cringed like someone who'd just heard nails being raked down a blackboard. She looked down. The dress had caught on a thorn and was now victim to a small rip.

Before she could even protest, he'd lifted her in the air.

"Apollo!" she screeched, kicking her legs. "What are you doing? Put me down now!"

He had the inconvenience like a fly was buzzing about his ear as she thrashed. Not one blow seemed to faze him, but the coldness in his eyes was toxic.

"Winter, tear that dress again, and there will be a price to pay."

She froze at the coldness of his voice, realising it was useless to. argue. She swore his hands would burn imprints into her skin wherever he touched her. She was going to have to shower to rid herself of the ghost of his touch forever.

Like the rules of the festival were, if you showed Apollo kindness, he would show you kindness in return. She decided that if Apollo was going to be an asshole, she'd be equally hostile in return. He'd made a mistake when he'd said Artemis was his weakness. She had no qualms. about using the subject matter as a weapon.

"I take it you loved her then?" she asked spitefully. "Artemis, that is. It's funny. You are not a being I would associate with love."

"You thought I was always such a cold, bitter immortal?" He chuckled, but the laughter did not linger. "I more than loved her. She was more like a part of myself than another being. Centuries after her death, I have never whole again."

The field of roses rolled into a hill of fresh grass and he set her down, wandering away to take a seat on the highest point of ground.

Winter watched him gaze at the moon, noting the longing reflected alongside the silverlight in his eyes; a stare of love, but also great yearning and sorrow. Human.

"I didn't realise god's succumb to the weaknesses of us mortals," she said quietly.

"I am a being built with the capability of sin am I not?" Apollo said bitterly. "The idea that mortals are the only beings who experience sin is a lie. If I am capable of love then I am capable of lust - if I am capable of lust then I am capable of every other sin in the book. There is no difference between you and me, Winter." He shrugged. "Your life is just perhaps far more fleeting than my own."

She smoothed the ends of her dress flatly on the ground, thinking about how once upon a time it would have been Artemis wearing it as she walked down the aisle.

"I am sorry for turning up in your dead wife's wedding dress," she said truthfully.

"These things happen."

Winter ignored the dripping sarcasm in that sentence.

"It must have been hard for you to see me wearing this dress. I honestly didn't know. What you describe between you and Artemis - it sounds like a mate bond."

"That's because it is," he replied, watching her from the corner of his eye. "Where do you think the Lupine got it from? Artemis... She wanted to share what we had; she wanted to give it as a gift to the mortals." He scoffed humourlessly, leering. "Sharing these feelings... I can't tell if her intentions were good or just plain cruel."

"Why would you consider it cruel?" Winter asked. She frowned. "Surely love could only be considered something good?"

A gave a small, fluttering laugh. She turned to him just in time to catch a wash of gold paint the grass around them.

"That kind of naivety in you is rather nostalgic," he teased gently. "It would be nice if you could stay that way forever, but the truth is..." His gaze averted and he stiffened. "Now that you've opened your heart, one day, you're going to reap the consequences."

"Apollo, I don't agree," She shut her eyes and smiled. "Yes, I accept that Tamer is bound to cause me pain, but it would not be worth it if it wasn't for all the pleasure that goes along with being in love, would it not?"

"Winter..." Apollo's gaze flickered to the ground. "What would you do if he died?"

She froze. "That's..."

"Impossible? Something that only happens to other people, not you?" Sighing, he wrapped his arms around his knees. "I've been there. How I wish I could have remained in that delusion forever."

For whatever reason, Winter found herself reaching out to comfort him, but she paused half-way. It was suddenly as if he were beyond a pane of glass. She wondered why she was suddenly so sympathetic. Perhaps it was because she saw herself in the shell of a god - her future self that she never wanted to admit was a possibility.

What would she do if she lost Tamer?

"Apollo, I'm sorry, I..."

He peered at her from behind a loose lock of hair. She couldn't see his face from his foetal grip of his knees, but suddenly he seemed a lot younger - Tamer's age.

In fact, he reminded her of Tamer. The thought made her nervous. She couldn't place exactly what it was. In the end, she settled on how vulnerable he seemed.

"Hmm?" His eyes glittered as he passed her a wry smile. "That was an unusual look you gave me just now. I wonder what that means?"

"You just changed age!" she spluttered.

"Did I?"

He unfolded his legs and gazed at her. It was true: his chiselled features had softened into a more youthful version of himself. His clothes were a bit loose fitting.

He passed her a dazzling, yet toothy grin as Winter's mouth fell open.

"You really have gotten younger!"

She noticed his lilting chuckle had heightened a bit. He turned his body toward hers, leaning in with a playfulness in his eyes.

"Is this form more comfortable for you to be around? Pleasing, even? If you'd like, I could stay this way, just for you."

"Change back!" she spat, sweating. "I don't like how informal the younger you is!"

There was longing in his sigh. He simply laughed. It took a moment for his smile to fully dissolve from his features.

"Take your time with these binding bonds, Winter. It's not only your own wellbeing that's at stake here." A serious expression formed on his face, his fingers drumming impatiently on the grass. "That boy... he's absolutely going to break if he loses you."

She hung her head. He collapsed, laying back on the grass and holding his hand to the sky. He moved his fingers repeatedly and examined them thoroughly as if captivated by the shafts of moonlight filtering between them.

"I wonder what brought this change?" he muttered. "Did I think about when I first met her too much? Did I allow myself to grow too weak?"

"Apollo..." She shifted herself toward him, deciding to bring up an awkward subject. "Why are you acting so personally all of a sudden? Like you care for me or have known me for a long time..."

Fingers curling through the grass, the youthful version vanished within an instant.
"Don't you already know the answer to that?"

"No...I don't."

He rolled on his side and grinned at her.

"What a fantastic liar you are, Winter. "Forgive me if I am wrong, but I was under the impression someone had already enlightened you to our current situation."

"Wait a minute," she said nervously as Lorelei's previous words bounced in her mind. "You mean...?"

Apollo rose swiftly, placing his hand over her mouth like he could not even stand to hear her say it.

"Do not get conceited just because you are Artemis' incarnate," he warned. His lips curled inward, ice seething from his stare. "Do not think that just because a minuscule proportion of your soul is hers that you have any power over me or my heart."

His hand drifted away. "Then it's true? I really am her descendant?"

"You are but a wilted petal on a white rose compared to her - perhaps not even her thorn," he said. "You are not her descendant. You are only partially her essence." His eyes narrowed. "But it is important for you to remember that you are not her. Your soul only contains a fraction of hers, perhaps not even one-hundredth."

Winter remained silent for a moment. "Then what am I to you?"

That question brought an instinctive reaction from the Earth at Apollo's anger just like the earthquake earlier. That was the last thing she saw before flames rose from the ground.

The fire solidified into vines of roses which ensnared her arms. She let out a shriek as they coiled around her wrists tugging at her. She thrashed as they suffocated her limbs but it was futile.

She met him with the most vicious of snarls, but the venom in his stare smothered with it any abuse she was about to scream.

"You are nothing but an existence that causes me pain," Apollo whispered coldly.